Public Seminar on Media Education delivered by Prof Mari Maasilta, University of Lapland, Finland

Prof Mari Maasilta is a Lecturer in Media Education at the University of Lapland and an Associate Professor of Media Research at Tampere University in Finland. During a trip to the Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) from March to April 2023 for the “Global Media Education through Development of Online Teaching (GloMEd)” Project, she delivered a public seminar on the topic of “Wow, who is that super guy in my Tinder? – Dangers and promises of social media from the point of view of media educators,” supported by the Faculty of Humanities.

With research interests in the fields of critical media education and media and communication studies, Prof Maasilta discussed various approaches and practices of media education that aim to help people recognise disinformation, frauds and fake news. She also gave the audience a general overview of the main fields of media education, such as critical media literacy, safe and healthy use of digital technology, and the role of media in democracy and participation. The seminar was moderated by Dr Wang Lixun from the Department of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies. Over 50 participants attended the event both onsite and via Zoom.