New Media Skills And Literacies Changing The Education System

Education has taken a pivotal change due to the increasingly predominant use of media. New skills have been created and implemented in the way that students learn, thus changing the job significantly for teachers compared to the past. A change in the basic vehicle used for learning, from lectures and textbooks to interactive electronically portable media, is one of the positive changes in the entire education system (Flowers, 2001, p. 94). All teachers may not accept this strategy, as many believe that media impacts a students learning negatively, but the suseof media seems to be increasing. Technology is touching almost every aspect of an individual’s life, community and home. Having these new media outlets used in the school system, students acquire the skills they need to survive in a complex, highly technological knowledge-based economy (Edutopia Team, 2008). Due to the large presence of media in students’ lives, teachers are beginning to have to learn a new way to communicate with their class. This means that teachers are starting to provide information in a less step-by-step process and in a faster pace then 20 years ago (Prensky, 2001, p. 3). This is because of the type of lifestyle media provides, and students are accustomed to this type of learning.

The introduction of online courses offered in university is a new innovation that has been created to keep those who learn better through technology involved in school. This type of class allows for independent learning and the usage of technology which student’s are more respondent too compared to in class lectures. An example of media playing a role in the education would be this class, COMM 2F00. This course involves the online learning aspect along with the usage of media outlets, for example Blogs.

Student’s these days are constantly on Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Google, etc., which means that if these digital tools can be used in education, new skills will be developed and students will become more successful as they enjoy learning about new media. By increasing the focus of incorporating digital media into school curriculums, it helps students build skills that are ultimately necessary to possess in their future since media is going to constantly become more involved in the way of living (Tornero & Varis, 2010, p. 5). Education has changed immensely compared to 20 years ago, in a positive way, and it is going to continue to change as media is infused into the education system.

References

Edutopia Team. (2008). Why integrate technology into the curriculum?: The reasons are many. In Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-introduction

Flowers, W. (2001). Mew media’s impact on education strategies, p.92-132. Retrieved from https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ffpiu016.pdf

Prensky, M. (2001a). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the horizon: NCB university press, 9(5). Retrieved from http://bit.ly/IMBu0j

Tornero, J.M.P. & Varis, T. (2010). New media literacy & new humanism. Moscow, RU: UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education.