Professor Renee Hobbs presents a 2-hour workshop at SXSWEdu in March, 2014. Ever wondered why professional development programs in digital learning may inspire some teachers and leave others in the cold? Learn the secrets of creating an effective professional development program for educators that activates reflection and promotes best practices in learning.

1. How Teacher
Motivations Shape
Digital Learning
Renee Hobbs
Harrington School of Communication and Media
University of Rhode Island USA
TWITTER: @reneehobbs
March 5, 2014
#PVK

3. www.mediaeducationlab.com

4. www.harrington.uri.edu

5. http://jmle.org

6. Media Smart Libraries
Children’s Librarians & Children’s Media Professionals
In Partnership with the Providence Children’s Film Festival

7. July 31 – August 4, 2013 | Providence RI USA

8. Summer Institute in Digital Literacy
June 13 – 18, 2014
Providence RI USA

9. www.powerfulvoicesforkids.com
Powerful Voices for Kids is a
curriculum and professional
development program for digital
and media literacy education.
#PVK

10. PEER-TO-PEER FILE SHARING
Goals for Today’s Session
Why professional development for digital learning often fails
What really motivates teachers to care about digital learning
Inferring teacher motivations from video artifacts
How to design professional development in digital learning
that’s tuned in to teacher motivations
The transformative power of teacher reflection

11. Why professional development for
digital learning often fails

12. Educators’ attitudes about media, technology and
popular culture shape their work with learners

13. PRINT
VISUAL
SOUND
DIGITAL
Educators’ attitudes about media, technology and
popular culture shape their work with learners

14. LOVE
PRINT
HATE
VISUAL
SOUND
DIGITAL
Educators’ attitudes about media, technology and
popular culture shape their work with learners

15. expanding the concept of literacy
ACT
CREATE
ACCESS
ACCESS
ANALYZEE
REFLECT

16. expanding the concept of literacy
open access
data ownership
multitasking
identity
transmediation
curation
play
representation
privacy
addiction

17. Empowerment

18. Protection

21. How do Teachers Make Sense of
Digital Media and Learning?
Research on
attitudes of K-12
teachers in the
United States
and Germany
Exploring the
relationship
between teacher
attitudes and
likelihood to use
digital media
and technology
in the classroom

22. 12
Motivations
for Using Media & Technology
in Education

23. TECHIE
You’re the educator who loves tablets, apps, programs, plugins, widgets, websites, and other types of educational
technology because you have a passionate curiosity about
new tools. You see much potential to engage students with
the technology tools they love and use in their everyday lives.
TRENDSETTER
You’re tuned into pop culture and curious about kid culture.
Maybe your own most-loved popular culture isn’t too far
removed from that of your students. You are inquisitive about
the trends and hot topics that make up a crucial component
of the fabric of your students’ everyday lives. You want school
culture to meet kids where they live with the popular culture
they know and love.

24. DEMYSTIFIER
As a teacher, you “pull back the curtain” to help students see
how various forms of information and knowledge are
constructed. You emphasize the practice of critical thinking,
helping students ask good “how” and “why” questions.
WATCHDOG
You are a natural critical thinker, aware of how economic
systems and institutions influence our everyday lives,
particularly through the media we use. You want your
students and your peers to be more mindful of the ways that
things are bought and sold. Who owns and controls the
media content that we see, hear, read, and play with? You feel
responsible for giving your students a “wake-up call” about
the economic and institutional inner-workings of the
technology and the world that surrounds them.

25. ACTIVIST
As an educator, you want to make society more just and
equitable by promoting democratic participation. You use
media in the classroom as a catalyst for students to
understand how they might have a voice in improving the
quality of life in their communities and in the world.
TASTEMAKER
You want to broaden your students’ horizons. You want them
to have exposure to the kinds of media experiences that put
them in touch with historical, aesthetic, and critical
appreciation. You know that a key component of students’
future interactions will require them to draw from a variety
of cultural sources both classical and popular.

26. MOTIVATOR
You are an inspiration, a catalyst for your students’ creative
energy. Students who have never felt comfortable speaking
up in class, participating in activities, or contributing to class
dialogue find it easier to speak their mind when you’re
leading the classroom. You see your role as helping students
be the best they can be.
ALT
You are an inventive, perhaps “DIY,” teacher. You’re always
ready to challenge students with alternative ways of finding,
using, thinking about, and making media in the classroom.
Whether you use open source programs on school computers,
encourage students to start alternative clubs or magazines, or
introduce students to media that’s “off the beaten path” of
mainstream and mass media, you are likely a key proponent
of broadening students’ understanding of the many different
ways that people can communicate in the world.

27. PROFESSIONAL
You have high standards for your students’ work, and you may
be seen as the go-to media professional in your school. You
know how to push your students to understand and emulate
the professional conventions that is important to being taken
seriously in the world of media creation. To help students
enter the real world of media creation, you bring other
authors, professionals, and media-makers into your classroom
to enrich the learning experience.
SPIRIT GUIDE
You are a listener. You have a dedication to the social and
emotional well-being of your students, and want to make
sure that everything you do in the classroom connects to their
immediate needs to understand themselves and their lives.
Students likely find you trustworthy, and may even confide in
you in ways that they do not for other teachers. You know
media is just one facet of student life, and you want to engage
with it to help them through the highs and lows of life in all of
its challenges and opportunities.

28. TEACHER 2.0
You understand that participation in digital media and
learning cultures requires flexibility to new formats, modes of
expression, and participation in and out of school. You use
online or interactive versions of classic literature to explore
meaning behind texts. Teacher 2.0 teachers always trying new
things in the classroom and finding new ways to connect
learning to children’s culture.
PROFESSOR
You balance your interest in media and technology with a
clear connection to academic standards. You want to be sure
that media and technology are not used in the classroom for
their own sake, but to gain content knowledge. Multimedia
presentations, engaging websites, and educational technology
serve the purpose of helping you deliver the core content and
skills students need to master.

29. Pair-Share
What’s Your Digital Learning
Horoscope?

30. www.powerfulvoicesforkids.com

32. Making inferences about teacher motivation
using visual evidence

33. Learn about Primary Source Materials
LINK

34. Learn to Code

35. The Life of a Homeless Person

36. Analyze a YouTube Video
LINK

37. Develop a Digital Library Lab

38. Create a Lip Dub

39. Create a Public Service Announcement

40. History Music Video

41. Small Group:
Design a PD session with a specific
teacher motivation in mind

42. Some Instructional Practices of Digital
and Media Literacy
Find, comprehend and
interpret content
Critically analyze how
messages are constructed
Gain knowledge
and information
Share ideas through
dialogue & discussion
Examine the quality of
educational resources
Reflect on expected and
unanticipated consequences
Create, build or
make something
Develop and implement a
plan of action

43. Why reflection is a transformative practice

44. Self-reflection on one’s own motivations
may increase focus and creativity

45. Collaborative reflection may promote respect
and cultivate shared values

46. Respect for teacher motivations may expand the
diversity and range of instructional practices

47. Sensitivity to teacher motivations may contribute to the
design of PD with greater impact

49. PEER-TO-PEER FILE SHARING
Goals for Today’s Session
Why professional development for digital learning often fails
What really motivates teachers to care about digital learning
Inferring teacher motivations from video artifacts
How to design professional development in digital learning
that’s tuned in to teacher motivations
The transformative power of teacher reflection

51. People with creative freedom and professional
autonomy bring passion and integrity to their
work and life

52. Renee Hobbs
Professor and Founding Director
Harrington School of Communication and Media
University of Rhode Island USA
Email: hobbs@uri.edu
Twitter: @reneehobbs
Web: http://mediaeducationlab.com