Revisions by Debate: Classroom Learning

• In Event: Millennium Hotel Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: Understanding Youth Engagement in Digital Media Production Within and Across Complex Learning Environments

Abstract

Setting. This dual-credit English-Social Studies combined class for 12th graders is offered in a large high school. The English teacher was committed to critical literacy and required students to challenge the status quo through exploring relevant and personally meaningful issues; and then create digital texts that issued a call to action to audiences beyond the classroom.
The semester-long class centered around three summative projects. These inquiry-based projects involved research (traditional academic, local on-the-ground), multi-genre writing (journalistic, historic/descriptive, persuasive, creative), and technology (digital photography, audio, video production).

Data Sources. From September 2015 – February 2016, fifteen observations were completed resulting in 135+ pages of field notes and ASOPs; interviews and student artifacts were also collected. Students completed the PSES three times, once at the end of each project, for a total of 101 completed surveys. Three YPQAs provided data on the characteristics of the setting and student engagement. Forty-two students and two teachers participated, with eight students and one teacher as focal participants.

Results. Students were highly engaged with digital media creation as a central feature that included extensive opportunities for collaboration, an equitable but dynamic division of labor, and purposes for learning that were meaningful in that they were related to the students’ identities/experiences. Technology afforded a means of addressing complex social problems, as well as generating intertextual connections through critical media analysis. Digital productions became part of a larger community dialogue through public screening of films, and postings on local online news and social media platforms. We highlight the interactions of one film group who a shared a sense of mission about their documentary topic. Their sometimes intense, combative approach to problem solving indicated deep investment in the project, and collective support of one group member (Lamar). Their willingness to challenge each other was a sign of respect in the process and product of filmmaking.

Authors

• Anne Crampton, Saint Olaf College

• Debra Ingram, University of Minnesota

• Cynthia J. Lewis, University of Minnesota