Time to Bring Public Policy and Social Media Together for Progress

I've had a great summer, much of it spent off the grid unplugged from email, tapping into social media for fun. It's been great connecting on a more personal level with family and friends in real time talking, laughing, crying, sharing, hugging.

Thinking back to when Facebook arrived on the scene in February 2004: I was slow to adopt. I signed up eventually and connected to family and local friends. When Twitter followed in March 2006, I decided I was not going to try to keep up with yet another platform. Not so for businesses, corporations, institutions, and the like. Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook opened up a whole new world of marketing strategy for them.

"We don't have a choice on whether we DO social media, the question is how well we DO it." ~ Erik Qualman

After being accepted in 2011 into a 6-month program for women interested in pursuing political office, I was introduced to Twitter and quickly grew to enjoy it. I set myself up on LinkedIn later that same year and leaned into the idea of using Facebook as a way to connect with folks on a range of issues, too. This video gives a snapshot of social media at the time:



Gone are the questions asking if social media is here to stay. Clearly they are, though how kids and adults are using social media today has changed dramatically.

Consider a PEW study published earlier this year that provides an overview on American teens and their use of technology and social media. One finding showed that 92% of teens were online everyday, with 24% online "almost constantly".

So much has changed - and is changing - across our media-saturated landscape. Schools and individual teachers are working to bring media literacy to students, but media literacy is not broadly implemented in our public schools and media literacy is rarely part of the public debate on education. Still, more and more politicians and policymakers are getting on twitter and facebook to connect to their stakeholders and constituents.

I'm a member of the national advisory council for Media Literacy Now. We want our elected representatives and policymakers to engage with us on social media. As more and more elected people are engaging stakeholders and constituents through Twitter and Facebook, we can connect with them in meaningful ways to impact awareness of the urgent need for media literacy education and other key public policy issues of our time.

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Posts, Podcasts, tweets

• Educational Software Gets Attention from State Politicians
• ISTE: Standardized curriculum for teaching tech skills
• 9 things we learned about phones from a teenager
• Growing up Digital: 3 truths for the adults
• A Parent's Guide to All that "EdTech" in Your Kid's Classroom

Should apps be part of a library’s story time? Ask @mediatrician: http://t.co/qpvRT2r27a #BackToSchool

— CtrMediaChildHealth (@cmch_boston) September 2, 2015

Tips for an online age: What not to share http://t.co/JYnTEtDlso @MBrodeur via @BostonGlobe

— MediaLiteracyNow.org (@MediaLitNow) September 1, 2015

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Addendum: cross-posted September 9 on Media Literacy Now blog

Media Literacy Now

Twenty years ago, when my eldest of three was in elementary school, I became an outspoken advocate for commercial-free schools and classrooms. I learned about efforts in Massachusetts and across the country to limit the impact of commercialism in our schools and I carried the issue forward with PTAs at local, state, and national levels. I met good folks then with whom I now interact on the broader issue of media literacy and I am a proud member of Media Literacy Now.

Today, literacy means

media literacy.

The need for media literacy in our schools is more important than ever because we live in a 24/7 media environment. Children's future well-being depends not only on their literacy, but that they have the media literacy skills necessary to navigate, analyze, and respond to all forms of media.

Whereas my eldest is in that first generation of digitally socialized people who entered school at the dawn of the internet age and adopted computerized technologies in elementary school and facebook and twitter while still in high school, my rising high school senior is a digital native who has been accessing online curriculum content since elementary school, came through facebook and twitter and beyond, with access to personalized on-screen edu-tainment.

Classrooms today are learning labs where students prepare for the world beyond school walls, equipped with the skills necessary: Communication, empathy, critical-thinking, and global citizenship. Schools continue to add and improve technological access to curricula across all grades yet there is little coordination to ensure media literacy skills acquisition. We must empower our children to be critical thinkers who analyze content in print and can navigate media in all of its forms to become informed digital citizens.

The internet is not going away. Our children must move beyond being media consumers to become media creators. Their future - and our democracy - depends on it.

Digital Learning Day

The third annual Digital Learning Day (#DLDay) is this Wednesday, February 5, 2014. DLDay is more than just one day; it's an ongoing campaign to ensure every child gets the best possible education in today's world economy and global society through technology integration and digital citizenship across the school and classroom, as well as at home. It's about giving every child the opportunity to learn in a robust digital environment everyday, with the goal of success in college and career. Each person can make a difference with digital learning in our nation's schools - and support the effective use of technology to improve education for all students.

Join the tweetchat on Wednesday, February 5, 2014 from 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM (Eastern) with Lexington's Estabrook Elementary School Principal, Sandra Trach, using the hashtag #digisafety. (For some background in advance, read Principal Trach's article HERE that inspired the chat.)

2014 #DLDay Resources: 
Safe Digital Citizenship by Sandra Trach
edutopia

Library of Congress Toolkit

Alliance for Excellent Education