Comments on: “Participatory Media Education and Civic Education are Inextricable”

By: » Define teacher …… The 25 Hour Day

» Define teacher …… The 25 Hour Day — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 20:21:26 +0000

[...] in 2008? I have a pretty good idea of what it’s not. I’ll make a start with Will Richardson’s idea [...]

By: Howard Rheingold

Howard Rheingold — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:01:01 +0000

Thanks for the thoughtful comments, Will. Your book was truly my primary inspiration, along with Phil Agre’s writing on developing a public voice.

By: » What if…..? The 25 Hour Day

» What if…..? The 25 Hour Day — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 10:21:03 +0000

[...] Will Richardson says“What if teachers could help students discover what they really care about, then show them how to use digital media to learn more and to persuade others?” " [...]

By: Dar Hosta

Dar Hosta — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:18:46 +0000

One of my main concerns is that the teachers (and administrators) are often less personally engaged in these topics than the kids are–or could be, were they encouraged to do so. And, classrooms are not always places where divergent thinking and dialogue are embraced, but instead where disagreeing is viewed as negative and, worse, as defiance worth of reprimanding. I find the idea of student self-expression as it relates to a public voice to be inspiring, particularly in our current political atmosphere as it relates to topics like education, environmental stewarship, global diplomacy, etc. But I often see the current menu of student “citizenship,” as it is peddled out in schools through methods like spirit assemblies and “the character word of the month,” to be largely focused on the sort of civil obedience that fosters good and respectful peer relationships and group behavior, but does not inspire kids or teachers to be thoughtful or engaged in exercising their “public voice.”

By: Will Richardson

Will Richardson — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 11:24:08 +0000

Gary…first of all, you know as well as I do that young people showing up to vote is much more complex than their Web participation. And second, you can’t be suggesting that one can’t be “active” online. I admit that most “action” online is less than actually going to a march or taking part in a vigil or even traveling to some remote part of the world to do good work. But I do believe we can do good work online. TakingITGlobal is a great example of that. Why can’t or shouldn’t we teach that as well?

By: links for 2007-12-11 | Ed Tech Hacks

links for 2007-12-11 | Ed Tech Hacks — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 23:51:30 +0000

[...] Weblogg-ed » “Participatory Media Education and Civic Education are Inextricable” (tags: digital_citizenship information_literacy) [...]

By: Gary Stager

Gary Stager — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 23:30:04 +0000

What will we say/do if young people fail to show-up for the Presidential election?

Surely all of this blogging and social networking is raising political consciousness, right?

By: Gary Stager

Gary Stager — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 23:28:38 +0000

My concern is not that “our students’ public participation actually has a meaningful audience.”

My concern IS that students’ public participation includes actual participation. Action is required for citizenship.

I’m reminded of the old African saying, “When you pray, move your feet.”

Perhaps we should say, “When you change the world, step away from the screen.”

By: David

David — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:26:59 +0000

No doubt that number of tools students (and all of us) have available to communicate, connect and persuade are growing. The important distinction is not that we now have email, wikis, blogs and text messages. Rather, effective communication, engagement and public discourse depends upon the communication capabilities that come with each of them.

New and widely used tools offer text, plus images, videos audio elements and more. Literacy in these areas will increasingly be as important as verbal and written expression have been in previous generations.

Likewise, as different tools are stronger for communications of different lengths and for delivering messages both synchronously and asynchronously, successful public discourse of the present and future depends upon selecting the right medium both for communicator and audience. Add to this the special needs or disabilities of communicators and their audiences, and you have the potential for a discourse that is richer, more diverse and complicated than ever before.

Teaching kids about the tools is the easy part — in fact many know to use them better than their teachers. Helping students to become profient at communicating with these tools effectively is one part of the challenge. At the current pace of change, we’ll have to do some learning too.

By: Diana

Diana — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:05:26 +0000

Functioning in a country with an educated, engaged citizenry should be of the highest priority. The tools of tech can be used to facilitate the learning of valuable content objectives. In the end it’s about allowing students to have a voice, invest in an idea or goal and being able to articulate that position in a variety of ways.

As a social studies teacher I have been long trudging away in the uphill battle to inspire citizenship in students. Letting students be a part of it is the single most effective way I have found. And as the conversation goes these days… the tech tools can have an incredibly democratizing effect on the level of access that people have to those in positions of power.

Regarding controversy… issues of citizenship can, at times, be controversial. The important part is to instill in the students the appreciation of multiple perspectives when crafting an educated dialogue on a topic of controversy. The other great thing that controversy allows one to facilitate is how to disagree about a subject without devolving into an insult festival.

If we are in the Information Age it would be reasonable to expect that the management, production and dissemination of that information would carryover into the realm of citizenship. It is only limited by the will and ingenuity of the teachers and students to make it come to fruition.

By: Heather Ross

Heather Ross — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:49:07 +0000

Will,

Thanks again for pointing out the Rheingold piece. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but it’s near the top of my to-do list.

I have two comments about what you’ve said in this post. First, you said, “… he does make a good case that we have an opportunity right now to engage our students in meaningful participation around the causes they are most interested in.” This is an opportunity to engage them in the causes they are most interested in, using the tools that they are interested in. Creating a podcast is way more interesting than writing a letter to your member of congress.

There is, however, one issue that you don’t address (and since I haven’t read Rheingold’s piece yet I don’t know if he touched on it) is what to do when students want to blog or podcast about issues that may be controversial. How should teachers handle this?