Access vs. Participation

Almost all schools in the Western world are wired for Internet service. The quality of that service, its speed, and its overall usefulness due to issues of filtering, scheduling, simple numbers, etc. varies widely; but for the purposes of proud, strutting politicians, kids have access.

I've spent the last two evenings rolling through an occasional paper written by Henry Jenkins which is a challenge to move what has commonly been called "media education" from its 70s and 80s roots towards a base in literacy and giving kids an opportunity to participate in real spaces and with real ideas, allowing them to interact with others globally for authentic purposes.

As Jenkins states early on in the paper:

"A central goal of this report is to shift the focus of the conversation about the digital divide from questions of technological access to those of opportunities to participate and to develop the cultural competencies and social skills needed for full involvement."

This is a deep theme throughout the 72 page paper. The idea that we have moved beyond access to the point where we need to concentrate on participation. He stresses that interaction is a word that we often use to describe the technology, but the ability to actively and constructively participate in online communities and what James Gee has called "affinity spaces" defines a culture of participation,a vital skill set essential for our time. He questions the track record that many schools ahve of closing what he calls the "participation gap of this emerging culture:

"What a person can accomplish with an outdated machine in a public library with mandatory filtering software and no opportunity for storage or transmission pales in comparison to what person can accomplish with a home computer with unfettered Internet access,high bandwidth,and continuous connectivity."

The majority of the paper is spent in exploring the 11 skills he says that are needed to fully take control of participating in this culture:

• "Play— the capacity to experiment with one’s surroundings as a form of problem-solving
  
• Performance— the ability to adopt alternative identities for the purpose of improvisation and discovery
  
• Simulation— the ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real-world processes
  
• Appropriation— the ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content
  
• Multitasking— the ability to scan one’s environment and shift focus as needed to salient details.
  
• Distributed Cognition— the ability to interact meaningfully with tools that expand mental capacities
  
• Collective Intelligence— the ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with  others toward a common goal
  
• Judgment— the ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different information sources
  
• Transmedia Navigation— the ability to follow the flow of stories and information across multiple modalities
  
• Networking— the ability to search for,synthesize,and disseminate information
  
• Negotiation— the ability to travel across diverse communities,discerning and respecting multiple perspectives,and grasping and following alternative norms."

Published as a beginning point of discussion and research on the MacArthur Foundation blog called Spotlight, this paper is worth some of your time as we begin to more fully understand the skills and abilities our kids need to be productive citizens in our time. As Jenkins tells us, we need to look beyond our kids having access to tools (blogs, wikis, etc.) and we need to learn how to use them effectively in our classrooms to support their learning.

UPDATE:
Sorry about the double posting, but I forgot to include a link to a podcast at itconversations.com that is an on stage interview with a group of 17 - 19 year olds about how they use media and what they like to see in their media tools. Interestingly, I don't think the word "school" comes up; except in the context of these students using Google for finding research.

technorati tags:media, macarthur, jenkins, gee, spotlight

Comments

[Chris Harbeck]

As Jenkins tells us, we need to look beyond our kids having access to tools (blogs, wikis, etc.) and we need to learn how to use them effectively in our classrooms to support their learning.

The last part of your post is crucial. When kids start to use these tools as a means to have their voices heard just like paper and pen used to be the medium they will see 2.0's true power. With this power their audience will have a chance to grow and they will push themselves to new heights.

You always make me think.

Thanks

Chris

[Will Richardson]

I've been looking through this white paper as well, Clarence...pretty good stuff. That list compares pretty well with what Daniel Pink is writing, and it really has to be a part of regular learning practice. Yet we're stuck on content. Thanks for continually pushing the pedagogies that will get us to that different place.