The fourth estate was supposed to keep watch on democracy but somewhere along the way their credibility has been damaged. In our time we have seen the impact that plurality of texts has on peace, order and good governance. News and fake news, trolls and misinformation; these digital expressions are affecting the way young people experience their reality. The turbulent newsfeed of social media churns out fact and fiction and we must ask ourselves if digital natives are up to the task of critical thinking and recognizing bias. Taylor Lorenz from the Atlantic writes “an increasing number of teens are turning to these types of accounts for news, seeing them as more reliable and trustworthy than traditional media” (Teens are Debating the News on Instagram, 2018). While young people’s choice of news source should not be a bother if there is confidence that young people can use skills and tools find truth; or as Stack and Kelly say, “the essential need … is the improvement of the methods and conditions of debate, discussion and persuasion” (Stack & Kelly, 2006). Educators cannot ignore the mission to “offer rigorous media critique and opportunities for media production” (Stack & Kelly, 2006) and the New London Group offers a learning design that can support learners take from the past while building on the future.
The worldwide expansion of the internet in the mid-1990’s lead to a more globalized society. People now had access to a massive data base of human experience, education and entertainment. In 1996 the NLG acknowledge that we are “culturally and linguistically diverse and increasingly globalized societies [with] multifarious cultures that interrelate” (The New London Group, 1996). The NLG hoped to light a spark in the imaginations of educators to address the challenge of a “changing educational environment” (The New London Group, 1996). Since the publishing of A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies our students have quietly and quickly evolved as an experience of traversing the information superhighway. 21st century teachers observe in their classrooms how “the proliferation of communications channels and the media supports and extend cultural and sub-cultural diversity” (The New London Group, 1996). Modern cities are multi-ethnic and include many spiritual traditions. Most citizens have access to the internet and use a wide variety of digital devices as part of day to day experience. Learners attend school with “the expectation of being able to employ their own agency in exploring the world they are to inherit and change” (Duncum, 2014) How can school services meet the learning needs of the diversity of students?
The NLG propose an educational design “which we are both inheritors of patterns and conventions of meaning and at the same time active designers of meaning” (The New London Group, 1996). This design requires skilled use and multimodal experiences in situated practice, overt instruction, critical framing and transformed practice. The nature of instructional design and teaching has changed and teachers must plan and behave like instructional guides in order to support students as they create meaning from experience in order to know. The government goal of public education where I live is to develop the educated citizen who has the skills and competencies to answer any question or solve any problem they feel is important. It certainly is my hope that in this vision of society, schools are creating “sophisticated citizens rather than sophisticated consumers” (Lewis & Jhally, 1998).
References
Duncum, P. (2014, November 16). Youth On YouTube as Smart Swarms. Art Education, pp. 32-36.
Lewis, J., & Jhally, S. (1998). The struggle over media literacy. Journal of Communication, 109-120.
Stack, M., & Kelly, D. M. (2006). The Popular Media, Education, and Resistance. Canadian Journal of Education, 5-26.
Teens are Debating the News on Instagram. (2018, July 26). Retrieved from The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/07/the-instagram-forums-where-teens-go-to-debate-big-issues/566153/
The New London Group. (1996). A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures. Harvard Educational Review, 60-93.
david nelson
August 2, 2018 — 1:16 pm
“sophisticated citizens rather than sophisticated consumers” (Lewis & Jhally, 1998).
Currently, I am sitting in a room with my students participating in a coding workshop using Kano computers. After the first lesson, students defined the difference between consumers of technology and creators of technology. The simplest way to put it is thinking about a sandwich where you have apps on the top piece of bread including Google, Youtube, Fortnite, etc. The end experience, what you can see. The bottom is the binary code that the computer uses. The creator is in the middle and has the ability to understand why something is happening within an app. When you are a creator of technology, you get the why and how and therefore can be more critical of the consumed technology. Being a creator also allows the user to build and improve what already exists.
Comparing this technology sandwich to a media sandwich, the similarities are apparent. Simply being the top slice of bread and consuming media is not enough. More must be done so that biases, accuracy, and truth can be identified. Just like you mention, The New London Group seems to be on a similar path in getting the students to understand what is being posted by encouraging students to create information and media themselves. Problem-solving on their own and finding answers to questions is that middle portion of the sandwich. This sophisticated citizen understands the why and how of media, just like the app consumer who understands the apps.
In one sense, it appears as though this aligns with many of the same principles that constructivist-learning theory is tackling.
Lewis, J., & Jhally, S. (1998). The struggle over media literacy. Journal of Communication, 109-120.
Jo
August 9, 2018 — 12:08 pm
Hi Ken,
“The NLG propose an educational design “which we are both inheritors of patterns and conventions of meaning and at the same time active designers of meaning” (The New London Group, 1996). This design requires skilled use and multimodal experiences in situated practice, overt instruction, critical framing and transformed practice. The nature of instructional design and teaching has changed and teachers must plan and behave like instructional guides in order to support students as they create meaning from experience in order to know.”
I agree with you wholeheartedly that there is a need to think about instructional design and how educators can create meaningful, relevant multimodal experiences for their students. You mention that the government goal where you live is to “develop the educated citizen who has the skills and competencies to answer any question or solve any problem they feel is important” – a necessary skill in our increasingly globalised world. It sounds perfect! But my concern is, how many educators are actually equipped with the right tools to be able to do this?
Those of us who’ve taught and worked in education recognize that teachers identify a need for support in using digital technologies in their teaching, but in my experience, education systems are often slow to change and incorporate new pedagogies, let alone identify needs for teachers to receive the support they need to implement these changes. Not only that, but many teachers are fearful of technology and feel threatened by digital advancements. I understand that teachers in our school system feel many pressures to not only teach but act as administrators, but in my opinion, teachers who cling onto the “old school” methods are doing our students a disservice by not stepping outside of their comfort zone. And this is where my thoughts cross-over somewhat into the other ETEC course I’ve taken this semester (ETEC 565M – mobile technologies) where I looked into the possibilities that AI has in revolutionizing education in the future. My hope is that, as we progress digitally, AI with the use of machine data will augment the teaching experience to new heights, enabling teachers to use their time as “instructional guides” and “learning mentors”, creating meaningful learning experiences for their students. I don’t believe this is a pipe-dream …
Ken
August 16, 2018 — 11:44 am
Hi Jo, thank you for your reply!
I agree that while the theoretical side of instructional design, implementation and assessment is full of promise and aspirations of a learned society however; you are correct in pointing out the chasm between theoretical instructional design and what is happening at the classroom level.
While we learn how to go about implementing a technology upgrade and program there are many schools that are doing so without wisdom or forward thinking leaving teachers to hold onto the fragments of ‘technology’ they worked so hard to get.
I think schools must support their employees in developing tech skills and creating instructional plans to incorporate these skills. Far too many teachers are being expected to do this technology integration alone, or at least, without a pre-determined plan to support them.
Respect,
Ken