Citizen Journalism

Abstract

Increasingly, globalization has become a significant factor in digital citizenship, yet students often lack systematic education in global awareness and civic education and have few venues to voice their perspectives. One solution to this problem is citizen journalism. Student engagement through citizen journalism provides a rich experience that can advance several competencies: communication, collaboration, information literacy, media literacy, digital literacy, and cultural literacy. It fosters civic responsibility through the confluence of digital citizenship and global citizenship. It also develops awareness of, and access to, issues of public concern. Importantly, it gives students the tools to take positive action to address global issues. This chapter provides several strategies for students to gain the knowledge and skills, as well as access to media outlets, to participate in global issues via citizen journalism.