CURR 501: Digital Media Literacy

  The Problem In the United States, schools established conformity in young people so that they would become productive members of society, or workers. Learning in this environment requires very specific skills: productivity, organization, order, and compliance. Today, young people cherish their individuality in a society that is rapidly changing, yet schools have remained largely unchanged. Our school system does not reflect or relate to its diverse, complex, and dynamic stakeholders.  In his TED Talk, Sir Ken Robinson states that the US spends more money than most other countries on education, classroom  sizes are smaller,  and there are many initiatives to improve education, yet millions of children are being left behind. He emphasized three principles that help humans to flourish. Diversity, rather than conformity, should be embraced. Curiosity , rather than compliance, drives achievement. Creativity , rather than standardization, allows us to become more flexibl...

For this assignment I read "Math & Media: Students Use Math to Track Media Bias" by Bob Peterson. What the Experts Know:  Over a decade ago, the Fairness in Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), a group based in NY who monitors the media concluded that the front page photos of three major papers unfairly represent different groups of people.  They observed the title pages of these three dailies for a month and recorded their findings as:  30% of the men of color featured on the front page were athletes, and 14% were accused/convicted of crimes. 78%. of articles were based on information provided by government officials Washington Post front page photos 13% were women  All women of color featured were victims of fire, poverty, or drugs. 13% of  quotes came from women New York Times front page photos 11% were women  6% of quotes came from women USA Today front page photos 30% were women (55% of the men were in politics & business, but none of the women featur...

Canva is a digitial design platform that makes it simpler to create aesthetically pleasing visual content like documents, presentations, and social media graphics. The website contains thousands of modifiable templates for the visual content of your choice.  How to Use Canva: 1. Sign up OR Log in **If you start your project before logging in, your work may be deleted. 2. Find the search bar and type in what type of project you're looking for (ex. poster, slideshow, invitation, etc.) 3.  Select the best design for your project.  **Use the filters on the left side to narrow down your options 4. Modify Your Project  ** If you decide that this isn't the right template for you, you can test out others using the "Templates" tab on the left.  ** Click on any text box or object, and then select the color in the top left corner to change the colors on your project.  5. Use the left panel (dark grey), to add photos, text boxes, and other graphics to your project.

I believe that young people learn best when they can relate to and identify themselves in the content. This type of critical thinking requires practice, and my preferred method is storytelling. Like myself, so many of the young people I work with come from cultures where folk lore, oral history, and music has kept our history alive.  I plan to create a website that allows for young people to submit stories about their identities, experiences, families (chosen or not), and communities. Ideally this information would allow for young people to take ownership of how their own stories are remembered, as well as giving them the space to answer questions about themselves that adults don't normally ask them. This would also be an amazing source of data for youth workers, educators, or researchers who do work around youth development and education.  To-Do List:  Create the prompts for voice, written, and video submissions Explore different website building platforms Select a websi...

As a young person from South Providence, I knew the impact of my schools looking uninviting and unsafe, my teachers not understanding or making assumptions about us because of where we lived and what we looked like, and not having the proper resources for our classes. Sugata Mitra demonstrated that young people who lack resources are not inherently less smart, they need access, opportunity, and support. The dialogue around students from neighborhoods like mine tend to be deficit-based conversations, especially when the adults are not from our communities. Psychologists and researchers have studied the impact of stereotype threat on students of color, primarily Black students for years.  " Researcher Gabrielle Rappolt-Schlichtmann describes stereotype threat as “the fear of being judged on the basis of negative stereotypes, and the fear of doing something that would confirm those stereotypes,” which can lead to reduced academic achievement and can affect students’ social-emotional...