top of page

A New Digital [Implementation] Divide?

How can we get quality digital literacy to ALL students?

I recently had the pleasure of reviewing two articles on the challenges associated with bringing meaningful media literacy into our educational practices: David Buckingham's blog post "The Challenge of Youth Media" (2018) and "Video Making, Production Pedagogies and Educational Policy" by Suzanne Smythe, Kelleen Toohey, and Diane Dagenais (2016). Presented here are the Top Implementation Barriers of Media Literacy as discussed in these two articles as well as how they have impacted me as a teacher.

Top 6 Barriers of Media Literacy Implementation

1) Let's Get Real

Digital instruction isn't viewed by all as "real school".

The overarching curriculum frameworks in place in school districts across the country often define the concept of "real literacy as print- and paper-based alphabetic literacy" (Smythe, Toohey, & Dagenis, 2016, p. 742). As a result, there are not typically assessment frameworks for digital literacy that are linked to learning outcomes (2016). Using technology in the classroom for various projects is often seen as something extra rather than something integral. Smythe et al. remarked "until more robust learning goals and resources are established... video making and other production-oriented activities will persist in the realm of 'special projects'" (p. 762) rather than essential to gaining and using valuable critical thinking and literacy skills.

For the most part, I have found this to be true. When working on digital literacy projects, they were often fit in as something "extra" even though we were working on many significant and important literacy components. If we can make digital literacy an integral part of our core curriculum concepts, this attitude has the potential to change.

2) Let's (Re)-Mix it Up

We need a new definition of literacy.

Even though "Digital technologies, and video making in particular, are contexts for the cultivation and valuing of multimodal literacies and new forms of meaning making and expression so important in people's everyday lives" (Smythe, Toohey, & Dagenis, 2016, p. 743), literacy is still viewed as traditional paper and pencil reading and writing work. Those students who struggle with this form of literacy, are often labeled as being at risk or of being a struggling learner. If people are boxed into one of these labels, they are often not given "access to digital technologies until they have reached proficiency in 'alphabetic print literacy'" (p. 762).

So, wait, that means students who are struggling with the traditional definitions of literacy rarely, if ever, are given access to the non-traditional tools of media and digital literacy. And thus, we perpetuate the digital divide or the gap between those who have access to the tools that will bring their critical thinking skills and their ability to engage successfully with the flood of media they are exposed to every day to a meaningful, productive, equitable, level.

Because we are still working with more traditional definitions for literacy, they are not seen as crucial learning outcomes and goals until they have been met. If we truly want to provide our students with the critical thinking skills they will need for the future, we have to change how we define their literacy because meeting those traditional goals was always put first by the school districts and curriculum materials where I have worked.

3) Laptop, Camera...Action!

Schools and other learning environments need access to the proper tools.

The digital literacy goals and equipment needed to meet these goals are not regarded as necessary to the goals of "minimum literacy proficiency" (Smythe et al., 2016, p. 762) in other words- existing educational structures don't see how access to technology is truly necessary if students don't have the basics of traditional literacy. Often the technology purchased for use in our schools is shared by an unrealistic number of classrooms. Using this technology becomes something that educators are more likely to try and "fit it" rather than focus on integrating with core learning goals.

But doesn't everyone have a smartphone these days?

Yes, and the prevalence of technology we use everyday makes access more feasible, but users still need to learn things like proper interview techniques as well as how "to analyze still and moving images, to construct an edit plan with a compelling story arc or build a well-reasoned argument" (Goodman, as cited by Buckingham, 2018, para. 24).

As a teacher, the school I worked at had 2 Chromebook carts and 2 ipad carts for a population of over 500 students to share. However, even if we had had one Chromebook and one ipad for each student, the wireless wouldn't be able to handle the use. It's not enough to throw money at the problem of technology in our schools by simply adding more hardware, the infrastructure of the networks we will be using needs to be taken into consideration as well. Furthermore, the districts I have worked in didn't always look at the big picture when working to provide more technology for students. Technology is an ever changing beast, sometimes by the time we obtained hardware or software to use, it was considered obsolete. Many times I have been provided with new hardware or software but with no training on how to use it and no one who can help fix it when it breaks down- universal truth- it WILL break down.

4) Change Doesn't Happen with "Business as Usual"

Our learning spaces and time frames need to be restructured.

If we want to implement real change in our media literacy practices and how they are integrated in education, we can't expect real change if we don't radically change what we are doing now. Smythe et al. discuss how "the black/white boards, desks and four walls, clocks and maximum hours...are themselves actants in the production of 'school' and 'print literacy' as usual" (p. 764). They further remark on the need for educational spaces and traditional time schedules to be restructured so as to encourage more collaboration, more experimentation, and the opportunity to really discover new literacies (2016).

Things don't change by staying the same. This was often a mantra of mine as a classroom teacher. The very structure and design of our educational spaces and timeframes needs an overhaul. We have subscribed to the same old same old for too long. As a teacher, I needed my learning spaces and my learning times to be a catalyst for experimentation, discovery, and collaboration with digital literacy concepts. I was still doing too much "sage on the stage" rather than "guide on the side". The times I could schedule exploration in my classroom for whatever concept we were studying were by far the most impactful and valuable.

5) Vocational Training is Not Enough

We need to go beyond placement in vocational education as a way to help students develop stronger media literacy skills.

Within today's educational structures, if students are not demonstrating more traditional, academic strengths, they are often recommended to work programs that offer vocational training within media industries as a way to bolster their media literacy (Buckingham, 2018). Encouraging the development of media literacy shouldn't be taught as a career path for those who are seemingly at risk by today's literacy standards (2018).

Can teaching digital literacy lead to an interest on the part of the student in choosing a career within that field?

Absolutely. But it shouldn't be the main outcome for our students. The most important reason for bolstering media literacy in students should be "Teaching students to be curious, to question, research, tell stories, and speak out about the word around them" (Goodman as cited by Buckingham, 2018, para. 11).

As a fourth grade teacher, the idea of vocational training didn't come up very much for me on a regular basis. However, I could see my students as they went through the district where I worked, being pigeon holed into more vocational type programming. If digital and media literacies and their definitions were truly incorporated into our "real schoolwork", students could have had the chance to shine in a way that traditional school was failing to offer them. Instead, I feel like some of these students were just sent into vocational programming as a way to take care of the problem. Students shouldn't ever be treated as problems that need to be taken care of- they should be treated with true respect for their learning styles and needs and be offered the same learning opportunities as those who are excelling at traditional school structures and values.

6) Let's Honor Their Stories

Student designed documentaries are not focused on in schools as a valuable learning, teaching, and appropriate social action tool.

Documentaries are a way for students to "shine a light on problems of injustice that they and others in their community may experience, and connects them to those who are working to improve conditions" (Goodman as cited by Buckingham, 2018, para. 21). Showing students, especially those deemed "at risk", the true power they can hold when working on mastering their media literacy skills "shifts relations of power so that the youth are the ones posing questions to authorities such as school, a police officer, or a public housing administrator" and often "brings youth perspectives to government hearings where policy is debated" (2018, para. 21). As educators, our central role needs to be to "teach them to make their voices heard through a range of media" and "keep cultivating their critical habits of seeing and questioning the media they produce and the media they consume all around them" (2018, para. 25).

As a teacher, if I had been afforded the time to explore the concept and structure of documentary, this could have been a very powerful tool for students. In addition, documentary would have afforded a rich opportunity to tie in concepts from other subject areas and required learning goals. Documentary would have helped students with the concepts or script writing, research and reliable sources, story planning, persuasive argument, and an appropriate way to present and work through the biggest obstacles they were facing in their lives. In doing so, I would have felt less like "I have to fit x, y, z in and check these boxes". The overarching theme in my classroom instruction could have easily tied into the concept of documentary. Who knows, maybe the problems my students were facing on a day to day basis would have made more people sit up and take notice.

And at the end of the day, isn't THAT what we want our students to feel: they count, they matter, and they have stories to tell?

References:

Buckingham, D. (2018, Nov 23). The challenge of youth media. [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://davidbuckingham.net/2018/11/23/the-challenge-of-youth-media/

Smythe, S., Toohey, K., Dagenais, D. (2016). Video making, production pedagogies, and educational policy. Educational Policy, 30(5) 740 - 770 https://doi.org: 10.1177/0895904814550078

All images: Free from Wix

bottom of page