In what ways are we now able to connect and communicate? How can technology serve as a powerful platform to engage an audience? To enable student cooperation and participation? To enact social change-- in your school, your community, your country, your world? In what was has it already done so? How do you see technology affecting social change in the future-- specifically for students growing in the digital age?
I'm currently completing my graduate degree in Instructional technology and one of the courses that I'm taking is entitled Media literacy. Within this course, we've been studying and discussing the values and impact that technology has in the progression of our educational systems. Students are constantly learning and using media and technology in
ReplyDeleteorder to better their relationships, better their association with popular culture, as well as better their own education and learning. It is through technologies and media that students are able to start to have their voice heard as empowered consumers. As students use technology, many students are able to establish their own opinions and selves in ways that they otherwise have not within the average discussion-based classroom. Just this year, I started utilizing Nicenet.org, which is an online classroom website designed to allow teachers to establish discussions as well as post assignments and readings. When discussing Romeo and Juliet online, the feedback was tremendous. Students made comments like: "I got so much more out of Romeo and Juliet, because everyone tried to come up with something unique to say in the online discussion." They also made note of the fact that they were able to get more out of this discussion, because they were able to hear the intelligent input from those who were normally too shy to speak up in class. I noticed an increase in classroom discussion, because students were able to encourage the quieter students to share a part of their online post. Just in this little activity I've been able to see progression within the maturity and thought of my students.
I definitely hope to implement more technologies within my classroom, which address more of the creation and production aspect of media and technologies. Students should be developing skills to help them consider their media exposure with a critical eye. They should understand the purpose and message that the advertiser or director is trying to send throughout their creation. Likewise, students should be using the knowledge and these skills to create their own films and digital stories to share their opinions and to make a difference. With the recent developments and expansion of online video sharing sites, such as Youtube, the audiences for students now far exceed the teacher and peers within their classrooms, thus increasing motivation as well as conscious decision-making regarding the presentation of their knowledge and content.
Colleen- HS- English teacher
Technology makes it possible for students to instantly be transported out of their own worlds and into the worlds of peers around the world. The great thing about sites such as Youtube, is that students are able to see what is going on currently, whereas in the past, when I was in school (about 15 years ago), many videos that were shown in class were outdated by 10 years, even at that time. DVD's and VHS tapes are stagnant, whereas online video is instant and in constant states of update and change.
ReplyDeleteWith this access to current information, students delve into issues that are important to them. They hear the voices and see the faces of their peers, they are able to communicate their own thoughts and ideas with them, and have a larger social network than ever before possible.
I even see the benefits to social action on sites such as Facebook. Although many social groups are for fun, there are others that organize and meet to make change and improve social conditions. There are ways to provide links to support causes financially or through volunteering. The ability to instantly join these groups makes it easy for teenagers to become actively engaged in what they believe in. Even if their friends and peers do not share the same beliefs and ideas, they are able to find peers online who do. The accessibility of becoming involved in social change is great and with direction and giudance in the use and understanding of this technology, I believe that technology is a great tool for students to be active participants in the bettering of society.
I'd like to address the question concerning the interplay between technology and social change. To my mind, society's use of technology has already changed the environment in which our students are growing, and has lead to three critical issues that education must move to address. Those issues were best articulated in “Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century” by Henry Jenkins, so I'm just going to steal from him:
ReplyDeletea. The Participation Gap — the unequal access to the opportunities, experiences, skills, and knowledge that will prepare youth for full participation in the world of tomorrow. In the words of Jenkins, “‘Increasingly, as computer use is ever less a lifestyle option, ever more an everyday necessity, inability to use computers or find information on the web is a matter of stigma, of social exclusion; revealing not only changing social norms but also the growing centrality of computers to work, education and politics.’ (Castells, 2002, in Livingstone, 2003, p. 16)” (Jenkins 14).
b. The Transparency Problem — The challenges young people face in learning to see clearly the ways that media shape perceptions of the world. Specifically: “In… The Internet Playground, Seiter (2005) expresses concern that young people were finding it increasingly difficult to separate commercial from noncommercial content in online environments” (Jenkins 16).
c. The Ethics Challenge — The breakdown of traditional forms of professional training and socialization that might prepare young people for their increasingly public roles as mediamakers and community participants. Or, as he says, “In professional contexts, professional organizations are the watchdog of ethical norms. Yet in more casual settings, there is seldom a watchdog. No established set of ethical guidelines shapes the actions of bloggers and podcasters… different online communities have their own norms… but many young people seem willing to lie to access those communities” (Jenkins 17).
Now - those challenges appear to speak to distinct skills that our students must acquire in order to live and succeed in the larger world (for example: appropriation, transmedia navigation, negotiatin, distributed cognition, etc.). I believe it is our job to focus on the teaching of those skills. In some cases, new technology is great for this; other times, not. I guess what I'm advocating is letting societal change influence the technology we use, not the other way around.