Digital youth network: fusing school and after-school contexts to develop youth's new media literacies

This paper examines the Digital Youth Network as a model for developing youths’ digital literacy through the fusion of in-school and out-of-school new media-based learning activities. Introduction When the 6 graders of today enter adulthood in 2018 what will it mean to be a productive, informed and literate citizen? We contend that being literate in 2018 will require the need to fluidly use multiple modalities (e.g. text, aural, graphic, cinematic, and interactive) to communicate locally and globally for personal and professional uses. An informed and empowered citizen will need to be digitally literate, possessing the ability to both produce and critically consume media in multiple forms in order to fully communicate. This shift in the communicative value of media objects beyond the field of entertainment raises the question of how to ensure that all citizens, especially youth, are prepared to communicate effectively. The national dialogue, through the form of calls for more technology in the classroom, more tech savvy teachers, technology standards (NRC, 1998; ISTE, 2007), and a better prepared workforce (Levy & Murnane, 2004) apparently has placed this task in the hands of schools, with communities and homes providing backup support. In this paper, we put forth our model, Digital Youth Network (DYN), a hybrid digital literacy program that creates opportunities for youth to engage in learning environments that span both school and out-of-school contexts. Digital Youth Network We posit that the Digital Youth Network model is one that explicitly combines the affordances of the different contexts where youth spend their time into one learning environment that not only teaches youth how to use NMLs but also creates meaningful opportunities for youth to use their NMLs. It is a model for the construction of a new youth-serving institution that is not bounded by walls nor time of day. The core of the model spans the worlds of school, home, and after-school activities, and provides youth with: (a) access and training in the use of new media literacy tools; (b) meaningful activities where the development of new medial literacies is essential for accomplishing goals and (c) a continuum of established new media mentors (high school through professionals) who develop students’ technical skills, serve as role models, and provide students access to the communities of practice surrounding technology-based careers. The DYN model focuses heavily on the 6th through 8th grade experience by not only teaching youth how to use new media literacies but also creating meaningful opportunities for youth to use their new media literacies. These opportunities include explicit connections to school-based curriculum, interest-based clubs that require youth to use new media literacies in order to participate, and remix competitions and “open shop” times (both virtual and place-based) where youth are supported in using new media literacies to explore their own questions and push their imagination. To achieve these goals the program is structured into two components: inschool media arts classes and after-school pods. The mandatory school day media classes ensure that all students are exposure to a broad set of literacies while the optional after-school pods enable all students to build on the breadth of exposure received in school and identify skills of their choice to explore in-depth. The combination of in-school and out-of-school programming simultaneously provides a base of knowledge to allow in-school teachers to embed digital literacy into instruction without fear of having to teach kids how to use the new media tools. Below are brief descriptions of components of the DYN Model.