New Media as a Resource for Transforming Civic Learning Contexts

Session Submission Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium will engage the audience in dialogue about how changes in the American cultural context--where new media (e.g. internet, SNS, networked games, blogs) is becoming ubiquitous--may transform our understanding of how to create desirable civic learning contexts. The symposium includes theoretical, qualitative and quantitative studies of civic learning contexts. Each paper focuses on a different context (online, informal, and formal) and aspect of the relationship between new media and civic learning environments. A leading scholar from democratic education and youth civic development will tie these findings to the broader context of research and practice in supporting youth civic engagement. Audience members will engage in small group discussions about the implications of study findings for their work.

Sub Unit

• Division G - Social Context of Education / Section 1: Local Contexts of Teaching and Learning

Chair

• Ellen Middaugh, Mills College

Papers

• Service and Activism in the Digital Age: Supporting Youth Engagement in Public Life - Ellen Middaugh, Mills College; Joseph E. Kahne, Mills College

• New Media, New Practices, and New Communities in Youth Organizing - Jerusha Osberg Conner, Villanova University

• Building Community Online: Opportunities, Challenges, and the Role of Schools - Katie Davis, University of Washington

• Inform, Perform, Transform: Amplifying Urban Youth Civic Agency Through Mobile Media and Game Play - Antero Garcia, Colorado State University

Discussant

• Joel Westheimer, University of Ottawa