Nicole's+First+Exposition+Paper

Nicole Anne Tufano MEDI 521-Design of Innovative Curriculum Resources Dr. Michele Knobel May 24, 2010

Today, more and more people are logging onto the internet as a means of staying connected to each other. People of all ages are joining virtual worlds such as SecondLife and Club Penguin in addition to social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. Most cell phones, not just smart phones, are equipped with apps like Flickr and Twitter. Video game consoles are set to log on so that players can compete with others who are not in their immediate space. People, especially youths, are creating blogs and posting them to blogging sites, creating or remixing videos and sharing them on sites such as YouTube, or podcasting and so on.

All of these activities, sometimes described as “new literacies”, are not just methods of staying connected, but also a means of collaborating with each other and the media with whom they are engaging. The New Media Consortium (2005) claims that “Today’s young people, a group often described as digital natives, have grown up with computers, video games, the Internet and cell phones. Such devices have always been a part of their lives, and these sorts of tools are as natural and familiar to them as radio was to previous generations.” (p.2) These devices are not something that they do, it is something that is enmeshed into many aspects of their lives. Yet when they enter schools they enter a completely different world without these devices to which they have difficulty relating.

New literacies and Web 2.0 give opportunities to users to become a part of the production rather than simply consuming the information that has already been produced. “The users add value rather than being passive recipients and that cooperation is a key feature rather than control.” (Anderson, 2009, p.11) IWeb 2.0 refers to the ability to consume, actively engage with, and contribue or help produce what is on the web as opposed to Web 1.0 which is for pure consumption. In the Web 2.0 settings, users become the producers. Lankshear & Knobel (2006) state that “Production itself is based on ‘leverage’, ‘collective participation’, ‘collaboration’ and distributed expertise and intelligence, much more than on manufacture of finished commodities by individuals and work-teams operating in official production zones and/or drawing on concentrated expertise and intelligence within a shared physical setting.” (p.43) Users are no longer just consumers, but are essentially, the producers who contribute and collaboratively create what is on the web. Flickr is an example of a photo-sharing site that provides opportunities for social interaction. Users become contributors when they share photos. They are collaborating when they comment on photographs posted by others. Expertise can be distributed when comments refer to technical solutions or other kinds of information. “In this way, joining Flickr is not just about becoming part of a community, it is about helping to build that community, adding to its stock of meanings, and contributing to new ways of looking at the world and developing new digital practices.” (Merchant, 2009, p.117) Flickr provides the opportunity for participation and allows the user to determine at what level and to what extent they may want to do so.

Many users are taking part in a “participatory culture” at some point or another. As defined by Jenkins et. al. (2006), “[a] participatory culture is a culture with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, 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. A participatory culture is also one in which members believe their contributions matter, and feel some degree of social connection with one another (at least they care what other people think about what they have created).” For example, users may create a video clip of themselves performing, or make a claymation or stopmotion video and post it on YouTube for others to view. They think that others would like to sit down and watch what they have created and that it will matter to the viewers. Participants engage in a community where there are few, if any, limits and wherein collaborating and distribution is encouraged. Skilled participants pass on their knowledge to novices. The role of the expert and the novice is ever-changing with the times of participation and activities. The producers create these items and feel a social connection with those who view their creations, believing that what they are contributing has meaning and is purposeful.

In their paper, Jenkins, et. al. (2006) discusses four forms of participatory culture: affiliations, expressions, collaborative problem solving and circulations. Affiliation refers to the memberships within online communities such as social networking sites, message boards and the like. For example, one has affiliations with those that they follow on Twitter or those who follow them. Expression includes creating and producing videos, fan fiction writings and digital sampling. This is expression because users are creating thier own interpretation or take on something. Anything we create has a personalized touch to it and so they are expressing their views, feelings and so on. Collaborative problem-solving is when groups of people work together in spaces such as //Wikipedia//, or games spaces publishing cheats & hints. Circulation is the sharing of media through podcasting or blogging.

There are different levels of participation within all areas of this participatory culture, from simply using and consuming to commenting, creating and producing, due to the capabilities of Web 2.0. “Web 2.0 is not a product or piece of information delivered to clients, but a collaborative enterprise that affords agency to producers and users.” (Anderson, 2009, 11) Within social networking sites, users not only design and contribute to their pages, but they may also contribute to each others’ pages by posting links and tagging photos which are then linked to other’s pages. While playing video games, users can create their character and design its strengths and weaknesses. These decisions can ultimately decide how the game will unfold. For example if you create a character with 60% intelligence and 40% strength at times you will often “beat” an enemy with your brain, as opposed to someone with more strength, fighting an enemy through a battle. The way the game unfolds is also designed by the actions and decisions the player makes. In some first-person shooter games you are faced with decisions such as helping a wounded comrade or continuing on and letting them die. The progress of the game is dependent upon your decision. Players can also interact by playing others who are not in their immediate space, and such opponent’s actions will also decide how the game unfolds.

When creating blogs or fanfictions, people are producing and posting to sites. When an “author” of a blog or fanfiction piece posts it online, they are creating something that others can read and also comment on to give feedback to the author. Producers also create videos and podcasts which they can upload and share with others for viewing and comments as well. Also, these videos can also be linked and/or embedded into blogs, social networking sites and the like. Here viewers can consume what is being presented and comment on it or upload to a site of their choice as well.

A more specific example of a participatory culture would be through the use of wikissuch as //Wikipedia//. Wikis and //Wikipedia// allow the possibility for users to work together to create interlinked pages and afford an effective resource through which users can collaborate on similar interests. Users can post information about a given topic. Others can then read and consume the information, collaborate to improve the information provided, or correct misinformation that may have been posted. Wikis such as //Wikipedia// offer a participatory space for learners.

Many researchers believe that these participatory cultures are conducive to learning and create model educational settings. Jenkins (2006) points out that Gee is one of those researchers who believes that people “learn more, participate more actively, engage more deeply with popular culture than they do with the contents of their textbooks.” (2006, p.9) Gee explains this when talking about affinity spaces. He describes an affinity space as a place where people form connections with each other based on shared activities, interests and goals. These affinity spaces allow for a more compelling learning opportunity since they remove the lines drawn between age, class, race, gender, and educational level. People can participate in many different ways, based on their individual skills and interests since experts pass on their knowledge to the novices. These users are motivated to participate so as to gain new skills or increase their existing knowledge. (Jenkins, 2006, p.9) This is contrary to how students are expected to perform and how they are assessed in school. Students are expected to function independently and be assessed on individual performances, using such things as standardized tests and other forms of individual assignments. They are asked to work quietly by themselves and not to “copy” each other. We hear so often about how students are not retaining information and yet they retain all the skills needed to participate within these new media experiences, such as how to embed links within their social networking sites or import pictures, video clips and music into Windows Movie Maker to create and produce a video. It can then be stated that these experiences are more meaningful to its users and that is why they remember these “how-to” skills.

Another way in which people take part in a participatory culture is through playing video games. Gee (2007b) proposes that video games incorporate good learning principles. He argues that in schools, students are taught to learn “facts” which are to be repeated but cannot actually be applied. He states “Children cannot learn in a deep way if they have no opportunities to practice what they are learning. They cannot learn deeply only by being told things outside the context of embodied actions. Yet at the same time, children must be motivated to engage in a good deal of practice if they are to master what is to be learned.” (p.65) In schools, children are taught facts and are given information through the use of textbooks with which they cannot actively engage. They are expected to memorize the information presented to them and recite it on tests. The information is retained only for a short period of time since the students do not actively participate with it in a meaningful way. Over time the information cannot be applied because it was not fully understood to begin with and/or was not retained. Gee (2007b) claims that “one good way to make people look stupid is to ask them to learn and think in terms of words and abstractions that they cannot connect in any useful way to images or situations in their embodied experiences in the world. Unfortunately we regularly do this in schools.” (p. 72) In schools students are not presented with skills, they are presented with information in ways that are not meaningful to them and which they cannot actively engage with.

Jenkins (2006) discusses how there is a “participation gap” among youths. There is “unequal access to the opportunities, experiences, skills, and knowledge that will prepare youth for full participation in the world of tomorrow.” (p.3) Schools are supposed to be preparing students to function in tomorrow’s world with the technology of today and should provide all children with an equal education to all children. At this point, students are not all receiving the same education because not all students are afforded the same experiences with technology due to non-access. Schools should be providing access to new media and new literacies and for the students who have difficulty accessing these technologies outside of schools.

An example of what a participatory culture in a school setting should look like is offered by Merchant (2009) is through the use of edublogging. A Canadian elementary school teacher by the name of Mrs. Cassidy uses free blogging software to connect and expand the learning of her 6 year-old students. The software has the look and feel of a real blog which she used with her students on a project about plants. Within the blog the teacher embedded a video of one of her students explaining the parts of a plant. The teacher and the students are using new literacies to explain their knowledge with a larger community. On the home blog page there are links to other sites, there are links to other teachers’ blogs and hyperlinks to the children’s own blog posts. Within their blog posts, students can describe their work, literacy activities and receive comments from others who have viewed their postings. By using this blog, the teacher is presenting her students work to a larger audience which reaches beyond the classroom and even the local community and provides a connection between the students and their homes, school and society. (p. 111)

Merchant (2009) explains that not only is Mrs. Cassidy using new literacies but her students are part of a participatory culture. “The class’s work is published and public; the teacher is “inviting the world” to participate, and not just as viewers but as producers who leave comments, discuss her work, follow her links and so on. Similarly, her class of 6-year-olds is also involved in producing content for the blog, using the full range of media at their disposal, leaving comments and reactions in their own writing, complete with its un-edited invented spelling.” (p.112) The students are creating and sharing their own product. There is a social connection of their work to others outside their classroom. The students are encouraged to collaborate and share what they have learned.

If we want our students to understand what we are trying to teach them and retain it, we must move away from simply presenting them with information and look at how participatory cultures operate and model the students learning experiences after them. Schools are not operating in the same way that “participatory cultures” do. Schools present lots and lots of words out of context and information which lacks meaningful experiences. Students cannot make sense of what they are receiving. Gee (2007a) believes that this is why textbooks are so ineffective. In video games, players are presented with information “just in time”. This is when a player is given directions or information at exactly the time when they need it and can use it. Students need to be actively engaged and actively participating in schools and presented with information when it’s needed so it will make sense.

In conclusion, schools need to make a shift to a more “participatory culture” approach to education. “As long as formal education remains focused on inculcating children and young people into pre-existing, print-based practices and hierarchically organized forms of knowledge that are somehow to be transferred to individual learners, genuinely participatory approach will be hard to achieve.” (Merchant, 2009, 117) Schools need to move away from teaching from the text and “to the tests”, and take a more participatory approach. After students graduate and go out in the workplace, in most fields, they will be expected to work as a part of a team where they collaborate and share information. Students need to learn how to work in partnerships and should have these types of experiences in schools, in addition to working and being assessed on individual performance. They should be able to engage in peer-to-peer learning which is afforded by participatory cultures. Work places have also become highly technological and students need to be able to multitask and be knowledgeable in this area. Schools need to help close what Jenkins calls the “participation gap”. __ References __

Anderson, N. (2009). Web 2.0 and the impact of ICT fuelled participatory culture in rural and remote education. //Education in Rural Australia//, //19//(3), 11-24.

Gee, J. P. (2007a). //Good video games and good learning: Collected essays on video games, learning and literacy.// New York: Peter Lang.

Gee, J. P. (2007b). //What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy.// New York: Palgrave Macmillian.

Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robison, A., & Weigel, M. (2006). //Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century.// Chicago: The MacArthur Foundation.

Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2006). //New literacies: Everyday practices & classroom learning.// New York: Open University Press.

Merchant, G. (2009). Web 2.0, new literacies, and the idea of learning through participation. // English Teaching: Practice and Critique //, //8//(3), 107-122.

The New Media Consortium (2005). A Global Report: //The Report of the 21st Century Literacy// //Summit. // Retrieved May 18, 2010, from [].