Christy's+First+Exposition+Paper

Exposition Paper #1 Our course social network site

Participatory Culture: Let's Give it a Try There has recently been an initiative in education to help create and guide twenty-first-century learners who will be capable of doing twenty-first-century jobs. In the business world Tim O’Reilly coined the term, “Web 2.0” to refer to how the value of new networks depends not on the hardware or the content, but on the participation of large-scale social communities, who become invested in collecting and annotating data for other users (Jenkins, 2006). It is obvious that the cooperate world is interested in how technological innovations will allow companies to collect user information that will lead to increased profits for the company. In the world of public school education, there is no profit at stake, but something more valuable, the quality of the education of the students. Brown and Adler took the idea of “Web 2.0”, and changed it from accessing information to accessing other people. They created “Learning 2.0”, explaining how people can participate in social networking sites, blogs, wikis, and virtual communities to share ideas and collaborate in innovative ways (Knobel & Lankshear, 2010). However, even though there is an accessible place to participate and share ideas, it is not always that easy for students, teachers, and schools to get there.

Some of the major challenges that stand in the way of creating successful twenty-first-century classrooms are that not all teachers are twenty-first-century educators, many administrators are not interested in giving the proper support, and there is no clear identification of what should be taught in order to meet the needs of these new learners. In the business word it is simple, teach employees to do whatever is going to lead to making the largest profit. In education, people’s beliefs of what makes a quality education are always changing, and there are always different ideas to follow, with the goal always being to try to do what will be best for the students. The theorists differ in their beliefs of the necessary skills that the students must have and the type of teaching that should take place in schools today. Some experts believe that practical technology skills are where the focus should be. Some believe that students should be taught information literacy skills, and others believe that teachers should prepare students to be active learners who fully participate in the acquisition of knowledge and skills. Is there time during the school year to teach all of these skills and the standard curriculum? If there is not enough time, which is more important? Should teachers focus on what they should tell students to think about or teach them how to think?

When a teacher plans lessons the methods, strategies, and activities chosen usually focus on how to present and work with information in order for the students to be able to produce the desired outcome, which has traditionally been to score well on a test. Recently the focus has turned to planning methods, strategies, and activities in order to help the students use what they have learned to produce something. Although the desired outcome has changed, the process is still very similar. If teachers want to engage their students in activities that they will see as meaningful, rather than just a means to an end, then the way teachers structure their classroom and plan their lessons will need to change, and in order for this to be allowed to happen, it will take the support of the school administration.

Through metacognition individuals think about thinking. Thinking goes on in classrooms everyday, but teachers and students rarely talk about what thinking needs to take place. Teachers often say, “Think about this…”, but the students are never taught how to do it. Is it possible to teach someone how to think, or is it something that an individual needs to find out how to do on his own? If it is a teacher’s responsibility to teach students how to think, then how do teachers figure out how to do it?

If teachers begin units of study by putting an emphasis on the process of thinking and learning, rather than on what the students will be able to know at the end of the unit, the outcome would turn out very different. Maybe the students would not learn as many facts, but maybe they would wind up knowing other things. Maybe they would have a better understanding of why the topic was studied or why it is important to know the information, rather than just knowing the facts themselves. If teachers are going to focus on thinking skills and move students toward more active participation in their own learning, then how should they do it? Some believe that the key to acquiring knowledge is participation in a collaborative environment where the focus is on the production of information rather than on the consumption of it.

The way people think is shaped by what goes on around them. Our decisions and actions may be interpreted differently according to the context of the community we live in or the time period in which we live. Chris Shamburg makes a comparison between the advent of the Digital Age and the effects of the printing press. He says that both time periods mark a radical shift in the skills, thoughts, mental schemas, and world views (Shamburg, 2008). The printing press allowed the written word to be spread throughout the world and provided people with information that they had never had access to before. The Digital Age has done the exact same thing. Information can be sent across the world in seconds and ideas can be shared just as quickly.

For students the opportunity to access information is endless. Many students spend countless hours online and others cannot leave home without their smartphone. Today’s students have grown up with high-speed Internet access, interactive videogame systems, webcams, iPhones and every other technology you can possibly image. Who has taught them how to use these technologies? Was it their parents or their teachers? Was it both? The answer is that it was probably neither. Most students have figured out how to use these technologies independently, and many may have even done so with the help of strangers. How is that possible? The answer is simple. We live in the information age and you can find out anything you want to know. You just need to know where to go and who to ask.

If students can learn everything that they need to online, then why do we still have school? That answer is easy too. Students need to learn how to access information, how to process it, how to evaluate it, and how to use it. That is where teachers come in. In order to produce well-rounded, digitally literate students, teachers need to embrace the technology that is available. They also need to accept that all students learn in different ways, and that maybe it is time to start introducing new types of more effective learning strategies into the curriculum.

Many adults, teenagers, and children value what others think. Regardless of whether or not someone is right or wrong it is important to understand how someone can be influenced by what someone else has to say. How do we decide what is right? How do we decide what something means? How do we decide what is important? Answers may vary. It depends on who you ask. When it comes to the information you learn in school, who is always right? The teacher of course, and where do the teachers get all of the answers from? The textbooks, and who writes the textbooks? The experts, and who made them experts? Good question. Is someone an expert because they read and write a lot of books? Probably, but does that mean that someone who has not published a book could not be considered an expert on a topic? In the past there were probably many unpublished experts because it was very time-consuming and costly to publish your work. That is not the case anymore. New technologies have emerged that give everyone with basic hardware and software the opportunity to be published and be the experts; even our students.

Should today’s schools be filled with classrooms where students are encouraged to create and share knowledge? Should teachers lead students into online communities where they can interact with the “real experts” and support their own beliefs and creations with supporting evidence and background information? Should teachers promote student involvement in the participatory culture that creates knowledge and proposes new ideas? Of course they should. However, is it possible in an average American school? Not really.

Henry Jenkins states that a participatory culture is a culture with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement. A participatory culture includes a strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices (Jenkins, 2006). That sounds like an excellent way to learn, from others who have more experience. That is the way it is supposed to be done, right? Teachers have more experience so students sit in a classroom and listen to what teachers have to say. Unfortunately, although many teachers were able to learn this way, today’s students need more. They need to be engaged. They need to work with information and with other people to solve problems, complete tasks, and create meaningful work.

Cooperative learning is accepted in and encouraged in traditional classrooms. The idea is that you learn about ninety-five percent of what you teach to someone else, so students should work together and teach each other what they know in order to share information and improve their own learning (Sousa, 2001). Working together in classroom is an acceptable form of learning, so why not take it one step further and expand beyond the classroom to the entire world?

There are many ways to be a part of a participatory culture. Whether you sample music, create podcasts, enjoy photoshopping, or make mahcinima, you are engaged in a practice that relies on others to critique your work and provide you with feedback. Participants believe that their contributions matter and feel a social connection with one another, even though they may have never even met. They care about what others think about what they have created (Jenkins, 2006), so they tend to do their best to create good work. One of the greatest achievements in participating is increasing self-confidence. It takes a lot to put your work “out there” for all, including experts, to read, critiques, and criticize. James Paul Gee believes that participatory activities contain opportunities for learning, creative expression, civic engagement, political empowerment, and economic advancement. School curriculums support these concepts so these new participatory cultures represent ideal learning environments.

Gee asks why people learn more, participate more actively, and engage more deeply with popular culture than they do with the contents of their textbooks (Jenkins, 2006). Maybe it is because you are able to participate in various ways according to your skills and interests. However, there are rules to participation. You must follow the ethical standards for using the Internet appropriately and you must participate within the established social context. John Seeley Brown and Richard Adler support this idea. They wrote, “Social learning is based on the premise that our understanding of content is socially constructed through conversations about that content and through grounded interactions, especially with others, around problems or actions” (Knobel & Lankshear, 2010). Like gamers who learn from their constant conversations about a game, students can learn from the discussions that they have with others about what they are learning. This type of social learning fits perfectly with the interests of high school students. Many teens go to school to socialize; learning is secondary. If teachers put the two together, socializing and learning, the educational experience might become more meaningful and enjoyable for everyone.

 There are also negatives involved with schools supporting participatory culture. Often the necessary hardware and software is not available in many schools. Then there is the “participation gap” that represents the idea that not all students have equal access to new media and technologies (Jenkins, 2006). However, when community leaders recognize that their students may be at a disadvantage because of their lack of access to Internet access, like in Philadelphia, they realize that it is up to them to do something about it and decrease the gap. Also the Internet can be very dangerous for students. Students should always be taught to remain anonymous online. There are many adults who surf the Internet looking for young people to prey on. Schools cannot put students in a position where they may come in contact with an online predator or with inappropriate content and this fear of “what could happen” is one of the reasons why many schools have such sensitive filters and why administrators are afraid of allowing too much access to the Internet. In addition, students themselves often ruin the online experience for others by participating in cyber bullying, something that schools should, and do, take very seriously.

Another obstacle to allowing collaborative participation in school is time. There is so much packed into the school curriculum that there is hardly any time available to dedicate toward adding something new, and while New Literacies are important skills for today’s students, teachers still think that they can not take the place of standard course content and activities. According to Gee, g ood video games incorporate good learning principles (Gee, 2007), but that does not mean that schools are going to encourage teachers to start playing video games instead of memorizing key facts. The old is not going to be replaced by the new anytime soon.

If students are most engaged when they feel like what they are doing is not normal “school stuff”, and if they take pride in what they contribute, create, and produce, and if they are becoming “socially, culturally, and pedagogically productive” (Knobel & Lankshear, 2010), then why are schools not willing to at least give the proper attention to incorporating New Literacies and participating in collaborative communities a try.

References  Gardner, H. //Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences//. New York: Basic Books, 1983.

Gee, J. (2007). // Good video games and good learning: Collected essays on video games, learning and literacy. // New York: Peter Lang. Jenkins, H., with R. Purushotma, K. Clinton, M. Weigel, & A. Robison (2006). // Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century //. Occasional Paper. Boston, MA: MIT/MacArthur Foundation.

Knobel, M. and Lankshear, C. (eds.) (2010). //DIY Media: Sharing, Creating and Learning with New Media//. New York: Peter Lang. Shamburg, C. (2008). //English Language Arts: Units for Grades 9-12.// Washington, DC: International Society for Technology in Education. Sousa, D. (2001). //How The Brain Learns. 2nd Edition//. California, Corwin Press, Inc.