Engaged Youth » Blogistics: A Digital Civic Learning Module

Blogistics: A Digital Civic Learning Module

August 8th, 2008 at 10:05am Deen Freelon Permalink

If we may depart from our usual theoretical discussions for a moment, let’s have a look at the web-based curriculum profiled in our recent CLO report. This blogging curriculum, entitled Blogistics, is currently available as an interactive Flash presentation. Here are some questions to think about while navigating through it:

What works well and what could be improved upon? How effective is this presentation likely to be overall?
What do you think of format (interactive web-based slideshow) as a delivery vehicle for civic lessons? Might it work better for presenting some learning material than others?

Of course, feel free to comment on any other salient aspect of the presentation.

Entry Filed under: adviser conversations, digital learning skills

4 Comments Add your own

1. Howard Rheingold | August 17th, 2008 at 11:14 am

I love it! Short, effective, to the point, upbeat. I would NOT regard this as a criticism (as in something wrong with this presentation), but as a suggestion for a follow-up: I’d love to see a wide range of young bloggers, their blogs, and the issues they blog about. It always pays to give people who are entering a new medium a big picture of possibilities.

In regard to the format, I see this as a great introduction. I’m not sure whether it is superior to static slideshows for how-to — but people learn in different ways, so a variety of media are never a bad idea, in my opinion.

I’d love to see a tutorial on putting together a presentation like that one, perhaps as a link from the initial presentation.
2. Chris Tugwell | August 18th, 2008 at 6:19 pm

The curriculum is looking great. My only suggestion is to replace the “beta” screen shots with “live” screen shots.

Exciting stuff:)
3. Joe Kahne | August 18th, 2008 at 11:03 pm

This is great. There is lots of useful information in here - and it’s presented in a clear and attractive way. My only thought parallels Howard’s. I’m wondering if it is possible to do more to highlight the exciting possibilities associated with blogs. Is there a way to put a hook at the beginning that might help catch viewer imagination and attention? Could it present some interesting blogs or tell stories of interesting and important things that some youth blogs have accomplished? Could it raise a controversial question about blogs or discuss a controversy associated with a particular blog? Those kinds of things might help motivate interest in the skills and information covered so well in this presentation.

Best,
Joe
4. Eszter Hargittai | October 3rd, 2008 at 5:25 am

[Note that my computer seems to be having problems with audio so I couldn’t hear anything.] This presentation is very visually appealing and even without audio conveys considerable information. As Howard notes above, it’s hard to say what medium works best for whom and it’s likely a good idea to offer different versions of tutorials so that people can find what works best for them.

My one suggestion for a tweak is to include a somewhat more diverse group of pictures under the slide about Teen Bloggers Who Changed the World since the demographic representation currently is not as varied as it could be and I think it may be important for different types of viewers/users to see people similar to them represented on such a slide.