Chapter 3 Video Production and Global Civic Education
The School as Sandbox for Democracy 2.0
In: Education for Democracy 2.0Search for other papers by Mar Rodríguez-Romero in
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Abstract
This chapter explores the synergy between media education and civic action in a global perspective and their interconnectedness with Democracy 2.0. We revisit a project developed in secondary schools in Galicia (Spain) and which sought to promote students’ civic involvement whilst learning about an authentic problem: North-South inequality exemplified the similarities and differences between the lives of young people from La Chureca, Nicaragua and those from Galicia, using video production as an instructional practice. This case study showed why the learning opportunities of media production for citizenship purposes only partially takes off. Two main issues arose. The lack of proper attention to media literacy issues when linked to citizenship education and the confrontation between old ways of thinking about media production and the new ways of approaching media production in the context of convergence culture. We examined the limitations to teach in very predictable scenarios such as Spanish secondary school which are still struggling with the methodological challenges that digital media forces us to face, and the expanded learning opportunities that it offers for young people to act as citizens in the global world. In addition, we consider how the citizenship role of media education can be fortified by forging connections from Global Citizenship Education to overcome social global justice in a liberal way. We see schools as a sandbox: a place where you can play, you can practice building something authentic, learning to become the kind of digital citizen that will later fulfil the aim of an authentic Democracy 2.0.