Engaged Pedagogy: The "Come to Voice" Project

• In Event: Interactive Media & Emerging Technologies & Service Learning & Community Engagement Divisions - Top Paper Presentations
  In Paper Competition: Service-Learning & Community Engagement Research Presentation

Abstract

Responsible social media usage and digital literacy for tweens and teens is often touted by educators and politicians as a must-have part of their education. Digital literacy means having
the skills you need to live, learn, and work in a society where communication and access to
information is increasingly reliant on digital communication technologies. Our “Come to Voice” project aims to teach elementary, middle and high school students the theory and skills needed for self-advocacy using mediated platforms. When professors spend all of their time in the classroom without engaging their community at large, we are not truly putting into practice the theories and skills that we have developed over the course of our time researching, writing and teaching. To actively engage with and be an agent of change in our community is to practice “engaged pedagogy.”

Authors

• Jennifer Bailey Woodard, Middle Tennessee State University

• Ken Blake, Middle Tennessee State University