GALILEO Unbound: New Perspectives on Literacy

Renee Hobbs

Founder & Communications Professor
Media Education Lab & University of Rhode Island

Bio

Renee Hobbs is one of the world’s leading authorities on digital and media literacy education. As a teacher, researcher, activist, and media professional, she has offered programs for educators on four continents and produced some of the leading empirical research on the subject. She has published more than 200 scholarly and professional publications on digital and media literacy education, digital learning, contemporary propaganda, and copyright and fair use. 

Renee Hobbs is the author of 12 books on media literacy education, including Mind Over Media: Propaganda Education for a Digital Age, which won the 2021 PROSE Award for Excellence in Social Science from the American Association of Publishers.  With Paul Mihailidis, she is the editor of The International Encyclopedia on Media Literacy, the two-volume edition that offers a state-of-the-art look at the interdisciplinary and global practice of digital and media literacy education. She is also the founding co-editor of the Journal of Media Literacy Education, the peer-reviewed, open access journal of the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE). 

Renee Hobbs has spoken at the United Nations and consulted extensively with educators, school leaders, and government officials in Belgium, Brazil, China, Croatia, Greece, Lebanon, Netherlands, and many other countries. Hobbs is the Founder of the Media Education Lab, an online community that reached 20,000 users from 66 countries in 2023. At the University of Rhode Island, Hobbs serves as Professor of Communication and Education and the Co-Director of the Graduate Certificate in Digital Literacy, a professional development program for educators and librarians. She earned an Ed.D. from Harvard University and an M.A. and B.A. from the University of Michigan. https://www.reneehobbs.com/