Educating for Participatory Politics (EPP)
Project Description
Through the efforts of four teams based in three different cities, the Educating for Participatory Politics (EPP) project explored the transformations that accompany the digital age, and investigated the opportunities for educators in preparing young people to participate in civic and political life. Preparing youth for democracy in the digital age requires a new approach.
Web 2.0 tools and digital media have become central to civic and political life, and digital media literacy has become an essential civic competency. Advances in digital technology have brought about rapid changes in how we access and share information, communicate and build social networks, and express points of view. However, we lack sufficient models of civic education that respond to this changing landscape.
Studies from the YPP Network highlight many ways the changing landscape of public life create new opportunities and considerations for youth as they think about their roles and responsibilities as community members. For example, they need supports to help find and assess the credibility of information and to consider how to circulate and produce content that can reach a sizable audience and have impact.
Therefore, we need models of civic education that build on youth enthusiasm for digital tools and networked life, and support them to use these tools effectively for civic purposes. If we want young people to be engaged and effective civic actors, then all youth need to be provided with civic learning environments that are connected and participatory, and all youth need to engage in practices that offer a range of civic learning opportunities enabled by new media.
The EPP teams drew on their work in the field with educators and youth to develop a set of design principles and core practices that articulate a new vision for civic education 2.0. Teams created, remixed, piloted, and then shared model educational resources that promote young people’s capacity to engage in civic and political life in the digital age.
Funding
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Project Team
Publications/Resources
Please visit the Educating for Participatory Politics (EPP) collection of resources developed by or in collaboration with educators to explore four core civic and political practices in the digital age.
For more detailed information about educating for participatory politics, you can click on the following other resources.
Redesigning Civic Education for the Digital Age: Participatory Politics and the Pursuit of Democratic Engagement by Joseph Kahne, Erica Hodgin & Elyse Eidman-Aadahl
Webinar Series: Youth-Led Inquiry, Connection and Action: Redesigning Civic Education for the Digital Age
Partners
The EPP project included the following four teams working in three different cities.
Chicago - Black Youth Project, McCormick Foundation Civics Program, and Chicago Public Schools Service Learning Initiative
Chicago - Good Participation Project and Facing History and Ourselves
Los Angeles - Media, Activism & Participatory Politics Project and USC School for Cinematic Arts
Oakland - Educating for Democracy in the Digital Age, Oakland Unified School District, National Writing Project, and the Civic Engagement Research Group