I’m
eager to share the success and hurdles I’ve experienced using technology in new
ways this semester. I am experimenting with social media as a teaching tool in
my Critical Thinking & Writing through Literature class. While launching
this social media element was daunting to me, I was impressed with the
successes reported from other institutions, as well as our own Lynn Sally.
Most of
my class readings and resources explore how great writers across time use
literary devices and insight to speak out as critics of corrupted leadership
and narrow thinking. That is a tall order for any student, and quite a new practice
for many of our students. As this is a course I regularly teach, I am always keen
to explore how the delivery of content and expectations for engagement radically
shape the depth of critical inquiry around a topic or reading.
This is
best illustrated through our “Signature Assignment” (self-directed learning
project), which focuses on social justice issues. In the past, these culminated
in class discussion and PowerPoint presentations.
I have grown
more and more frustrated with the “dead-end” feeling of this presentation format.
For all of their great probing and creation of meaningful testimonies to
individuals who are boldly “speaking truth to power,” the final product was
limited to those in the room and a PowerPoint file… now collecting dust at the
bottom of my desk drawer. This format fanned their inspirations only to become
yet another project that died at the classroom door.
Enter
Social Media. This spring term, for our Truth to Power projects, students
- chose
one individual or small group that they think played a significant part in
2011/2012 in helping to “re-write” how we think about power, institutions of
power and inequality
- used
Bloom’s Taxonomy- Levels of Learner Knowledge to fuel their critical inquiry.
- were
required to use Twitter to engage with class material outside of class and
gradually to engage with their topic
through Twitter.
The
final for this project was a multimedia analysis of their projects distributed
back into the world via another social media, i.e. YouTube, Blog, Storify,
Tumblr, Prezi, Paper.li, etc.
Resistance
was strong at the beginning, as students could not grasp the relevance of the
social media component and/or were intimidated by the new online platforms. But
truly, in week 4, when 15 students posted on Twitter their deep reflections to
our Plato reading, my jaw dropped with a “holy shizzle, this works.” Of course,
our next class session was totally radicalized by the dynamic on-line feed that
proceeded our meeting.
The most
incredible shift, however, came just this week, when students presented their
published analysis of their topics to the class. Not only were we already
invested in one another’s topics, but the testimonies were beautifully crafted,
the writing was (mostly) very strong, and the class was amazingly empowered by
becoming directly involved with a movement because of their online publication.
(In fact, tears were shed.)
Here are
links to two projects:
(This work was made accessible to
general public by the students)
They got
it. They got that the potential impact of their writing is powerful, that it
creates ripple effects around the world and can influence someone (or a
movement) without them even knowing. They are taking new-found responsibility
for their writing. Never before in my
teaching have I seen my students grasp the immediacy and far-reaching impact of
their writing and language so well.
Here is
one success story of a course- students-
being transformed by paying attention to relevance of course material, pushing
comfort levels, bridging unforeseen connections and building peer community
outside of the classroom. In an email today, a student wrote:
I
found the Signature Assignment to be an eye opening experience. After I fully
understood what the project was about, I realized how this assignment was truly
innovative. Never did I think Twitter would be an integral part of my
college studies. I especially enjoyed using social media at the completion of
the project by sharing with the online community. It was interesting to
research a group who was making a change in the world. During the time of the
Arab Spring, I followed the coverage and thought I fully understood its
purpose. Little did I know what was shown on television was a one-sided
filtered agenda of what was happening. Your project exposed me to a grassroots revolution
from the ground up. It brought to my awareness that true change can really
happen if one is determined enough to speak up and speak out. And it is a sign
of our times that social media can facilitate the mission statement of any
cause. This class component enriched my learning experience and I'm sure it
will do the same for future students.
I will be
updating this assignment by
- giving
more directed prompts for Twitter posts
- giving
more demonstrations for using Bloom’s for guiding critical inquiry
- assigning
project benchmarks that link directly to in-class learning objectives
- share
examples of past student publications to help make a rather abstract assignment
more concrete and inspiring
I’d love
to hear any feedback and suggestions for moving forward!
Parker
Pracjek, Academic Coordinator, Learning Enhancement Center
