Chapter Five – Understanding Youth and
Digital Media
Summary
of Chapter
Today’s youth spend much of their time using cell phones and
other digital media to navigate their daily lives. They connect through
texting, social networks, instant messaging and emails. Teachers often dismiss
these activities as distracting from learning and feel that students waste too
much time in the digital world. However, students use digital media to engage
in both friendship driven and interest driven activities. In essence, they are
pursuing the same activities that teenaged students have in the past, they are
just using a different means to do so. Teachers can utilize the digital world
to engage students in classroom learning. However, they should move beyond
simply trying to incorporate technology into lesson planning. Teachers should
take the time to reflect and try to understand the motivations behind student
use of digital media, as well as how digital media are changing the learning
environment.
Reaction
to Chapter
The
use of digital media is pervasive in our society. I believe that young people
and adults use digital media for reasons that are beyond simply entertainment.
Parents and children use digital media to stay connected to each other, to
other family members and friends. Digital media are used to gather and disseminate
information for a wide variety of reasons. I agree that teachers need to try
and refrain from dismissing student use of digital media and instead embrace it
as a way of life. Digital media is here to stay and while it can and should be
used to help facilitate learning, it has also changed the way most people (not
just teenagers) communicate. Teachers need to accept this and try to understand
the ways in which learning has been and will continue to be altered by
technology. In my own life as an almost 40 year old adult, I use text messaging
to communicate with friends and family on a daily basis. I belong to online
parenting groups and book clubs. I keep in touch with old friends through
facebook and I do not see my use of digital media as waste of time.
I agree that technology today is awesome! It's crazy to me that I can keep in touch with people I haven't seen in years on facebook or that I can see my nieces and nephews grow up over facetime. I obviously don't see it as a waste of time. I kind of wish I could incorporate it more in my classroom. I do some, but I keep thinking if schools had the money we could probably do it so much more.
ReplyDeleteYes I agree that digital media is wonderful and that schools should do a better job of trying to incorporate it into the classroom. You can still deliver the instruction, just via a different medium that is more exciting for students. It would also be a way to provide access for children who do not have these tools in their homes.
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