Abstract:

In this paper we discuss a critical digital literacy service learning initiative involving post-graduate students in Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University in Makhanda (South Africa). As part of their studies, such students co-develop and teach a small-scale, non-credit-bearing short course on mobile critical digital literacy skills to learners in a township school. In South African terms, a township is an (often marginalised) area, present in almost every settlement, in which people classified as Blacks under apartheid were expected to live and to a large extent still do. As a microcosm of the diverse and still profoundly unequal South African reality, Makhanda offers ample opportunities for contact and collaboration across the geographic, socio-economic and digital divides. The Rhodes School of Journalism and Media Studies, recognised as one of the best on the African Continent, partners with a number of local organisations to support community upliftment and mutual learning. Community engagement, of which service learning is but one expression, is recognised as an integral component of academic activities for university staff and students. Rhodes University offers dedicated training and provides institutional support for activities such as the one discussed here. What makes our approach somehow unique is the adoption of photo voice as a pedagogical device in teaching and learning about identity construction in a marginalised context. Under the guidance of postgraduate students and their lecturers, learners learn about the technical aspects of taking photos to represent their identities using their mobile phone. Such photos are then used as a point of departure for facilitated group discussions about (self)representations, the social construction of identities and the importance of understanding these in relation to their lived context. In this paper we document and reflect on the conceptualisation and first iteration of the digital literacy service learning course, drawing some lessons for the future.

Keywords:

Service learning, digital literacy, digital divide, photovoice.