For me this is a complex issue. As the beginning of chapter 7 in Rewired states “ In times past, parents and teachers could easily identify the “Pied Piper” who is influencing their children” Maybe 50 years ago this was the case... But 50 years ago life was also radically different in many ways, it is not just the issue digital media (which came first, the chicken or the egg?”)
So I have a response on several levels. First off..... If kids are not in touch with themselves and know what really matters to them in the first place, if they have no grounding in solid relationship with adults and peer support, they are going to be easy targets for this onslaught of digital bombardment (be it on a screen, newspaper, magazine, billboard etc) More information will get in, they will succumb before they ever get a chance to know themselves...
As a teacher, I feel part of my responsibility is to devise lessons which also foster a sense of self. Art is of course a perfect place to do this but I also integrate this idea deeply into Literature assignments as well.
Page 151 Rewired “To be media literate today means to have the ability to access, understand,synthesize and analyze media and its messages.” I agree with this idea and would further extend that to apply it to all of life and learning prior to and following media. It is a skill that should be incorporated into most learning situations ... And if done so there can easily be extended in media.
The amount of research that goes into Micro targeting kids made me ill! Scientific stalking? Is that even legal? There is nothing child centered in any of this, its all about greed with no thought of the fall out... children. The video just made me feel even more adamant that there is less and less place for electronics in the classroom unless kids have gone through a strict digital literacy class. Really, after watching the videos, I felt like I was in some version of 1984 with big brother programing society through thought advertising (Programing).... Actually.... That might be an interesting literature unit which could also tie into an art unit......
Another concern of course is in the authenticity of information found on the internet. Teaching kids how to research and discern real information from biased or even lies is a challenge. It might be interesting to give kids a research topic and have them all go home (or possibly in the class if there are not too many security blocks on the search engines) and find ten sites on a common topic, cite something from each (recording the website etc.....) then bring that back in and compare and contrast and have them do an more in depth study of extreme answers.... Follow the trail of bread crumbs so to speak to illustrate the vast array of various opinions online. What is fact? What is fiction? What are biased opinions?? How can you tell one from another etc. (In the art room they could google an art movement might be “googled” as a topic, thus tying in research about something in art while also making it a lesson on how to validate information (I am thinking middle to high school here...).
It blows my mind that a site written by non experts is rated 17th for user research while a site with Nobel prize winners and experts is ranked 5,128. It is really only a UGC site.
In the Brooks and Young reading, two things stuck out for me. Some of this relates really to having my own teenager and tweener. The online disinhibition struck a cord. The anonymity and sense of invisibility I think allows even the good intended kids to take risks with images and posts that would not normally do in person. This concerns me.
More than that is the example of the high school student holding the red cup. Photos posted online are ripe for misinterpretations. I would like to see a class in which students actually bring in photos they have posted on line and have the class interpret them (VTS style.. Now that would be interesting) Kids do not have the perspective to understand that perception is in the eye and experience of the beholder. This of course also applies to how they interpret things... AS they learn to see how they see and interpret literal images directly related to them, then moving on to marketed images would be a logical and powerful next lesson. IF THEY SEE how it connects to them, they will care. They are on the first wave of this digital world, riding it crashing into shore. As they become adults, hopefully they can look back and be more mindful and guide the next generation responsibly.
I agree we as educators (art or otherwise... and as parents) need to teach this generation how to deeply see into digital media. We as adults (standing on shore if I want to keep with my wave metaphor) need to also be able to recognize this.
I love that the digital literacy combines multiple modalities and layers ideas and meaning for communication. Isn't that what art has always been about? If they can understand what they create then they can read it too. A valuable skill in a world where image is all around. (Circling like sharks!)
Amy, I like what you had to say about devising lessons "which also foster a sense of self". I agree that students that do not have a good foundation will grasp at things to create a false sense of security or worthiness.
ReplyDeleteI do think we can teach them how to find their own and how to build on it by teaching them the tools of being active discerning viewers and questioners. VTS is a perfect start that can lead into deconstruction of adds and a lesson where they reconstruct their own empowered adds that speak for them not to them.
Amy, I love your idea how to teach students the authenticity of information on the internet. Your lesson idea will give a good opportunity for students to deeply think and realize how the information could be different from each other or modified and changed by certain writers.
ReplyDelete