Catherine Cronin - 'Creating spaces for student voices'

Having connected my students with Catherine Cronin to discuss ideas around digital identity, she asked my students to return the favour and share their ideas about learning in my classroom. They commented on the way they have a voice in the Media Studies classroom. They also discussed the openness of our learning environment and their relationship with me as their 'co-learner', rather than 'teacher'. 

Their comments were included in a presentation that Catherine was giving at #ICTEdu. She wrote up a reflection on the event here, including slides and some feedback on the comments made by my students. 

It was a pleasure to be part of this; I know that my students enjoyed reflecting and sharing their thoughts about the way they learn. Student voice is massively important and I hope that my next group of A2 students will walk away feeling that they had a similar experience. 

Learning in Media @ CCC

After skyping into our classroom, Catherine Cronin asked us to create some artefacts to document how and why learning in Media @ CCC is different to other subjects. What follows are videos and images created and edited by A2 Media Students reflecting on the '3 tenets' that I have tried to foster in their learning:

"Openness ~ Social Media ~ Student Voice/Choice" - Catherine Cronin

This is very much a reflection of the value I place on Independent Learning. The 'leashes' have to come off!

Introduction to Learning in Media @ CCC

Josh on being able to make mistakes:

Alice on equality between learner and teacher:

Alice on using 'social media' to learn and progress:

Danielle on 'openness' and 'student voice':

Lucy on death by PowerPoint:

Hannah on being an independent learner and 'choice':

A2: The Matrix, Social Networks & Self-made Prisons

The Matrix is real but it's not a product of mainstream media. It's self-made, constructed by the public, proliferated by social networks. We are (knowingly) constructing personalised prisons for our minds; our realities essentially giant filter bubbles, made up of ideologies we accept. We are turning ourselves into thoughtless, marketing machines, exploited by the highest bidder.

Sounds scary doesn't it!? However, the more you think about it, the more 'real' it becomes...

During the first week back I want to make a more congruous link between the work we did on 'digital self' and Baudrillard's theories of "hyperreality" explored in 'The Matrix'. 

We'll be looking at, analysing, evlauating and debating the following material. If you've got your essay out of the way, then you may want to get a head start...

Sherry Turkle: Aspect of The Self

Danah Boyd: Incantations for Muggles: The Role of Ubiquitous Web 2.0 Technologies in Everyday Life

Steven Handel: The Dark Sides of Our Digital Self

Christine Rosen: Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism

Pieter Boder: Habermas' heritage: The future of the public sphere in the network society

Cass Sunstein: The Daily We - Is the Internet really a blessing for democracy?

Helen Keegan: The Paradox of Openness: The High Costs of Giving Online

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Thanks go to Catherine Cronin for sharing the material for her 'Social Media Classroom' online.