summer 2012 - National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and ...

T. A. Bryer & D. Seigler
This essay provides both theoretical and instrumental rationales for
empowering students in the teaching and learning process, specifically through
social and web-based technologies, which provide different, though not
necessarily superior, opportunities for students to play a role in their learning
process as compared to face-to-face pedagogical techniques (e.g., Weimer, 2002;
Shor, 1997). The need for a clear and substantiated rationale is significant given
the emergent use of social media tools (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Wiki)
in teaching and learning, as well as the credible concerns that faculty in public
administration and other fields have expressed regarding the use of these tools
(Bryer & Chen, 2010; Cao & Hong, 2011). Our concern is to frame the use
of these social and web-based technologies within the context of an empowered
learning environment. We do not intend to offer a how-to guide or other
applied strategies for technology adoption; instead, we offer a conceptual frame
through which strategies can be considered. With a focus on empowerment of
students, we do not consider web-based tools as superior, but these tools receive
the greatest focus given their emergence both in teaching and in practice. Other
articles in this symposium provide more detailed assessment of specific tools and
their potential learning outcomes.
Our concern with web-based or online learning tools is also based on the
increasing use of the Web and Internet for teaching and learning, both at the
higher education level and in K–12 education. For instance, Florida Virtual
School is recognized as a national leader in the development and promotion of
online teaching and learning (Vogel, 2011). Whatever the economic motivations
behind decisions to develop online courses and, in some cases, whole online
degree programs, it is important for faculty across disciplines and levels of
education to consider how to use these tools and to what end. Specifically, in the
interest of this symposium, how can social and web-based technologies facilitate
student empowerment?
To begin, a definition of student empowerment can help guide the work.
One possible definition is implicitly identified previously but bears repeating:
Student empowerment ensures that students are fully integrated in mind, body,
and spirit with the teaching and learning process. This means that students are
intellectually, socially, physically, and emotionally engaged with the content of the
course, with the teacher, and with fellow students. Functionally, empowerment,
we suggest, means (a) granting control of course content to students, (b) permitting
students to co-create subject-matter content with each other and with the teacher,
(c) enabling the voice of students, (d) enabling choice for students, and (e) enabling
creativity with students. Examples of each of these functions are elucidated in sections
that follow; our argument is that instructors can effectively use social and webbased
technologies to perform these functions. There are more justifications beyond
functional concerns. Theories and concepts from broad pedagogical literatures
are applied, as well as normative and instrumental concerns specific to the field
of public affairs and administration, to fully address the question “Why empower?”
430 Journal of Public Affairs Education