KQED Learning engages with community and educational organizations to broaden and deepen the impact of Northern California’s KQED media to effect positive change. Nowhere is that more clear than with Do Now, where KQED encourages students to interact, discuss and reply to important multiplatform news stories affecting their lives, their nation and their world.
Do Now is a weekly activity for students to engage and respond to current issues using social media tools like Twitter. KQED aims to introduce 21st Century skills and add value to learning through the integration of relevant local content and new media tools and technologies. Do Now gives students a chance to practice civic engagement and digital citizenship skills while they explore ways to connect topics in their classes to the present day.
Here's a breakdown of how Do Now works:
- Do Now activities are posted every Friday evening at kqed.org/donow.
- There's a brief intro to the topic and a media resource that can be played directly on the website.
- At the top of the activity, there's a question for students to respond to after they go through the intro and media resource to deepen the understanding of the topic.
- Students are then able to respond to the Do Now either in the comments section on the website or they can tweet their response (each student must create a Twitter account).
Do Now can help focus students at the start of a class period. Most activities are six to eight minutes in length. They can be completed without teacher assistance and can be used to introduce ideas connected to the rest of the lesson.
Students can follow @KQEDedspace on Twitter to receive the weekly Do Now.
The monthly content schedule for Do Now is as follows:
- 1st Friday: Government and Politics
- 2nd Friday: Science
- 3rd Friday: Civics
- 4th Friday: Arts and Popular Culture
To check out a recent Do Now post on Algorithms and Criminal Justice Reform, click here.
To learn more about Do Now, click here.