MSTU 4141 by Deahna Grazioli

Participatory Learning

dgrazioli — 2017-02-04 03:41:12 UTC

Does social media always need to be on a global scale? Or, can people post and comment just to find connections and learn ?

Response to the Prompt

nn2388 — 2017-02-06 01:14:35 UTC

Social media, such as Twitter, has the ability to go to a larger scale since it is open to everyone, whereas Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook allow you to keep accounts private. It is up to every individual to decide how wide a net they want to cast with social media. That being said, anything can go viral if enough people share it. Whether you are posting for a small community or a larger one, users should keep in mind that anything that is posted can be seen by a larger audience than was first intended.

Social Media as Cozy Place

jmk2142 — 2017-02-07 00:50:29 UTC

It probably depends on the context of what you're trying to teach. For example - if you're trying to get people to understand something that requires larger social "data" it'd be hard to do so without going large/global. Interestingly, the opposite is kind of true too. If you're interested in investigating a rare space you might have to reach outward just to find some case that matches.

But I do think that for many things - the meanings generated by one's immediate peers can be both appropriate and valuable. Like, the "Brave" example you had. I think something like that works wonderfully in the constrained space of limited scale.

Participatory Culture

panalee — 2017-02-07 07:16:27 UTC

In this video Henry Jenkins discusses Participatory Culture and how it can be utilized to help democracy.
"I'm deeply enthusiastic about the stuff that is happening outside of school, but if we leave it there and we create feral children of the internet...the idea of 'let them be, they'll learn on their own', I think leaves a lot of kids behind." -Henry Jenkins
Do you agree with this quote? Why or why not?

“Successful” participatory learning?

vl2353 — 2017-02-07 19:19:56 UTC

As a result of watching the Jenkin’s video, I’m now wrestling with this question, “When does participatory learning become more (or un/successful)?” Can participatory learning be as simple as having a discussion on a topic where all students engage (as we are all doing currently) and that’s it, or does “real” participatory learning require application in order to yield “this” or “that” kind of result. It’s interesting that Jenkin’s video is titled Participatory Culture and not learning. Merriam-Webster’s definition of culture (2) is the act of developing the intellectual and moral faculties especially by education. Hmmm….

But to add to the discussion of what is participatory learning, I think to me it’s when students actively apply what they are learning outside the classroom whether or not it will result in big policy or society change (because we can’t control results). In turn, I think it’s something to be said when students are able to impact society by using what they have learned (read), even if it’s an overarching theme in a fictional story like Harry Potter. (Thanks Pana for mentioning the Harry Potter Alliance. How did I not hear about this before?!?!)

Participatory Learning

jf2832 — 2017-02-08 02:53:49 UTC

So there is a bit of a debate about who said this first.. Benjamin Franklin or Confucius.. lol..
But anyways, this is what participatory learning means to me...

Participatory Learning(My View)

kan2132 — 2017-02-08 14:21:40 UTC

When i think about participatory learning, what first comes to my mind is group works. It reminds me of the days when we would be allowed to form groups in class, each group comes up with ideas then we share, discuss and or debate. There were times when it involved bigger communities, like different schools coming together as groups, to participate in educational activities and experiments. When things like that happened, different groups were able to realize their strength and weakness more easily and work on areas where we need more development. While it felt like the groups were learning together, we as individuals were also learning indirectly. Participatory learning also makes learning a bit easier because each community or group will be assigned a portion of the assignment so it eases the amount of work thus enforcing more thorough research and creating effective learning. Social media has now come to make it a bit more global, where it can now involve communities from any part of the world. The connection social media unleashes when it comes to participatory learning is a broader audience and a wider range of contributions from different cultures.
@kwamenanaatoo

Participatory Learning

gm2703 — 2017-02-08 14:41:23 UTC

I try to use a lot of participatory learning tools when working with students and adults. Nearpod is a favorite of mine. Any tool that allows for richer discussion and increased engagement can be very helpful. Sharing ideas, and thoughts and being able to include media I find to be most impactful.

Emerging Theme

jmk2142 — 2017-02-08 16:37:19 UTC

Whether we're talking about decisions about the scale of social media use, the tool to use, the purposes to embed - I'm noticing that a lot of discussion is centering around choices we need to make as teachers. And I suppose related to this: what kind of choices do we want our students to grapple with?

Participatory Learning on YouTube

akf2124 — 2017-02-08 18:11:49 UTC

Chau (2010) reports "teenagers visit YouTube to be entertained (79 percent), pass time (71 percent), watch videos (61 percent), see what others are talking about (56 percent), and follow up recommendations from friends (53 percent)" (p. 66), and Chau (2010) discusses how most teens "still prefer to participate at the periphery" (p. 68). Young YouTube users appear to be passively consuming the creations of others, and YouTube appears to be valued most as an entertainment center rather than a learning tool. Chau (2010) argues that YouTube is participatory because users can leave feedback that leads to the creation of new content, but its ability to inspire "full-fledged" participation is limited. Is leaving comments/inspiring the creations of others participatory enough? Could YouTube move beyond its position as the "new TV" and inspire more teens to contribute original content as they do on other social media platforms (for example, Instagram)?

I wonder what forces inspire teens to move from the sidelines to a higher level of participation/creation. One of the main reasons I use YouTube is to learn how to do new things, but this never really inspires me to create my own original content since the skill I learned is new, and I don't ever feel I have any expertise to lend. I feel that having a certain level of expertise might encourage one to produce an original video, and expertise might be something that young adults think they lack.