Writing stories, rewriting identities: using journalism education and mobile technologies to empower marginalized high school students

ABSTRACT

This study examines the impact that producing a print newspaper using cell phones had on marginalized students in a high school journalism classroom. Analysis of data from participant observation, artifact analysis and student interviews revealed that a) students negotiated cell phone use for educational purposes, despite school bans on such devices, and b) students manifested emerging, transformative identities that positively influenced their roles in five key areas: as a conception of self, in other academic classes, among peers, with family, and in the community. Our findings point to the significance of media-based journalism production in allowing marginalized students to embrace professional identities by participating in a meaningful community of practice. This research highlights the academic, social and civic benefits of such initiatives, and calls attention to the range of opportunities and challenges that pertain to using mobile devices as learning tools in these contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• Journalism
• mobile technologies
• high school education
• marginalization
• communities of practice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Alena Cybart-Persenaire, Ed.D., is English Department Chair at Kennedy High School in Waterbury, Conn. She has taught high school English and Journalism since 1997. Her student journalists have won 73 national, regional and state journalism awards, including three 2017 New England Scholastic Press Association awards.

Ioana Literat, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in the Communication, Media & Learning Technologies Design program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research examines creative participation in digital contexts, and has been published in New Media & Society, Communication Theory, International Journal of Communication, and Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, among others.

ORCID

Ioana Literat http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8192-769X