1
The New Literacies – Journal Response
By Laura Panopoulos
Quote
“We only have to look at the
impact YouTube and other
digital tools are having on
issues such as the current
American Presidential race to
learn that today’s youth are
using new technologies to
make a statement, lobby for
change and wake people up to
what is happening around
them. We need to move away
from the static social studies
project where each student
picked a country and
“researched” it and give our
learners meaningful tasks built
around their global
consciousness”
(Asselin & Doiron, 2008, 12).
Curricular Connections:
Big Ideas
Career Education 6 & 7 “Our
personal digital identity forms
part of our public identity”
New Media 11 “Digital
citizenship requires both
knowledge of digital
technology and awareness of
its impacts on individuals and
society:
New Media 12 “Digital citizens
have rights and responsibilities
to an increasingly globalized
society.”
Connections
There were many quotes throughout this reading which resonated with me,
however I chose this quote as it is more relevant than ever as we aim to create
active citizens; citizens involved in being part of their community and globally.
Referring to current events from this year, we have had two major global
occurrences which have brought environmental and social issues to the
forefront. I am referring to COVID-19 as collective global pandemic, followed by
the human rights movement of Black Lives Matter moving to where there have
been rallies from Australia to Canada to the UK – to many more, and of course
America.
I studied Media Information and Technoculture at the University of Western
Ontario as one of my majors, the term Web 2.0 was regular day to day jargon
from our lectures to our readings. As the article Towards a Transformative
Pedagogy for School Libraries 2.0 discusses, Web 2.0 technologies allow active
participation (comments) and creation (wikis, blogging). Knowing how to use
these technologies effectively can make a huge difference; let us take Black
Lives Matter as a recent example. On Tuesday 2 June, my Instagram was
covered with black boxes, people aiming to show solidarity by hash-tagging
#blacklivesmatter or #blackouttuesday – unintentionally the black boxes were
hiding critical information. Romano writes in a recent Vox article, “The
showiness of people posting about how they’re not posting anything has served
to derail and obscure actual BLM content through inconsiderate use of the
hashtags.” (Romano 2020)
Trending hashtags, due to Web 2.0 software has become ever-growing in our
lives; even if we do not use twitter or Instagram, when there is a trend that
shows up on Web 2.0, it also shows up in the mainstream media. By keeping up
to date with current events, technologies, and teaching students to be
effectively participating online is more important than ever. I do not just mean
joining a movement, but understanding their words and actions can make a
difference, and that what they publish online will remain with them as a
personal ‘digital’ profile of who they are and how they are perceived.
If students are going to put time, effort, and energy into a project, we should
have them choose a project that will be meaningful in a larger sense. Yes, of
course gaining the knowledge is important, but by having students action this
knowledge provides them the problem-solving skills of figuring out what they
can do with it.
By using current events as examples for our students (depending on their age
level and maturity) they will be able to see in “real-time” how these
technologies can make a statement.
I’m left wondering, how we can teach our younger primary classes (K-5) to be
globally conscious; of course we can read books which are diverse, and show
videos which are age appropriate – but what are some concrete ideas for
getting K-5’s involved in meaningful tasks whether locally or globally?
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References

Asselin, M., & Doiron, R (2008). Towards a Transformative Pedagogy for School Libraries 2.0. School Libraries
Worldwide, 14(2), 1-18.

Romano, A (2020, June 03). #BlackoutTuesday derailed #BlackLivesMatter. A community organizer explains how to
do better. Vox. https://www.vox.com/2020/6/3/21278165/george-floyd-protests-social-media
blackouttuesday-lace-watkins-on-race-interview