Social Change through Youth Media

In a previous post, I talked about critical media literacy skills because I wanted to highlight how students need to learn such skills in our digital world in order to empower themselves and to encourage social change. In this post, I discussed how I’m learning to incorporate technology into my teaching because technology already infuses all aspects of our lives. Technology is a powerful tool that can do much more than teach students about math or history. In fact, Goodman (2003) discusses this idea in more detail in his article Dreams and Nightmares: A Case Study of Video in the Classroom. Essentially, Goodman looks at how video productions and video viewings in the classroom can offer students different ways of connecting with social problems and can even changes the way in which students view certain issues. The articles describes a case study in which a documentary was shown to students and then used as inspiration to create a community media project. Engaging in such activities allowed students to explore and reflect on the topic on a deeper level, and yet there still wasn’t enough time to fully delve into the issue because this was a case study and not something that is regularly implemented into the school curriculum. Goodman explains that media literacy skills need time to develop but once they do, students will be better equipped to produce social change in their communities. There are so many skills to develop when it comes to media literacy, and so Goodman advocates for the incorporation of media education in all classrooms. This can empower students and get them involved in social issues. Goodman’s ideas relate to the ideas of Erstad (2002) and Share (2011) on the importance of teaching students critical media literacy skills, which I highlighted in my previous post on such skills.

In order to put into practice the skills that Goodman talks about, I had the chance to create my own Public Service Announcement Video (PSA) with a few colleagues of mine in my Media and Technology course. We decided to base our PSA on the importance of doing good deeds and helping others in times of need. We wanted to create something that we could potentially use in a classroom. As Goodman (2003) mentions, video productions can be part of community based projects, and I think our PSA can help students build a sense of community in the classroom because they would be encouraged to help each other out and to act respectfully towards everyone. Although we didn’t have much time to plan this video, it was really exciting to be creative and talk about an issue that we think is important but that children i

n all levels of elementary school could understand. The filming process went pretty well and we managed to shoot everything fairly quickly. It was only when it came time to transfer the videos from our smartphones to our laptops that our process was slowed down. With technology, there are always technical steps that one must be familiar with in order to produce the final work. I would use this video to model to students how to create a PSA and to teach about the issue of being helpful community members. Indeed, this exercise made me reflect upon how I would ask students to create their own videos. As a learner in high school, I had to create videos from time to time and I was always allowed to be as creative as possible. However, these assignments were not given in the context of a media class, so we didn’t receive any instruction in using various types of technology to produce films. This made the project more challenging in unnecessary ways, in my opinion. Therefore, I would definitely keep in mind the technical aspects of creating such a project with my students, as they can present themselves as obstacles to overcome.

When planning to create media projects with my students, I think it’s important to give them time to plan out what they want to do and to allow them to be creative. Next, it’s essential to teach students to use video production technologies, especially because I know what it’s like to not have that aspect of the project addressed in the classroom. In addition, I would spend some time going over the technical aspects of using the technology, like filming, transferring videos, editing, formatting, publishing, etc. Although this may seem like it’s not directly related to traditional education, they are still skills that students need to know if they wish to continue experimenting with technology in the future.

The exercise of creating a teaching tool in the form of a video and then reflecting upon it has led me to develop in two professional competencies. First, because I’ve been thinking about integrating some kind of video production technology into the classroom, I think this touches upon Professional Competency 8. I’m learning how to develop teaching situations that are inspired from a certain technology and then thinking about how that technology can benefit my students the most. In another sense, I feel I’ve developed ProfessionalCompetency 9 because of the subject matter of the PSA my team and I created. Essentially, the PSA encourages community learning and building for my students, but I think such a video could lead to a project that would involved other community partners, such as school staff, parents, and others outside of the direct school environment.

One of my goals is to learn more about filmmaking in order to introduce more students to this art. I know there are many tools and softwares available to create films, such as Popcorn, iMovie, Windows Movie Maker, but I would like to familiarize myself with them. When I used iMovie this semester for a couple projects, it was a really interesting process and I quite enjoyed it. That being said, I think it’s important to be comfortable using different technologies if I plan on introducing filmmaking into my classroom.

Goodman, S. (2003). Dreams and nightmares: A case study of video in a classroom. In Goodman, S. Teaching youth media: A critical guide to literacy, video production and social change. New York, NY: Teachers College

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