Reading Response 3

I cannot get it out of my head: motivation. The description from the articles of using Zora, or other civic engagement simulations, and blogging (in great detailed examples) all caused me to cringe (and never be quite satisfied) about the motivation that youth have in gaining a civic attitude, civic skills, etc. MTV puts it in these terms: “it does seem that the majority of young people are convinced that supporting a social cause is something they should do. However, there is a strong disparity between interest and involvement, an ‘activation gap,’ and there is significant room for growth” (98).

It is this disparity that has me personally concerned. The creation of such fun, interesting, and civic experience software like Zora is very interesting (even for an entire article that says, “look what I created and what it can do” – now, mind you, I believe you have to do that sometimes so I’m not “put out for it”) and “seeing” the interaction between youth of varied ages is really cool (I am all about discussion) but how do you get them to care to do it in the first place (what’s the motivation?) and then, as both authors stressed, how do you get them to do it in a forum that is real, outside the online environment?

Truthfully, I do not have an answer, nor am I necessarily satisfied with either methodology. Ber says that “Zora’s design and infrastructure provides a bridge between…civic education, focused on helping children become better citizens by teaching them civic attitudes and skills…and…approaches focused on internal motivation to support the development of morally responsible individuals…” (149). I’m not convinced. I do, however, like what Ber had to say on the subject: “Listening to what young people care about is the necessary first step in enlisting their enthusiasm” (104). Based on our in-class discussions, I would say that is a big, fat “duh.”

This is where Rheingold has greater interest to me; he’s talking about how to use what youth already like and care about and helping them learn (this would definitely be a part of literacy) how to actually make their voice heard through skills that work the media technologies they like using. He focuses on blogging primarily and branches out into “citizen journalism” which is really quite cool to discuss. I’m not a formal teacher, but the ideas have a great deal of merit. But, I believe we need to not only put together these tools that Ber and Rheingold have (because it facilitates growth and learning) but we absolutely need to discuss how to motivate our youth to engage with these methods. This, to me, is imperative if we are going to even begin approaching what The New London Group is trying to suggest with regard to designing social futures where our youth are prepared to be workplace adults and have skills necessary to be great there. It is bridging the gap that must happen between wanting to be involved and actually being involved - and finding the motivation within youth to do it. Heck, I don't think enough adults are involved (myself included)!