Selected aspects of media literacy and new technologies in education as a challenge of Polish reality

Media education is a response to the challenges of reality permeated by the media. Proper functioning in such world will be possible not only when an individual acquires knowledge on how to properly use the new technology, but mainly when he or she develops a conscious, responsible and critical attitude towards media messages. In the first part the presentation describes the situation related to the formation of media literacy in Polish schools. The conducted analyses identify a problem with implementing the postulate of media education. In the second part the author focuses on the presence of new media and technology in education. The phenomenon of supporting education with innovative technologies and tools is a trend which seems to be intensifying in the reality of development of new media and technologies. The author describes the example of the innovative ICT tool and its functionality, as well as the possibility of using it to support traditional teaching in higher education. Such a combination constituted the implementation of the idea of complementary education – the so-called blended learning – where the designed traditional educational process is supplemented by using the ICT technology.