Researching, Producing,

Presenting:

Students’ Use of Technology

for Global Advocacy in
Social Studies

Dr. Brad M. Maguth

Hiram College
OCSS Annual Conference
Thursday, April 15, 2010
 Poll Everywhere: Before We Begin
• Using cell phone/SMS to poll the audience
• Standard text messaging rates apply
• Information will NOT be collected/ NEVER receive unsolicited follow
up messages

How’s the Conference?

 Objectives

• This session will describe how students’ use of digital

technologies can foster the 21st Century Skills needed
for active and responsible citizenship in a global age.


• Illustrate how a digitally mediated project provided

students with the opportunity to use technology
meaningfully to forge a global perspective.
How Wired Are Your Students?
 Youth in a Digital Age
• Over 87% of those aged 12-17
surfing Internet (Pew
Research, 2010)
• 80% of teachers believe
student tech use makes
difference (Project Tomorrow,
2006)
• Most tech use fosters low-level
thinking (Friedman, 2008)


Students Use Internet to:



• Access social, political, economic

information
• Communicate and collaborate
with others
• Both Mediates and Complicates
Citiz. Edu. * Pew Research Center: Internet and American Life, 2010
 21st Century ‘Habits of Mind’
 Influence of technology of citizenship
education


Students Need to be Able to Use Technology to:



1. Access multiple perspectives

2. Critically reflect on and evaluate information
3. Collaborate and produce original works
4. Present their ideas to new audiences

How Global Are Your Stu
 Need for Global Citizens
• Increased demands for
citizens that are both
digitally and globally literate
(Gaudelli, 2005)
• An emphasis on having
students use technology to
foster a global perspective
(Maguth, 2010; Berson, 2000)
• Ability to use technology to
– Explore new knowledge
– Communicate with
geographically distant
and culturally diverse
audiences
– Advocate for new
possibilities and
progress
 One Teacher’s Approach:
The Global Advocacy Project (GAP)
• A STEM High School Social
Studies Classroom
• An ethnically/racially diverse
school with over 400
students


• Provides students with a “…

personalized and
extraordinary learning
experience that prepares
them for a connected world
where math, science and
technology are vitally
important.”
 The Global Advocacy Project
• Problem: A traditional textbook and lecture instruction
devolves instruction into narrow perspectives and
uninspiring activities (Lowen, 2010).
• Objective: Effective global citizens need to know about
different parts of the world, and to think about the
ways they are tied to other culturally and
geographically diverse populations (Merryfield, 2008).
• Approach: Providing students with an opportunity to use
technology meaningfully to research, create, and
present potential solutions to important global issues
(Lee & Friedman, 2010).
•
 Breaking the Global Advocacy Project
Down:
• Stage 1: Students as
Researchers
– Use technology to access
and think through
information


• Stage 2: Students as
Producers
– Use technology to
construct something
new


• Stage 3: Students as
Presenters
– Use technology to
showcase their
learning
 Step 1: Student as Researchers
i. Research a particular global issue
 - The United Nation’s Millennium
Development Goals (MDG)
ii. Direct students to locate credible data sources
(multiple perspectives)
 - On-line database, newspapers, journals,
web page
iii. Discuss the significance of the problem, ways

in which the problem has evolved over time,

and previously offered solutions to the problem.
iv. Students conduct digitally mediated discussions
with experts
 - Skype, telephone interview, e-mail
•
 Step 2: Student as Producers
1. Students develop a series of
specific recommendations,
built off of weaknesses of past
actions, to address a global
issue.
2. Students were asked to defend
why their solution would be
the best course of action.
3. Students were given the task of
creating a narrated track that
accompanied video footage to
outline their proposal (i.e.
iMovie, use of photos, charts,
graphs).
Example: Student’s Work
Step 3: Student as Presenters

 Students began the process of using

their digital documentary for advocacy
and to encourage greater societal
awareness.
– Made the documentary available to public
(YouTube, School web site, Social
Networking Websites).
– Communicate with general public through
threaded discussions on Youube.
• Monitor comments closely
– Student also presented their research and
video to an in-person audience
(parents, administrator, university
experts, community leaders).

 Recap:
• Students’ use of digital technologies can help
and HINDER the 21st Century Skills needed
for active and responsible citizenship in a
global age (i.e. stereotypes/over-generalizations, e-bullying,
digital divide, identify, cyber-crime, issues of representation)


• The Global Advocacy Project is just one example of a

digitally mediated assignment that provided students
with the opportunity to use technology meaningfully to
forge a global perspective.
•
 Sharing Experience in Global Education and
Technology

• What technologies do you or

your students use in the
social studies classroom?


• What lessons/ activities have

you used to promote a
global perspective amongst
students?


• What challenges do you face

in using technology, or, in
trying to teach for a global
perspective?
Questions or Comments
Brad M. Maguth, PhD
Assistant Professor of
Education
Hiram College

Personal Blog:
http://tinyurl.com/y2hqyze
E-Mail:
maguthbm@hiram.edu
 References
• Gaudelli, W. (2005). World class: Teaching and learning in global times.
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Maguth, B, Yamaguchi. M., & Elliott, J. (2010). Researching, Producing,
Presenting: Students’ Use of Technology for Global Advocacy in Social
Studies. Social Education, 74(2), p. 105-106.
• Maguth, B. (2000). Investigating student use of technology for informed and
active democratic citizenship in a global and multicultural age [Doctoral
Dissertation]. Available from Dissertations and Theses Database.
• Berson, M. (2000). Rethinking research and pedagogy in the social studies:
The creation of caring connections through technology and advocacy.
Theory and Research in Social Education, 28(1), p121-131.
• Lowen, J. (2010). Teaching what really happened: How to avoid the tyranny
of textbooks and get students excited about history. New York, NY:
Teachers College Press.
• Merryfield, M. (2008). Scaffolding Social Studies for Global Awareness.
Social Education, 72(7), p363-366.
• Pew Research Center. (2010). Internet and American Life Project.
Accessed on 3-12-2010 at http://www.pewinternet.org
