Gonna assign this at the start of this semester's Media & Politics in Europe class, and hope to prompt some discussion. I'm then still going to make them read at least some book chapters and such, because that's where the information they need is.
Awesome post! The only part I would add/refine is the end where you talk about meeting students where they are. I would argue that part of the college/university experience, which students are paying for in some way (time, money, effort), necessitates some initiative on their part to want to understand and learn (although I do understand that a lot of students are just in it for the credential). Part of our job as educators, I think, is exposing them to these "arcane modes" of communication (journals, newspapers, magazines, radio). While these modes of communication are "dated," they are still used. Rather than faculty moving to where students "are," it should be team an effort by students to take the initiative and to move somewhere toward the middle coupled with efforts by faculty to embrace modes of communication that students have grown accustomed to experiencing the world to better communicate and understand this audience.
"I’ve started doing more direct reading instruction, including exercises to help students identify the thesis of a given reading and to teach the conventions of different forms of writing."
I'm strugging with these issues too, and I'd love to know what your exercises are like.
"I’ve started doing more direct reading instruction, including exercises to help students identify the thesis of a given reading and to teach the conventions of different forms of writing."
Prof. Manjari Miller had a similar exercise in her graduate level IR fundamentals class which I found to be really helpful.
Personally, I find the amount of information I need to consume overwhelming and necking down what's worth reading and not is a constant struggle.
I’m curious what your students have said about how they use social media as a source for political news (as shown in the first chart above), if you’ve discussed it with them? Explainers on YouTube, threads and memes on Twitter, short videos on TikTok?
I know I’ve seen a wide variety of political content, both historical and current, on these platforms, but I’ve never seen a discussion of the conventions of each medium and how those inform discourse/understanding of politics for college-age and younger teens.
I fully agree with you. It astounded me when I had US-born graduate students in a health policy seminar who had not idea what Watergate was. I had undergraduates in a public health systems class grow irate if I included questions on material in reading assignments not included as an explicit bullet point in a Power point slide in a lecture. This was at a relatively prestigious R-1 university in the Midwest.
Gonna assign this at the start of this semester's Media & Politics in Europe class, and hope to prompt some discussion. I'm then still going to make them read at least some book chapters and such, because that's where the information they need is.
Awesome post! The only part I would add/refine is the end where you talk about meeting students where they are. I would argue that part of the college/university experience, which students are paying for in some way (time, money, effort), necessitates some initiative on their part to want to understand and learn (although I do understand that a lot of students are just in it for the credential). Part of our job as educators, I think, is exposing them to these "arcane modes" of communication (journals, newspapers, magazines, radio). While these modes of communication are "dated," they are still used. Rather than faculty moving to where students "are," it should be team an effort by students to take the initiative and to move somewhere toward the middle coupled with efforts by faculty to embrace modes of communication that students have grown accustomed to experiencing the world to better communicate and understand this audience.
If it's any consolation, I'm a 20-year-old reading this article for 'personal interest'
"I’ve started doing more direct reading instruction, including exercises to help students identify the thesis of a given reading and to teach the conventions of different forms of writing."
I'm strugging with these issues too, and I'd love to know what your exercises are like.
"I’ve started doing more direct reading instruction, including exercises to help students identify the thesis of a given reading and to teach the conventions of different forms of writing."
Prof. Manjari Miller had a similar exercise in her graduate level IR fundamentals class which I found to be really helpful.
Personally, I find the amount of information I need to consume overwhelming and necking down what's worth reading and not is a constant struggle.
I’m curious what your students have said about how they use social media as a source for political news (as shown in the first chart above), if you’ve discussed it with them? Explainers on YouTube, threads and memes on Twitter, short videos on TikTok?
I know I’ve seen a wide variety of political content, both historical and current, on these platforms, but I’ve never seen a discussion of the conventions of each medium and how those inform discourse/understanding of politics for college-age and younger teens.
I fully agree with you. It astounded me when I had US-born graduate students in a health policy seminar who had not idea what Watergate was. I had undergraduates in a public health systems class grow irate if I included questions on material in reading assignments not included as an explicit bullet point in a Power point slide in a lecture. This was at a relatively prestigious R-1 university in the Midwest.