digital literacy takes a field trip to a farm
good morning aoir people! i'm always a bit reluctant to post messages about teaching to this list. list members like barry wellman usually respond with a hissy fit, noting how we are the association of internet *researchers*, rather than *teachers* - as if the two aren't totally related. anyways, i'd like to share a post i wrote about a recent four-day field trip my students and i in digital literacy took to an organic farm in humboldt county. for the last few months, we've been focusing on logging on and being creative and collaborative. for this trip, however, we focused on logging off and being creative and collaborative. i tried to gather my reflections, as well as those of my seven students, and posted them here: http://silverinsf.blogspot.com/2008/04/davies-forum-at-stonelake-farm.html i am curious to learn whether other people on this list use exercises that encourage students to log off rather than log on. if so, what do you do and how do you students respond? please share your classroom exercises with the list! david silver http://silverinsf.blogspot.com
I had emailed David privately about a regular assignment of mine and he encouraged me to post the assignment here. It's about media more broadly than just the internet, but raises interesting questions about defining mass media (e.g., what aspects of the internet could be considered "mass media"?), the role of mass media in our everyday lives, and so on. This was originally assigned to my intro to mass media criticism classes, though I have adapted a television specific version for my classes in TV studies. I have yet to try an internet-specific version, though. The first part of the assignment is for them to keep a diary of every encounter with the mass media throughout a week, describing the context and event and reflecting on these. (for some reason students tend to give me lists of ads that they've spotted throughout the week and often ignore other content, like programs, songs, and so on) The second part was called the NO MEDIA WEEK. For one week students are to avoid the mass media (hence the connection to the "Logging Off" thread). It is impossible in this society to do this completely, but for that time students will not listen to the radio, CDs, cassettes, or any other mass media; no TV, movies (in the theater or in DVD players), no newspapers, magazines, or books unless specifically required for class or work. Students are expected to make a good faith effort to abide by these rules for these seven days; if a TV is on, move to another room, same with a radio; have the person listening put on headphones. Do not seek out the media and do not cheat. I will allow students to tape (or DVR) their favorite shows if they cannot live without them, but they can't be viewed until after the week is over. Students then write up a diary reflecting on the week, the times they couldn't avoid mass media, or the times they deliberately cheated. This assignment usually leads to a good discussion of the role of different media in our lives, the definition of mass media (e.g., the internet is not off limits, but one has to be selective in one's uses), and alternatives. I'm always surprised at the creative ways that students find alternatives (going to see a live play or concert, getting friends talking, playing games, and so on) and likewise surprised when some students just can't think of any alternative to consuming the mass media than sleeping. Cheers, Greg Dr. J. Macgregor Wise Associate Professor Department of Communication Studies Arizona State University 4701 West Thunderbird Road Glendale, AZ 85306-4908 (602) 543 6646 (602) 543 6612 (fax) -----Original Message----- [...] i am curious to learn whether other people on this list use exercises that encourage students to log off rather than log on. if so, what do you do and how do you students respond? please share your classroom exercises with the list! david silver http://silverinsf.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
Greg Wise wrote:
... The first part of the assignment is for them to keep a diary of every encounter with the mass media throughout a week,... The second part was called the NO MEDIA WEEK....
You're a hard taskmaster, Greg. I've been doing a similar assignment in my Intro to Mass Media course for quite a few years now, connected with having the students read the first chapter of Bill McKibben's book, The Age of Missing Information. But I only require them to log their media use for three days, and then go just ONE DAY without any mass media at all -- including books, magazines, newspapers, music, TV, radio, 'net, etc. We have an 800 acre campus in a rural area, so it's not hard to send them out into the woods. Most of them are going through iPod withdrawal symptoms within a few hours. An essay is written and much discussion ensues. -- Mark D. Johns, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Communication Studies Luther College, Decorah, Iowa USA http://academic.luther.edu/~johnsmar/ ----------------------------------------------- "Get the facts first. You can distort them later." ---Mark Twain
The main reason I've done it as a full week is then the assignment begins to look at habits of media use across various rhythms of different sorts of days they may have (days when they're mainly in class, days when they're at work, weekends, and so on). And with a week you can begin to address questions of habit and routine. It is a lot to ask, but I think they find it interesting (and a challenge). Cheers, greg -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Mark D. Johns Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 6:07 PM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-L] digital literacy takes a field trip to a farm Greg Wise wrote:
... The first part of the assignment is for them to keep a diary of every encounter with the mass media throughout a week,... The second part was called the NO MEDIA WEEK....
You're a hard taskmaster, Greg. I've been doing a similar assignment in my Intro to Mass Media course for quite a few years now, connected with having the students read the first chapter of Bill McKibben's book, The Age of Missing Information. But I only require them to log their media use for three days, and then go just ONE DAY without any mass media at all -- including books, magazines, newspapers, music, TV, radio, 'net, etc. We have an 800 acre campus in a rural area, so it's not hard to send them out into the woods. Most of them are going through iPod withdrawal symptoms within a few hours. An essay is written and much discussion ensues. -- Mark D. Johns, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Communication Studies Luther College, Decorah, Iowa USA http://academic.luther.edu/~johnsmar/ ----------------------------------------------- "Get the facts first. You can distort them later." ---Mark Twain _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
I think that shocking students with a period of no media or no technology can have its benefits, but I think that those who teach also need to be aware of what message(s) they are trying to send with the exercise. Is the goal mainly to show the level of media/tech use is present in everyday life, or is it to change the media consumption/tech use habits of the students? I am in full support of the former and partial support of the latter. Becoming aware of how much media and technology one experiences in a day (or a week) can be a great learning experience. With regards to changing student habits, I think educators need to be cautious about the value judgment that can occur in such an exercise. There is hardly an objective definition of "too much" media/tech, and thus one should be wary of coming off as chiding students for becoming "too dependent" on technology or "too consumed" with media/tech. All of that having been said, the trip to StoneLake Farm (I was one of the students who attended) was a great middle ground for learning how much media and technology we use in our everyday lives, as well as a lesson on how to decrease some of the unnecessary use. What David left out was that some of the students did indeed check email and use cell phones at the farm. Most of the use was tied directly to responsibilities at home that needed to be attended to, but none of us were outright banned from using the farm's internet cafe. Even the head farmer himself listens to the radio daily and uses craigslist when he needs to. Hell, he even has his own website! What I left the farm with was a desire to use technology and media effectively in my life, not to cut them out altogether. I still blog, I still read message boards, I still have 50+ feeds in my RSS reader, and I still carry my cell phone with me everywhere I go. But I have cut down on some of the more pointless 'net surfing, and I make a point to get out and be tech-free a little more than I used to. Not because that is inherently better than surfing facebook, but because it is better *for me*. By the way, for the prof's who cut off all media use, including the internet, I hope you warn the students or leave loopholes for school-related research. I, for one, would not be able to do any research without access to the internet, if only because our library no longer has a physical card catalog, not to mention that a good portion of our journals are online-only subscriptions. -Sara On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 4:12 PM, Greg Wise <Greg.Wise@asu.edu> wrote:
The main reason I've done it as a full week is then the assignment begins to look at habits of media use across various rhythms of different sorts of days they may have (days when they're mainly in class, days when they're at work, weekends, and so on). And with a week you can begin to address questions of habit and routine.
It is a lot to ask, but I think they find it interesting (and a challenge).
Cheers,
greg
-----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Mark D. Johns Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 6:07 PM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-L] digital literacy takes a field trip to a farm
Greg Wise wrote:
... The first part of the assignment is for them to keep a diary of every encounter with the mass media throughout a week,... The second part was called the NO MEDIA WEEK....
You're a hard taskmaster, Greg. I've been doing a similar assignment in my Intro to Mass Media course for quite a few years now, connected with having the students read the first chapter of Bill McKibben's book, The Age of Missing Information. But I only require them to log their media use for three days, and then go just ONE DAY without any mass media at all -- including books, magazines, newspapers, music, TV, radio, 'net, etc. We have an 800 acre campus in a rural area, so it's not hard to send them out into the woods. Most of them are going through iPod withdrawal symptoms within a few hours. An essay is written and much discussion ensues. -- Mark D. Johns, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Communication Studies Luther College, Decorah, Iowa USA http://academic.luther.edu/~johnsmar/ ----------------------------------------------- "Get the facts first. You can distort them later." ---Mark Twain _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/ _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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participants (4)
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David M Silver -
Greg Wise -
Mark D. Johns -
Sara J. Bocciardi Bassett