Podcasts as an educational tool

I really enjoyed the 1619 podcast. It was very well-structured and engaging as it mixed history, dialogue and analysis, story-telling, and music. As I listened, I read the transcript and was able to really appreciate the tone and pace of the speakers and how it changed depending on the topic they were discussing. I love how the podcast started with a story and ended with another story to really personify the topic of racial health disparities and the effects of lack of access to health care. I think it really opened up the listener to hearing about the history of this issue and think about why it's important to have these conversations. The sound effects, such as the transition music, the archived records in dialogue with the speakers, and even the intentional pauses that gave us time to process, made this podcast feel like a documentary. Even though there was no visual, I could see the imagery in my head with every sentence said and as people shared, both the present-day speakers and those from the archived recordings, I was able to see them in my head connecting with each other in one space. At times, the conversation got heavy and emotional and that emotionality and vulnerability really allowed me to relate to the speakers and feel connected to them, even as I wasn't able to see them. 

I think podcasts can be an excellent educational tool for teaching content when done right! Young people would probably prefer to listen to an engaging audio over reading an outdated history book or listening to a monotone professor give a boring lecture. 

If I were to do a podcast for my students, I would take a lot of time to prepare. The aspects that made this podcast so engaging are things I would need to research and practice. For example, I use a lot of filler words, I would need to work on minimizing those but also learn to edit audio to cut them out if needed. I would listen to a lot of podcasts and collect ideas, tools and strategies that I can incorporate into my podcast. I'm excited to make a podcast for my final project!

Relationship to Disney Culture

What is your relationship to Disney culture?  How does Christiansen validate or challenge your views?

My relationship with Disney culture is complicated. I was somewhat into Disney as a child, though I wouldn't say I was a Disney fanatic, I was more so a fan of Disney Channel shows. However, for whatever reason, I never got to watch the classic Disney movies, such as Finding Nemo, The Little Mermaid, Toy Story, The Lion King, etc. I still have not watched any of these movies or any of the princess movies. I'm okay with this for myself. I remember the turning point for me and my stance on Disney. I was watching a documentary about garment workers in Bangladesh and the conditions they faced, such as extremely low wages, inhumane hours, crumbling factories, no benefits and more. Real quick-- we often use the words "extreme", "inhumane" and "crumbling" to describe conditions that are all of these but to a much lesser degree. So I want to emphasize that the workers were being paid something like 15-30 cents per hour. Their hours were so long that many of them didn't have time to walk home to rest before their next shift so they would sleep there. And Bangladesh is home to the worst and deadliest garment industry accident of all time, the collapse of the Rana Plaza, with approximately 2,500 injured people and a death toll of 1,134. So yeah, the buildings that house these factories pose a serious safety risk to the garment workers. So anyway, in this film, I saw the garment workers' efforts to organize and demand better conditions. They weren't asking for much, just a living wage, normal hours, a safe work environment, you know... the bare minimum. As they documented their efforts, there was a lot of back and forth with the international brands they worked for to discuss their demands and Disney had one of the biggest company presences. I distinctly remember the conversations had between the workers and Disney representatives where Disney refused to pay the workers what they were asking, which was somewhere around $1.30 per hour. From that point forward, I decided Disney was not a company I was interested in supporting. Just like Lesley, I completely boycotted Disney. When they moved to Disney+, I did not purchase a subscription. But lately, I feel conflicted. Disney channel was such an important part of my childhood and I still bond with others through this similar connection and experience today. I really don't want to rob my son of this experience or this opportunity to connect with other people by not exposing him to any Disney at all. Like really, he doesn't even know what Disney is. However, drawing form our discussion in class, I realize that Disney is not all bad or at least the Disney content isn't. The corporation is terrible, lol. After reading Christiansen, I'm excited to introduce Kairo to Disney while incorporating dialogue and a critical analysis perspective around its hidden messaging and stereotyping, similar to what we did in class and what Christiansen had her students do with cartoons and other media. 

Prensky and boyd's positions

What do you make of the (divergent) positions of Boyd and Prensky? Where do you stand on the “digital native” terminology? 

Marc Prensky's position is that children and young people are "digital natives" because they are brought up in a world with access to technology while older people are "digital immigrants" because the world of technology is foreign to them and they spend their lives learning and adopting the aspects of technology, as a new culture and language. 

danah boyd critiques this theory by making the point that young people, regardless of being born into a world where technology is so prevalent, have varying levels of experience and knowledge around technology and prensky's standpoint doesn't consider the varying levels of privilege that determine young people's access to technology and how that affects their ability to navigate the digital world. boyd's position made me think about how although I was born in 1999, because we were extremely poor, my family was always behind a generation or two of technology and I was able to experience the 1980's and 1990's technology. When we did have new technology, such as gameboys, cd players, mp3 players, it was always because newer technology was released and my mom was able to find cheap deals on the older versions. I actually appreciate these experiences and memories and I'm now caught up to the latest technology, but not everyone has that opportunity and privilege to access technology at home or at all. 

Prensky's position is very euro-centric and doesn't at all consider the experiences of people in countries/communities/societies that may not have access to certain technologies, may not be able to incorporate it into the educational systems, or simply may not value the use of technology as much as we do in the Western world. Prensky also doesn't take into account that even for young people, technology can come with challenges. As boyd states, The rhetoric of “digital natives,” far from being useful, is often a distraction to understanding the challenges that youth face in a networked world," (boyd, 176). By assuming that young people have a natural gift of navigating it, we are neglecting to provide them the support they need as they confront these challenges. In page 177, boyd states, "Whether in school or in informal settings, youth need opportunities to develop the skills and knowledge to engage with contemporary technology effectively and meaningfully. Becoming literate in a networked age requires hard work, regardless of age." We are doing a disservice to our youth by not incorporating learning into the use of technology and acknowledging that there is more to technology than simply being exposed to it. All of us regardless of age, have learning to do when it comes to technology to be able to usefully and meaningfully engage with ourselves and each other in the digital world. 

I wanted to include a picture that portrays the differences in access to technology, specifically during virtual learning instances, but blogger wouldn't let me be great, so here is the link to the picture and its accompanying article that is also relevant: https://www.jackcentral.org/opinion/it-is-a-privilege-to-have-access-to-technology/article_60aca126-f084-54ca-a2b6-40c2a6796bb6.html

Intro to Self

Hi everyone! My name is Jay! I am a Dominican, first-gen, woman graduating with a Master of Arts in Youth Development. I have a five year old son, named Kairo, and I'll be turning 24 this Friday, June 30th! So far, my summer is a little bit hectic. I work as a Program Manager at the Undocumented, First-generation College, and Low-income (U-FLi) Student Center at Brown University and I'm preparing to launch a new program in the Fall. I have 75 student applications to read by July 12 and I can only invite 20 students into the program. Here is the instagram account if you're interested in seeing the kind of work we do: https://www.instagram.com/ufli_center/?hl=en So far this summer, all I have done is work and school and homework and life obligations. I have been navigating summer classes at RIC and just finished two six-week courses, one of which was asynchronous with so many papers and assignments. I am so excited to finally be on my class before I can officially earn my Masters Degree. I have a few short trips planned this summer, which is exciting because I've never had a job with so much flexibility in the past. I am going to Miami after this class ends mid-July and to Baja Beach Fest in Mexico in August. Also hoping for many weekend trips to different cities in between if time permits. Other things I enjoy hanging out with my sunnywunny, eating at different places, working out and watching TV sitcoms.