Social networking and other digital media as a tool for teaching and learning about diversity

Social networking and other digital media as a tool for teaching and learning about diversity Lillian Vega Castaneda, CSU Channel Islands Mario Eugenio Castaneda, CSU Los Angeles Rosario Diaz Greenberg, CSU San Marcos AERA, April 13, 2012

Research Questions We set out to describe & analyze the use of social networking & other digital media as a tool to support learning about diversity in 6 university level courses. We focus on the following research questions: • How do students use social media, You Tube, the world-wide web and other electronic tools to advance the conversation on difference and cultural diversity? • What types of issues did students raise with respect to difference and cultural diversity? • In what way did the use of such media promote or inhibit the conversation? • How did students assess their learning in this context?

Context • Three public universities in southern California; • Campuses include one suburban/rural, one suburban and one large urban campus; • All 3 of the campuses are Hispanic Serving Institutions.

SAMPLE • Data was collected from students: • enrolled in two pre-requisite cultural diversity class (45 students) • two secondary social studies methods classes (31 students) • two bilingual/bi-literacy education classes (28 students) • 68 females & 36 males

Data Collection • Data was collected during the 2010 – 2011 AY. • Qualitative methods were used to examine a variety of data sources, including interviews, participant response journals, on-line entries and a student self-assessment of learning assignment and diversity (media) critiques. • A closed Facebook group was created for all classes. The professor of record was the administrator of the group. • Students were given guidelines for making posts to the groups as noted in the course syllabus. (See Appendix) • Online entries were made on Facebook, course discussion thread on Blackboard & BB blog (e.g., news items, websites, news articles, YouTube). • Follow-up interviews (20)

Findings: Emerging Themes • Deconstructing diversity messages (content & representation) • Diversity of “diversity & difference” issues • Media as “diversity” 24/7 • Media – increased access to “walk in someone else’s shoes”

Expanding (and continuing) the Conversation “Not just another way to make me feel guilty about “being white” (on the use of social media and other media in learning about diversity).

Continuing the Conversation: Language • Posts and discussions related to language use in schools, most notably related to ELL students; often a choice of conversation in the primary language courses but also addressed in the social studies and diversity courses. • How young children learn about language? (the linguistic genius of babies) • Language rights and use of home language in schools

CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION: LATINA/O STUDENTS Treatment of “illegal aliens” in the US • Dream Act • Financial Aid • YouTube and other video related to Latino university students • Arizona Immigration Law • Alabama Immigration Law

ADVANCING & EXPANDING THE CONVERSATION: LGBT • Transgender students in & out of school (often displayed in news articles posted on Facebook with links, including YouTube, Oprah Winfrey Network (Lisa Ling) • Heterosexism (e.g., the Android APP on “How do I know if my son is gay?”) • LGBT youth, hate crimes & the internet • Sexuality & gender identification in young children as it impacts the child, parents, educator, siblings, etc.

ADVANCING & EXPANDING THE CONVERSATION • School bullying – f2f, video, cyber, virtual • School violence – (ongoing reports from recent stories in Los Angeles to Columbine) • Religion and impact on others – (e.g., Westboro Baptist Church, Sharia Law, religious right) • Depiction of girls in the media – as an equity concern (e.g., JC Penny’s Ad on a girl’s t-shirt, “I’m too pretty to do homework.”)

Advancing and Expanding the Conversation • Disability and equity concerns (e.g., autism reform) • Sponge Bob Square Pants – and kid’s attention span • Revisiting Civil Rights (where are we? How do we teach about it?)

Promoting & Inhibiting the Conversation? Promoting – • Access to the media 24/7 as helping to expand the conversation across various equity issues (ongoing) • An expanded conversation regarding diversity & equity as it relates to current events at the local, national and international levels • Diversity and human rights • Diversity and practice (how I teach this?)

Inhibiting the Conversation? • Several students objected to the Facebook requirement (e.g., I never use Facebook, my husband doesn’t want me to have a Facebook account, I don’t own a computer) • Several students did not want anybody (beyond the class) to read their posts • Facebook and other media as an invasion of privacy

SELF ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING • Staying informed on current events because of the use of social and other media as part of the curriculum • Increased awareness of the treatment of individuals from under-represented groups (eg., local, state, national) • “The more I see the world, the less I know” • Social media as helping with becoming culturally competent

SELF ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING • Took information to other classes and vice-versa - Segregation and intolerance continues • “We all have a story to tell and our students are no different” • Facebook – not a direct topic of the course – “but it changed my perspective on how social media can be used to benefit students.”

SELF ASSESSMENT VIA QUESTIONING • Was justice served? • Whose perspective and/or story or experience is affirmed? • What assumptions do we make about a given community? About the children? • How do we teach about these important topics? How do we reflect painful history into the curriculum? How do we teach about GLBT issues as it is now required in the California social studies curriculum?

CONCLUSION & NEXT STEPS - Use of social media – extended the student’s understanding of diversity, beyond (but including) ethnic, language and racial difference (continued conversation) • Students connected course readings, hand-outs, discussions to items they shared via social media, course blogs, and also shared these items in written assignments. • Most students saw value in connecting the social media requirement to the course content. • This is a preliminary study & there is more work to be done.

http://faculty.csuci.edu/lillian.castaneda/ For a copy of this paper go to:

Social networking and other digital media as a tool for teaching and learning about diversity