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Research & Analysis
Mobile & Open Learning Analysis: Mobile Activism
ETEC 523 Mobile & Open Learning
Click image to open artifact in a new window. This artifact was designed to be viewed on mobile devices.
Keywords
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mobile activism, social media, civic engagement, hashtag activism, slacktivism
Publication Information
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Author: Melissa Drake
Date: June 2020
Course: ETEC 523 Mobile & Open Learning
Professor: David Vogt
Overview
This artifact demonstrates my brief analysis of mobile activism: an aspect of mobile culture and technology that has emerged in the past few years as an accessible and powerful way for everyday people to take part in activism and affect civic, social, political, and environmental change. I was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S. that ramped up after the death of George Floyd and how people were using social media to participate in activism by sharing information and coordinating protest and activist efforts for social justice.
Course Background
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ETEC 523 is another open course in the MET program, so it is structured as a blog course similar to ETEC 522, which I had taken the previous semester. This first assignment was to create an "original media-based critical analysis of an emerging facet of mobility" and its educational potential. At first, I think I had a very narrow perspective on how mobile devices could be used for learning, because I was approaching mobile and open learning from the perspective of a classroom teacher. By being able to dive into what others before me had discovered about mobile and open learning, my perspective shifted quickly to how mobile devices' educational potential may lie in ubiquitous learning and informal learning contexts instead of formal classroom contexts.
Highlights​ Video
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Reflection
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This was one of my first explorations in the program of how educational technologies can be used outside the classroom. As the wave of Black Lives Matter protests spread in the U.S., I witnessed activism occurring on social media and mobile apps such as Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. I made the connection between Henry Jenkin's idea of participatory cultures, activism, mobility, and the educational potential of civic engagement and participation. I enjoy assignments that give students a lot of leeway in choosing topics they're interested in, and this one came at a perfect time for me to make the kind of connection to social justice and issues that are important to me.
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The feedback I received from David Vogt pushed me to think of mobile activism in the context of civic engagement and digital democracy instead of formal school settings. I barely scratched the surface in my exploration of the topic and feel that mobile activism is deserving of much more research across different disciplines such as media and communications, literacies, and civic engagement. The pervasiveness of our use of mobile Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) to access information in algorithm-driven social media and online spaces, and the intersection with literacies, civic engagement and democracy is an emerging area of interest for me.
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Overview
Course Background
Highlights​ Video
Publication information
Reflection
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