Features

In this post, which was originally featured on the EDC website here, YouthLearn’s Tony Streit and Wendy Rivenburgh discuss why schools and educators should create opportunities for their students to make media. It was the late 1980s, and EDC’s Tony Streit had just been asked to help a group of high school students make a documentary about their own lives. Streit was skeptical. How could he get them to make something really worthwhile? It was a project that changed... Continue Reading

Deep in the jungle of western Uganda, youth from around the Nyarushanje sub-country journeyed over four kilometers a day to participate in a new initiate on media making. The Youth Media Initiative (YOMI), led by Henry Sempangi Sanyulye, worked in partnership with PeerLink Initiative Uganda (PELI-U) to lead an intensive 2-month youth media training. In the end, seven youth made the trek and completed the extensive coursework designed to equip youth with media literacy... Continue Reading

I like to think of myself as a fairly optimistic person. In the more than 25 years I’ve been advocating for media education, technology access, and youth voice, I’ve always felt that through this work, we were moving toward some better place as a society. I have to confess though that the last several months have left me rattled. Who would have guessed that the media landscape would become so toxic? It has become increasingly painful to watch the evening news or check... Continue Reading

How to Develop an Environment That Supports Learning Learning centers have climates, just like cities or towns. It’s something you feel, something in the air. It’s more than just how a place­ looks—although that’s certainly important. You also sense it in the way people interact with each other, in how they listen, and what they say. The environment in which you offer a program can determine how effective you are as a teacher. Is it a nice place to be?... Continue Reading

The youth media field is at a compelling and challenging crossroads in its ongoing evolution. Has there ever been a more promising time for young media makers and the field? The number of programs continues to grow. The channels of distribution are numerous. Today media making tools are ubiquitous. New and emerging technology offers media makers the opportunity to share and consume alternative media for easy consumption on the run. Broad access to the high-speed internet... Continue Reading

Good questioning skills may be the world’s most unsung talent. Ask the right questions in the right way, and you’ll engage people; do it differently, and you’ll put them off. Anyone who’s ever worked with youth knows how hard it can be to elicit information or opinions from them when they’ve got a case of the “idunnos.” Certainly, for an inquiry-based learning program there’s no more important talent, and by understanding... Continue Reading