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This paper presents a curious case study of a teacher in an informal media literacy learning environment who worked with a group of 9-year olds in Philadelphia. Using a mix of direct observation, interviews with the teacher and students, videotapes of classroom activity, examination of documents created by the students, as well as lesson plans and reflective writing produced by the teacher, this paper documents the experience of a novice teacher who, flummoxed by an accidental encounter between her students and a homeless person, transformed an uncomfortable the experience into a teachable moment. Children’s questions about homelessness became the organizing frame for the learning experience, as the instructor helped children make sense of information on the Internet, analyze popular culture films and news media, and conduct interviews with community leaders and advocates for the homeless. The inquiry process resulted in a collaboratively-produced multimedia project, created by children. The project included a 14-page nonfiction comic book, created with a digital camera and simple multimedia production software, that was shared with their families, civic leaders, and the school community. This paper demonstrates how teacher openness to unpredictability plus a high level of strategic risk-taking enable the construction of powerful learning experiences in work with city children. The case study has implications for pre-teacher education for digital and media literacy, including the function of support systems including in-school mentoring, reflective writing and peer-teacher support groups as they may promote the development of openness to unpredictability and strategic risk taking, which are conceptualized as a set of socio-emotional and experiential competencies that teachers need when using digital media in an urban community as a tool for learning.
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Serendipitous Urban Encounters and Strategic Risk Taking in Informal Learning with
Digital Media Literacy
Renee HobbsHarrington School of Communication and Media
University of Rhode Island
International Communication Association, May 28, 2011
A university-school partnership program designed to strengthen children’s ability to think for themselves, communicate effectively, and use their powerful voices to contribute to the quality of life in their families, their schools, their communities, and the world.
By taking photographs, maps, making drawings and audio-recordings, children learn how to create media messages that express their views and experiences, examining cultural life by studying the complex and multivalenced relationships that are part of urban life.
Requires a well-structured activity with a clear audience and purpose
Requires some creative & independent thinking from learnersRequires careful monitoring of small groupsRequires the use of media & technology
Both teachers and school leaders have concerns about mayhem and loss of control that may interfere with digital media projects (Hofer & Swan, 2006).
“unpredictable” and “exhausting”
Not clearly linked to standardsNot easy to assess student learning outcomesNot text-basedChildren are not sitting down at desks
Why?
Why? A pedagogy of listening activates the search for meaning and understanding in the various social and physical environments of everyday life.
Listening to children’s theories enables educators to discover how children think, how they develop a relationship with reality, and how they begin to question it.
--Carla Rinaldi, Reggio Emilia early childhood education expert
Research Composition
Feedback & Revision Distribution
Children did not use the Internet to gather information independently. Instead, the instructor selected child-appropriate content about homelessness for children to read, view and discuss.
Empowerment and Protection are Embedded in Strategic Risk-Taking
Children learned that homelessness occurs when people lack jobs, housing, and health care, when they are victims of domestic violence, or have problems with alcoholism, substance abuse, or mental illness.
Implications for Teaching and Learning Digital Media Literacy
Create an experiential learning environment Provide an appropriate balance of structure and freedom in learning activities
Be alert to unexpected and ambiguous moments Promote an atmosphere of trust and respect where learners feel comfortable asking all kinds of questions
Structure an inquiry on a topic unfamiliar to the instructor and model research practices with learners
Balance empowerment and protection with sensitivity to the developmental needs of learners
Engagement Promotes Civic Action
The pedagogy of listening enables children to discover the rush of delight that occurs when they experience the world, using the city and community as inspiration for authentic learning, civic engagement and communicative action.
Serendipitous Urban Encounters and Strategic Risk Taking in Informal Learning with
Digital Media Literacy
Renee HobbsHarrington School of Communication and Media
University of Rhode Island
Email: [email protected]: reneehobbs
