All posts in the topic Could a British teacher ever do this? (Short link)
Summary
- There are 5 posts — by 3 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by paul canning at Apr 16 12:21 UTC
| From | File | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Stephen Coleman | Apr 14 22:28 UTC |
Like with many people who saw it and commentated, a video from the Obama campaign from students at the Bronx High School of Performance and Stagecraft in New York was just so inspirational and frankly moving to me. It's had a huge response, in viewer numbers and feedback. Plus, of course, a backlash. I put it here http://paulcanning.blogspot.com/2008/04/could-british-teacher-ever-do-this.html I posted about how, because of 'stupid, blind bureaucracy', I just couldn't see a UK teacher doing anything like this. Shane from Gallomanor responded and this sparked me to go on a YouTube hunt and - guess what - I found lots of 'da youth' posting videos about politics. Most of which (actually nearly all) had much higher viewer numbers than 'official ones'. And including lots about - who would have guessed - Lord Goldsmith and the Oath. This actually lines up with how the YouTube phenomenon is developing in the States - politics is not a subject avoided by young people. What struck me was the difference in style. The hit videos were totally different to the 'official' ones. They came across as more 'real' because they were 'real'. If I was seventeen, I really hope I'd be doing something like what they're doing. Why can't 'we' do this? What is it about what we do which seems doomed to be boring and irrelevant to young people (or am I too 'glass half empty'??). Can we not simply 'dump' political youtube content by young people in one place to encourage the phenomenon rather than push them through filters of our own making? Simply put, why do we have to be so bureaucratic and controlling about young people and politics? Paul Canning
Excellent post. I'd very much like to see your list of political youtube
videos. As you say, this kind of creativity is likely to engage young people
far more than most of the awful attempts by political parties/local authorities
etc to 'connect with the youth.'
Stephen Coleman
Professor of Political Communication and Co-Director, Centre for Digital
Citizenship,
Institute of Communications Studies,
University of Leeds
Hi, maybe the strength in the UK videos is that they were made by young people without older people influencing the outcome (which can often just produce an uneasy compromise). I'm not sure that it is necessarily a teacher's role to enable this sort thing though. While I support the idea of citizenship education, especially through active participation in school governance, young people also have a life outside school. Making politics a school-thing may have a negative effect on people's attitudes to politics, especially if they're not keen on school. (Ok I realise that people having a negative attitude to politics is practically the default setting!) Of course, schools have equipment and Internet access, but there are lots of schemes and organisations outside the school framework which also provide these. It's often easiest for councils to contact people through schools, but this gives schools too strong a mediatory role between young people and the rest of the world. (Which young people deal with by posting straight to YouTube) -Ella Ella Taylor-Smith International Teledemocracy Centre Napier University 10 Colinton Road Edinburgh, EH10 5DT Telephone: +44 (0) 131 455 2392 Fax: +44 (0) 131 455 2282 Email: <email obscured> http://itc.napier.ac.uk This message is intended for the addressee(s) only and should not be read, copied or disclosed to anyone else outwith the University without the permission of the sender. It is your responsibility to ensure that this message and any attachments are scanned for viruses or other defects. Napier University does not accept liability for any loss or damage which may result from this email or any attachment, or for errors or omissions arising after it was sent. Email is not a secure medium. Email entering the University's system is subject to routine monitoring and filtering by the University. Napier University is a registered Scottish charity. Registration number SC018373
Stephen
that was from a quick search on youtube - from memory with terms 'uk'
'politics' 'youth'. a blinxx/google video search wouldn't turn them up. but as
shane commented on my blog, they're responses to others - youtube being a
community.
ella
I definitely think it's because they're not going through an adult filter that
they're so powerful, but then again the Obama vid was made from a teacher's
initiative and was actually put together by the campaigm - infact that's where
the controversy came from because the young people are obama, not hillary, let
alone mccain crazy.
Maybe what would help is to look at ways of getting what young people are
already saying from their own online initiative feeding back - rather than
constructing something new. This is one way of avoiding some of the issues
which come up which end up censoring them/scaring adults or politicians. Maybe
help with facilities - simple webcam/simple edit software - on top of existing
facilities for those without bedroom setups and then posting the best online.
You can already do this through youtube just by favouriting.
Might be easier nationally than locally but I still just (easily) found a
couple of 'political' videos for my town on youtube - none of which are tagged
'politics', but there were only a couple and none 'youth'.
More videos are posted here http://paulcanning.blogspot.com/2008/04/could-british-teacher-ever-do-this.html also some comments http://tinyurl.com/5lrccj