What does "access" REALLY mean?

According to Renee Hobbs, media access in the public school entails “finding and sharing appropriate and relevant information and using media texts and technology tools well.”  (Digital and Media Literacy (DML), 12)  The problem with this definition is its ambiguity: “appropriate” according to what standard? who sets that standard? who is responsible for determining relevancy? how do we define or assess “using media texts and technology tools well” in the classroom – on a case-by-case basis? or is there a benchmark standard for each/all media text(s) or technology tool(s)?  Perhaps Hobbs has left her definition so threadbare quite intentionally – with the idea that appropriateness, relevance, and proficiency cannot be generally defined but must, instead, be determined by each community separately – but I feel that this is a grave mistake on her part.  Even supposing that the standards for these things will not apply to every community equally, I believe her advocacy of these responsibilities places her under an obligation to give some guidelines (or, at the very least, an example or two) of what she envisions and understands these things to mean.  Since Hobbs is ostensibly writing this book to persuade educators to learn, use, and teach media literacy, she has a responsibility to give her reader – presumably a media literacy novice – more guidance than she offers here. 

After all, Hobbs is certainly addressing persons like me when she says: “[D]on’t ever feel guilty or inadequate about the access skills you have or the skills you lack,” (DML 14) because “[f]eelings of guilt and inadequacy may contribute to the kind of avoidance that can discourage [teachers’ and students’] exploration and experimentation.” (DML 14)  But how can a technophobe like me “find, use, and understand [media] in [my] classroom setting” (457 class blog, Reading Response 4) without so much as a jumping-off point?  And if I can’t figure these things out for myself (which seems to me to be a pretty likely state of affairs), I certainly won’t be equipped to “help students become active, critical interpreters of contemporary culture, helping them grasp the multiple realities and diverse forms of knowledge and experience that are circulating in this dense and ever-changing stew [of media].” (DML 29)

My own best guess at how I can help my students to “find, use, and understand” media in my classroom is by finding out with which media texts and technologies my students are already familiar; if I have students who are skilled at using a certain type of media or media tool, I can create opportunities for them to share their expertise with their peers (and, at the same time, with me) – but the major problem I see with that approach is how, in my ignorance, to establish parameters and methods of assessment for such teaching opportunities.  How can I evaluate what I or my students learn if I lack even the basic information necessary to know that I don’t know what I don’t know?

Another complication: high school students will quickly recognize my obvious lack of knowledge and skill with the texts and technologies they use every day.  Given that recognition, how I can engender confidence in my ability to give credible and meaningful guidance in reading and critically assessing these texts?

We're Only As Good As Our Access

As we continue in our study and exploration of media and, more importantly the use of media in the classroom, I keep coming across one issue. That issue is access.

As we’ve discussed media literacy education in class, I’ve had many ideas on how to incorporate media in my classroom, in an effort to encourage greater media literacy. I’ve become very excited about the possibilities, and our readings have only fed that flame. There is so much promise and excitement centered around the media and it’s incorporation into our curriculum, but I keep coming back to the same issue: access.

Renee Hobbs, author of “Digital and Media Literacy,” defines access as, “Finding and sharing appropriate and relevant information and using media texts and technology tools well” (12). I think this definition is broad; broad enough to cover all my questions about access.

Access in the public schools means a lot of things to me. First, I think of literally having physical access to the materials and equipment. That falls in line with the “finding” aspect of Hobbs’ definition. I have all these exciting ideas about using technology in my theatre classroom that will improve my curriculum and strengthen media literacy, but in reality, my school won’t have access the software I need, or the hardware, or there won’t be enough of it. My classroom will be limited by what I literally can access.

Access also means what is acceptable in a certain school or community. Perhaps my ideas of media literacy or critical thinking don’t fall in line with the districts beliefs, or the community’s values. I think that is a real concern. Hobbs writes “when teachers work in communities where families have values that are different from their own, analysis and evaluation practices can activate students’ questioning in ways that make some parent and school administrators uncomfortable” (15). Maybe an activity designed to build critical thinking ability center’s around the Constitution of the United States. Students would have to critically pick it apart and question it’s motives and ideals using a class blog or social media (this is just an idea off the top of my head!). This idea could be stopped before it was ever used in the classroom.  We’d be stopped from “sharing appropriate and relevant information,” thus affecting access (12).

One statement in Hobbs definition really stood out to me: “…using media texts and technology tools well” (12). I consider myself to be fairly ‘tech-savvy.’ I know more than the average person about what is new, how to use it, etc. If I don’t know about it, I know how to find out about it. I feel confident in my ability to mess around long enough to learn how to do something that I’m trying to do. That being said, I’m a little nervous about staying “hip” and “with-it” (I realize those terms aren’t really technical terms, but that’s what it feels like!). If I don’t know how to use media text and technology well, then my access is limited, according to Hobbs. I think she’s right about that. We need to know what we’re doing; otherwise there will be many avenues that will be closed to us.

This question of access will be an issue that I hope we will continue to explore in this class. I don’t think that these three short paragraphs about access are the extent of this issue, but there are countless dilemmas that we should be aware of when it comes to access. Our genius teaching ideas, and our inspired lesson plans are only as good as our access.

Mind Blown

What stood out to me from this reading was the five elements of essential dimensions of digital and media literacy. I know that was in the first part of the reading, but as soon as I came upon I thought “woah! This is what I want to talk about! It fits in with so much that we’ve been talking about.” Maybe this will only make sense to those that are also in 377B right now as we’re talking about the six facets of understanding and Jessica Hoffman Davis’ article Why Our Schools Need the Arts but I also felt connections to Jenkins’ subheadings in his Participatory Culture article. Anyone else?

Perhaps I should first answer the question posed (though my thoughts on the five elements tie into that). Access to me is exactly what is said. It is finding and sharing (not necessarily giving, but helping the students to understand how to find) “appropriate and relevant information and using media texts and technology tools well.” It is modeling skills, not just giving step by step instructions on how to do everything. While this is helpful for the basics, I’ve found that the best way to help students learn (especially to learn about things that are important to them) is to give them those basics and then set them partially loose. For example with our audio documentaries we have some restrictions, but we weren’t given exact instructions on how to go about that. We were then given a 15 minute tutorial on Garage Band, supposedly the easiest way for us to edit our documentaries. Again, not much instruction. However, despite only having 15 minutes I was able to figure out some things that I wasn’t told about just by messing around with it a little bit. This is my experience on how many students now (the technology generation) work best. They were born with text-able thumbs with a mouse in hand. Why don’t we trust them a little?

The complications would be those that (like so many teachers) are intimidated by technology. These are the ones that will need more step-by-step instruction, and will really need us to know our stuff before class starts. They will need more detailed instructions with their projects so that they don’t get lost. Golds and blues perhaps (for those of you familiar with George’s color theories). The others that we’ll have to be careful with are those who think they already know all there is to know about the particular technology or are bored. These are more dangerous than the others previously mentioned because they will make it seem like they’re doing work, while actually doing nothing and holding their hand will just frustrate them. In my opinion these are the students that need more challenging. A good way would be to identify things they like and challenge them to push themselves farther in that area – to create a project highlighting that, or taking advantage of that tool so that they have something to be excited about instead of bored to tears because they’re already an “expert”.

Andddddd I’d like to post more about the five essential elements I mentioned earlier, but I’m running late. Perhaps I’ll post it in a continuation tomorrow at some point. If you haven’t read those other articles… do. The combination will blow your mind and rock your world. Yeah, they’re that awesome.

Making the access and use of media appropriate and relevant.

I must admit, I was a little disappointed with the first part of this reading. It seemed to present the online viewing habits of a high school boy positively, but it did not seem to come out and say exactly why that was educational. Although there is value in recognizing how students view or access media today, and engage in analysis and debate, the specific educational methods are unclear. As an educator I feel, very deeply, that we must make our lessons feel relevant to our students and the world that they experience. I love the idea of using episodes of TV shows that they are familiar with or recent movies and online media to help get them interested in looking at their experiences in a different way. However, to do this, I feel that we must make the assignments specific, clear, and relevant to the subject of the class. For example, this student that Hobbs talks about seems to be praised because he’s not just watching but participating in discussion boards. How, as an English teacher, would this help me teach him unless he was being graded on the strengths of his arguments, his spelling, or his grammar? Just writing or participating would not be enough. Without specific assignments and structured monitoring, how would the student learn new skills?

I think that this relates to the idea of Access as it was defined in the book, “finding and sharing appropriate and relevant information and using media texts and technology tools well”. We must have a strong argument for using specific media/technology tools as class assignments in order to teach or assess a certain skills or knowledge. Otherwise it will not be as affective.

I do, like I said, love the idea of using films, blogs or other media to teach. I have thought about how I would connect some of the shows I am familiar with as teaching tools. If I were to have the students watch something on Hulu, I would post a specific question about the plot, character development, or cultural context of the episode and have the students respond. Then grade the on their analysis and application of the things we’ve talked about in class. I also used to love the TV show, JAG. It was about the legal system in the military (much like Law and Order, but less dry and a little more cheesy) and ran in the late 90s, but it was interesting because they started out using real current events to base their various episodes on. They were also the first (and only, that I know of) series to be given access by the military to archived videos, equipment, and personnel who worked as consultants on a regular basis. It would be so neat to use that information in our media viewing discussions. We could use it as a springboard for research on those current events of the time and how they were portrayed in performance. It could be an introduction to historiography.

I love the idea of using current media and entertainment sources to teach analytical and writing skills. I think it’s important to use the student’s pastimes and passions to increase their learning and make our lessons relevant to them. I just hope that those who try this can find ways to make the assignments specific enough to be meaningful and long-lasting and that they will make sure that the media information they give them is “appropriate and relevant” to what they are trying to teach them.

Accessibility of Knowledge

The word "access" in a public school setting means to me that the students are given the resources for information as well as the instruction on how to use each resource. Many people know of different ways to get information (such as encyclopedias, webpages, magazines, etc.), but many of them do not know how to go about finding the information they want from it. In her book, Hobbs includes a quote that states that "students typically use information that finds them, rather than deciding what information they need." It's not just students that do this, that's for sure. I believe that it is our job, as teachers, to provide the knowhow to our students. I do not believe access to knowledge is achieved unless there is an understanding of how to use resources to find the information that we are seeking rather than simply accepting what sketchy information we get with broad web searches and one glance at a page in the encyclopedia.

For the most part, I loved the example that comprised chapter 2 of the reading. I know that we spent most of our class time dissecting Jenkins and being told to keep dissecting readings, but I really don't have too much to dissect about Hobbs' writing. Her points were valid, and her arguments seemed well thought out. I noticed all of the many different sources for opinions she went to and integrated them into her writing as any English teacher would instruct his or her students to do in a research paper. The only thing I was not particularly fond of was her frequent use of personal opinion as fact. During this chapter, however, it was largely focused on the story of a man making media literacy accessible to the students as well as creating access to the lessons of The Crucible. This integration of media literacy and a famous work of literature was a great example as to how we can provide access in our classrooms. I especially liked how Mr. Fisher monitored his students as they began their searching online and noticed their incompetence in a proper Google search, jumping on the moment as a teaching opportunity. I plan to use this in my own classroom, but not just in web-based searches. If I am careful to monitor what is happening in my classroom, I hope to be able to pick up on what students need help with and address it as a learning moment.

One sentence really stood out to me as I was reading because it struck at one of my core values of teaching. It was: "Media literacy education has long been understood as a mechanism to reduce the gap between the world of the classroom and the living room." I have always held firm to the belief that a classroom should not be an alternate reality; it should, in fact, be a way for students to explore more about themselves and their communities (whether that be societal or familial) and use what they learn in the classroom in those communities. This can be extremely complicated. As Mr. Fisher fretted, there are many different risks involved with creating sure access to different forms of media in our classrooms. Many teachers worry that if the principal or a parent were to walk into a classroom full of media what they would think. There was one teacher I heard about that had been showing clips from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in his classroom to illustrate something in the curriculum, and the principal walked in just in time for the raciness. However, I believe that these worries are inconsequential when the bigger picture is observed an analyzed. Of course, I never want to step on the toes of my students or their parents if it involves their views of morality, but I do not wish to teach in a way that would jeopardize that anyway, so I am hoping that it does not come up often if at all. This can be one complication in access being granted in the classroom. But, you know what? I would rather have my students connect and have fun and learn rather than to play it ridiculously safe and have my students be bored in my classroom and learn absolutely nothing.

Reading Response 4 - Access and Media Literacy

What does access mean in a public school setting? How can you help students to use, find, and understand in your classroom setting? What might the complications of accessing media be in your classroom?

Navigation and Networking

This article synthesized a lot of what I have learned about teaching with technology in other teaching classes, and it was nice to have those ideas reinforced and legitimized. 

I am excited to use what I read in this article in my future English classroom. Part of my philosophy of teaching involves empowering my students, helping them to see that they have a voice and teaching them how to listen to the voices around them. As the article states clearly, now more then ever before people have the opportunity to really make a difference in the world because of the Internet and the rapid spread and availability of information and ideas. And this concept is perfectly embodied by the term "participatory structure."

In regards to how I would incorporate the things that I read about navigation (deftly moving from one type of media to another) and networking (deftly working with other people and sources online to gain/share information), the following list includes ideas I had for how to do this:

1.) Give my students the opportunities to be the experts on various types of media. I would like to spend some time introducing my students to various types of media by letting students share what they are already are familiar with. I also want to assign an "Unfamiliar Genre Project," in which students explore and create using a genre that they have not previously utilized. I want my students to know that I realize that they are knowledgeable in this area already, but also push them to expand their media boundaries.

2.) I want to have a lesson about trolling. Trolling undermines trust and shows a lack of respect for others on the Internet. I think that a lesson on trolling (what it is, why it is bad, why people would do it, how to distinguish) would cover a lot of areas that the authors of the article expressed concern about. It will help students to learn morals regarding online actions as well as help students realize that when it comes to networking, being respectful, balanced, and trustworthy is beneficial to all users.

3.) I appreciated that Jenkins realized that traditional reading and writing skills are just as important as ever, and that media literacy should be taught alongside (not in place of) traditional literacy skills. And as we found in "Seeing and Writing," the skills that we use when reading and writing print text often carry over into reading writing digital texts. I want my students to realize the validity and importance of ALL types of media are valid and valuable (which was emphasized in the CMPLE) and that the skills needed to read/create in one type of media are often applicable in other medias. This reflects the principle of Transmedia Navigation - students need to be able to effectively move from one type of media to another, just like the skills needed to do so also transer.

4.) I foresee bridging the Participation Gap as being a formidable obstacle, and to be honest, I'm not quite sure how to deal with this. I would welcome any suggestions. Because honestly, how can I teach about/with media if I am teaching in a severely-underfunded inner city public school. I didn't really get a lot of ideas from the article (maybe I missed it?), so...any thoughts anyone?

5.) I want my students to use media to make change in the world. I feel that now that we live in a Participatory Culture, I feel that it is a responsibility of the rising generation to use their skills and know-how for a purpose for which they feel passionate about. If the resources are available, then I want my students to learn how to use those resources to do something productive. Playing RPGs is great because students are learning useful skills, but those skills are pointless until they are put to good use. I want my students to come to understand (perhaps during my persuasive/informational text unit) that they need to take a stand and at the very least, learn about important issues and make their own voices heard. 

This reading was incredibly interesting and extremely empowering/uplifting, and I can't wait to get out into the classroom and bring lessons and knowledge about media with me.

Multi-tasking and distributed cognition

I really enjoyed this article because I think that the evolution of education and technology is really interesting and I think this offers a good discussion of where we’re headed. I read the sections on multi-tasking and distributed cognition. The multi-tasking section was very interesting because it brings up the issue of distraction versus actual multi-tasking. The article suggests that we teach our students how to tell when they are really multi-tasking or not. I think a great way to do this is to help our students recognize relevancy in what they’re doing. For example, checking facebook probably isn’t helping them with the homework they’re supposed to be doing. However, if the tasks they are switching back and forth from, complement each other, I think that’s a good sign of multi-tasking. Often when I am writing something I have the internet up and music playing, but if I’m reading, I can’t have the music on. I mention this because I think the issue of distraction and multi-tasking is one that might be different for each of our students. Perhaps our goal should be to give them a variety of different situations in which we present information and learning takes place.
The second section that I read about talked about something called distributed cognition which is basically when a person uses tools to expand their knowledge or complement what they already know. I saw a great example of this the other day in the news; a teenage girl built and patented a new kind of prosthetic arm, but she didn’t do it on her own. The girl always loved building things, but she didn’t really have the expertise to build a prosthetic arm, so she sought out experts from local colleges and other people who build prosthesis. In doing so, she was able to combine their knowledge into a vast collective, from which she chose the best ideas and put them together to come up with a great outline for this new prosthetic arm. After that, she was able to actually build a prototype of her prosthetic at a local university (or it may have been a pharmaceutical company, I can’t remember). In any case, I think that situations like this are rare. It’s not very often that students have access to experts and tools besides what’s available at a regular public school. I know as a teacher it takes added effort to build lessons that allow students to expand their knowledge outside of the classroom and seek out experts in different subjects, but it’s so beneficial and pertinent to the students. The article mentioned that a lot of students learn the skills they use in their future careers, in high school, and in my life, I can definitely see how that is true. I think our society values experts and so we need to expose our students to experts in the fields they are interested in and we need to help our students become experts. In the article there were a lot of ideas mentioned about how we might go about doing so, and one of my favorite examples was to use a class wiki. I have personally done this in several of my classes so far in college and I can’t stress how helpful (and fun!) it is. I’ve also used google docs in almost every one of my classes here at BYU. I think it’s so important that we show our students how to seek out the information that they don’t have from people who do have the tools or information that they need, whether it’s their fellow students or experts in a field. Another great example of this from my own experience as a student is that when I was in high school I wrote for the school newspaper. During my senior year, the local newspaper (which is now defunct) hired me on as a student columnist. It really made me value my writing to write for an actual newspaper and I was able to build up the skills I had learned writing for my school paper. After high school graduation, the local paper hired me on as a news and feature writer and I actually had a couple of my pieces published in daily newspapers, which was a huge break for me. I think that as teachers, the more opportunities we can give students to utilize their skills outside of the classroom, the more relevant they will feel their learning is. Plus, it gives us a great chance to teach students how to seek out the tools and people they need to accomplish a task. The article mentions that we need to move away from solely autonomous learning and move towards distributed cognition and I definitely agree. As an adult, most of the tasks that I complete, I seek out other information to help me or I get help from others. I think if we don’t teach our students how to be an adult who knows where to turn for good, accurate information and how to asses that information and also how to seek out and ask for help from experts, we are ill preparing them to survive in our world. If they can’t learn to work collectively that means that every task they accomplish has to be based on their own knowledge. In my opinion, that stunts the possibilities that they have in life because they have to relearn or find information that could more easily be conveyed to them by someone who already understands or knows that information. It’s why everyone loves Wikipedia – because it’s easier to go to one site and get all types of different information on a single subject rather than researching it all on your own. We just have to make our students aware of how to function in a collective knowledge society in an effective and safe manner by teaching them good research methods and encouraging healthy skepticism that allows them to analyze the information that they find in a collective knowledge situation.

Negotiation

Jenkins states three questions that I believe are the most important thing we as teachers can take away from this article. They are as follows:

“How do we ensure that every child has access to the skills and experiences needed to become a full participant in the social, cultural, economic, and political future of our society?

How do we ensure that every child has the ability to articulate his or her understanding of the way that media shapes perceptions of the world?

How do we ensure that every child has been socialized into the emerging ethical standards that will shape their practices as media makers and as participants within online communities?” (Jenkins).

These three questions are a great starting point for a media curriculum. They focus on the students’ needs for the future and help us to assess the information we teach.

As such, we have been given many tools to help us as educators, including many studies (a few of which Jenkins used in his article) and, most importantly, access to the same media as our students through the use of the internet. The internet can be used as a wonderful tool in the classroom for research and education through websites, images, video, and other sources. However, part of our job as teachers is to help students to use this tool properly and intelligently. We have to educate them in the area of participatory culture.

A major component of participatory culture is negotiation. This skill is essential in not only student’s online use, but also is practical in everyday life as they deal with friends, family, coworkers, and other acquaintances. The article defines negotiation as “the ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and respecting multiple perspectives, and grasping and following alternative sets of norms” (Jenkins). Part of negotiation is learning how to be patient and see issues from another’s point of view. This is vital in a world where online communities bring together people from many different countries and cultures. An American sitting in his living room commenting on a video could come in contact with a Japanese teenager in Tokyo who is offended by something the American has said. This does not mean that the American did anything wrong (although that is still possible), it just means that there could be a disconnect between the two different cultures. It is important for both parties to try to understand the other and not lash out at the other. By trying to understand each other and working to find a solution, the two groups are showing empathy and a willingness to work things out.

Working on this skill helps to fulfill the last of the three questions Jenkins poses. As educators, we can provide activities and situations to the students to help them work through issues in a positive way. One such scenario to help students develop these skills is called the Cultura project. This web forum connected youth in North America and France. By answering simple questions they were able to better understand the views of the other group (Jenkins). Another suggestion was to hold debate-like forums. These forums would be more flexible than a debate, however, and would allow students to change and mold their views as they listened to the other group, allowing for better and more efficient problem solving (Jenkins). I want to use this particular idea in my classroom, as I think it will be quite effective.

By addressing cultural difference issues in the classroom, we can help our students to learn how to better negotiate, a skill that will help them in many areas of their lives.

Performance and Appropriation

Performance

I think one of the coolest realizations I came to through reading the section on performance is that people are finally starting to acknowledge the fact that performance is more useful in a classroom than a fun starter game. So many teachers thought they could never apply it to a subject outside of the arts, but now as we are starting to integrate more diverse teaching practices into our curriculum, educators now see how effective performance can be in influencing the minds of our students. If we can incorporate performance across the disciplines, we can incorporate what students see as something they do for a free-time activity into studies.

I loved that the article said performance places a new stress on the learning process—now it’s more about how we learn than what we learn. The point of middle school and high school isn’t necessarily to learn a base knowledge that we can carry on into college and the rest of our lives… Let’s be honest, I will not use, nor do I even remember, a decent amount of what I learned in high school. But if students are being taught how to work through situations in their minds and be proactive problem-solvers, they will be able to incorporate that core understanding into whatever subject they come across later in life. Performance activities allow their minds to process in new ways that allows that to happen.

Incorporating performance into my own classroom won’t be hard for me at all. Obviously, in a theatrical setting, performance is an integral part of the curriculum. But I think the important part of incorporating performance will be to not only show students that they know how to put on a character and fake it, but show them that they can create their own characters and manipulate them into an entirely new being in order to fully maximize and highlight the particular skills of a given actor. It’s all about effectively using what you have in your arsenal.

Appropriation

An interesting ism of our society is that we seem to be in the age of recreation. Old stories, myths, legends, are transformed into new Hollywood hits and XBox 360 games. But for me, the most interesting application of appropriation in an educational setting is how you have to get to the point where you can create a new form. Basically what I’m trying to say with that is that before a student can begin to pick something apart and make a new creation from it, they first have to be able to completely understand the original. It’s like when a director is breaking down a script and coming up with a concept. Before they can find a concept that works with the show, they have to know how that concept will affect every line in the play. You have to know everything inside and out.

For a student, this means that before they set their minds to work to create a new design, with appropriation techniques taught in schools, they will inherently be able to wrap their head around a project and go to work from that point. These teaching techniques can include teaching students to draw parallels between times and places, and understand the intricacies of human relationships and how those relationships affect the ways in which people interact.

Play and Simulation-- the best of both worlds

This article massively changed how I perceive play. I have always known that play works better than lecturing, memorizing, and reading alone but I never connected the dots on why this was so. Jenkins’ definition of play has showed me why. His definition of play is, “the capacity to experiment with one’s surroundings as a form of problem-solving” (pg. 22). He goes on to say that most of our favorite activities, hobbies, and games are very challenging. After we finish a certain level of accomplishment within them, we say that it was fun. However, while we are doing a task within our activity it may be difficult, trying, and challenging. This is what brings the “fun”, or as Jenkins calls it, engagement. He goes on to argue that we are learning more from our enjoyed activities and forms of play than we would in a studious activity in which we are not invested. It is the passion and the drive that gets us through the trying aspects of a difficult task so that we are able to accomplish the task, enjoy it immensely, and then doing it repeatedly to receive the same fulfillment, if not more.

Now the question is how do we implement this in our classrooms? Jenkins suggests that we create environments that promote risk taking. Very often, we want to hear facts from the students and by so doing, we do not allow them to think and come up with solutions and answers that differ from us. One activity that he suggests is asking “what would happen if…” questions in history. I would take this further and use these questions in all subjects. By weighing out the endless possibilities and the actions/decisions made, we are able to fully engage our minds and become creators rather than regurgitators. Another suggestion involving media is using videogames that stretch the mind in coming up with strategies, reinforce dedication, and the passion comes because the worlds are interesting, engaging, and exciting. A textbook makes the ancient world seem dull and a certain way that we will never now rather than one that we can imagine and create. This need to be creators and doers can be fulfilled as, “educators tap into play as a skill…encourage(ing) free-form experimentation and open-ended speculation” (pg. 24). We have the technology and media available as endless resources, it is our role to change past traditions and plan more effectively.

Simulation goes hand in hand with play. It is, “the ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real world processes” (pg. 25). In the story about Colin, this teenage boy learns about social classes during Caesar’s time in a way that goes deeper than a textbook answer. He has personal experience in knowing how it feels to be at the different classes because he received outcomes by being close to the Senate and by not being close to them. The other example of Railroad Tycoons shows us the knowledge one gains from the need to play a game. In order to play the game and succeed in it one must know how to use graphs, charts, spreadsheets, and maps that workers in that field of work know how to use. In our education systems, shouldn’t we provide students the opportunities to learn key skills and knowledge through simulation? Not always is it possible to have students do the actual work their desired profession would do, but if they have a simulation in which they could make mistakes and not put themselves and other in danger or affect the work in a negative way that would disrupt the harmony of the job, it would be perfect.

Jenkins states, “Young people are learning how to work with simulations through their game play, and schools should build on such knowledge to help them become critical readers and effective designers of simulation and modeling tools” (pg. 27). Along with this, I believe the students should have hands on work that is practical after their simulation done with computers and other technology conducive to the project at hand. If this is done then students will not only know how to think in many different ways and thoroughly but they will be able to actively work on their feet. If something goes wrong, they can’t change the situation by a click of the button or starting over. They will need to learn problem-solving and adjustment skills.

In closing, I want to express my only hesitation about these simulations. By having them all on a computer, I feel like the people skills, practical skills, and hands-on techniques may be lacking. If I were to spend so much of my time creating, a play on-line I would know the process of how to do it in real life but I wouldn’t know exactly how to see everything out. The time process and work process is different through a video game than in real life situations. With that being said however, I would much rather have these simulations than what we have now in education. The classes I grasped onto the most were those that allowed me to experiment, engaged my mind, and made me the creator of my projects and work. As we do this, while using the media that surrounds us, our students will be prepared, ready, and willing to step out into the work field.

Collective Intelligence and Judgment

­­­­­Collective Intelligence and Judgment

There are a few quotes from the text on this subject that I would like to share and address. The first gives and example of what “collective intelligence and judgment” actually is.

1.  “Like-minded individuals gather online to embrace common enterprises, which often involve access and processing information. In such a world, everyone knows something, nobody knows everything, and what any one person knows can be tapped by the group as a whole.”

Why would any school not want to tap into something that has such potential for learning and self –worth?  In a community where collective intelligence is admired and sought after, suddenly, everyone has value.  Instead of being the one child in the classroom who doesn’t know the answer, you become a valued member of the community because of the knowledge you do have.  And, another bonus is that the information those around you possess becomes easier to obtain because an environment is fostered in which open communication is key.

The second quote addresses one of the major consequences of the environment that is created by “collective intelligence.”

2.  “As players learn to work and play in such knowledge cultures, they come to think of problem solving as an exercise in teamwork.”

“Problem solving as a team” is an important and often necessary part of living and working in any number of jobs today.  We no longer live in a society (and in truth, never really have) in which you, and you alone are responsible to solve all the problems in your workplace.  Jobs require the ability to work with others, and if the truth were told, life in general also requires that same ability, as the text also stated. 

Which brings us to quote number four.

4.  “This focus on teamwork and collaboration is also, not coincidentally, how the modern workplace is structured—around ad-hoc configurations of employees, brought together because their diverse skills and knowledge are needed to confront a specific challenge, then dispersed into different clusters of workers when new needs arise.”

This is also what is needed in classrooms today: a focus on teamwork and collaboration.  I think, to a certain extent, this is already happening, but the traditional structure of a classroom is one in which each student receives their own homework, and then goes home to do it, on their own.   Schools are not teaching students how to work together as team, and therefore are not training them to work outside of school.   As the text states, “Unfortunately, most contemporary education focuses on training autonomous problem solvers and is not well suited to equip students with these skills. Whereas a collective intelligence community encourages ownership of work as a group, schools grade individuals.”  What could be further from most scenarios in the real world?

As a drama teacher, I think that collective intelligence and judgment is already a natural consequence of the subject.  Much of what you do in theatre is done as a community.  Whether it be putting together a scene in class, working on monologues in pairs, or producing a full-length show, collective intelligence and judgment isn’t just used, it is imperative!  When producing a full-production, I fully intend to use the individual skills and knowledge that my students already have.  Perhaps one will have passion for costume design, and another will love hair and makeup.  A third could be interested in the setup and configuration of the lights.   The list could go on and on. 

In short, as a theatre teacher, I would be downright idiotic to try and teach theatre without teaching the value of collective intelligence and judgment because those things are exactly what theatre is! 

Transmedia and Theatre

I focused on the sections focusing on transmedia navigation and networking. An important thing to point out first is the idea of convergence culture, or in the terms of this article transmedia. This deals with the fact that no one thing in the media is happening in a vacuum. Different media influence each other and come together to create one larger sort of work of art or cultural experience. An example of this is the idea that you can read Harry Potter, then watch the film and then log onto a fan website and comment on the ending of the seventh book and then log onto another site and create your own works of fan fiction. One phenomenon has many portals for participation and invites that participation in many ways; it’s not just about passively absorbing a piece of media any more.

This leads me to the first thing I think is important for teachers to take into account and use in their classrooms. In this convergence culture, students are not just consumers, they are also participants who have an effect on the course of the conversation between these media and potentially the outcome/product of the media. That is potentially very empowering. As a teacher, it is important to first acknowledge that many of the students will be participating in the highly interactive transmedia conversation and can easily move from one medium to the next with comfort and are used to being creators as well as consumers. Second it is important for a teacher to recognize that although the students may be used to the highly participator nature of a convergence culture, they may not have the tools to discover or create meaning from that participation. It is important to harness the first and as that empowerment is harnessed to simultaneously teach the students media literacy and responsibility skills.

A way to simultaneously teach responsible media use and media literacy skills and harness the students’ abilities and comfort in the convergence culture is by creating a project in class that combines the two. The drama III class is working on Shakespeare scenes. They are required to read and scan the scene from a paper script and then write about their findings. They will also perform the scene for the live audience of their peers but part of the assignment is to come up with a partnering use of media for their scene. This could look like a blog in the voice of their character or a blog that turns into a forum of ideas of how to present the scene or posting a filming of their scene on youtube or creating a mediated version of the scene as well (perhaps they have a character in their scene on second life and an actor works that while the others do a live performance or they put on a play in second life or sims). The project is a way to connect two traditional forms of theatre media with some newer media and start a conversation about how the convergence culture affects theatre and how the students performed. It is also a place where you can talk about the implications of so much media available and how to navigate the mediated waters responsibly and intelligently.

Multi tasking and cognition

It is important for teachers to understand that the mediated world we reside in causes our students to have short attention spans. This diminished attention span does not mean that we have to entertain our students in order to keep their attention. It calls for teachers to stand up and learn how to engage their students. Students have been taught to “scan the informational environment rather than fix attention on a single element” (35). This means that their short attention span allows for students to focus their attention on a variety of things at one time. For us as teachers we must to teach our students when and how they need to pay close attention.

Teachers can accomplish the goal of focus their students in many ways. In order to achieve this teachers must first and foremost must reach their students level of understanding. In other words teachers need to understand that lecturing for an hour does not engage most students. Teachers need to use what their students know and understand to help students be a part of the learning process. In my future class I will rely heavily on the media to engage and focus my students because I know that the media matters to them. For example, I could give my students a picture of a balcony and ask them to create a short dialogue between two characters based off of this picture. Not only are they looking at the picture and trying to gauge some sort of meaning from it, but they are also writing down spoken language. Due to the fact that the work that is being performed is the students they can take ownership of it. It can engage them in what we are learning because they are a part of it. Not only that but it also allows for them to use their multi tasking skills to create a work of art.

I like the idea that Jenkins presents in the Distributed Cognition section of this paper, “intelligence is accomplished rather than possessed” (37). That is exactly what I have been taught from day one of my experience in training to become a theatre teacher. You cannot teach anyone anything all you can do is help those who desire to learn. I cannot force my students to retain the information I give them for time and all eternity—I cannot force them to be intelligent. What I can do is give my students goals to meet, and after succeeding in reaching said goal show them all that they have accomplished. People are not born smart, rather they are made into smart individuals, which is what I desire to assist my students in becoming.

Jenkins suggests that we teach students to “acquire patterns of thought that regularly cycle through available sources of information as they make sense of developments in the world around them” (). To aid students in actually doing this teachers must help them to use technology. Technology provides a new perspective in order to help students understand the concepts that teachers are trying to file into their brain. For example, If students are being taught about the Pythagorean theorem technology such as excel spreadsheets or even YouTube videos that others have created can help students make sense of it. Teaching is not about cramming as much into a student’s brain as possible in order to pass a test but rather to fill students brains with knowledge that they need and desire. This is not going to be easy to accomplish, but I feel that I can help students to use technology to increase their understanding.

Importance of Play and Simulation

The whole time I was reading this article, I kept thinking about how much freer and how much more engaged students could feel if teachers would only bring new technology, and the teaching methods that would be based on that technology, into their classrooms.  Teens are already a part of the participatory culture, which allows them to have artistic expression, to create new things, to share what they have created, and to pass their knowledge on to others.  This is the environment that I believe most people would want to learn in, why not bring it into a classroom?  I think that teachers have been creating atmospheres like this, but there is a whole new medium that they must get on board with.  Students are a part of this new, cyber community and it would be detrimental to their development as citizens of their community if we do not allow and help them learn to be active (and informed) members. 

            Teachers need to incorporate media learning into their curriculum for more reasons than just creating a more engaging environment.  As Jenkins mentions, there is a “need for policy and pedagogical interventions” to help solve “the participation gap, the transparency problem, (and) the ethics challenge.”  I love the quote that says, “Educators must work together to ensure that every American young person has access to the skill and experiences needed to become a full participant, can articulate their understanding of how media shapes perceptions, and has been socialized into the emerging ethical standards that should shape their practices as media makers and participants in online communities” (pg 4).  While many students pick things like this up at home, through their own experience, or from their peers, there is often a need for guided learning.  What better place than in a classroom? I hope, as a future teacher, to give my students opportunities to use the skills they have, and also to teach them how to most effectively approach the online mediums they have access to.

            The article also discusses the importance of play and simulation in a student’s process of gaining media literacy skills.  Play shapes “children’s relationship to their bodies, tools, communities, surroundings, and knowledge.”  It requires experimentation and, often, the knowledge that if things don’t work out, they can start over again.  This can be applied to classroom settings.  I think that as a teacher, it would be smart to give students time to experiment and play around with the new concepts you are teaching in a variety of ways.  They should be able to apply their new knowledge to something that they are interested in, which means that as a teacher you need to know what your students are interested in so that you can assign projects and assignments that will benefit them. 

            Simulation is also an important part of media literacy skills.  Video or online games place the player in a situation where they are forced to experiment and try things to get out of the problem.  People learn from doing.  As teacher, we can have a more interactive classroom if we will put students in positions where they have to problem solve their way into an answer.  I have heard of classrooms where a character from a book is on trial, and every member of the class is an active part in determining whether or not the character is guilty.  Every student is involved in the decision process and is a part of figuring out what is true or not.  It forces them to use different thinking patterns than they would if there were simply listening to a lecture.  As Jenkins states, “Educators have always known that students learn more through direct observation and experimentation than from reading about something in a textbook or listening to a lecture” (pg 25).  I believe that as a teacher, we need to come up with more interactive ways of teaching and learning, incorporating the skills that students know (or should know), and allowing them to have freedom in the activities they are engaging in.

Reading Response 3 - Confronting the Challenges of a Participatory Culture

What are the key findings of the Jenkins article that are pertinent to teachers? How do you think you will face the challenges of participatory culture in your future classroom? How might you address some of the challenges and opportunities that Jenkins talks about in the article? 

Analyzing Visual Images

In response to Heather, I have to agree about your issue with people only applying these rules in the analysis of a text, visual image, or live performance and not also when they are in the creation of it. People over analyze to a point when they are getting beyond what the author intended. This thought initially occurred to me when we were looking at the photographs taken by the children who were victims of the tsunami in class on Wednesday. Those ten and eleven year old kids may not have the knowledge or vocabulary to understand common analyses we see in American critiques. They may have just taken the picture because it felt right to them. One could argue that ‘feeling right’ about the picture means that it is inherently human to notice those things, but placing strange critiques on a simple photograph seems ludicrous to me.

Even though I think the over analysis of visual images is for crazy people, I also think people need to follow the saying that you need to live by the rules before you can break them. For my students, this would mean before they venture out on their own to interpret visual images without acknowledgement of the basic critical analysis questions, they must first live and die by answering them. Until you understand the process of analyzing art, follow what the snobby art critics say until you know enough to form your own opinions.

The most interesting part of the text I read was the notion of analyzing visual images by looking for short-hand meanings. This is used a lot in current advertisements—so it would be something students would be able to easily latch onto and understand based on their own life experiences.

1. I think the most important things for students to understand about the analysis of visual images is that there may not be a right answer. Once students know that they can let their minds wander to ideas beyond the basic analysis questions, I would feel comfortable giving them the building blocks from which to start their developing thoughts.

2. I don’t know if the book ever specifically mentions this, but I got the idea from reading the prompting questions that there are two ways to begin the analysis of the text. One option is to start by asking specific questions about details of the image/text. This allows you to uncover potential important characteristics before trying to discover a meaning held within the image. Or, you can start by trying to gauge in your initial look at the image/text the meaning and then dig into it with the detailed questions in trying to determine what factors led you to that conclusion. If a student knows different ways to approach the image/text, they can feel more comfortable in finding the way that works best for them.

3. One of the coolest phrases I saw in the text was when the author told us to be ‘careful observers’. I thought this was really interesting because it led me to realize that more often than not, we can stop at superficial meanings or focus too much on a specific detail instead of calmly and carefully taking in as much of the image/text as we can. If we can stay calm and level-headed through our analysis, we can better understand how our emotions play into our interpretation of the image.