March 6, 2009
http://www.am.dodea.edu/bragg/New-CSO/Parent_Info/Curr-Instr/images/computer-lab.jpg
I think teaching the younger generation how to use the media to express their public voice is very important. It helps shape the individual and helps them create their own identity. The recent technological changes have made the internet accessible to majority of people and today more and more people are connected through the internet and other devices. Today the way people use the media influences their culture and their surroundings. If we want the younger generation to become fully active, creative and critical and responsible participants in the media-rich environment we have to give them and provide them with the tools they need. We want the younger generation to be trained so that they exist in this tech world as good citizens.
The question of participatory media literacy in the curriculum is a big debate, but I really think it is an important cause to fight for. This will help the future generation speak out and voice their opinion with technological devices that they have of that time. A few decades back during the time of our grandparents or even our great grand parents television, radio and newspaper was the way of expressing an opinion and a voice. Today the inexpensive technology makes it easily available for majority of the people and we have the tools necessary, but we need the future generation to act on it. We need to help the future generation use the new medium in the same way we used radio we need them to make an impact on social, political and economic aspect of our lives.
For what I can recall when I was in high school we did not have media classes and our teacher did not help us incorporate technology in our learning. Only in my last year we had started to have media classes where we would learn how to make websites and play around with some other techy features. When I was graduating that year they had made an additional class where they would help students learn more about making web pages, and learning how to use these tools and put it to their advantage. They had made a website where there homework would be posted and this was accessible from home and it was big deal for everyone. I think the most technology I have ever learned in my education life was when I was here in McGill University in this media technology class. I mean yeah I had some social networking sites, but I had never learned how to make movies on imovie. I never knew using a mac computer would be so simple. I was really happy to learn how to embed video in a PowerPoint presentation, which can also help me in the future when I have a job and have to do many presentations. I only learned this year how to make a wikis and a blogs.
I think Wiki, Blogs, Mashups, and Podcast etc are important because it helps individual express their own opinions and feelings. By showing the students these powerful tools can make a difference in their learning. The blogs and wikis are where students can address and issue or a public concern. From that they can get feedback from fellow classmates or people around the world and this will help them share knowledge and interact with others that will help then build their social network. As it mentions in the reading “ in order to engage in political life, people have to access to public life first. Youth need publics-networked or physical before they can engage in any form of political life”. I think students should have a media class just like the lab for this class where they can learn how to use the specific tools. Later when they have assignments from other classes they can channel the information that they have or discuss about the issues that they really care about such “saving the environment”, “Darfur”, and “aids” and make a blog or wiki where they can get feedback or simply just express the feelings. I really think they should encourage media literacy in the school curriculum.
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