Watching the first 15 minutes of An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube by Michael Wesch this week really opened my eyes to how much our world—especially our digital world—has changed in such a short time. It honestly hit me with a wave of nostalgia and inspiration. It reminded me of the early days of Vine—back when six seconds was all it took to make you laugh, cry, or go viral. I immediately thought of the iconic “WHAT ARE THOSE?!” trend, where someone would dramatically point at another person’s shoes and yell, “WHAT ARE THOSE?!” If you didn’t know, this trend took off when one hilarious video inspired countless remakes and parodies.
As Wesch explained in his video using the example of the “Numa Numa” guy, the same kind of phenomenon occurred. These moments weren’t about making fun of someone—they were about celebrating them. That’s when I started to realize these moments weren’t just funny—they were part of something bigger: a shared digital culture where people connect, create, and participate together.
Just like the early days of Youtube that Wesch talked about, Vine (and later Tiktok, Instagram, etc..) gave people the chance to not just watch, but create. To connect. To remix. To be part of something. It wasn’t just media anymore–it was participation, collaboration, and building a community. This all made me realize something important. Our students are growing up in a world where participation is the norm. Whether this be through Youtube, Vine (then), Tiktok, Instagram, or even new media trends such as Minecraft (this is older, however getting popular again), and Roblox. Shouldn’t classrooms reflect that too?
Wesch’s video really helped me understand that people and in particular children don’t want to just sit and listen to a lecture–they want to interact, collaborate, and engage with one another. For many generations now, children and people in general are so use to being part of conversations, weather this is through commenting, creating videos, joining on trends, or playing and communicating with one another through digital platforms.
In class we learned about an important idea called, “participatory culture”, and with this I’m understanding to see what this looks like. This isn’t just an idea, but a way people everyday interact. It’s more than posting a video, or commenting. It’s about working together for example in Minecraft to build a house, or building their voices on Tiktok. This is exactly what I want to build in my classroom. I want their learning to be more than writing or testing. I want them in my classroom to build a community, share ideas, and develop wonderful creations. Speaking on Minecraft, as much as it can be a silly game to some. This interactive game can be an excellent tool to use for various subjects, especially to have students be creative with one another.
Source: IGN. 2023. 15 Fun Ideas for What to Build in Minecraft. IGN. https://www.ign.com/articles/minecraft-build-ideas
There is many ways to create and even collaborate with one another in a classroom settings besides Minecraft. There’s digital tools such as Breakout EDU. This tool is like a online escape room style game where students work in teams to solve puzzles, crack codes, and “break out”. A fun tool I loved as a kid was VideoStar. With this tool you can have students create a music video about a topic or a music video of their choice with friends, or they could act out a story through a song. There’s many ways you could use VideoStar for collaboration. You could even teach students coding by having them build their own world/game on Roblox and have the class play their game. Overall, having students create and collaborate it can even mean trusting your students to have a choice–letting them show what they know in different ways in their choice of a digital platform, encouraging creativity.
(Example of a youth making a music video/story through VideoStar)
This idea of “participatory culture” has made me think about the role of schools in general and how we use this concept. Understandably, iPhone and personal devices are now often banned to use in schools–mainly because teachers want students to stay focused on their learning rather than being distracted by their phones. However, I do believe theres a growing opportunity for schools to use phones and digital tools as mentioned above in meaningful and positive ways that align with how students already learn and express themselves outside the classroom.
In a world where students are constantly engaging in digital networks, education must evolve to meet them where they are. This means rethinking classroom norms, rethinking how/what/when we use technology, and creating educational experiences that are meaningful through interaction and student-led projects. Either way students are going to use these many digital tools provided for the public, students might as well learn to use it in positive ways at school.
Hey Kadie,
I really enjoyed reading your post, it had such an honest and nostalgic tone that made me think about my own early experiences with platforms like Vine and YouTube. It’s crazy how something so simple could spark a global chain reaction of creativity, humour, and connection.
I love how you tied Wesch’s video to this bigger idea of participatory culture. It’s easy to forget how quickly digital platforms went from places where we just watched to places where we belong. Your examples, Minecraft, TikTok, even VideoStar, really highlight how naturally young people turn to creation, collaboration, and community when given the tools.
The way you framed the shift from passive to active learning really stuck with me too. You’re right that students today expect to participate. They’re used to sharing, reacting, remixing and that’s something we as educators can lean into rather than push against. I thought your suggestion of using tools like Breakout EDU or even Roblox in a learning setting was such a smart way to meet students where they already are, and also builds upon the SAMR model.
Also, totally agree with your take on personal devices. Instead of banning them outright, maybe we need to start thinking more about how we guide their use. I talked about this in my blog about media literacy and teaching kids to be engaged and use technology in the classroom.
– Kyler