SESP Faculty

Jolie C. Matthews

Faculty Profile

I study the socio-cultural dimensions of cognition through the ways media, popular culture, and other cultural forces influence people’s beliefs about different events, individuals, and groups in the past and present. My work focuses on learning across contexts, media literacy, historical consciousness, dominant narratives, source credibility, and bias. I examine (a) the representation of different individuals and/or groups in narratives, including around race and gender, and (b) media culture’s influence on people’s beliefs about themselves and others. 

I received my PhD in Learning Sciences and Technology Design from Stanford University, where I was a research assistant with the Stanford University Joint Media Engagement Group, Wallenberg Media Places Grant for Digital Humanities, and YouthLAB. An alumnus of New York University, I earned my BA from the Gallatin School, concentrating in Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Studies. I received a Master of Professional Writing from the University of Southern California, with a focus on fiction and screenwriting. I was also a PhD Research Intern at Microsoft’s Social Media Collective in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Read more about me and some of my work HERE and HERE. 

Current Projects 

1. A large-scale, multi-phase study of people’s knowledge around the existence and contributions of individuals and groups from different races/ethnicities in U.S. history. This includes examining the role of sources across contexts (monuments, museums, media, school curricula, family, etc.) in shaping that knowledge for educators (PreK to Higher Ed), youth 18-22, and the wider public across multiple demographic categories. Issues of cognition, narrative, bias, and in-group versus out-group perceptions will be addressed in the study.
   
2. The use of audio (e.g. songs) and visual (e.g. visual arts) tools as mnemonic devices to increase memory retention and empathy in people’s understanding of historical figures, events, and issues. 
3. A multi-phase study that explores intersectional representations of race and gender in contemporary media narratives, particularly in light of recent social movements and trends. A sub-focus involves additional assessment of educators (PreK to Higher Ed), students, and the wider public’s perception of these narratives, and how each group understands issues of diversity and equity as it relates to media in society. 

As a member of the Learning Sciences faculty, I’ve taught the following courses:

For undergraduate and graduate students

• Culture and Cognition, which looks at the cognitive and cultural dimensions of issues such as power, privilege, marginalization, the (in)visibility of different groups, trends in media representation, race and gender historically and in contemporary society.  We also focus on identity, epistemology, homogenous versus heterogeneous presentations of “culture,” socio-economic status, sexuality, and nationality.
• Learning with New Media, which examines the relationship among media industries, technology, groups, and individuals, along with the implications of collecting, analyzing, understanding, and learning from content across contexts.
• Social Dimensions of Teaching and Learning, focusing on creating and implementing actionable frameworks for different learning and organizational environments, best practices and challenges in pedagogy, and evaluation metrics related to learning and teaching. Topics include identity, power, norms, specific disciplinary subjects, and empirical research across out-of-school and in-school settings. 
• Identity, Power, and the Historical Imaginary across Social Contexts (coming Fall ’23). 

For high school students 

• Fake News! Misinformation and Public Opinion, In-Focus190,  a summer seminar on source credibility, trustworthiness, and fake news as both media practices and public/political rhetoric.
• Sharing, Shaping and Creating Knowledge on Social Media, In-Focus 190, a summer seminar on knowledge sharing practices across social media platforms, with the goal for students to become more critical consumers and producers of media content by considering the affordances and constraints of different platforms, as well as why and how to determine what makes a credible source. 

dominant narratives, media literacy, historical consciousness, representations of race and gender in contemporary society and history, bias, source credibility, dis/misinformation, popular culture, social media norms

Matthews, J.C. (in preparation). “Famous Americans” Revisited and the Historical Imaginary. 

Matthews, J.C. & Tran, D. (2023). Still Never at the Top: Representation of Asian and Black Characters in Sony and Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man Trilogy. Critical Studies in Media Communication. Download

Matthews, J.C. (2022). College students’ perspectives of bias in their news consumption habits. Journal of Media Literacy Education. Download 

Matthews, J.C. (2022). Historical Perspective Taking and the Self in Online Community Discussions. Discourse Processes. Download

Shrodes, A., Matthews, J.C, & Lam, W.S.E. (2021). Enacting Resistance to Intersecting Oppressions through Satirical Digital Writing on LGBTQ+ YouTube. In Guzzetti, B. (Ed.) Literacies, Genders, and Cultures: Understanding Intersecting Identities. New York: Routledge.

Matthews, J.C. (2021). Dominant Narratives and Historical Perspective in Time Travel Stories: A Case Study of Doctor Who.  The Social Studies. Download

Matthews, J.C. (2020). Media Literacy as an Internal and External Process. A Response to “Red States, Blue States, and Media Literacy: Political Context and Media Literacy”.  Democracy & Education. Download

Matthews, J. C.(2018). A Past that Never Was: Historical Poaching in Game of Thrones Fans’ Tumblr Practices.Popular Communication. Download

Matthews, J.C. (2017). New Media in Kylie Peppler (Ed.)., Encyclopedia of Out-of-School Learning. Sage Publications.
Download 

Matthews, J.C. (2016). Historical Inquiry in an Informal Fan community: Online Source Usage and the TV show The Tudors. Journal of the Learning Sciences: 4-50.
Download 

Matthews, J.C. (2016). Professionals and Nonprofessionals on Goodreads: Behavior Standards for Authors, Reviewers, and Readers. New Media & Society.
Download 

Martin, C., Barron, B., Matthews, J., Stringer, D. (June, 2014). Patterns of engagement: How depth of experience matters. In Barron, B., Gomez, K., Pinkhard, N., & Martin, C. (Eds). The Digital Youth Network: Cultivating Digital Media Citizenship in Urban Communities. MIT Press. 

Levinson, A., Stringer, D., Zywica, J., Matthews, J., Barron, B., Martin, C., Rogers, M. (June, 2014). “Be a voice, not an echo”: Supporting identities as new media citizens. In Barron, B., Gomez, K., Pinkhard, N., & Martin, C. (Eds). The Digital Youth Network: Cultivating Digital Media Citizenship in Urban Communities. MIT Press. 

Rogers, M., Barron, B., Martin, C., Levinson A., Matthews, J. (June, 2014). Stepping into production: Seeding creative project work. In Barron, B., Gomez, K., Pinkhard, N., & Martin, C. (Eds). The Digital Youth Network: Cultivating Digital Media Citizenship in Urban Communities. MIT Press.