Media is a huge topic for educators today, but the thoughts aren’t always positive. Some educators are anti-technology; others are just not knowledgeable of the powers technology provides. Technology has the power to influence and encourage students in the classroom and allows educators to create a participatory classroom. In my personal teaching practice, I am going to strive to include new media and create a participatory culture. I do not want to overuse this new media, but I want to use media to create a fun and inquiry based classroom. By allowing students to tinkerer with technology, they can be producers in the classroom. As we grow in a consumer-based society, I feel it is important to show students that they can also be producers in society (Delwiche & Henderson, 2013).
The world of media has grown immensely over the years. According to Delwiche & Henderson (2013), there have been four phases of participatory culture, the first beginning in 1985. The phases include emergence of technology, beginning to take advantage of technology, using technology to publish and share, and a turn to Transmedia publishing. Delwiche & Henderson say that phase four finished in 2011, and as we know, technology has only continued to grow enormously since then. Technology is an ever-growing thing, and has so much potential to teach students. Having a participatory culture classroom doesn’t mean all students have to be involved, but it makes students feel like their contributions are worthy and needed, and makes them want to be involved. When they are the creators of work, they feel a sense of accomplishment and inclusiveness.
My goal as a classroom teacher is to allow for students to show their creative side. Although technology is such a big concept for today’s children, not all students will enjoy these new medias in the classroom. For assignments, my goal is to always provide options. I want to encourage all types of learners, and let them do what they enjoy. Students would have the option to write a paper, do a presentation, create a poster, or use new media to create a final piece of work. As seen on twitter, Jonathon So does an idea I love as his students create weekly news reports. Little things like this allow students to be producers and tinker with technology. The students are responsible for knowing what the news is that particular week, and they all take a role in the creation of the new reports. Of course this is just one example of the many ways to create a participatory culture in a classroom.
Social media is such a huge part of classrooms today. Teachers have blog sites, twitter accounts, apps for their classrooms, and much more. I was never quite sure how I could incorporate social media, but after creating my own blog and twitter account, I can definitely see the potential. For junior and intermediate levels, the students can control the twitter and blog sites, which allows for them to be creators. I feel like if teachers have a classroom that is open to technology, it creates the ability for students to experiment and tinker. Today’s students thrive on technology, so why not find ways to make it benefit a classroom, and enhance student learning. By exposing students to different programs, they can become aware of digital literacies, and be creators of media rather than consumers.
Delwich, A., Henderson, J. (2013). What is participatory culture? Retrieved from http://williamwolff.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/delwiche-2013.pdf
The world of media has grown immensely over the years. According to Delwiche & Henderson (2013), there have been four phases of participatory culture, the first beginning in 1985. The phases include emergence of technology, beginning to take advantage of technology, using technology to publish and share, and a turn to Transmedia publishing. Delwiche & Henderson say that phase four finished in 2011, and as we know, technology has only continued to grow enormously since then. Technology is an ever-growing thing, and has so much potential to teach students. Having a participatory culture classroom doesn’t mean all students have to be involved, but it makes students feel like their contributions are worthy and needed, and makes them want to be involved. When they are the creators of work, they feel a sense of accomplishment and inclusiveness.
My goal as a classroom teacher is to allow for students to show their creative side. Although technology is such a big concept for today’s children, not all students will enjoy these new medias in the classroom. For assignments, my goal is to always provide options. I want to encourage all types of learners, and let them do what they enjoy. Students would have the option to write a paper, do a presentation, create a poster, or use new media to create a final piece of work. As seen on twitter, Jonathon So does an idea I love as his students create weekly news reports. Little things like this allow students to be producers and tinker with technology. The students are responsible for knowing what the news is that particular week, and they all take a role in the creation of the new reports. Of course this is just one example of the many ways to create a participatory culture in a classroom.
Social media is such a huge part of classrooms today. Teachers have blog sites, twitter accounts, apps for their classrooms, and much more. I was never quite sure how I could incorporate social media, but after creating my own blog and twitter account, I can definitely see the potential. For junior and intermediate levels, the students can control the twitter and blog sites, which allows for them to be creators. I feel like if teachers have a classroom that is open to technology, it creates the ability for students to experiment and tinker. Today’s students thrive on technology, so why not find ways to make it benefit a classroom, and enhance student learning. By exposing students to different programs, they can become aware of digital literacies, and be creators of media rather than consumers.
Delwich, A., Henderson, J. (2013). What is participatory culture? Retrieved from http://williamwolff.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/delwiche-2013.pdf