Chapter 1: Digital Media Explorations: How Space and Identity Become Sources of Learning

Classrooms are contested spaces. Compliance measures, educator professional development focused on alignment with mandates, punitive oversight systems, and notions of universal curriculum potentially threaten to remove the individuality and identity of classrooms (Darling-Hammond, 2013; Kohn, 2011; Ravitch, 2010). Digital literacies offer a process for teachers and students to unpack this context, to reshape it, and in the process, redefine their identities as learners. Digital literacies move beyond adding technology into the mix of learning activities. Rather, they offer a collaborative process for learners to investigate and redefine their worlds both in and outside of the classroom. Our work is drawn from digital media arts partnerships between Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE) and urban, public school classroom teachers in both professional development and classroom settings. The potential to shift perceptions of school space led CAPE collaborators to pedagogies that examined space, including alternate community spaces, and identity as site for art making.