CHI submission abstract

CHI submission abstract education grounded in media cultural medium shifting to digital, destabilizes spatial/power relations schools struggle to define their space in this medium      School as an institution of spatial control (Scott, Foucault) default reaction is to ignore, or try business as usual (control)

We propose a new model for how schools might interact with technologically-mediated spaces over which they have little control: Recruit them as learning spaces by supporting students in developing powerful roles and identities.        This is grounded in the literature of of the social construction of space,      and the spatial (social construction) of learning opportunities       -> This is what progressive education for the twenty-first century looks like. 

A case study: We developed a mobile app to distribute student journalism with the      the school already has a powerful print student journalism presence.  Why journalism?      Powerful roles and identities in digital medium:           As editors, readers, critics, political beings.  Why mobile?       As an affluent school, most of the students have mobile phones. They spend most of the day at least somewhat technologically-mediated. 

Findings:      My fieldwork, supported by Ed Madison.       One important feature students wanted was connecting readers with authors, suggesting new story ideas.            Authorization of journalisms, advocates for student voice.       publications excited about the prospect.       App results:  Results:       Methodology and theory for informal learning environments will be increasingly important in designing and studying schools.       Because students’ roles are essentially active in constructing the learning space, Youth participatory action research as methodology:       Power of computational literacies as mediators of space and learning. (In contrast to the “dumb pipe” model of lots of ed-tech.) Because students have an active role.       In fact, progressive educators whose goals include student self-actualization, empowerment, and voice must engage with comptuational media, as 

*** It has to be more about what’s delivered than what’s possible. 

Who could review?

Antero Garcia? Andrea DiSessa? Kylie Peppler

So what’s the result of this? 

Digital Media as Learning Spaces: Helping Schools Support Active Learner Roles and Identities

Schools today exist in technologically-mediated spaces; the site of a school is partly physical and partly online. Schools often find digital spaces such as social media threatening, as they cannot be easily supervised or controlled. Guided by sociocultural learning theory, which emphasizes the active role of learners in constructing spaces where learning can take place, we propose a new model for how schools might interact with technologically-mediated spaces: schools might recruit them as learning spaces by supporting students in developing powerful roles and identities. In a participatory design-based experiment, we worked with a team of high-school students to design and develop a mobile application to distribute a school’s existing student journalism content and to foster reader engagement. In a field study, we found that the app supports students in roles such as