After watching the TED video of Mike Wesch, I had some revelations about how media affects societies. Mike's stories about his experiences in Papa New Guinea were able to open my eyes about how this happens. I realized that when media changes, relationships change too. Mike said "media mediates relationships," and it can be positive or negative in its effectiveness. For example, I have found that my words can be misinterpreted a lot easier over a text message than when I am physically sitting next to a person at a coffee shop. Media can make you detached if misused.
As a educator, it is my responsibility to make sure the use of technology and various medias are used in a way that make the best of our innovations, rather than let the innovations get the best of us (through eliminating individuality and critical thinking abilities). For example, I see students in math classes using a calculator without being able to explain their procedures and their answers. Whats the use of using a $100 calculator to calculate an integral of a function if there's no connection for the student?!
I need to teach students to foster their creative minds to "analyze, criticize, see new information, create new connections, and ultimately create information." Our technology had made being knowledgeable unimportant. The ability to be able to use the knowledge technology provides us in a productive manner is what I see my role as an educator to be today.
Hi Rob,
ReplyDeleteI have to agree that the impact that media environments have on relationships struck me as interesting. I had never realized just how true that statement is. We see it all the time in our classrooms; students who feel they NEED to text, facebook, reddit, google, all during class time. Even when we're in class as students, it is very tempting to check our phones or open up a new tab on our laptops. As teachers, we should find a way to work with that and use it towards education!