Digital Media

It is clear that digital media is a big influence, not only in our daily lives, but also in education. As future educators, I truly believe that we need to understand the impact that digital media has, and also, the most effective ways to use it. In the article “Digital Literacy Can’t Wait”, the author describes several issues that are common amongst educators, and how abiding by these beliefs constrains a student’s ability to use digital media to the best of their abilities. For example, the author says that “Using Blogs without Blogging” is a common error that many educators make. I have seen it myself in several online classes where the professor will post a discussion question, and each student simply writes their own reply, rather than interacting with other posts, commenting on other student’s work, and then replying to comments to engage in a full conversation. I believe that blogs can be a great way to have an online conversation, but only if they are used correctly. In the ideal setting, I would love to include blog posts in my classroom, making sure that students are interacting with each other, and creating genuine conversations that can happen in real life, or at least bringing up points mentioned in the blogs and discussing them in face-to-face conversations. Blogs should only be the starting point for conversations on real issues, not the only means of conversation or response. Another point that stood out to me was the many educators criticize “digitalk”, which actually “will not validate the digital literacy that students bring to the classroom”. This for me is something that is a little challenging, because as an English Content major, I cringe when I see students use abbreviations instead of writing out words on assignments. However, after reading this article, I think that there is a time and a place for “digitalk”. For example, if students are writing narratives, “digitalk” most definitely has a role in their life experience, and therefore can be used. However, I would have a problem with allowing “digitalk” in formal essays. So my question for the author would be “How do you determine the right time and place for using “digitalk” without suppressing student’s digital literacy experience?"

I also loved that we listened to a Podcast this week, because I think that the very nature of this resource being a digital forum helps to show the vast ways that information can be spread. When looking at the Podcast website, I also noticed a transcript of the conversations that occurred. If using Podcasts in a classroom setting, I think that it can be helpful to provide a transcript so that students can follow along and take notes, and

highlight their favorite phrases to reference later. Podcasts are becoming more and more popular in this generation, but I had never really thought of using them in the classroom. However, after seeing how valuable this resource was, I was intrigued to find out if there were any popular podcasts that teachers are using now. I found one that looks really interesting to use, specifically in the Elementary Setting. Check it out here! This podcast has kids looking at ethics questions, and can easily lend itself to social justice conversations.

The main takeaway from this week’s reading and podcast was that it is important to continue to have conversations. Whether you are reading an article or a blog post, or listening to a podcast, students must be given the opportunity to discuss their thoughts and responses to what they read or listened to, as well as to create their own digital forums to express their thoughts. I can’t wait to be able to use digital media in my classroom, and this week’s resources have helped me to gain insight on how to do so successfully.