Academic media literacy and the role of universities

Since tertiary education is the highest level of the sequentially structured formal education system, one can argue that universities should help their students to achieve the highest levels of literacy. In this sense, academic literacy comprises all skills necessary to competently read and write academic texts. Comparing different information and communication technologies in a historic perspective, it becomes obvious that digital media create new media formats and academic genres. Academic media literacy therefore could be interpreted as the competence to critically use and produce new types of academic artefacts. To be able to teach and train these skills, universities have to become more aware of the requirements of scholarly media use and media production.