This chapter examines how memes—often seen as humorous or throwaway digital artifacts—can become powerful tools for digital literacy and rhetorical analysis. Miami University faculty member Katherine E. Batchelor and Miami alum and educator Amber Stacho show how students used memes during COVID-19 online learning to process their experiences and practice critical multiliteracies. Their work directly answers searches about digital literacy, memes in education, rhetorical analysis, COVID-19 online learning, and critical multiliteracies by demonstrating how youth turn everyday media into meaningful social commentary.

The chapter opens with vivid classroom snapshots from spring 2020, when students shared memes about quarantine life, disrupted routines, and pandemic anxiety (page 2). These artifacts became a window into how teens made sense of rapid social change. To help students move from casual sharing to deeper rhetorical analysis, Stacho drew on critical literacy and multiliteracies frameworks (page 3). She asked students to consider audience, purpose, and social implications—key elements of rhetorical analysis that are often missing in typical digital literacy lessons.

Students then built a collaborative “Meme Museum,” selecting, interpreting, and even creating memes tied to their pandemic experiences. Table 5.1 on pages 5–6 shows how the assignment aligned with standards and guided prompts, such as analyzing global issues or identifying how visual rhetoric shapes meaning. Example artifacts throughout the chapter highlight students’ insights. For instance, a student-created xenophobia meme (page 9) critiques misinformation and racism, while others examine labor inequities or teen mental health (pages 7–8).

The project demonstrates that memes can be more than entertainment—they are cultural texts that invite critical thinking. By guiding students to interrogate their sources, recognize sociopolitical connections, and reflect on how digital media shapes understanding, Batchelor and Stacho show how memes support critical multiliteracies during a period of intense online learning.

Faculty authors: Katherine E. Batchelor, Miami University
Student/Alum author: Amber Stacho
Keywords: digital literacy, memes in education, rhetorical analysis, COVID-19 online learning, critical multiliteracies
Publication details: Book chapter in How Do You Meme? (Routledge, 2023).