Service Learning: An Act of Participatory, Democratic Learning

One of the problems facing public schools is disconnect between the school, student and the surrounding community. Districts are continuing to be underfunded, and many struggle to get referendums passed, and this is largely due to the fact that local residents are unable to see how the school and community are interrelated. Further causing the current education crisis is the disengagement of students as a result of not seeing school as being important to the community they live in. When asked about their disinterest, many adolescents reply that they view the education they are “receiving” as meaningless. With this sort of perception, the high number of students that drop out of school is not surprising. One component of a remedy to this problem is to develop, promote and incorporate curriculum that is participatory and democratic that encourages students to be active in the learning process. Such curriculum can certainly be multifaceted and take on many different forms such as service learning.

Service Learning connects student and community in a process that greatly benefits both. It makes education an active process by engaging students with content and the opportunity to explore and experience the real world. It has been the discussion of much research in the past decade as many K-12 schools and universities have recognized its value and have mandated it within curriculum. Both quantitative and qualitative research suggests that incorporation of service learning programs can enhance the social, emotional and intellectual growth of students.

In Service-Learning: Thinking Outside the Box, for instance, a study regarding an undergraduate course at the University of Glasgow, Susan Deel, proposes that service learning can trigger personal and intellectual transformation. Because students can work/volunteer in places that they have never been part of before (even in their own community), they can be challenged and tested emotionally and socially. These challenges encourage critical reflection, knowingly or unknowingly. As students reflect on their service situations and experiences they are likely to investigate the situation or problem that they are working with, and discover policies, laws and choices that have created the situation. In this process, students are likely to develop opinions and understanding of their communities and others, and certainly likely to begin questioning and exploring—a goal that all educators have for their students.

Kathy Payne and Betty Edwards in their essay, Service Learning Enhanced Education for Young Adults share the same positive sentiments when it comes to cheering service learning. According to Payne and Edwards, “service learning can reinforce learning for middle grade students, launch themselves into the process for independence in a prosocial manner, and develop the competencies and civic skills they need as they move towards adulthood.” For Payne and Edwards, service learning offers the opportunities for adolescence that are at the threshold of adulthood to have new experiences, develop leadership skills and develop an interest in their communities by building passions. In the service learning process, students develop 21st century skills as they work in teams, problem solve and share and experience rich dialogue that crosses generations, genders, races, cultures, and experiences. As this occurs the learning process becomes an exciting, inviting experience for the students. They are not isolated in a classroom of thirty students but are part of the community that they live. Learning becomes relevant!

As a high school student I was fortunate to participate in a service learning program that brought me to places in my community that I never experienced until my service opportunities. Each year, I volunteered in a different setting, and by graduation I worked with children with special needs, academically struggling youth, local homeless and elderly with dementia. During these experience I sometimes worked with other students from my school and other times not. Throughout the year, while completing my service, I participated in discussion with faculty and other classmates to reflect on the experiences. Aside from just discussing how we felt about the situation we were encouraged to research and present information about the issue, problem, organization, etc. that we were working with. In the process we researched policy, laws, debates, etc. Today, I can testify that I was truly lucky to have such an active, engaging learning experience throughout my four years of high school. In retrospect, I could certainly state with confidence that that these experiences helped in developing my appreciation for public service and being aware of laws and policy.

As teachers and librarians we can aid in working to develop service learning programs. We can provide the literature to administration and school districts about the value, as well as provide information to students of opportunities in the communities. Further, we can even serve as a service opportunity, knowing the wonderful impact it will have on our students and patrons!

Should we be concerned?

"Parent or Pal" seems to be an ever-present question for both parents and educators. Should we be concerned about virtual teen behavior any more than we are about their behavior in the "real world"? Have we given as much thought to the many positive online behaviors of teens? Even a cursory glance at news articles brings several areas for concern to the forefront. An essential question is what is our reaction to these concerns, and what is reasonable action to take in order to address these concerns.

Some of the topics in the headlines include
-Teens are prime targets for marketers but they are not necessarily "consumer savvy." This brings out the issue of financial vulnerability.
-Teens and issues of health is a multifaceted problem. Obesity, bullying, pregnancy, sex, drinking, depression, and risky behaviors are affected by digital influences and media use. Teens do not always consider long term consequences of behaviors, but are more than capable of engaging in those behaviors.
-Teens and digital/media peer pressure is an interesting topic. Several articles and studies refer to media serving as a peer influence. typically teens are influenced by what they think other kids are doing, and how they behave. The media may be "helping shape the social script for teenagers." ( American Academy of Pediatrics) Teens may be getting a distorted view of what's acceptable from their "digital friends".
-Teens and their parents may be growing farther apart, giving new meaning to the term 'digital divide." Parents often do not understand or monitor the online behavior of their children, or underestimate what their children are doing. Parents are very often left "out of the loop" because teens can easily go online for information, guidance and friendships. They can avoid parental involvement by using wireless access through their cellphones.
-Teens and cheating has become a major education issue. There has always been cheating, but now the tools are more powerful and accessible.

The impact of students in the market place cannot be treated lightly. A great deal of money and effort has been spent on studying the influence of teens and how marketers should capture the teen segment.

As a school librarian I see a huge obligation and opportunity to educate students, teachers, and parents about teens and technology, especially in the areas noted above. Next year I will be teaching a media literacy course at the high school and although it will not reach every student, I think this is a great chance to begin the process in our school. Nothing like this has ever been offered there. Part of our technology plan is to provide parent education and communication. The website www.commonsensemedia.org provides terrific and very usable educator resources for addressing many of the concerns listed above. You can register at that site as an educator, and receive free materials.

I'll keep you 'posted' on how the curriculum for this class shapes up.

Fear and the Internet

I have been really interested in the topic of fear as it relates to the internet and media in general. Whether fear is of violence in video games, chatroulette, or creepy cyberstalkers, I was particularly struck by how much of the coverage I found on LexisNexis regarding teens, children, and media used terrifying terms. Many of the headlines included terms like risks, addiction, safety, danger, and violence. There were the occasional stories of the way that technology has allowed teens to do new and great things, but the overall effect I got was the need for protection and limits for addition.

As my earlier post explained, I am not a huge personal internet user. However, throughout this class and with the new media-friendly glasses I am trying on, my first instinct when I hear teens and media is definitely not fear for their safety. Instead, I think that with so much of our society in the U.S. and across the world participating in work, social interactions, and consumer purchasing through internet mediated programming and resources, it is only fair to educate and expose students to effective ways to create and participate in the media filled world around us.

In so many of the articles written, the everyday aspect of many internet and media uses is ignored for the sensationalized dangers of the internet age. For example, my internet use on a daily basis involves visiting the UIUC website to check on my classes, checking my e-mail, reading a few articles at the New York Times site and catching up on an occasional television show on hulu. None of these things causes me any fear and is in fact pretty mundane. (I am even embarrassed to type it because it is so boring.) I am not trying to minimize the real risks and dangers that are present with the internet and other media outlets, however I am just trying to point out the differences between the stories that are prevalent and the realities of many user's experiences.

I am realizing that I am converting to the ideas of this class particularly the idea that media use is already a pervasive part of daily interactions in 2010 and teaching children and teens useful, productive, and playful ways of participation will be of great benefit to them as they navigate their future. An approach that is so concerned with safety will quickly be encountering fear from all sides with little hope for the ways media can positively impact and engage children. From my own experience, if I had ignored all the things I was told to fear as a child, I would never live in the city of Chicago, ride the train to work by myself, read any books that looked at religion in a critical light, or travel out of the country. I understand that there are real safety concerns and issues, but there are also great ways of communication, learning, and interaction with a world that is no longer limited to our physical locations, but can span miles in a single click.

Always use protection?!

The question of fears and concerns surrounding the safety of youth through their interaction and participation with various information and media is one that has been in the back of my mind ever since I started taking classes geared towards working with young adults. Below are a few general questions, in no significant order, that have popped up in my mind when I think about the risks and safety issues surrounding youth and their participation with media, followed by my own thoughts/reflection about these questions.

As a librarian, what role do I play in protecting and keeping youth safe when the very nature of my career is to encourage patrons of all ages to seek any information they please without fear of judgment, impediment, or censorship?

All situational and environmental dependent factors aside, such as what type of library one is working in and whether or not that library has rules and regulations in place concerning the approach to safety for youth, is it really my job as a librarian to keep youth safe when it is my job to provide them with information and encouragement to seek it using various avenues for educational or personal purposes? I mean I’m not saying that I don’t care about the safety of youth, but hypothetically speaking, I can’t be true to the core belief system and goals of librarianship and protect youth from potentially dangerous information or situations at the same time. I can be open and honest about what’s out there and educate young adults on how to be safe and aware, but ultimately I can’t protect them.

And should I want to in the first place?

Education is everywhere and people can and do learn from things and situations both directly and indirectly whether they are fully aware of it or not. There are risks and safety issues involved with everything in life and realistically speaking one can never really be safe from anything. So that realization in mind, how should we feel about the notion of protection? As a librarian, am I doing more harm to the learning opportunities of young adults by trying to protect them or am I simply enticing them with forbidden fruit that they will seek out and taste no matter what if they are motivated to do so? Don’t they get enough protection from their parents and teachers? I’m not saying that librarians are necessarily supposed to be the one’s that young adults come to on the sneak for all the juicy stuff, but in a way I am: we are in the business of serving the organization, preservation, and access of information, not in the business of judging it or impeding it’s flow.

Why can’t and don’t we put more trust in the ability of young adults to protect themselves?

They aren’t as stupid and naïve as they look when it comes to being safe and if they are then it means that their educators--whether that be parents, teachers, librarians, friends, or other people in the community--have failed to educate them and that is the fault and responsibility of their educators not them. I keep thinking about the saying “we learn from our mistakes.” Allowing young adults to freely explore learning through the use of various media without censorship opens up the possibility for both positive and negative opportunities—we shouldn’t always focus on and fear the negative aspects lest they stop us from seeing the positive aspects and potential for learning no matter the outcome.

I keep thinking about my own experience with various forms of media as a young adult both in school and out. We had access to the internet on the few computers that we had in the library, but we were never warned about potential dangers posed by the information found on the internet or taught how to be safe while online. The computers did have firewall protection and we couldn’t access instant messaging services or chat rooms, but other than that we were free to access our personal e-mail accounts and anything else that our hearts desired. I was in high school from 1999-2002, long before social media and sites like YouTube and Chat Roulette, but just because sites like this didn’t exist didn’t mean that the web was any less dangerous or tame.

I convinced my parents, for the sake of my education of course, that we needed a computer and we finally got one when I was a junior complete with dial up internet and housed in my room since I would be the only one interested in using it. After all my homework was done and my parents went to bed, I would join the conversations in random Yahoo chat rooms and just chat. Nobody warned me about the potential dangers of chatting or even said I shouldn’t be chatting in the first place. That being said, nobody warned me that I shouldn’t give out personal information online or agree to meet someone offline who I had been chatting to online. It was all common sense. Not that I’m saying I didn’t benefit from the firewall at school or that I couldn't have benefited from some knowledge about the dangers of the internet and chatting and how to protect myself, but I survived and more importantly learned without protection (this is just my experience and I can't speak for every person or situation).

Some Questions Around Media Concerns

The conversation around the Chatroulette web site (discussed in an early post and comments) and the Daily show’s satirical look at the media’s exaggeration of the web site as a “craze” tied into questions I have had relating to how discussions of fear around media are framed.

I have a particular interest in the debate about violence that surrounds video games. I’m not so much concerned here with the legitimacy of claims about the negative effects of video game violence, but more so interested in how much that debate has framed discussion around video games, to the exclusion of many other discussions.

I don’t dispute the fact that violence is a serious issue. I personally dislike watching violent movies (can’t handle Tarantino) and would definitely prefer not to have youth I work with be violent. However, I’m not quite sure what the long-running debate around video games and violence is supposed to accomplish. If it is conclusively proven that video games cause violence, is the aim to then restrict people from playing these games? To ban the industry from creating violent games? To restrict just young people? Or something else?

Whether or not we researchers, educators, parents come to the conclusion that video game violence is detrimental, video games are already deeply imbedded in our culture – and the video game industry is larger and more pervasive than perhaps even the movie industry in the United States. And it is the most violent video games that are also the top sellers, not necessarily just because they are violent but because they are often the most complex, largest in scope, open-ended and interactive, and generally the best-funded games. So what do we do? What discussions should we be having? And why is the violence debate so often the only discussion the mainstream media seems to be having?

Participatory culture and classroom transformation--easier said than done

Although the video from Dan Brown posted by Anna had its weak points—for example, most of my and my children’s university experience has involved much more than the memorization of facts, and I’m also not convinced that increased access to facts by more people is what drives society forward, his general argument that the nature of institutional education needs to be transformed is one that I have been reading about, thinking about, and agreeing with over the past several weeks.

In Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practice, the book I critiqued for my second assignment, editors Victoria Carrington and Muriel Robinson argued passionately that it is not especially useful to view new digital technologies simply as nifty new methods for getting the attention of children so that we can teach them the same old facts; if we want to educate children for media literacy, the very nature of education will have to be transformed from a model in which teachers impart information to students who lack it, to a model in which teachers act more as guides and facilitators and classrooms become communities of co-learners and creators of knowledge. This is a familiar concept to readers of Henry Jenkins's white paper which argues that as digital technology encourages and enables an increasingly participatory culture, the challenge will be to shift the focus of literacy education from one of individual expression to one of community involvement. Ross Todd, in his article “Youth and their Virtual Networked Worlds: Research Findings and Implications for School Libraries”, speaks of the need both to re-conceptualize the school library as a knowledge commons and to shift the goal of instruction from the imparting of information to the development of knowledge.

These scholarly and research backed arguments conform to my own experience as a homeschooling mother. I rarely told my children what they had to learn and I never gave them tests or grades. I was not their chief source of information. They pursued their own interests, learning from books, from TV, from each other, from friends, from other adults, from the internet, and occasionally, even from their father and me. We truly did function as a community of co-learners. I learned along with them. My most important tasks were to facilitate their learning by making resources available to them, to encourage them to think critically about what they learned by asking questions or suggesting additional sources of information, and to help them learn how to accomplish what they wanted to do when they were stuck. All of them have remained enthusiastic and competent learners as they have grown into adulthood.

Having expressed all of this agreement, however, I have to say that I think that transforming how we approach education is a lot easier said than done. My positive experience with homeschooling was dependent upon a household in which there were two parents, there was enough financial security for one parent to be unemployed, and there was one parent who preferred home to career. For many families, public school is the only option.

It may be easy enough to argue persuasively that the nature of education needs to be transformed, but actually achieving those changes is another question altogether. The Jenkins white paper offers a few concrete suggestions for activities that could be used to promote the various competencies that, according to Jenkins, need to be taught, and these are reasonable starting points. But they are still just a beginning step on the road to transformation. Anyone I have ever talked to who has taught in the public schools has spoken of the difficulty of effecting change in the classroom. With more and more emphasis being placed upon test scores, learning standards, complying with various federal and state mandates, and increased “accountability” for teachers and schools, there is precious little room for a teacher to introduce a new way of doing things, and precious little time for a new practice to take root and produce the sort of verifiable positive results that would allow it to be continued.

Transforming how we think about education will take more than persuading teachers of the need for change. In fact, persuading teachers of the need might be the easiest part of promoting change. The greater task will be achieving the social and political change that will need to occur in order for teachers to have more freedom to experiment and try new ways of conducting their classes. I have to admit that this strikes me as a rather daunting obstacle. I would be interested in others’ ideas about what can be done to make it easier and more acceptable for teachers and librarians to transform how education is carried out.

commonsensemedia.org

Commonsensemedia.org is a fascinating web site, there’s so much to look into with reviews and articles about all the various media that young people use or could use but with a parent or educator’s point of view. One feature which I felt was really a smart thing is the things “families can talk about” section of each review featured here. My wife and I frequently will check out a Christian web site provided by Focus on the Family to get movie (and sometimes other media) reviews to see if it’s something we want to see and they provide positive and negative elements as well as other considerations but no specific area that shows how the movie, etc… can be used as a point of conversation between you and your children. (www.pluggedinonline.com) I hope that the people at Focus on the Family might add something like the above to their reviews also.

It was also nice of this site’s creator to have the green, yellow, and red indicators with age appropriateness on each review as well to indicate the level of appropriateness. It was strange then though to see that some of the green ‘go’ and yellow ‘’ labeled sites still came with some pretty strong warnings of inappropriate features especially with web sites. I want to not be an alarmist when it comes to the technologies of web 2.0 but, some of the sites I found here were a bit disconcerting from what the reviews told me and I could understand a little better why some parents are a little gun shy on this topic. I’m glad I’ve taken courses like this and other similar ones as its good to have reminders that there exists a whole plethora of constructive and creative outlets for young people and adults for that matter.

This web site is simply so useful to both public and school librarians alike can use this as a kind of advisory tool to locate web sites to suggest to teens which, they can use to meet their information and entertainment. It could also be a helpful resource to the librarians themselves when doing collection development so they select those media which best meets the patrons of their library. As a school librarian I also liked that they have resources which appear to help you develop an appropriate media policy for your school that’s sensible but, it’s hard to say much beyond that about it as you have to buy the educator’s kit to really learn more.

Lastly, I’ll just comment a little on the resources for parents. This incidentally is something that librarians at either public or school locations can recommend to parents who express concern about their kids using the Internet. There are some really good videos and articles for them to take in and think about with regards to the many media inputs in their children’s lives. It’s great that the developers of the site thought to make this information accessible by age range and topic as obviously, what’s suitable information for one age of the youth spectrum may not be for another. The advice too isn’t preachy and leaves room for the parents to decide, it just gives them points to consider. I think I can best sum up my thoughts on commonsensemedia.org by saying; this is one site I think I will add to my delicious account for future reference-good stuff!

Rheingold and Levine Inspired WebQuest

I thoroughly enjoyed last week's readings, especially the selected articles found in the Civic Life Online book from Rheingold and Levine. I had decided to put together a WebQuest on blogging for our second assignment and was substantially lost on how I was going to organize and present it because I'm not an active blogger whatsoever and making myself blog for this class has been quite the challenge--I'm cut from the same cloth as Katie L--I like to keep a very low/non-existent profile online and admit that I don't participate in anything online ever including blogs, social media, commenting, etc.--so I didn't know how I was ever going to convince young adults why they should start blogging themselves. But after I read the readings for last week, I realized that I could essentially build a WebQuest around Rheingold and Levine's notion of civic engagement through exercising one's public voice via blogging. Hopefully this WebQuest will not only introduce teachers and students to their ideas but actually motivate students to blog by utilizing the suggested activities that Rheingold outlines in his article for blogging. It will probably just die undiscovered in the vast expanses of the internet, but I just thought I would share it with you guys and I welcome any feedback that you might have if you feel so moved to comment ha-ha! (You can link to it below or click on the title to this post).

http://questgarden.com/100/35/6/100409000556/

Chat Roulette

I don't know why, but you'll have to manually put the URL into your browser from the first paragraph of my post if you want to watch the video on Chatroulette. Sorry!

Chat Roulette...the new conversation??

I have a creepy feeling about Chatroulette.com. Of course, it takes me awhile to warm up to any new technology so I am going to try to be objective about this new phenomenon. I get a kick out of being a voyeur as much as the next guy but Chatroulette is too “in your face” for me. For background, watch http://vimeo.com/9669721 informal, funny research on this new use of the web cam.

My gut reaction is that there is something weird about wanting to chat with a stranger who probably has no expertise in anything I’m interested in and whom I will never talk to again and will never meet. I like to meet people that share one of my interests or with whom I can have a relationship. And, of course, there is the pervert factor. Every article I’ve read and news report I’ve seen warns of the sexual implications of this form of entertainment. On Chatroulette one can see masturbation, private body parts, psychos with nooses around their necks, men in bras…need I go on?

Is the right to patronize this site in the same league as the right to read books on sensitive subjects? My opinion is no, it is not. While I am all for freedom of the press and freedom to express your opinions and to talk about the taboo, I think there are some things that do not need to be witnessed. I might join in a conversation about sexual perversion, what is perverse, what the attraction is and why some people like it and others don’t. But it is a whole new ballgame to witness sexually explicit acts. For example, to change the context, it is one thing to read about a grisly murder but it is quite another to witness one.

This is definitely a concern when thought of in the same context as youth. Teens would be the most likely age group to be attracted to this technology. First, some of them have more leisure time than adults and more of their time, leisure or not, is tied to the computer. Secondly, even if a teen is leery of whom they will run into, persuasion of peers will be a big factor. And, most importantly, trying new technology is as familiar as breathing to teens and that, combined with natural curiosity and a sense of daring, might be a dangerous combination.

It’s not that I don’t trust the kids (God, how many times have you heard THAT one!) Seriously though, my concerns are with whom they will start chatting in Chatroulette and what that person will do on camera or ask the kids to do. Older teens have probably seen much more sexually than adults want to recognize but the younger teens and tweens that might get on Chatroulette.com could see things that they are just not ready for. Another concern for me is that the more we see and accept sexual behavior, as well as other outer-limit behavior, the more mainstream it may become, although I think we may have crossed that threshold already.

I would like to say that perhaps there is some educational value in meeting new people from different areas of the world but from what I have read and seen, that is not even possible. Participants move from one to the next partner so quickly, this process is called nexting, that if you are not a beautiful, young girl or naked, you will be nexted faster than you can say hello. This new use of internet technology is purely for entertainment. The point is simply to sit there and see what completely strange thing can be seen. The point is not to chat so much as to be shocked.

To quote Cliff Kuang at Fastcompany.com, “Self-published entertainment has officially moved into territory I can barely comprehend. Parents: One more reason to lock up your daughters.”

"An Open Letter to Educators"

On adapting institutional education (at all levels) to the "information revolution." Found via tametheweb.

A notable quote:
"Society no longer cares how many facts we can memorize, because in the information age, facts are free."

Michael Stephens slides

I found the slide show by Michael Stephens probably the most interesting of all the things we viewed or read for this week’s class session. One of the first things to catch my attention was the book, Born Digital by John Palfrey and Urs Gasser. Where I work with high school students who are definitely a part of this group, I think this title would be most beneficial for me to read so I can understand where it is our students are coming from. I’ve already located it at my local public library and plan on picking it up soon.


In the presentation, it’s stated that 1% of searches online begin at a library web site and I don’t doubt this. As one of the following slides says there isn’t much awareness of the electronic resources to which many libraries subscribe. I am fortunate that more teachers seem to be getting the idea that we have more consistently reliable information in these resources and therefore more of them have had me speak to their classes about them. I was pleasantly surprised just before spring break when some students came by the library quite some time after school was out and hardly a student can be found let along in our domain sadly enough. However, this group came asking for the tri-fold handout I’d made up with our library’s login information for our databases. This seemed to have been done completely on their own initiative so, occasionally it appears that some of the things I tell classes do sink in with them.

Another good point Stephens makes is that for the Millennial generation, these emerging technologies are just another part of the scenery for them whereas for people my age and older, it’s like ‘wow, this is something new and fantastic’ or ‘run for the hills, there’s another new overwhelming technology to learn’. I had a discussion with a student today about this very thing and she agreed that many technological innovations today aren’t that intimidating to people her age, you just explore it with little fear of failure she seemed to be saying. There’s always someplace or someone you can go to if you don’t understand something.

I found myself and our school library to be guilty of possessing some of the signs shown in the slides that forbade gaming or social networking on the library’s computers. Initially, when I took this position I agreed more heartily with these positions but even now as I see more benefits for students to learn these technologies in a participatory culture, I know that the school administration wouldn’t be as understanding if we tried to open the door to some of these tools. I think the scary stories of the misuse of technology by young people have many less tech-savvy adults freaked about the use of such things. Though, I’m not honestly sure that I want to go as far as this guy seems to be advocating where it’s like let’s throw open the floodgates but I know I could be misinterpreting things possibly.

I do agree that libraries, public or school, do need to be open to young people’s input so that it’s a place that relevant to them and thus, a place they want to be. I think programs that teach them how to use various Web 2.0 technologies so that they can contribute to the real world are great. The Bloomington Public Library in collaboration with the some of the local high schools has in the past worked with teens on video production as part of an effort to be part of a local film festival. Activities like this certainly have real world applications and I think many of the teens involved enjoyed learning more about this technology. As I mentioned in class tonight, one way that I’ve tried to incorporate student input is by adding a link to a blog I created recently where students can share their book reviews hoping that they’ll share this information with their friends or others will stumble across it while on our site and see what comments their peers left. I fear that students may be reluctant to share their thoughts for the same reason they don’t in classes verbally-fear of ridicule. I know that I too have this fear with my online classes here though I know perfectly well that’s not likely to happen. With teenagers who know their peers can be less than mature and uncouth often times online sharing may be taken up as much as it could be and I guess that’s why I’m surprised people like Michael Stephens and the authors of the other articles were such strong advocates for young adult participation in online forums. It’s probably just a case of me missing some piece of the puzzle here and once I get a better view of the big picture of things I’ll understand better.

As I was reading this weeks articles, I was reminded of a film I ran across a year ago that clearly combines media use and civic advocacy by teens. This film is called March Point and information about it can be found at here. This film follows three young men as they participate in a film making program rather than go to drug court. Initially, the young men, Travis, Nick, and Cody wanted to make rap videos and action movies, but were drawn instead to look at the effects of oil refineries on their reservation. This film follows their progress from knowing very little about the impact of the refineries to presenting the case to their senator in Washington, D.C. This film is a very powerful story and shows the impact of the movie making process in their personal, social, and civic lives.

Peter Levine discussed the importance of audience in a crowded media environment. For me March Point illuminated some of the issues that he addressed. Levine points out that in a celebrity culture the creativity of ordinary people is blocked out. March Point is sort of a combination of the two. It was funded and filmed by a non-profit organization with professional filmmakers as well as student film work done by the young men. It is also available on iTunes which is a very main stream venue for accessing many types of media. There is a potential for a large audience, but is this information actually getting to people who can make a difference and right the wrongs of the oil companies? In the film, the young men are very discouraged after visiting with their Senator and remarked that it was more of a photo opportunity than a real avenue for change. In this situation, a very powerful audience was reached and yet they wondered if this actually was an audience that would create the change they sought.

Throughout the film, the "plastic" aspect that Levine described was very evident. These teens experienced a very personal change in their habits and concerns. They became more involved in school, their community, and in preparing for their future after high school. This is a prime example of the positive youth development that public voices in media can have on young adults. These adolescents learn to care about not only their health, but the health and concerns of their whole community as well as their cultural heritage.

March Point is sort of an extreme example. This was a project that had a strong backing of funding, instructional filmmakers that worked with the young men, and experienced directors. A librarian who is interested in involving teens with civic engagement might not have the resources, film experience, or motivation to take on a project such as this. That is where I believe Howard Rheingold's article and the slides by Michael Stephens might be more useful specifically in a library setting.

Rheingold's focus on combining the digital production that teens already know how to do with civic engagement is a really useful way to encourage young adults to develop their public voice. I appreciated his description of the activation gap and the thought of bringing pro-social goals into enjoyable formats such as blogs, digital storytelling, and wikis. I particularly found the exercise he described at the end with high school students as very accessible. By using wikis to discuss an interesting topic, the students are able to cultivate skills that congressmen and congresswomen use such as discussing and arguing with peers, making decisions, and composing group summaries. This exercise attempts to develop very useful skills in a way that incorporates media in a very applicable way.

I also appreciated that both Rheingold and Levine discussed the differences between addressing a civic issue over the internet versus actually putting feet to the pavement. Rheingold's mention of social scaffolding was particularly poignant to me as it created the image of addressing community issues with support and a connection to what is already going on. As students attempt to make sense of their transition from a private voice to a public presence they can be encouraged to make the connections to those who are working on the issue and use their experience when finding a listening audience. I think that one way librarians can greatly impact their communities is by helping young adults to make these connections between the civic interests that they have and the organizations within the wider community that work to address these issues. However, libraries must be places where young adults are welcomed and can feel their voice is valued. As Michael Stephens showed, there are many examples of libraries that do not allow many things that are appealing to young adults. Creating environments that draw teens in will allow librarians to interact with teens in a way that encourages their interests and allows them to expand their involvement.

Thoughts on the Gryphon Lecture

I’ve been meaning to post about the Center for Children’s Books’ Gryphon Lecture for some time now. I had been waiting to try to get the powerpoint files, but will post without them. Allison Druin gave a lecture on “Children's Search Experiences in the Age of Google, Today and Tomorrow.“ The audio file for the lecture can be found here: http://waterfall.lis.illinois.edu/dl/events/gryphonlecture/druinmar05_10.mp3. It was fascinating.

Her team of researchers, sponsored by Google, conducted research on children’s search strategies and behaviors. They found and classified several different types of searchers, and also made findings based on age and gender. Some of the searchers that she talked about included those thought that one site could find all their information needs (I think the example was a Spongebob site!), or those that would prefer to find the information visually or through a video and thus continued searching this way even if they were unsuccessful. For further details, please listen to the audio file. Unfortunately, I didn’t take detailed notes.

The lecture made me think a lot of about the way we go about teaching information literacy. We spend so much time teaching people how to develop appropriate search techniques and explaining these work the best. But WHY do these techniques work best? Simply put, it is because it is generally the best way to find information using the CURRENT system. But what if the current system is FLAWED? Instead of spending all this time educating users on how to search in ways that aren't intuitive, wouldn't it be easier to just improve the system?

ENTER GOOGLE.

Google has completely changed the way users go about finding information. Not only has it opened the door to multiple formats for learning information (text, image, video, map, audio, etc) and allowed users greater access to an expansive wealth of information at the click of a button, but it has also diminished the need for users to bother saving favorite sites or to develop good search habits. So many of the weaknesses (correct spelling only, no thesaurus/plural, no phrases, etc) of past databases that influenced good search strategy techniques are practically rendered obsolete through Google's improvements. Given this what do we as librarians do? What skills can we teach that will remain relevant?

What new technologies could be created to help? Here are some ideas:

- * A Reader/IGoogle/delicious type of a thing where pages/sites can be represented topically by image icon (perhaps the site's favicon?). Not only could there be a science type icon for a great science site, but that bookmark could fall under a "school" icon. Ways to organize in an intuitive, fun way, would be excellent. And it would be so nice if you could just drag and create easily/quickly (i.e bookmark, check mark the pictoral icons it should fall under). I realize that delicious already does this with tags and browsers do this with bookmarks, but I feel the tags don't map the sites (maybe verbally but not visually) in enough interesting ways, and it certainly doesn't seem as fun as images would be. I see this new delicious/bookmark as being more like a internet-based (universally accessible) desktop for your computer or a home page of all your sites (where you can easily see all your categories visually). It would look and act like a library webpage of your personal bookmarks.

o Ex/Zoo bookmark filed under two tags: animal, Chicago

§ To access your bookmark. Click on animal icon, click on the zoo icon (link to site). You could also click on the Chicago icon, and then click on the zoo icon (link to site). This way children might actually use the sites that we tell them about. I admit, I hardly use the sites that I find in class. They are great, but I forget about them or don't have easy access to them when I need them (lose the paper, can't find the site/forgot the name of site, don't have bookmarks with me, etc).

- * Searches:

When typing in a search box, Google could automatically aggregate the search term with the most likely related Google image next to the predicted word list. This might help in situations where you have "D-O-L" but don't know how to spell "dolphin" and there are several possibilities given that you can’t read (Ex/ for pizza: pizza hut (brand logo), pizza planet (brand logo), etc.)

International Digital Children's Library in the classroom

I’m currently doing my practicum at a high school, and I recently talked-up the International Children’s Digital Library to a few teachers, giving ideas for using the database in the classroom. One of the teachers for non-western history, who is currently teaching his student’s Sanskrit, is interested in letting me do a lesson using this database. I proposed using ICDL to allow students to attempt to read books in Farsi and to expose them to examples of other non-western writing systems/alphabets. We will also be looking at examples of children’s books from western countries and non-western countries to compare/contrast the pictures and stories, and determine whether they can tell us anything about the culture (what are the books meant to show/teach children?). While I was working on selling the resource to teachers, I came up with some ideas and thought I would share them. If you have additional ideas, please add to the list J

10 Awesome things about this FREE site:

- Search by color

- Search by emotion (how does the book make you feel?)

- Search by character type (imaginary, animal, people)

- Search options are picture icons (and words)

- Search by length

- Search intuitively helps you limit your search

- Read in any order you like (if you choose spiral view)

- Thousands of books available from around the world

- Books are translated into several languages

- Apps available for Iphone, Ipad, Netbooks, etc

Ways to use this site in a classroom setting:

Art class

- Compare artwork of books from different countries

- Compare illustrations in different mediums

Social Studies/Geography

- What do a country's children's books say about its beliefs and society?

- Compare books from around the world. How are they similar/different?

- Show samples of language (and writing systems/letters/symbols/etc) from around the world by looking at a book that has been translated into several languages OR by using books from different countries as examples of their writing systems.

World Cultures/English

- Discuss/read/compare folktales from around the world (search subject "culture and society--how people live", then "places, then isolate to "mythology/folk tales)

English

- Discuss the role of illustrations in literature (what are different types, how can they serve to supplement/tell a story?, what happens when you look at books written in a foreign language?)

History

- Discuss books about a certain time period (isolate by time, topic and/or country) to supplement discussion

- Compare different country's viewpoints of a time period/event as seen through children's lit (ex/ enemy countries)

- Identify what was happening around the world during that time

- Look at what was being written (published) during a time period -- notice any trends? what does that say about the country/world during that time?

Language

- Practice beginning languages by reading a children''s book

- Choose a book to have the class translate as a group project. (Contact site for permission)

Library

- Compare ICDL's Simple Search interface to that of Google (or several database interfaces for that matter) and compare/contrast them. What does the database infer about user tendencies? Who are the target audiences of the database? How do they cater to that audience? What is the best way to use the database?

- When would you use this database? Look at IDCL as example of an intuitive search. How does it differ from most other searches? How can you accomplish some of these same tasks using another database (i.e how would adults search achieve this information using search terms)? Teach keyword search strategies and other info literacy skills.

- Discuss the idea of a book. What makes a book? Compare different types of book formats (wordless picture book, pop-up book, traditional book, graphic novel, audio book/playaway, digital book from idcl, etc)

As a tool for librarians:

- Vague Reference Questions (Red cover....there was a dog in it. I liked it -- search by color/animal) *only works for books in collection

- Readers Advisory (I want a book about a __ that is funny) (No animals or imaginary creatures!!!) *use for tech savvy kids, or kids with internet but no books at home

I would like to see IDCL this: (feel free to respond with additional suggestions!)

- Find a way to add the bookmark to the site on the computer's desktop (rather than on the browser) as an icon (similar to the way apps works on an Iphone/Ipad)

The Question of Audience

Peter Levine's article for this week (A Public Voice for Youth: The Audience Problem in Digital Media and Civic Education) brought up an issue I had not thought much about--who is the audience for all of this digital media that we are having kids create; and even more importantly, what impact can sharing the work have in their lives and the lives of users?

I'm already convinced that facilitating the creation of digital media by youth is beneficial. I hadn't thought too far beyond that to the *purpose* of youth creations (other than the inherent benefits within creation) and the *who* of the intended audience. I need to do a bit more thinking before I can come to a conclusion on ways to implement these ideas within the kinds of programming I have done and am doing with young people, but I am both slightly astonished and extremely pleased to see that meaningful civic engagement has been linked to such positive outcomes among at-risk youth. I am particularly intrigued in the idea of envisioning local youth affinity groups as communities, whether schools, clubs, etc.

Eli Neiburger has spoken on the topics of gaming tournaments and civic engagement--particularly how video game tournaments can teach youth how to be good competitors, find a place within an affinity group, and effect change. I found this article [Libraries, Videogames and Civic Engagement] that expresses some of his ideas, as well as thoughts from Jenny Levine and others.

And I will continue mulling over the question of whether production in and of itself is enough, or whether it needs to be meaningful and situated within an audience, and how that can be done.

Flipped out...

I've been experimenting with the FLIP video cameras that we just acquired in the library. Here is a short sample video that I made with no instruction, and just a little experimentation... I am learning as I go along. Interestingly, I offered a group of students 2 different cameras - a traditional, more familiar digital camcorder (Sony) with mini-cassette tape, or the new FLIP HD MINO. Without hesitation the kids chose the FLIP. After they filmed, they just jumped right in to the editing, preferring the new program over the usual Movie Maker they had previously learned. I was encouraged that they were not intimidated by the camera, the software,or learning something new on the fly while they were in the middle of a big multimedia assignment (they were re-scripting and filming their own version of a scene from Macbeth.) As I pulled out a Flip to try out, I kept saying to myself "If they can do it, so can I!" They inspire me everyday to keep learning new things, and applying what I learn to new situations. We're all having a lot of fun that way! I shot more film over the weekend, and I'm going to work on editing that this week - we'll see how that turns out....
Ruth Shasteen

Reluctant Media Participant

I am a twenty-eight year old person who had the internet in high school, video games as a child, and e-mail as a college student and yet I find that rather than being pulled into the vast worlds that are available in the internet age I have resisted a large online presence. This is my first participation in a blog. I am not on Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter. I have never played a Sims game or loaded a video onto YouTube, however I have been challenged to think about the ways that media literacy can effectively be taught in the classroom and how libraries can support this instruction. I looked at some of the elements that I felt could fit a variety of media platforms as a way of bridging the gap between my lack of media experience with the task of working with students in this very realm.

Some of the characteristics that Jenkins attributes to the informal learning that accompanies participation in popular culture is the experimental and innovative aspects. There is a lot of space for exploration and participation that is not always encouraged in traditional classrooms. This asset to media literacy allows for a lot of trial and error and risks without the drama of a failed test. The participants are challenged to question the very core of the game and to take chances with their understandings and expectations. As a best practice for cultivating media literacy, this freedom in the exploration should be encouraged and celebrated.

Another aspect of media literacy education is knowing the student population. Will the students have the equipment and access to effectively carry out a media-based assignment? Does the school have the resources to support an aggressively media centered educational initiative? I worked in a school where students struggled to supply their own pencils, paper and an adequate lunch, so media education will need to be creatively implemented during class time or with the school's computer lab. Jenkins examines the challenges of students who have their primary media experience in the classroom. These students rely on the teacher or other students to learn skills that others students have already learned at home. The educator must be carefully navigate the wide range of skill levels and acknowledge the different levels have more to do with experience than effort.

An important aspect of media literacy and the educational practices that support it is the critical examination of sources. Marlee Asselin in her article entitled "Towards a Transformative Pedagogy for School Libraries 2.0" encourages educators to cultivate student's ability to deeply and critically evaluate information by asking the questions of "what is credible?" and "who decides?" She remarks that many times students' information is found by a quick Google search and then scanning the first search option listed. Students need to be aware that these items found in search results have various levels of commercialism, credibility, and relevance to their intended topic. A huge part of best practices for media literacy is teaching students how to identify and evaluate the information that is presented. As internet resources continue to expand both in quantity and quality, Jenkins argues that new sources will make huge strides in credibility. For example, Wikipedia has been found to be roughly as accurate as Encyclopedia Britannica, but lacks the same credibility as the established resource. Renee Hobbs in her article in the American Behavioral Scientist also identified critical maturity and self-confidence when judging texts as a tool that can be applied to media education on a world wide scale. As students continue to be bombarded with texts, images, videos, and audio files they must learn to identify the sources and biases within the information in order to effectively navigate a media saturated world.

Once students have the skills to critically evaluate information, the possibilities and benefits of networking and negotiation in an online environment will be even more apparent. Jenkins defines networking as the ability to "sample and distill multiple, independent perspectives" (Jenkins 2006, 51) as well as the ability to navigate social networking sites in an effective manner. These spaces offer a place for students to share their work with a community and allows the community to respond to the student's ideas. Both aspects of networking are used in this process as the student must wade through multiple perspectives and share their ideals in a social environment.

All in all, the writings of Jenkins, Hobbs, and Asselin have identified skills that students need in order to effectively navigate the media world. Best practices for media literacy should include activities that allow students the freedom to experiment, innovate, and critically examine texts so that they will be able to fully participate in the changing landscape of the public life.

Aussie Internet Filter

Although I realize our discussion on internet fair use and censorship is a couple weeks away, an article caught my eye this week in the Associated Press: US concerned by Australian Internet filter plan. It talks about Australia’s plan to impose a countrywide filter on the internet that would exclude websites containing child pornography, sexual violence and criminal drug use. The filter would be constantly updated based on recommendations and public complaints. Numerous companies (such as Google and Yahoo) as well as the U.S. government have voiced their concern over this action that could become law later this year if the Australian Parliament approves it.

The idea of a national filter imposed by a democratic government shocked me when I initially heard the story. But as I began to think about it, I realized that we are not far from this standard, especially when it comes down to America’s public institutions. Although we have weeks dedicated to the reading of banned books, many schools and libraries think nothing of filtering the internet. Schools and libraries often have internet filters in order to prevent students and patrons from accessing “unsavory” webpages and information. However, even with the most positive of intentions, these filters often block users from accessing information that may not be so heinous. The issue I find with internet filters is that often the first intention often snowballs, so that once one keyword or site is blocked, it is much easier to continue the process. In the elementary district where I work, the filters originally started by blocking sites with profanity, nudity and sex. I’m sure that it stemmed from a desire to shield our youth from images and words that were deemed beyond their maturity level. However, in recent years, the district began filtering many web 2.0 sites including Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. While its true that some of these sites may contain questionable content, the main reason that these sites were blocked was because they were seen as “timewasters.” It seems to me that once censorship starts, it is difficult to contain it.

While I don’t deny that child pornography, sexual violence and criminal drug use should be condemned, is it right to censor and filter our link to the web? It would seem to me that if websites are breaking the law by posting such things that the authors of these pages would be prosecuted and the sites shut down anyway. I realize that with the complexity and vastness of the internet, that policing the World Wide Web cannot be an efficient task. Perhaps it is much easier to simply block keywords across the board. However, the easiest path is not always the most logical one. What are we truly teaching kids when we block their searches at school? Is it simply to just wait until they get home and retry on an unblocked and unsupervised computer? If we as educators and librarians do not get the chance to teach our patrons and students proper use, who will?

I will most certainly be following this story, because it will truly have huge ramifications for the democratic world if legislation passes. I also hope that as the U.S. government stands ready to condemn this action that they in turn take a look at what our public institutions already have in practice. Perhaps it is time that we take a look inward.

Comics and Game-Related Collection Development and Programming Resources for Librarians

A few resources to get you started....Remember to look back on our class notes slides on Moodle for links to other relevant sites.

Comics-Related

Mike Lavin at the University of Buffalo has a great starting point for information about comics. Here you can find resources to broaden your understanding of the history of comics as well as links to best-selling comics and reviews for librarians.

The Cooperative Children's Book Center at the University of Wisconsin also maintains a comics-related resource page that lists articles, links to review sites, and names titles useful for collection development.

If you're interested in more historically-focused information on comics, you can't beat the New York Public Library's Comic Books Research Guide.

Games-Related

Although it was included in the readings for gaming, Scott Nicholson's Games in Libraries links to useful information on all aspects of gaming.

It's brief, but this Library Journal blog post offers a good rationale for collecting and programming with games in libraries.

Check out this New York school library system's game library website for a rationale, ties to learning standards, and more.

--Carol