The Story of the WA Mash

The Story of the WA Mash

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

The use of social media – from blogging to online
social networking to creation of all kinds of digital
material – is central to many teenagers’
lives.
Source: PEW INTERNET & AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT “Teens and Social Media” December 19,
2007


Some 93% of teens use the internet, and more of
them than ever are treating it as a venue
for social interaction – a place where they can
share creations, tell stories, and interact
with others.
Source: PEW INTERNET & AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT “Teens and Social Media” December 19,
2007


So how do we educate our students for success in
the Web 2.0 world?


Old School Creative Writing

• Genre based instruction
• Anthology of work as primary
text/resource
• Student work not published
• Blogging/Journaling
• Assessments were traditional,
rubric based
• Mostly ﬁction, poetry etc.
• Workshop style with peer edit,
peer review process
• In depth study of literary
elements and terms as vehicle
for creation


And then......


What do you want to communicate?


Who are you
communicating that
message to?


How best do we communicate that
message?

Can we harness the power of social media to provide students
with a vehicle for exploring and creating original content?


What is the basis for thinking about the New Humanities?


Why should schools rethink they way they teach traditional
humanities subjects?


MIT TechTV New Media Literacies
http://techtv.mit.edu/collections/newmedialiteracies


multitasking
play
transmedia navigation
visualization
judgement
performance
collective intelligence

negotiation
appropriation
simulation
distributed cognition


“Content Creators are online teens who have
created or worked on a blog or webpage, shared
original creative content, or remixed content they
found online into a new creation.”


The questions asked respondents if they create
or work on a blog; create or work on a personal
webpage; create or work on a webpage for
school, a friend, or an organization; share
original content such as artwork, photos,
stories, or videos online; or remix content found
online into a new creation.


Content Creation


WHAT IS THE WA MASH?
The Worcester Academy Mashup
http://wamash.com


Our Primary Publishing Tools

wamash.com

MashTube

MashPics

MicroMash

FacebookMash


The Birth of The WA Mash

WA Mash Visits from 9/2008 to 5/2009


Our Process Was Organic

• Sir Ken Robinson “Are Schools
Killing Creativity?”

• KSU “Vision of Student Today”

• Modeled after Salon.com and
Slate.com, Hufﬁngton Post

• We did not stick to any speciﬁc
game plan or prescribed syllabus

• Did not use a traditional text book


Three Words to the World


YouTube Hits Since September 2008

1518


Video Essay on “Poverty”


“On education, we will expand exchange
programs, and increase scholarships, like the one
that brought my father to America, while
encouraging more Americans to study in Muslim
communities. And we will match promising Muslim
students with internships in America; invest in on-
line learning for teachers and children around the
world; and create a new online network, so a
teenager in Kansas can communicate instantly with
a teenager in Cairo.”
President Barack Obama, June 4, 2009 Cairo, Egypt


edsocialmedia.com antonioviva.com


The Story of the WA Mash

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