Using disruptive technologies to make digital connections: stories of media use and digital
literacy in secondary classrooms
Shanedra D. Nowell
This article reported on a study that explored classroom and digital teacherstudent interactions
at a large, urban high school. The main question that drove the study was, How do secondary
teachers and students utilize disruptive technologies and for what purpose? The study revealed
ways that teachers and students employed social media, mobile phones, and other technologies to
teach essential life skills, including digital literacy, strengthen relationships between teachers and
students, and open new digital learning spaces. Although mobile phones and Web 2.0 tools have
been labeled as disruptive to the learning process and even banned from schools altogether, many
secondary teachers have chosen to ignore this technology ban and incorporate these digital tools
into their classroom lessons because of their students dependency on the technology (Prewett &
Stein 2014).
Ever since the introduction of computers into schools, researchers have shared concerns over
technologys influence and control over the classroom. Digital classrooms have opened
additional access points for students to connect with classroom curriculum by eliminating
traditional school time and space areas. As well, relationships between teachers and students
have also changed as students expertise has often outpaced their teachers.
The theory of Media Uses and Gratifications was first proposed by Elihu Katz in 1959 to
challenge media researchers to consider what people do with media (Prewett & Stein 2014).
Researchers have focused on how social media fulfills teenagers needs to socialize, form, and
maintain relationships with others, seek out information, be entertained, escape from everyday
life, and create new identities (Prewett & Stein 2014). Teenagers also use their mobile devices to
get advice on school or life issues. Linking the theory of media uses and gratification to this
Media literacy, an essential twenty-first century skill, involves skills to access, analyze, evaluate
and create all types of media. Media users are defined as active participants, choosing specific
media technologies in order to complete particular tasks or to receive certain benefits or
gratification (Prewett & Stein 2014). While todays young people are prolific media consumers,
it is up to educators, parents and other adult role models to insure that they become media
literate. Schools bear the responsibility to teach students the skills to live in a networked
society (Prewett & Stein 2014). Of course, teachers must first become media literate themselves
before gaining the ability to teach these new literacies. Educators today are challenged with
presenting new skills which include editing or revising information found online, determining if
online information is credible, publishing with a variety of multimedia tools, researching and
storing information online and effectively collaborating with others.
The study took place at Alexander Graham Bell High School, a large urban magnet school that
serves 1200 students in grades 9 through 12. Around half the student body is EuropeanAmerican, with another 25% African-American, approximately 10% each Native American and
Hispanic-American, and less than 5% are Asian descent. Half of Bell Highs students were
eligible for free or reduced lunch (Prewett & Stein 2014). This teacher research study examined
both teachers and students concerns over media and digital literacies, the digital divide, and
digital teacherstudent relationships. Participants were selected from both the student and teacher
population at the high school. Three veteran teachers, who were also involved with on-campus
Artifacts, such as screen images from classroom websites and student Facebook pages,
interviews, and focus groups were also used as data for this study. Beginning with the student
focus group, the participants were asked about personal technology use, their online
relationships, their understanding of digital literacies, how they felt about traditional teacher
student relationships, and how to build better online relationships with teachers. Individual
interviews with the three teacher participants gathered information about educational technology
use within the classroom, personal technology use, and classroom and online relationships with
students. Each teacher participant then completed a follow-up interview, and two of the three
teachers also participated in a focus group where they shared their online classroom practices, as
well as ideas of how to utilize disruptive technology.
One of the main findings from this research study was how students struggled with connecting
their personal media use to their experiences with technology within their educational lives. The
study showed how the teachers and students of Bell High School used computers, social media,
mobile phones, and other technologies as learning tools, and what gratifications resulted from the
use of these technologies. These findings demonstrated the importance the participants placed on
digital technology and its emerging role in the educational lives of teachers and students. All of
the participants used one or more online social media sites, Facebook being the one in common
among all of them. All three teachers used either educational or popular online social networks
in order to extend classroom learning and relationships beyond the school.
The teacher participants in this research study were concerned over students access to
technology and observed many differences within the student population at Bell High School.
Teachers saw these disconnections and responded by using their teacherstudent relationship to
communicate content and digital literacy skills. The student participants did not notice this,
however, they did notice the general lack of technology within the school as a disadvantage for
all of Bells students.
I thought the study displayed some good valid points about teachers and students combining their
digital skills so everyone benefits. It brings to light again the importance of teachers setting
guidelines in the classroom so students use their devices effectively and not to just tweet away
during class time. At this time, I don't have any suggestions for improving the study, maybe just
widen the circle of students to reflect what an impact this could have if teachers and students
worked effectively together to bring technology to the forefront of the classroom.
In conclusion, this article examined how a small group of social studies teachers in an urban high
school employed mobile phones and different social media sites to build relationships, extend
classroom learning online, take on the digital divide and teach twenty-first century literacies and
other life skills. They saw the importance of continued teacher training and curriculum
development. What is unclear is what type of training and materials are needed going forward
and how easy will it be for teachers to incorporate these materials into the different subject areas.
When I do a search for lesson ideas using visual media there is not a lot of information out there.
The research also pointed out that teachers would benefit from better access to primary media
that could serve as teaching tools, more secondary materials that facilitate the integration of
media literacy education across the curriculum, and more teacher training. This study also
I learned from this study that both teachers and students must continue to work together and
teachers must be open to having their students teach them digital skills they may not otherwise
know about. My third graders are always telling me about new Apps I should look at. I do look at
them and some I have even asked them to show me how they work and then have them teach
their peers. Digital literacy and twenty-first century skills call on educators to not only include
digital technology, but teach students to think about its role in their educational and personal
lives. Media scholars could work hand in hand with teachers and schools to develop curriculum
materials that could be used to teach media in the classroom and to educate and train degree
seeking teachers, as well as those who are already in the classroom.
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I thought this was an interesting study as this is something younger students can do quite easily
and by giving them the power to photograph and discuss their images, we are teaching them the
critical thinking skills that are so necessary for the future. The author stated that it might also be
valuable to document and analyze parent-child conversations dealing with photography. I agree
this would be additional information to see what types of conversations the parents were having
with their child and how better critical thinking questions could be designed based on these
conversations. It would again be a matter of asking the types of questions that would invoke
critical thinking, the "how" and "why" questions that don't have a straight response. Something
as simple as taking photographs can invoke a variety of visual media lesson ideas that can be
easily implemented in the classroom. Teachers can design rubrics to determine content learned.
Students could take the photographs to the next level and design a documentary based on their
images. I am going to try and do a similar activity, designing it for 8-9 year olds. The sharing of
images with their peers and other adults and having discussions about the various images and
why they chose to photograph those images could be a great critical thinking activity.
Explore Locally, Excel Digitally: A Participatory Learning After-school Program for Enriching
Citizenship On- and Offline
Laurel J. Felt, Ioana Literat, Ritesh Mehta, Vanessa Vartabedian
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This paper discussed an after-school pilot program at the Los Angeles Unified School Districts
Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools. The unequal access to digital tools has long been
regarded as the main issue troubling the digital world. The participation gap, or the unequal
access to opportunities, experiences, skills, and knowledge that will prepare youth for full
participation in the world of tomorrow are missing from education today (Felt, Literat, Mehta,
Vartabedian 2012). Closing this digital divide will depend less on technology and more on
providing the skills and content that is most beneficial to students today. It is not enough to
simply having all the bells and whistles of technology. One needs to know how to leverage it as
well. Providing avenues for the practice of cultural competencies and social skills facilitates
young peoples rich exploration, meaningful discovery, and innovative contribution to their
communities both today and tomorrow (Felt, Literat, Mehta,Vartabedian 2012).
The study was based around a framework, called PLAY! which stands for Participatory Learning
and You! A student's ecosystem is based around both classroom interactions with teachers and
other learners as well as after-school, home and on-line (Felt, Literat, Mehta, Vartabedian 2012).
Participatory culture is distinguished by its relatively low barriers to artistic expression and
civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing ones creations, and some type of
informal mentorship whereby knowledge is passed on (Felt, Literat, Mehta, & Vartabedian
2012). The 4 Cs of Participation include developing original work or adding value to existing
work; participating in knowledge exchange; collaboration and connecting with others that share
common interests. Challenges to bridging the participation gap include limited opportunity
during the day for students to engage in skills and content. Another challenge was accessing
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Participants had the opportunity to consider community issues and digital practices, as well as
produce individual digital portfolios illustrating their understandings of skills and practices
related to digital citizenship, for which they would earn a Certificate of Excellence in Digital
Citizenship. From their experiences the research team hoped that the participants would develop
greater proficiency in digital tool use, new media literacies (NML), social and emotional learning
skills, and ethical thinking skills (Felt, Literat, Mehta, & Vartabedian 2012).
The participants in the after-school program learned to work with a diverse toolbox of digital
media hardware, software, and applications. The students demonstrated mastery of cameras, iPod
Touches, PCs, and Macs, and learned how to shoot and upload photos and video footage to create
complex multimedia projects. They also interacted with applications such as Twitter, Tumblr,
VoiceThread, YouTube, CameraZoom, Stickybits, Hipstamatic, Google Maps, and Google Earth
(Felt, Literat, Mehta, & Vartabedian 2012). To showcase their work, they created presentations in
Prezi and through augmented reality. The participants practiced negotiation through collaboration
and group projects and understanding of digital footprint. Visualization of the program included
photographing tangible objects that represented social barriers and constructed layered maps to
visualize the relationships between places and people whose thoughts and beliefs were divided.
Through team activities and digital projects, self-awareness was explored in relation to social
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Reflection:
Before I took this course, I did not know all that media literacy entailed. I think I use many of the
concepts surrounding media literacy, but the realm of critical thinking had not fully come into
play. I now understand that teaching through media literacy education strategies provides the
opportunity to make media literacy central to teaching and learning, since media literacy process
skills enable students to become self-directed lifelong learners, capable of addressing any
subject. The more I searched articles, the more intrigued I have become to find ways to really
impart ways to give students a real voice in their projects. I even joined NAMLE to stay abreast
of current information and continue to reach out and connect with others who are interested in
this topic as well. From reading these articles, I can see the benefits of using media literacy in the
classroom from digital citizenship, critical thinking, creativity to collaboration to name a few.
These are all skills children can benefit and transfer these skills to the workplace when ready.
As teachers, helping young students develop their media literacy should be the goal of teachers,
parents, researchers, administrators and policymakers. We should work together to make it easier
for young people to navigate the ever-changing media landscape. Media literacy should continue
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References:
Felt, Laurel, Vanessa Vartabedian, Ioana Literat, and Ritesh Mehta. "Explore Locally, Excel
Digitally: A Participatory Learning After-school Program for Enriching Citizenship On- and Of
Ine." Journal of Media Literacy Education 43.3 (2012): 1-16. Web.
Friedman, Arielle. "Three-Year-Old Photographers: Educational and Parental Mediation as a
Basis for Visual Literacy via Digital Photography in Early Childhood." Journal of Media
Literacy Education 8.1 (2016): 15-31. Web.
Nowell, Shanedra D. "Using Disruptive Technologies to Make Digital Connections: Stories of
Media Use and Digital Literacy in Secondary Classrooms." Educational Media International
51.2 (2014): 109-23. Web.
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