Lesson video

Hello, my name's Mrs. Hastings.

Welcome to today's lesson.

I'm really looking forward to learning with you today.

Today's lesson is called: Can political engagement be increased using digital media? And it comes from the units: Can digital democracy increase political participation? So I think some of the learning is gonna be quite challenging and get you thinking quite hard.

So let's get on with today's lesson.

So the outcome of today's lesson is to be able to explain whether digital media could help to increase engagement with politics.

Our keywords for today's lesson, there's quite a few, as you can see, are: digital media, which is any form of media that uses electronic devices or technology to create, store and share content.

Petitions: gathering signatures to show support for a cause, which can be done on paper or online.

And misinformation: false or misleading information shared by mistake, without intent to deceive.

And disinformation is false information that is knowingly spread to deceive and mislead others.

So there are two parts to our learning cycle in today's lesson: Can political engagement be increased using digital media? First one is, How is political engagement changing? And then the second one, Could digital media increase political engagement? So let's crack on with our first learning cycle: How is political engagement changing? An active citizen is someone who takes responsibility, gets involved in public matters, and works to make a positive difference in their community.

Digital citizenship is the ability to use digital technology and the internet to participate in society.

So it helps and aids that.

This includes taking part in communities and in democracy.

Digital democracy is the use of digital tools to support the key functions of democracy.

For example: it can help by accessing online information about elections, taking part in digital campaigns or petitions, responding to government consultations, or watching or participating in parliamentary debates and committees.

Those are just some examples of the key functions of democracy that can be supported by digital democracy and the digital tools.

Political engagement means how much people get involved in politics, like voting, learning about issues, or taking part in protests.

So I'd like you to have a think and a conversation with your learning partner about Aisha's question, "How can we engage in politics?" So you might have come up with the following answers: You can engage in politics by voting in elections, which help to choose representatives.

So who represents us and who makes the decisions.

Join a political party and help shape ideas.

Talk to your MP about issues you care about by emailing them, writing letters or maybe contacting them on social media, if you can.

Join peaceful protests to speak up for change.

Sign or start petitions.

And there are online petition organisations, but the main one is the Parliament petition website.

Share views in government surveys and consultations.

Stand as a candidate, if you're old enough, in elections.

And use digital tools, post, share or campaign online.

So let's check our understanding.

Which of the following are ways people can engage in politics? A: ignoring current events.

B: voting in local and national elections.

C: signing petitions for change, or D: complaining about the government? So which are the ways that people can engage in politics.

So the correct answers are B, voting in local and national elections, and C, signing petitions asking for change.

Over the past few years, the way we engage with politics has changed, especially for young people.

Historically, people mainly engaged by: getting political news from TV, newspapers, or radio; organising protests, petitions and campaigns with posters, letters or in-person meetings; visiting government websites, or watching the news to stay informed.

And joining a political party.

In the 1950s, around 4 million people were members of a political party.

But by 2021, this had fallen to around 450,000.

So a massive reduction in the number of people who were joining political parties.

Today, many people get involved in politics differently than in the past.

So just 'cause you might not read a newspaper or join a political party doesn't mean that you are not necessarily politically engaged.

It's just the way we are politically engaged has changed.

Learning about politics on social media platforms, that's a really useful way of learning about politics.

It can be.

Sharing opinions by commenting, liking, or posting online.

Organising protests and campaigns using group chats or social media.

Talking about issues such as climate change.

And signing petitions or joining campaigns straight from a phone.

So I'd like you to match each new way of engaging with politics with the correct description or example.

So A: using social media, B: attending protests or marches, C: signing online petitions, D: creating or sharing political content.

And the descriptions are, E: signing a digital form to support free school meals.

F: joining a citywide protest about inequality.

G: posting a video explaining climate change laws and how they affect the future.

And H: using Instagram to spread awareness about voting rights.

So match the way of engaging with politics with the correct description or example.

So using social media, using Instagram to spread awareness about voting rights is a good description to suit that one.

B: attending protests or marches, joining a citywide protest about inequality.

C: signing online petitions, signing a digital form to support free school meals.

D: creating or sharing political content, posting a video explaining climate change laws and how they affect the future.

So well done if you matched those correctly.

So onto our first practise task to check, how is political engagement changing? I'd like you to put the information below into the correct side of the table to show how political engagement is changing.

So on one side of the table, you've got in the past and on the other side of the table you've got now.

So where should each of the following statements go in that table? Most political news came from TV, newspapers, or radio.

Political party membership was higher.

More young people talk about issues like climate change online.

Protests were often organised through in-person meetings.

Many young people learn about politics on social media.

And it is easier to sign petitions or take part in campaigns from your phone.

So pause the video whilst you complete that task.

So well done for completing that task.

I asked you to put the information below into the correct side of the table to show how political engagement is changing.

Your completed table should look like this.

In the past, most political news came from TV, newspapers or radio.

Political party membership was higher and protests were often organised through in-person meetings.

And then now.

more young people talk about issues like climate change online.

Many young people learn about politics on social media and it is easier to sign petitions or take part in campaigns from your phone.

So well done if you correctly placed those statements.

Okay, onto the second learning cycle in today's lesson, could digital media increase political engagement? So we've seen how it has changed and could that then help to increase political engagement? So how could digital media increase political engagement? Have a think about Aisha's question there.

So digital media could increase political engagement through the following ways.

So social media and websites improve access to political information.

People can learn about issues, candidates and voting with a few clicks.

Registering to vote, and it's really important if you want to vote in an election, you can register to vote from the age of 16, even though in most elections in the UK you can't actually vote until you're 18.

It's not true of every election, but in many of them that's true.

But you can register to vote from the age of 16, so that you can do online.

Signing petitions and donating to causes is quick and easy and people can engage conveniently with politics on their own schedules from any location.

So you're not having to tune in to a television programme at a specific time, but you can catch up with those programmes.

You don't have to watch them as they come out.

That's something that's changed fairly recently.

Algorithms can target users with information that aligns with their interests or values.

So these are codes, essentially, that social media platforms and online platforms use to work out what people are focusing on, what they're spending time looking at.

And then they'll target information based on those likes and that time spent looking at those information.

Interactive tools such as quizzes are online, live question and answer sessions and comment sections create more engagement.

Politicians and campaigns can reply quickly with direct feedback, and that helps people feel more heard and connected.

Mobilising movements and hashtag activism has shown how quickly movements can gain momentum online.

Event coordination via social media platforms helps organise protests, town halls or voter drives.

So perhaps the protests have had higher turnout because of the spread of the word through social media.

Peer influence, such as seeing friends involved in political action encourages others to join in.

And young people are often more active and engaged on social media platforms, which now host political content.

So let's check our understanding.

Which of the following are examples of how digital media can increase political engagement? Allows people to share their political opinions with a wide audience, gives the most accurate political information, people can only engage in politics by watching the news on TV, hashtags can bring attention to important issues, and organise protests and events more easily.

So which of those are examples of how digital media can increase political engagement? So the correct answers are: allows people to share their political opinions with a wide audience, hashtags can bring attention to important issues and organise protests and events more easily.

So well done if you correctly identified those.

We're gonna have a look at a case study now.

Case study called Bite the Ballot.

What is it? It's a UK youth-led campaign aimed at getting young people to register to vote.

Remember I said that you could register online and you can do that from the age of 16, even if you can't necessarily vote in elections until you're 18.

How does it work? They run creative social media campaigns and create an easy to use online tool called Verto, which helps users find out which political party matches their views, that then can increase the likelihood of them actually voting as well in an election if they know which political party aligns to their views more accurately.

Was it a success? Yes.

It helped to register hundreds of thousands of young voters, especially during elections and National Voter Registration Day.

Okay, so another case study we're gonna look at is the case study Stormzy and #Grime4Corbyn.

So what is it? UK Grime artists like Stormzy, JME, and Akala encouraged young people to get involved in politics during the 2017 election.

In particular, they were advocating for Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party and Labour to win the General Election.

How did it work? So they used social media to share videos, interviews, and live chats about voting and political issues to kind of explain to young people how important it was and why this election was particularly significant.

Was it a success? Well.

yes, it helped to boost youth voter turnout to its highest level in 25 years.

And many credited the campaign with increasing interest in politics among 25s.

Another case study: Make Mental Health Education Compulsory in Schools.

So what was this? It was an online petition asking the Government to make mental health education in schools compulsory.

How did it work? The petition was shared on social media and signed by over 100,000 people.

And was it a success? Yes, the government agreed.

And from 2020, all schools in England had to teach mental health as part of health education.

So it became compulsory to teach mental health as part of health and wellbeing education.

And finally, case study: Fridays for Future.

So what is it? A global youth movement on climate change started by Swedish teenager, Greta Thunberg.

How did it work? So Greta began by skipping school on Fridays to protest outside the Swedish Parliament, where she was from.

She shared her actions on social media and millions of young people around the world joined in.

Was it a success? Well, it's led to huge climate marches, raised global awareness about climate change, and push governments to talk more about climate change.

So let's match the case study to the correct description to check our understanding.

A, B and C.

A: Bite the Ballot.

B: Stormzy and #Grime4Corbyn and C: Fridays for Future.

And then the descriptions are: E: global youth climate movement started by Greta Thunberg, F: a youth-led campaign aimed at getting young people to register to vote, and G: encouraged young people to get involved in politics.

So which case study matches the description? So A: Bite the Ballot was a youth-led campaign aimed at getting young people to register to vote.

B: Stormzy and #Grime4Corbyn encouraged young people to get involved in politics.

And C: Fridays for Future, so global youth climate movement started by Greta Thunberg.

So well done if you matched those correctly.

So whilst digital media can help people engage in politics, there are also some really big challenges when it comes to social media and digital media.

What do you think some of these challenges are? So they can be misinformation, disinformation, echo chambers, online hate and trolling, algorithms, the digital divide.

So let's have a look at these in a bit more detail.

Disinformation is when people spread false or misleading information on purpose, often to trick or confuse others.

And it could be created using artificial intelligence.

Why is it a problem? It could cause people to believe things that are simply not true and make decisions based on those untruths, for example, voting for something that they do not fully understand.

For example, during the Brexit referendum in 2016, some online posts and even a bus advertisement falsely claimed that the UK sent 350 million pounds a week to the EU.

The number was misleading, but many people believed it and it may have affected how they voted.

Echo chambers.

What does it mean? An echo chamber happens when you only see or hear opinions, posts and videos that agree with what you already believe.

So it's really reinforcing those already known beliefs.

This happens 'cause social media shows you content you're most likely to agree with because of the algorithms that it uses.

Why is that a problem? Well, it means that you might never hear the other side of an issue.

You might only see one side of an argument, which can make people more divided and less open to understanding different opinions.

For example, if you only follow people who support one political part or view, you might think everyone agrees with you.

When that is simply not true.

It can become harder to learn new things or to change your mind.

Online hate.

What does it mean? Some people use digital media to send nasty, hateful, threatening messages, especially to people they disagree with.

This behaviour is often called trolling.

Some messages may even break the law, especially under the Online Safety Act of 2023, which aims to protect people from serious online harm.

Why is it problem? Well, it can make people feel unsafe or scared to speak up.

Politicians, especially women and people from minority groups often get targeted.

And this often also goes against the Equality Act of 2010.

For example, MP Diane Abbott, the UK's first Black female MP, has spoken openly about the severe online abuse she has endured throughout her political career.

She has described the abuse as "debilitating, corrosive, and so upsetting." This kind of hate may discourage people from getting involved in politics.

It may discourage, particularly women and people from minority groups, from wanting to become MPs.

Algorithms. This is when social media platforms use automatic rules based on what you click like or watch, so an algorithm, to decide what shows up in your feed.

Algorithms are not visible to users and are designed to keep you engaged.

So you might have experienced being online and adverts pop up that are things that you'd been searching for, for example, online.

What is the problem? Well, you might miss important or balanced information.

So it builds in that idea of the echo chamber as well.

It links back to that.

Posts that are shocking or extreme can get more likes and shares, so the algorithm shows them to more people, even if they're not true.

So then that links back to also the concept of misinformation and disinformation.

There have been examples of videos being shared that say certain things are happening somewhere in the world but actually that video is from a different time and a different place.

So it's spreading that misinformation.

For example, a post with accurate information might get ignored while a misleading post with lots of likes and views spreads widely and keeps showing up in people's feeds.

The digital divide.

So what does this mean? It means that not everyone has the same access to the internet, or devices or the skills to use them.

This gap's called the digital divide.

It's a problem because some people might miss out on political campaigns, online events, or voting information because they do not have good wifi or a smartphone or they don't know how to use that.

For example, during the COVID-19 lockdowns, many political events moved online.

Young people without sufficient internet could not participate.

So I'd like you to read each scenario below and decide which digital media challenge each character is describing, to check your understanding of this section.

"I shared a video I saw online about a political issue, but the information was completely false and was made to trick people on purpose," says Aisha.

Andeep says, "I live in a rural area and don't have access to reliable internet connection." And Izzy, "I recently posted a comment about a political issue, but then received a bunch of cruel messages and insults." So which digital media challenge are each of those characters describing? So Aisha is describing disinformation.

Andeep is describing the digital divide.

And Izzy is describing online hate and trolling.

So well done if you correctly identified those.

Let's have our practise task now.

So first part to the practise task is I'd like you to read the following statement: "Digital media should be used to increase political engagement." How far do you agree? So first thing I'd like you to do is mark your judgement on the line with an X.

So you've got completely agree at one end of the judgement line and completely disagree at the other end.

Consider the strengths and weaknesses of using digital media when making your judgements.

Really think about the strengths and weaknesses there.

And then secondly, I'd like you to justify your response with examples and an explanation.

So pause the video whilst you complete those two tasks.

So well done for completing those tasks.

I asked you to read the statement: "Digital media should be used to increase political engagement." How far do you agree? You may have put your X towards the completely agree end like on the slide here, and you may have justified your response like this: "Digital media should be used to increase political engagement because it helps more young people get involved.

For example, Stormzy supported the #Grime4Corbyn campaign, which encouraged many young people to participate and become interested in voting and politics.

Digital platforms make it easier to spread messages quickly and reach lots of people.

However, fake news and misinformation can spread just as fast, which can confuse people." So it is not all the way to the completely agree end, which is why there is that counterargument at the end as well.

Alternatively, you may have put your X towards the completely disagree end.

Again, notice that on this example, it's not right at the end, and so therefore, there is a caveat to this.

and you might have justified a response like this: "Digital media should be used with caution because it can often spread misinformation and cause more harm than good.

For example, during some elections, false stories are shared online that could influence how people vote.

People can be victims of echo chambers, only receiving political information that supports their views.

However, it can help to increase support for campaigns like #Grime4Corbyn or Fridays for Future." So well done for completing that task.

That's the final task for today's lesson.

So what have we learn in today's lesson, Can political engagement be increased using digital media? Political engagement means getting involved in politics like voting, learning about issues, or taking action.

The way people engage is changing.

In the past it was mostly through TV, newspapers or in-person activities.

But now many people, especially young people, engage online.

Digital media offers new ways to participate, such as social media campaigns, online petitions, and direct contact with representatives.

It can make political engagement easier by removing barriers and reaching people through familiar platforms. But challenges like misinformation, disinformation, echo chambers, online hate, algorithms, and the digital divide can limit or distort participation.

So, well done for completing today's lesson.

I hope that you enjoyed it and that you've learned a lot in the lesson today, and I look forward to seeing you again soon.

Goodbye.