Posts filed under 'civic learning goals'
CLO has just released a new short report outlining an evaluative framework for civic curricula based on the learning categories developed in our previous report, Young Citizens and Civic Learning. Here is the abstract:
This report introduces the work of the Civic Learning Online Project in developing digital media learning tools. The need for identifying specific online learning goals and opportunities is discussed first. This is followed by the introduction of an online curriculum unit, Blogging in Public, which is evaluated in terms of the civic learning opportunities it offers.
After perusing this report, we would appreciate your input on the following questions, as well as any general feedback:
- Do you see any major categories of civic learning which our evaluative framework would exclude? If so, what?
- Do you think civic practitioners are likely to find our framework useful? What can we do to make it more useful for them?
Entry Filed under: adviser conversations, civic learning goals, participatory media
August 8th, 2008 at 10:01am
Deen Freelon
Permalink
Lance Bennett (Civic Learning Online project director) discusses the citizen identity shift and implications for civic learning in on and offline environments. If social identities and learning preferences are changing among digital natives, shouldn’t we rethink how young people are introduced to civic life?
It seems clear that teens are motivated by participatory media cultures, and this includes politics. The volume of multimedia production in the Obama campaign is just one indicator of how public life can become more vital for young citizens when they are involved in creating and sharing media content. Yet civic education in most schools remains largely a textbook exercise aimed at individual evaluation based on conventional knowledge standards. Few students have the opportunity to work in teams, interact with local communities, or communicate their experiences using digital media that capture their imagination. Outside of schools, online communities offer great potential for engaging the creative energies of young people. However, few of those environments are built on any recognized standards about civic learning or civic communication skill sets that users can take away. It is time to rethink skills and learning standards appropriate for digital natives so that practitioners and youth workers can reach larger youth populations beyond those who already bring the requisite skills and motivation with them. Bennett’s report A Generational Shift in Citizen Identity opens this conversation.
Entry Filed under: civic learning goals, digital learning skills
May 18th, 2008 at 11:30am
Lance Bennett
Permalink
When discussing how digital media can best support civic engagement among youth, it is important to distinguish between the technical capacities necessary to navigate and manipulate various forms of digital media and the civic skills that allow young people to connect with shared issues. Howard Rheingold offers a helpful starting point with his digital skills curriculum, which attempts to demonstrate how technology can serve as an attractive vehicle for what he calls “public voice.” Public voice, as distinct from private voice, comprises all communicative acts that seek to “inform publics, advocate positions, contest claims, and organize action around issues that [young people] truly care about” (Rheingold, 2008). Positioning public voice within the context of digital media harnesses the latter as a tool to teach young people about the former. Because this specific form of communication does not come naturally to most youth, learning it is presumed to require some direct instruction.
We on the CLO team believe that Howard’s approach shows much promise, but wonder if many of its recommendations are more suited for college students than for teens in high school. For example, might the concept of a “public” be too subtle for some teens to grasp, particularly if said public does not immediately emerge to respond to their attempts to address it? Further, given the undifferentiated epistemological landscape of the internet, in which Google results place paranoid cranks shoulder to shoulder with accredited experts, might some digital natives experience difficulty in critically analyzing web content? How often are these young people asked to articulate and defend their own opinions? The answers to these questions may recommend that the public voice curriculum be revised somewhat for younger learners.
- How could the public voice curriculum for a high-school age demographic? What is it reasonable for youth of that age to be able to understand and accomplish, civically speaking?
A second question that has arisen for us relates to the long-term sustainability of the skills learned in these types of curricula. Decades of education research has concluded that students retain only a small fraction of what they learn, particularly if the lessons are not practiced. Therefore, we are strongly interested in suggestions regarding ways to ensure that the civic skills we teach “stick,” as it were, as opposed to beginning and ending in the classroom.
- What can be done to ensure that the skills that youth learn in your curriculum become self-sustained habits, rather than one-time lessons?
Entry Filed under: adviser conversations, civic learning goals, digital learning skills
April 24th, 2008 at 05:13pm
Deen Freelon
Permalink
Considerable research suggests that while schools are still a major predictor of civic engagement, youth do not gain nearly the civic skills we might hope from their experiences at school. Scholars point to a number of reasons for this:
- Recent trends in education policy have reduced the time devoted to arts, music, and civic education, in favor of math, reading, and assessment.
- A lack of resources often prevents schools from offering programs that enable youth to develop and work on their own civic and political concerns and connect classroom learning with extracurricular activities.
- A disconnect in citizenship styles has schools emphasizing a duty-based style of citizenship to young people who are much more accustomed to using expression tools to craft individual identities.
- Political pressures lead many teachers and school administrators to limit political discussions and debates, despite evidence suggesting that open classroom and school atmospheres greatly enhance civic learning and engagement.
If young people are not developing civic skills at school, are they doing so elsewhere in their lives? An important question is what role online activities may play in civic learning for the millions of young people online—but most young people only occasionally pursue civic information and activities online, preferring to devote their time to social networking, gaming, and entertainment.
This produces something of a Catch-22: when they offer civic skills, most schools emphasize traditional modes of interacting with government and politics, and they present it in a dry manner. The online world is much more attractive to young people, but only occasionally offers civic learning opportunities.
This situation has us at the CCCE thinking about the potential of the new world of online youth engagement projects, especially as we prepare Puget Sound Off for its upcoming launch. The overarching question we ask ourselves is:
Can online projects create spaces for civic learning that engage young people?
And, more concretely: What functions and features should an online environment have to both hold the attention of young citizens and foster the development of important civic skills?
Entry Filed under: adviser conversations, civic learning goals, digital learning skills
April 24th, 2008 at 04:11pm
Chris Wells
Permalink
As most know, this quarter we have 10 very talented undergraduates who are spending time working on the PSO through the CCCE. For the past two weeks, they have been learning about the theory behind PSO and other projects. As of Monday, they will begin analyzing the curriculum created by the YMCA and creating more of the curriculum modules that Chris Tugwell sketched out. We also want to give them a fairly solid preview of the other things they will be doing this quarter, so I would appreciate feedback and suggestions on what their role might be. Here are the elements we plan on having them tackle:
1) Understanding the curriculum created by the YMCA, evaluating it in terms of the learning goals, and drafting the curriculum modules that have not been written. This will include standardizing the modules and creating some good PSO-specific templates.
2) Another task will be devising ways for the PSO to fit into the programs in which other interns are working, including Aki Kurose Middle School and the City Year programs. The main task here will be working with the students from Aki to find ways to use PSO in combination with the Project Citizen curriculum.
3) Another task that makes sense for this group is marketing for the PSO. (There are several students interested in marketing.) Some materials we plan to have them create are: Powerpoints for presentations to both potential partner organizations and groups of youth; a plan and materials for advertising over Facebook, Myspace, etc.; and a set of ‘alternative’ materials such as videos and podcasts for the PSO site and the web.
4) Finally, the task that will require more thinking out is how the BC interns might take a lead on establishing the youth management process for PSO, perhaps by becoming regional leaders in different Seattle neighborhoods.
We would appreciate any comments on these ideas or suggestions for others. We plan to present a plan for the quarter to the students on Monday.
Entry Filed under: civic learning goals
January 24th, 2008 at 11:00am
Chris Wells
Permalink
I’ve (toby) started this learning goals document that we can use to articulate the learning goals we have for youth involved in the PSO project over the years to come. Please reply to this with any comments or additions.
I would like to urge you all to think conceptually about these goals; this is not a template for curriculum. It’s a way for us to step back and clarify all of the learning goals we have for youth who get involved in the PSO in any way (outside the YMCA program as well as within it) in the years to come. So, don’t worry about the nitty gritty of curriculum construction yet when it comes to these ideas. Let’s just make sure we are all on board with a set of learning goals first. We can get into the nitty gritty of curriculum construction based on these goals after we’ve done this conceptual work; hopefully this will make that step easier down the road.
1. media literacy
- Political Economy of the media (in other words, an analysis of the way media is shaped by economic and political forces - ownership, for example)
- Importance of independent and community media
2. youth voice
- What is it? Why important? How can we cultivate it thru PSO?
- How do you present your voice effectively
3. blogging
- What is it?
- Threaded discussions via comments - how they work
- Etiquette
- How to blog
- How to manage content and online discussions
4. Video
- How to contribute to youth voice through video
- How to make videos
5. Citizen journalism basics
- Why is this kind of journalism important?
- How to do citizen journalism - issues reporting
6. Content Management (editorial curriculum)
- Principles - leadership, content policy
7. Civic Engagement and Organizing
- What is civic engagement
- How can youth get engaged
- Organizing tools workshop
8. Social Networking, Digital Media
- How can these tools be used to bring youth together around topics and issues
Entry Filed under: civic learning goals
October 22nd, 2007 at 12:46pm
Chris Tugwell
Permalink
