Lesson Overview
Students will learn about and identify ways in which various types of media can be used to promote awareness around an issue.
Digital Empowerment Module
Lesson 3: Raising Awareness Through Media
Before you start the lesson, make sure to read through the lesson overview and the lesson preparation. The Facilitator Guide can also help you prepare.
Lesson Preparation
ESTIMATED TIME
- 1 Hour and 5 Minutes
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
- How can digital media promote awareness around an issue?
MATERIALS
- Projector
PREPARATION
- Identify a video to demonstrate how media can be used to foster awareness and advocacy relevant to your community.
- Students need internet access to complete this lesson.
- There are several opportunities to localize content to your students’ experience and local context. These opportunities are flagged as “Teacher’s Notes” throughout. We suggest you read through the lesson ahead of time and prepare the examples before the lesson begins.
OPTIONAL: ISTE DIGCITCOMMIT COMPETENCY
- ENGAGED: I use technology and digital channels for civic engagement, to solve problems, and to be a force for good in both physical and virtual communities.
Ready?
Begin Lesson
Using Media for Change
TELL YOUR STUDENTS
Media is an awesome tool for sharing ideas with others. For many, digital media platforms are their favorite way to communicate their messages. For instance, Taaooma and Elsa MaJimbo use Instagram and YouTube to share funny stories with people across Africa and around the world, and Natasha Mwansa uses Twitter to stand up for the rights of women and young people.
Teacher's Note
Share examples of local digital influencers who are spreading their message on digital platforms. This example is intended to show students how others use the internet to advocate for a cause they care about. Examples could include:
Share examples of local digital influencers who are spreading their message on digital platforms. This example is intended to show students how others use the internet to advocate for a cause they care about. Examples could include:
- Ethiopia: Yared Shumete uses Facebook to support internally displaced people and conflict victims who are in need of food, shelter, and clothes.
- Kenya: 'Churchil' Daniel Ndambuki who uses YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram to share funny stories with the world and Julie Gichuru who uses Twitter to advocate for rights and share economic opportunities with the underserved youths.
- Nigeria: Taaooma and Elsa Maimbo use Instagram and YouTube to share funny stories with people across Africa and around the world, and Malala Yousafzai uses Twitter to stand up for the rights of women and young people.
- Zambia: Steffan Phiri uses TikTok to share funny stories with people across Africa and Natasha Mwansa uses Twitter to empower young people in Africa.
TELL YOUR STUDENTS
Sometimes, young advocates use digital media to target specific problems.
Teacher's Note
Share examples of local advocates who are spreading their message on digital platforms. This example is intended to show students how others use the internet to advocate for a cause they care about. Examples could include:
Share examples of local advocates who are spreading their message on digital platforms. This example is intended to show students how others use the internet to advocate for a cause they care about. Examples could include:
- Kenya: Digital Farmers Kenya, a Facebook group that has 434,694 members that encourages members to exchange farming ideas and the latest farming technologies that can be adopted to improve yields.
- Nigeria: Zuriel Oduwole is a young movie producer and activist who started a project called “Dream Up, Speak Up, Stand Up,” a campaign on social media that advocates for the promotion of girl-child education in Africa.
- Zambia: Buumba Malamba is a child rights activist in Zambia. She used social media as a platform to start her own organization to speak out against child abuse and help abused children.
On a projection screen at the front of the room, show a recent video example aligned with your/students’ local/regional context to illustrate further how media can be used to foster awareness and advocacy around a particular cause.
TELL YOUR STUDENTS
When engaging in advocacy efforts, media of all sorts can be powerful tools for achieving our goals. In the following activity, you will explore this idea by creating a message and spreading it across various types of media to reach a large audience.
Assignment
Part 1
TELL YOUR STUDENTS
Find an example of media (e.g., a YouTube video, Facebook post, a picture) that is inspiring and might be a good way to help spread a message about a cause that you care about. You will have 15 minutes to find this content. Afterward, students will show the group what they found and why they think it is inspiring.
CLASS INTERACTION
Give students 15 minutes to find an example of media that they believe effectively spreads a message about a cause. Afterward, take 15 minutes and ask each student to briefly describe and/or show the media to the group and discuss why they think it is inspiring.
The second portion of this assignment may be completed during the current or second group convening, depending on the time allotted.
Part 2
TELL YOUR STUDENTS
Now that we’ve found and discussed an inspiring and effective example of media to promote a cause, it’s time for you to create your own media content around a cause you care about.
Over the next 20 minutes, think of a cause that is important to you and write down your idea for a specific type of media to raise awareness around the cause. This might include:
- A text post to communicate your cause and why people should take action
- An idea for an image or graphic (or image/graphic itself) to communicate the cause and how others can help support it
- An idea for a video to raise awareness and encourage action around the cause
In addition to this idea, please also write down:
- At least two possible ways you might spread your media message to increase visibility and awareness of the cause
CLASS INTERACTION
Give students 20 minutes to write down their ideas. Afterward, ask students to share what they wrote with the larger group. Take 15 minutes for discussion.
Congrats!
You've finished the lesson
Source:
This content is hosted by Meta and currently includes learning resources drawn from Youth and Media at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. You can make use of them, including copying and preparing derivative works, whether commercial or non-commercial, so long as you attribute Youth and Media as the original source and follow the other terms of the license, sharing any further works under the same terms.
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