In Pursuit of Digital Pedagogy (A VIDL Blog Post) : Citizen Researcher & Digitally Born Pedagogies
If you’ve been following my posts on Citizen Journalism, I want to say THANK YOU! I appreciate you following on my explorations into what for me has been uncharted territory. (New to the series? Click here for Part I , Part II, and Part II).
This post today is certainly connected to my series on Citizen Journalism, which you can find here. However, I wanted to reflect on the final product of this series, which was not just some snazzy infographics/multimedia/video essays. Rather, the final product was something we created collectively at VIDL — the idea of a Citizen Researcher. If you watch the video I created, you hopefully get the general gist of Citizen Researcher. This pedagogical approach is about combining the methods of open-source data collection and engagement of Citizen Journalism with the voluntary and participatory methods of Citizen Journalism. There is obviously a great deal of overlap between these methods so I want to elaborate on how we developed Citizen Researcher, and then consider its use in the classroom.
When I first started conceptualizing these posts on Citizen Journalism, I was in Tel Aviv conducting research during the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict. A few weeks later, I watched as protests erupted in Hong Kong with the Umbrella Movement. I specialize in the history of the modern Middle East, and that past spring I had taught a course on the Arab Spring. A great deal of the course focused on the impact of social media to both spread news, but to also communicate during conflicts. In particular, the course had explored the work of Brown Moses, who now blogs at Bellingcat, on the Syrian conflict. Thinking about all these events and my experiences trying to help my students both understand and empathize with current events, I was increasingly attracted to the idea of trying Citizen Journalism in the classroom.
Though I was not teaching in the fall, I was able to explore the idea as a VIDL graduate fellow. Through our weekly meetings, the VIDL team helped me consider what about Citizen Journalism I found appealing, as well as some of the potential drawbacks of using a method that at times is associated with a more activist type of journalism. I started considering the differences between Citizen Science and Citizen Journalism, and I tried to see how a blend of the two might produce a more useful result. I particularly wanted a pedagogy that stressed both the rigor and ethics of a researcher with the idea of empathetic engagement and civic responsibility, as well as the transparency and participation of online spaces and tools. Short order, right? Even though this wish list might sound like a pipe dream, I do think that Citizen Researcher is at least a step in the right direction.
My other motivation for exploring Citizen Journalism was to consider the idea of born digital pedagogies. Digital learning is often discussed either as online/MOOC style teaching or as digital tools. I wanted to consider whether trying to teach with digital tools could productively influence how we consider pedagogy. I think part of my desire to explore born digital pedagogies was my experiences of feeling a bit lost with digital tools in the classroom, and not having an overarching and coherent approach to how those tools influenced my teaching.
As is often the case in my posts, I turned to the Hybrid Pedagogy Journal and found some excellent post on both digital pedagogy and citizenship in the classroom. In a two part post, Sean Michael Morris and Jesse Strommel discuss “Decoding Digital Pedagogy” Beyond the LMS and through (Un)Mapping the Terrain.
“Pedagogy experiments relentlessly, honoring a learning that’s lifelong.” — Morris
In the first post, Morris asks the dreaded question: “What’s the difference between digital pedagogy and teaching online? Aren’t all online teachers digital pedagogues?” Both Morris and Strommel offer some compelling reasons for why the two are not synonymous, and how pedagogy is both a scholarship (ie. a way of studying learning) and a mindful practice/praxis. Morris also offers some helpful questions that every digital pedagogue should ask prior to teaching. My favorite line from Morris’ post is: “For some, teaching begins with authority and expertise. For the digital pedagogue, teaching begins with inquiry.” This emphasis on inquiry and experimentation was in part what inspired me to try and think through this Citizen Researcher pedagogy.
“ To become an expert in digital pedagogy, then, we need research, experience, and openness to each new learning activity, technology, or collaboration. Digital pedagogy is a discipline, but only in the most porous, dynamic, and playful senses of the word.” — Strommel
Strommel argues that though digital tools are in part critical to digital archives, digital pedagogy is not about teaching the tools, but rather using the tools to teach. I think this distinction is incredibly important for Citizen Researcher, which can involve a whole set of tools and workflows, but ultimately is about the embracing the ethos of the pedagogy rather than one particular tool. Strommel ends his piece calling for more screwing around in digital pedagogy, and “more a rampant process of unlearning, play, and rediscovery.” I would strongly recommend reading both pieces, as I was highly tempted to ctrl copy & paste both articles here in their entireties.
As a born digital pedagogy, I believe that Citizen Researcher can help instructors embody and practice much of what Morris and Strommel outline. Whether in a course on Organic Chemistry or Victorian Literature, Citizen Researcher can help design a course that encourages collaboration, openness, and engagement with digital tools and communities. While the exact details will differ for each course, I strongly believe that encouraging ethical digital research and learning is critical for helping students develop digital and civic literacies — with the two increasingly becoming intertwined.
Interested in learning more about Citizen Researcher? Check out Jill Darling’s recent Hybrid Pedagogy post “Community and Citizenship in the Computer Classroom”, which discusses many of the same issues I outlined, as well as the potential for digital tools to help students build community and exercise agency in the classroom.
Interested in civic engagement and digital tools? Check out the work of Code for America and Civic Hall in New York.
Finally, want to hear more about Citizen Researcher or my experiences with screwing around with a digital pedagogy? Tweet me!
Thanks for following around and hope you share your thoughts.
Cheers,
Zoe
