Learning Media Skills Through Addressing Local Issues: A Technology-Mediated Community Organization Gives Youth Voice

• In Event: Bright Stars: Technology-Mediated Settings as Pathways for the Engaged Learning of Urban Youth

Abstract

Objective, Background, Significance:

Located at the intersections of adolescents, technology, and learning, this research seeks to understand settings that promote engagement in learning for low-income youth in urban communities. Engagement has been identified as one of the most significant predictors of learning (National Research Council, 2004; Yazzie-Mintz, 2010). Promising evidence indicates that opportunities to create content using technology motivates young people to engage in learning (e.g., Barron, 2010; Hull, Stornaiuolo, & Sahni, 2010). Given persistent achievement and opportunity gaps, there is an urgent need to understand settings that promote engagement in learning for urban youth.

Our research focuses on the three primary settings where youth can acquire pathways for learning (schools, libraries, and community-based organizations), addressing a gap in the literature by comparing features across settings that foster engagement in learning (Erstad, et al., 2009; Shernoff, 2013). How do community-based urban settings position youth as engaged learners through the use of technologies?

Theoretical Frameworks:

This research is grounded in the scholarship of “participatory culture,” Activity Theory (AT), and research on engagement in learning. Scholars view “participatory culture” (Jenkins, 2009; Rheingold, 2012) as key to successful 21st century learning, civic engagement, and communication. Features associated with participatory culture include “relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations, and … informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices” (Jenkins, 2009, p. 3).

Rooted in theories first developed by Vygotsky (1962), AT addresses the elements of human action in context. AT views human activity as goal-oriented and mediated by symbolic and concrete tools that have particular social, cultural, and historical uses within systems of activity (Engestrom, 1999). The elements of activity systems interact in ways that must be understood in order to arrive at a nuanced understanding of engagement as a multi-dimensional (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004), dynamic process with links to learning.

Methods:

A qualitative multi-case study design was employed in three learning settings. Activity system analysis and ethnographic methods were used followed by two stages of case analysis: within-case and cross-case.

Case Description & Findings:

The community-based organization selected is comprised of an intense seven-week internship program during the summer (June-July 2013) that provides teens in grades 9-12 with opportunities to learn technology and impact social change in their communities. During the program, teens learn about local issues and then create documentary videos that are shared in public showcases, on local television, and online. Twelve youth, two youth mentors, and two adult facilitators participated. Five focal youth, one mentor, and one facilitator were interviewed. By the end of the program we observed nine four-hour sessions, three non-required production sessions, and two public showcases. While, data analysis is in process; there are indications that the use of digital media provided youth with ample opportunities to engage in critical thinking and in-depth dialogue regarding community issues important to them.

Authors

• Cassandra Scharber, University of Minnesota

• Cynthia J. Lewis, University of Minnesota

• Kris Isaacson, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Tracey Pyscher, University of Minnesota