A social semiotic mapping of voice in youth media: the pitch in youth video production†

An ethics of youth media production is the interplay of identities, media literacy, and modality that shape the environment within which young people produce media, yet how ‘voice’ is fostered and/or constrained in these environments could still be explored more fully. This paper stems from a larger qualitative study of how youth created films about their lives and communities in four non-school spaces that strove to give voice to underrepresented youth across the USA. This detailed semiotic analysis illustrates the nuances in the discussion between young people and youth media arts educators in two of these organizations during the pitch, the key moment in the filmmaking process in which the youth presented their ideas for their videos for adult approval before they moved on to the next stages, for example, filming. This analysis illustrates how young people negotiated their voice, tracing the negotiation and the inherent power dynamics that occurred.     

Eco-Transactional Influences on Sociopolitical Youth Development Work

An emerging and growing body of research has clearly established the importance of youth building sociopolitical consciousness in order to be more democratically engaged citizens. An overwhelming amount of sociopolitical youth development work occurs outside of school. Much of the research on this work has focused on youth outcomes, and we know little about sociopolitical youth workers, the types of experiences and influences from which they draw, and how those experiences and influences emerge in their work. To attempt to fill this void, the author uses life history methodology to showcase two sociopolitical youth workers (“activist mentors”). Using Watts, Williams, and Jager's eco-transactional model of sociopolitical development as an analytic tool, the author explains and uncovers ways in which an amalgamation of past events, relationships, and environmental influences inform and emerge in activist mentors' work with youth activists. Findings indicate that activist mentors' ecological and transactional influences shape the ways in which they discuss their development of collective identities with their mentees, developmental spaces, and healing approaches to their work. This study points to a need for further research to understand what informs the work of sociopolitical youth workers, how their work is influenced, and the role of critical self-reflection in sociopolitical youth development work.     

Does generosity beget generosity? Alumni giving and undergraduate financial aid

We investigate how undergraduates’ financial aid packages affect their subsequent donative behavior as alumni. We analyze micro data on alumni giving at an anonymous research university, and focus on three types of financial aid, scholarships, loans, and campus jobs. Consistent with the view of some professional fundraisers, we allow the receipt of a given form of aid per se to affect alumni giving.     

What makes a youth-produced film good? The youth audience perspective

In this article, we explore how youth audiences evaluate the quality of youth-produced films. Our interest stems from a dearth of ways to measure the quality of what youth produce in artistic production processes. As a result, making art in formal learning settings devolves into either romanticized creativity or instrumental work to improve skills in core content areas. We conducted focus groups with 38 youth participants where they viewed four different films produced by the same youth media arts organization that works with young people to produce short-form, autobiographical documentaries. We found that youth focused their evaluations on identifying the films' genre and content and on assessing how well the filmmakers' creative decisions fit with identifications of genre and content. Evaluations were mediated by audiences' expectations and seemed to inform judgments of quality and creativity. We hope that our work can inform the design of formal learning spaces where young people are producing narrative art.     

Teachers’ Lives in Context: A Framework for Understanding Barriers to High-Quality Teaching Within Resource Deprived Settings

There is a profound for more effective schools, especially within resource-poor communities in low- and middle-income countries. A wide range of literature identifies teachers as the most critical component of schools in regards to student learning. Despite this, there is a dearth of literature on how teachers' experiences influence their ability to attend school, remain in the teaching profession, and provide high quality teaching within the classroom. This study presents a theoretical framework for understanding the role of teachers' lives in context (skills, knowledge, and attitudes; poverty and health; contextual supports/barriers to teaching) in influencing teacher effectiveness. This framework builds upon Tseng and Seidman's (2007) systems framework for understanding youth social settings in order to incorporate teachers' lives into a larger model of educational effectiveness. This synthesis reveals significant gaps in our understanding of teachers' experiences and how they affect teaching. At the teacher attendance, attrition, and pedagogical quality and a key moderator of educational interventions. Implications for research, practice, and policy are discussed.     

如何电影,怎样独立:问题与方法

"独立电影"作为分类概念和制作模式在1990年以来的中国电影生产格局中,已经成为一个非常明显的事实.本文追溯了"独立电影"作为一种生产模式与好莱坞电影的历史渊源,指出"独立电影"作为一个风格描述和批评概念的可能性和必要性.作者认为,根据下述三个方面来确定具体的"独立电影"或"独立电影"例作者在涉及美学、技术、经济和社会诸方面的历史位王:(1)他(它)们在电影工业/产业中的地位;(2)他(它)们所采用的形式/美学策略的性质;(3)他(它)们与更宽泛的社会、文化、政治或意识形态状况的关系.最后,作者强调了"独立电影"在中国电影生产场域和批评场域中的重要性.     

Arab Americans: Into the Multicultural Mainstream

As the percentage of youth of color in the nation's public schools continues to increase, so, too, does the urgency of preparing a predominantly white, female, middle class teaching force to work with racially and culturally diverse youth. Drawing upon an ethnographic study of an urban, youth-serving HIV/AIDS prevention and supports center, this article describes how two white women staffers engaged culturally responsive modes of care, support, and advocacy in order to address young people's emotional, developmental, and educational needs. Since both women performed motherly personas as they cared for and supported youth at the center, this article builds upon their experiences to develop “further mothering”—an adaptation of the “other mothering” tradition of black women—as a possible heuristic for analyzing white women educators’ culturally responsive work with black youth.     

“It means a lot of stuff,in a way”. New York City Youth Interpret Other Youth Produced Videos

This article reports on how a small group of New York City adolescents interpreted audio‐visual expressions that were created by youth participating in the international VideoCulture Project. The New York City youth looked for explicit messages in the youth‐produced video films, but also appreciated features of content and form that prompted their curiosity about the youth producers’ intent, as well as experience of everyday life. This study suggests how American culture has influenced these youth's sensibilities about audio‐visual communication, and discusses the value and problems of engaging youth in projects of this nature     

Using a Critical Service-Learning Approach to Facilitate Civic Identity Development

This article highlights elements of civic engagement programs that have the rich potential to facilitate civic identity development. Focusing on research with alumni, the study examines 3 civic engagement programs, the approaches of which are guided by critical service-learning. It explores elements of the experiences that alumni name as influential to their learning, development, and present commitments to understand the ways that civic engagement programs based in a critical service-learning approach can encourage them to develop commitments to active citizenship as exemplified by Knefelkamp's (2008) vision of a mature sense of civic identity.     

Alumni Perceptions of a Move to NCAA Division IA Football Membership

ABSTRACT

Because of its prominent role, football has the potential to positively impact a university in several ways. Previous research on college athletics has focused on the financial impact of athletic success on institutions (e.g., donations). This research examines the marketing capabilities of college football by measuring alumni perceptions of a large southeastern university's move to NCAA Division IA football. A total of 297 alumni participated in a telephone survey. A high percentage of alumni believe IA football is prestigious and that the move to IA has influenced game attendance intention. Alumni believe the university's image has been positively influenced by the move to IA, and 21% believe the perceived value of their college degree has been enhanced by the move to IA. Findings from this study can aid universities in understanding the importance of football to alumni and how athletics can keep alumni connected with their alma mater.     

“I think at first glance people would not expect me to be interested in science”: Exploring the racialized science experiences of high school students of color

The underrepresentation of high school students of color in advanced science courses and the need to increase racial diversity in science fields is well documented. The persistence of racial disparities in science suggests that factors influencing participation include and extend beyond those currently being explored. This study explores how high school students of color make sense of racialized narratives about who does and can do science in circulation in society and their lives, and how this shapes their positioning and identity construction in science. Using interviews and surveys this study examines youths' accounts of their racialized science experiences, including how they envision scientists, make sense of racial disparities in the science community, and navigate their positioning in science. In addition, this study examines how youths' sense of their science ability, as a salient aspect of science identity, shapes the forms of navigation accessible to them, and thus, the futures they imagine in science. By sharing the complexity of students' sense making and the tensions they express as they negotiate their personal goals, science experiences, and messages they receive from racialized narratives, findings highlight the disproportionate work youth of color in this study do, as well as their resilience to navigate racialized narratives in science. This research sheds light on the experiences of high school students of color at a time in their schooling when they are making decisions about who they can become and the possible futures available to them. Implications from this study promote centering race within a critical, sociocultural, and ecological context when exploring identity construction for youth of color in science. Furthermore, findings underscore the need to create learning experiences that provide opportunities for youth of color to author narratives for their own possibilities of belonging and becoming in science in order to support inclusive pathways.     

Teaching Women's Studies: The effects of 'race' and gender

This article aims to explore the relationship between gender and 'race' when teaching a course on 'race', class and gender to women's studies students at a university. It will explore how the racial background and gender of the lecturer may affect the relationship she has with the students and how they see her role as a teacher of 'race' and gender. It will examine how teaching can be and is related to our personal subjective experiences such as our gender, 'race', class, sexuality and age. Whilst most students welcomed the opportunity to discuss issues around 'race' and racism, for some (mostly Black and Asian students) this was often seen as a painful experience based on past experiences. For others (mostly white women) the opportunity to discuss and hear about the experiences of Black and Asian women was something they valued. The article goes on to argue that teaching students about sensitive subjects such as 'race' can be affected not only by the personal experiences of the lecturer, but also by their racial identity and their gender. Indeed, such identities can also affect how students feel about such subjects and how they, in turn, experience their learning.     

Children's and Adolescents' Accounts of Helping and Hurting Others: Lessons About the Development of Moral Agency

This study examined children's and adolescents' narrative accounts of everyday experiences when they harmed and helped a friend. The sample included 100 participants divided into three age groups (7‐, 11‐, and 16‐year‐olds). Help narratives focused on the helping acts themselves and reasons for helping, whereas harm narratives included more references to consequences of acts and psychological conflicts. With age, however, youth increasingly described the consequences of helping. Reasons for harming others focused especially on the narrator's perspective whereas reasons for helping others were centered on others' perspectives. With age, youth increasingly drew self‐related insights from their helpful, but not their harmful, actions. Results illuminate how reflections on prosocial and transgressive experiences may provide distinct opportunities for constructing moral agency.     

The roots of reading for pleasure: Recollections of reading and current habits

Children's early literacy experiences are critical, yet it remains unclear whether memories of early reading instruction continue to be associated with reading habits into adulthood. We examined the association between recollections of reading experiences and present-day reading habits in an adult population. University students responded in writing to three open-ended prompts asking about their memories of reading during early childhood, elementary school and high school. They also completed two questionnaires inquiring about reading enjoyment and frequency in elementary school and high school. For the concurrent measures of reading, participants described their current reading habits in an open-ended prompt and completed an author recognition test. Results showed positive links between favourable memories of reading during elementary and high school years and present-day reading habits. Conversely, unfavourable memories during high school were associated with unenthusiastic present-day reading habits. We found that reading instruction in school forms long-lasting memories, and these memories are linked in meaningful ways with print exposure during adulthood.     

University alumni mentoring programs: a win-win?

Alumni-student mentoring programs have become commonplace at many universities, and yet, scholarly research has rarely explored the impact of these programs on participating students and alumni. To address this, we investigated three alumni mentoring programs at a large research-intensive university in Australia. Using a mixed methods approach (a web based survey and interviews), we sought both students' and mentors' perceptions of their alumni mentoring program and how their involvement may have impacted their perceptions of the university (n=197). The findings highlight that alumni mentoring programs provide distinct benefits to both students and alumni and may result in improved university engagement. Our results also indicate new revelations about alumni mentoring programs, including the challenges associated with mentoring postgraduate students and recommended best practice to ensure the success of alumni mentoring programs.     

Filmmaking education and enterprise culture: an ethnographic exploration of two filmmaking education contexts and their relation to bedroom culture and the creative workplace

ABSTRACT

Filmmaking education has never been firmly integrated into schooling and in past years has suffered from cuts to funding for formal and non-formal arts education and youth work. It continues to exist only by drawing on creative industry and cultural consumption practices as well as state funding. In this paper, we explore the filmmaking education contexts we encountered while doing our own pieces of year-long ethnographic research. These contexts import ‘enterprising’ ways of thinking, doing and being from the creative workplace and ‘bedroom culture’. Located across life’s domains, they address enterprising subjects who take pleasure in work, make use of leisure and are always learning. We argue that these filmmaking education contexts support young people to develop their private creative practice and introduce them to the possibility of work in the creative industries but, because of the enterprise culture in which they are entangled, uncritically address these young people as enterprising subjects.     

Glass Ceilings and Stone Walls: Employment equity for women in Ontario school boards

Women continue to be underrepresented in administrative positions within the education system in Ontario, Canada, despite the existence of employment equity policy for women for 20 years. However, while government reports present statistical data to monitor policy progress, little research has been conducted into how women administrators experience employment equity policy in their everyday lives. This paper uses data from interviews with female administrators to examine their perceptions of gender relations within the context of the provincial policy. First, the memories of these women, as they entered and achieved administrative positions, are presented. Second, I discuss their experiences of contradiction with respect to the policy in practice. Finally, I identify the ways in which these women construct themselves as agents of resistance and change. The paper concludes by arguing that existing relations and practices within the education system constitute an 'invisible policy', which must be acknowledged in order to understand the policy contradictions experienced by women educators.     

Body,Caring and Power in Teacher–Pupil Relationships: Encounters in former pupils' memories

This narrative inquiry aims to look at teacher–pupil relationships through teacher memories. When 49 university students of education were asked to write their memories of teachers, they told about their teachers in relation to pupils. The data were analysed thematically and, based on that, re‐read through the concepts of body, caring and power in order to answer the question of how these can be understood as elements of the teacher–pupil relationship. We will also discuss the potential for encounter in teacher–pupil relationships, since we noticed that students especially seemed to recall encounters and non‐encounters in the relationship. By listening to former pupils, it is possible to elicit significant memories of what, from their point of view, is in the core of being a teacher. The meaning of recalling one's own teachers in teacher education is also emphasised.