KQED Chief Content Officer Holly Kernan describes Service Journalism, one of the core tenants of KQED, as “[looking to] the experts on the ground, the people most affected by an issue, and not just [consulting] official sources and ivory tower experts.” In the KQED Education Department this means treating students and the teachers who serve them as experts of their own experiences and helping them tell those stories.
While KQED has always been known for educational content, in recent years Campaign 21 investments have grown our education department into a nationally recognized, multi-platform force dedicated to giving teachers the tools they need to help students express themselves and communicate their take on the world to a national audience.
As staff prepares to move back into KQED’s redesigned Mariposa Street headquarters, the education team is already planning on making full use of their new facilities, from production of our award winning Youtube series Above The Noise, to new smart-board enabled workshop spaces to train teachers how to teach their students media production and media analysis. Campaign 21 investments will allow KQED Education to continuously find new ways to help the youth of today become responsible, tech-savvy storytellers and media consumers.
Education Events Manager Janelle Kim explains,
“One thing we’re focusing on now is the potential for broader distribution and plugging youth voice into our regular shows throughout the year - using a student voice for the regularly aired Perspectives or using a student-created piece on The California Report, for example. We also see the potential to share content with stations across the country created by students in their area participating in our Youth Media Challenges. Now that KQED has its own event space, The Commons, the Education team can do more public events locally. Before, we were really just doing teacher workshops, but now we can do events for the general public that showcase student voices. ”
KQED believes in supporting youth to become responsible and engaged makers and users of media. If you love supporting youth voices as much as we do, consider a donation to Campaign 21 today.