Mirra, Morrell, and Filipiak explore how digital media literacy in an education setting needs to transform for a static, informative, and often defensive view into a suite of critical “multiliteracies”. These multiliteracies include students’ abilities to consume, produce, distribute, and invent digital content; Mirra, Morrell, and Filipiak’s focus on the critical senses of these literacies stress that students engage, think, and actively construct these literacies instead of accessing digital content passively. Another aspect of this active and constructive engagement with digital media incorporates ideas of inclusivity, representation, and equality among social and economic groups. These ideas are highlighted in both the Mirra, Morrell, and Filipiak article as well as the Degand article; the Degand article goes on to explore how cultural, racial, sexual, and other representativeness within digital art provides students with the ability to critique and counteract biases in these areas. Degand also addresses the idea that the education of art in and of itself requires diverse cultural and gender aspects in order to ensure that the products created are equally as representative of all groups. Halverson’s TEDx Talk discusses a similar idea through the connection between tools and production, showing that students create art to the extent that their instruction and materials allow. Halverson also presents a corresponding idea surrounding the production of digital art and media as a representation of self and identity, exploring how students are able to build their self-image through artistic expression. Furthermore, Halverson also hits on the concept that digital media in education leads to increased innovators and creators in the 21^st century world; this idea is similarly addressed in the other two texts by Degand and Mirra, Morrell, and Filipiak.

One aspect of these resources that really spoke to me were the various sections regarding the awareness of marginalized representation in digital media access and production. I grew up in a small town along the US-MX border in Southern California. My high school is a Title I-designated school, meaning the overwhelming majority of my school is low-income. Over 98% of the student body is Hispanic/Latino/Chicano, and the main language heard in the halls is Spanish. There are brilliant minds walking through those halls, but unfortunately, we do not have access to the same resources or opportunities that other, socioeconomically-advantaged schools have. While reading these articles, I felt a strong connection to the areas that addressed this dissonance between ability and access; these students have a vast arsenal of cultural and personal experiences that they want to share with the world, but simply lack a voice in the major media sectors. Not only that, but their voices would have the ability to help combat the lack of diverse perspectives or overreaching stereotypes that surround communities like mine. Using the strategies proposed by these aforementioned resources, I see a snowball effect of increased diverse production, increased diverse consumption, increase awareness, increased action, increased access, and thus further increased production, consumption, and so on.

Building from this idea, a question that I would pose to my peers would be the following: What do you think would be the most successful way to start a widespread action plan to increase diversity in digital art education? Administrative trainings to combat reprimands from conservative supervisors? Teacher trainings to increase tool arsenals and pedogeological approaches? Student-centered programs or advertising to increase enthusiasm and interest? Community-based programs and outreach to increase parent and communal support?