A Policy Initiative

            Educators who collaborated with the Social Media Literacy Program in its development and early implementation did so in the hopes of finding a role for Social Media in the classroom. At Medford High School, teachers wanted to know how it can help them do their job better and this influence is what lead to evaluations as both a curricular enhancement and focus. Along with the Beth Phillips sample curriculum, this information is enough to guide any high school's effort to use Social Media in an academic context. With these practical ideas now complete, the new incentive for my internship is to direct analysis away from classroom application and towards broader policy initiatives.

             

            To have a complete perspective, policy analysis must focus not only on Medford High School but on all schools in the district. The related rules and regulations are drafted and approved by the Medford School Committee and those that are currently in place do not account for Social Media use in all the ways it affects campus life from kindergarten through 12th grade. The novelty of our current situation, where Social Media use is considered a serious topic, could not have been foreseen by previous policy initiatives because its prevalence in schools was not obvious. In the brief existence of the SMLP, analysis has uncovered major activity, both positive and negative, that will come to be a responsibility.

            

            Currently, the primary documents which mandate student behavior are the school handbooks. The comprehensive policies contained within them are what students agree to abide by as well as what faculty members are responsible for overseeing. While Social Media use can be related to a number of topics within handbook purview, the most significant is the Acceptable Use Policy. No mention of Social Media is made in any of the student handbooks but current policies, if applied in earnest, would contradict initiatives that attempt to pragmatically use Social Media.

            

            The specifics of this are what will now be the topic of future blog posts and activity in the SMLP. Previous research in addition to meetings with students and school leaders both in and out of Medford will inform a final presentation to be conducted at a future school committee meeting. An emphasis will be made on enacting policy that, instead of relying on constricting rules, will facilitate a dialogue. Experience up until now has shown that enhancing the student-teacher relationship with Social Media creates novel situations that old methodology is not prepared to deal with. Moving towards an equitable policy that promotes collaboration with hopes of fostering innovation will be heavily influenced by the SMLP's NEST Criteria, which is based in adaptive evaluation rather than restrictive regulation.

            

            Along with the in-class curricular role of Social Media, whatever policy is enacted will represent the tangible contribution of this internship and the SMLP. Any advice for acting in this legislative process would be greatly appreciated and your comments can be left below.

Suggested Reading: For those who’d like to know the major influencers behind my policy initiative, the most significant person, who I do not know in real life, is Linda Darling-Hammond. Her 2010 book The Flat World and Education: How America’s Commitment to Education Will Determine Our Future is a big reason why I’m more excited the SMLP will pursue a policy initiative, instead of a sample curriculum. There is greater potential.

Third Party Student Perspective Update

     In an academic context, it is understood that to utilize a complete perspective one must consider a third party with similar objectivity. As applied to this blog’s recurring student perspective updates, this post is an analysis of the essay, Morality and Ethics Behind the Screen: Young People’s Perspectives on Digital Life, by Flores and James. This collaboration between education professors from Harvard University and Brown University is on a qualitative study they conducted in 2012 which attempted to, “explore targets and triggers, observe ethical lapses, and consider practical implications of student life,” on social media platforms. Their focus was on three prevalent ways of thinking displayed by all interviewed students: Individualistic, Moral, and Ethical (as related to Kohlberg’s Moral Development Theory). Their data and conclusion that, “ While teens and young adults approach life online with their own interests foremost, the prevalence of moral thinking is notable,” are a significant source for the SMLP.

      The conclusion’s primary message relays a call for more research to be conducted on the subject of young people using social media. That’s a pleasant thought because the only difference between it and the SMLP’s perspective is that “young people” is replaced with “student.” All their data and qualitative analysis reports a situation where Social Media users, “showed ethical thinking capacity but lacked consistency.” Clearly there is an incentive for educators to promote positive targets and triggers while discouraging negative ethical lapses.

      Where Flores and James’ research can progress along with the SMLP has potential a long a number of paths. For instance, their method of engaging with students could be applied to a much larger population size by becoming involved in the student-teacher relationship. The sample questions made available within the essay’s appendix are an outline for other educators to assess their students and share information. With more of an SMLP influence, the research may be practically applied to the recently posted intervention points where positive and negative incentives can be pursued.

      For the students themselves, this means being much more aware of the academic aspect of their life. The SMLP up to this point has gotten the impression that students and teachers do not want their relationship to have “more” of an influence over their lives, which is kind of sad in some way, but pragmatically speaking it implies the current interactions must become more efficient. Those who are working to adapt within the evolving education environment realize that becoming more efficient is essential to having a system where equity, collaboration, and innovation can thrive. Naturally, research from those who share that perspective will be mutually beneficial as an intellectual resource.


Thank you, Flores and James.


Note: Below, in the comment section, please share any additional material that you think should be considered if the SMLP is to view Social Media with an academic perspective. The more sources we share, the more established this discipline will become.

Our State of the Union's Academic Perspective

            Last night’s State of the Union Address and subsequent responses by the minority parties represent all relevant political perspectives in our country. It is not controversial to state that Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian politics make up all our represented interests so comparing the trio’s transcripts can reveal objective information on a number of social issues. For academic purposes, comparing each representative’s rhetoric to the relevant educational values will give us a sense of where policy might lead. One of these three political perspectives will wind up with significant influence and change our schools. Clearly they identify education policy reform as a priority but do similarities end there?

            Demanding that our schools improve in relation to those in other nations was a common thread within the transcripts. President Obama brought up vocational aptitude in Germany while both Senator Rubio and Senator Paul referenced foreign interests and how we should become the envy of the world, respectively. When voiced, their addresses emphasized education policy reform as a high priority, even if one speech was a bit heavy handed.[1] Finding the American way will surely be a compromise and analyzing where the interests are, as of last night, can reveal what imminent policy change will look like. Imminent refers to the recognition by educators that changes must occur, really soon.

            Obviously the President was able to go into much greater detail with his longer time at the podium but proportionally, the Democratic perspective contained more rhetoric addressing how we choose to learn as a nation. This was the result of including it in the purview of other issues, as well as its own focus.[2] As for policy, interests are specifically focused on pre-school improvement and high school modernization to suit our institutions of higher learning and labor responsibility. The most revealing quote that, “Higher education can’t be a luxury – it’s an economic imperative every family in America should be able to afford,” highlights the sound acknowledgement of progressive changes but also introduces the biggest question, how will money play a role?

            This is the top concern for Republicans. Senator Rubio included it as part of a response focused on funding, which considered the most “non-traditional” forms of education. All proposals were primarily influenced by a party message of reduced spending. It’s hard to tell if Republicans want to allow a democratic president to oversee positive education reform, but political interests aside, someone needs to know how money can change hands more efficiently.

            Senator Rand Paul’s Libertarian Response shares an emphasis of education policy reform as a priority with the status quo, but actually goes against prevailing academic trends. This perspective calls for schools to rely on “school choice” and scholastic “competition” as a driving force to excellence. This goes directly against core principals those working in education are finding to be the best. We know that equity and collaboration facilitate innovative learning. The political rhetoric behind Paul's counterproductive response to education reform is in the nature of party followers but does not have a place in the modern classroom.

            Using these three perspectives, the nation will now respond to incentives as they present themselves over the next four years. The idea that education is best served by an ethics of equality and collaboration in the interest of innovation will land as ironic to the cynics of contemporary governance. Knowing that our potential will only be realized in the form of a compromise, it’s nice to see that each perspective represented by our government officials has at least something in common. For the most up to date information as to how all this proceeds, just look to your local school. While we question the competency of those in Washington, remember that many more people are hard at work, dealing with our novel situation every day.

           

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[1] Education, School, Student, and Teacher Quotes: Obama(31) – Rubio(13) – Paul(9)

[2] Which is what Rubio and Paul only touched on.

Intervention Points

     Up to this point in the SMLP, student perspective updates have been informed by personal engagement in the classroom and on Social Media platforms. Focusing on these first interactions is a form of introspective analysis which generates unique data and reflects how each student-teacher interaction is like no other. Although this is a significant point to consider when analyzing new information, it only serves half of an academic perspective. In order to remain balanced and objective, outrospective analysis must be considered. The question becomes, if the SMLP is trying to examine social media in an academic context, what can we learn from all that exists outside the student-teacher relationship?
        
     The first part of our answer to this question is found with an understanding that "context" here refers to social circumstances. Academic was defined earlier in this blog as relying on the student-teacher relationship where incentive is to realize student potential. Non-academic contexts would comparatively involve other relationships, each with their own unique incentive. Examples of these include but are by no means limited to: citizen-government, retailer-customer, firm-client, etc. Detailing the dynamics of each one would be fascinating, and perhaps worth discussing in the comment section below, but to inform the SMLP we must take a broader look to see what each of these relationships, including academic, has in common.
        
     One commonality between them is information exchange. Each relationship involves two demographics where both exist because of the need for communication with the other (ex. teachers and students can't exist independently). No matter which way the information flows, there are three distinct points. (1) The origin of data in demographic^a (2) The connection between a corresponding demographic^b (3) The processing of data by demographic^b. These three points represent the useful knowledge gained from asking the initial outrospective question.
        
     For those in academics, points 1, 2, and 3 can be pragmatically viewed as the focus of separate interventions for adapting to Social Media use. For example, a teacher needs to understand how they originate data, how that data connects to students, and how students process that data. Students need to understand the inverse. Doing this will balance our perspective of Social Media in an academic context. The more data is available, the more complete our perspective will be. The greatest contributions would come from long term interactions both in and out of the classroom, which take the form of a possible curriculum enhancement or focus.
    
     Each intervention involves more than just an increased awareness of what is happening on different Social Media platforms. Learning more about the origin of data will help inform regulation, written in the interest of promoting best practices. Learning more about the connection between students and teachers will directly contribute to the quality of education being supplied. Finally, an evaluation of data processing will reveal where school interventions are appropriate for both students and teachers alike.

Note: In the interest of making data more available, a new community service project will begin at Medford High School which involves census taking of student-teacher internet social culture. Please contribute any census questions or guidelines you would like by commenting below.

Curricular Focus

             The most frequently asked question from educators who realize Social Media must be addressed is, “how can it enhance curricula?” A satisfactory answer demonstrates Social Media’s potential as a tool for supplementing traditional teaching methods, which was the subject of a previous post. While this is enough to find a pragmatic role for things like blogs and wikis in the classroom, our understanding of the tool itself remains incomplete. For that, educators and students must focus on Social Media as a stand-alone academic subject. Critical analysis of new material as it is produced takes a dedicated plan and a combination English-Ethics Curriculum would guide a course where all enrolled collaborate in an effort to better understand our new tool.

            Qualifying the academic pursuit of Social Media understanding as an English course is appropriate. In essence, students will critically analyze what’s being shared across multiple platforms the same way they would text in a novel. Developing a course load’s worth of assignments and lesson plans was at one point going to be the final product of this blog. That was until I found the work of Beth Phillips, a former grad student at the University of Missouri who completed such a project several months ago. Her curriculum identifies material produced on Social Media and gives it academic respect while recognizing the novel Ethical constructs which present themselves. It alone is enough to demonstrate how substantial a Social Media course can be. The only remaining issue is to decide how it might be tailored to Medford High School, or any high school for that matter. An unexpected assist when making this decision comes from the well established educational bureaucracy.

            If a school is to offer any particular course for students it must demonstrate how that course fulfills existing requirements found at multiple levels: the state, the district, the school, and the department. Each level represents the interests of a particular group responsible for seeing that students are getting what they need. These interests are described in the corresponding mission statements, each drafted by a distinguished group of educators. If a proposal for developing a curriculum for a high school Social Media class can satisfy all the relevant mission statements, it has the potential for moving forward. Using all the different terminology found at each level and adding core principals of the SMLP (equity, collaboration, and innovation), the proposal practically writes itself.

            For a specific example of how this looks, please follow the Google-doc link which details a proposal submitted to Medford High School. While it is currently under review, the process of using mission statement terminology to fill out a proposal while providing a sample curriculum like Ms. Phillips’ is enough to show how an English-Ethics Social Media Course can be added to any high school’s course catalogue. From here it is up to the students and their teacher to make of it what they can. Class time would represent uncharted territory but the guidance of each source in this project so far is leading in the direction of academic innovation.