Media, Learning, and Sites of Possibility

The Editors: Marc Lamont Hill is Assistant Professor of Urban Education at Temple University. His research examines the intersections between youth, media culture, and pedagogy within formal and informal learning spaces. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.Lalitha Vasudevan is Assistant Professor of Technology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She received a Ph.D. in education from the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied the stories, literacy practices, and technology engagements of adolescent boys. Her current research explores education in the lives of urban youth outside of school, within the justice system, and across new literacies and technologies.

• Contents: Katherine Schultz: Foreword – Lalitha Vasudevan/Marc Lamont Hill: Moving Beyond Dichotomies of Media Engagement in Education: An Introduction – Kelly K. Wissman: «This Is What I See»: (Re)envisioning Photography as a Social Practice – Jeanine M. Staples: «Are We Our Brothers’ Keepers?»: Exploring the Social Functions of Reading in the Life of an African American Urban Adolescent – Leif Gustavson: Influencing Pedagogy through the Creative Practices of Youth – Rachel E. Nichols: «Kind of Like Emerging from the Shadows»: Adolescent Girls as Multiliteracy Pedagogues – Korina M. Jocson: Situating the Personal in Digital Media Production – Heather M. Pleasants: Negotiating Identity Projects: Exploring the Digital Storytelling Experiences of Three African American Girls. Responses by: Katie Hyde – Valerie Kinloch – Renee Hobbs – Audra Price – Greg Dimitriadis – Decoteau J. Irby – Michele Knobel – Rebekah Buchanan – Anne Burns – Vivian L. Gadsden – Glynda Hull – Iris Dixon Taylor.

«This collection of ethnographic case studies coupled with scholarly responses provides valuable insights into young people’s learning when they are engaged with media analysis and production projects in both formal and informal education contexts. Our media-saturated world requires that youth develop critical and creative competencies with multiple forms of media and communication technologies. How can educators in and out of schools help? How do youth themselves participate in and transform media cultures? What more needs to be done? Read this book to get suggestions for action that are theoretically and practically grounded.» (JoEllen Fisherkeller, Associate Professor, Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University; Author of Growing Up with Television: Everyday Learning Among Young Adolescents)