Media Literacy and Technology

Media Literacy and Technology

The changes in the economy of the United States to an information-based economy require fundamental changes in our schools. All schools, not only the affluent, need modern technological equipment and teachers prepared to assist students with access to higher education and careers in computers and information technology fields. A constructivist viewpoint should include instruction in technology (Rosen and Salomon, 2007). More than 40 percent of the new jobs in our society will not require a college education. Students should be offered specific work skill preparation, such as computer and information technology offerings, while in high school. These new facilities, and if necessary new institutions, should be constructed in communities with high rates of school-leaving and unemployment. To advance equal opportunity schools need both technology and well-prepared teachers to use the new tools for learning, including, remarkably, cell phones and IPods.

The development of the internet could have led to the creation of new opportunities to close the achievement gap; instead, it has often led to a digital divide, in which the privileged move ahead in a high-technology world, and the less privileged once again get left behind. Teachers can make a difference. The critical steps are for you, the teacher, to become proficient with technology and to use it in your teaching. You can save a great deal of time, and prepare more interesting lessons, by using the technology currently available. When textbooks and standards leave multicultural themes out of the curriculum, you can access lessons and material on the internet.

Important ideas from technology-enhanced learning include “just in time” learning. Students need to learn to use the internet and other technologies as tools in their work. Even if you only have one computer in your classroom, it should be put to work. Resourceful teachers can usually get several computers donated. One good source is www.computers.fed.gov/school/user.asp.

For teachers to assist students, you need to be comfortable with both the technology and with allowing students to lead you in the use of new technologies. In this constructivist environment, teachers are no longer the sole purveyors of knowledge; instead, teachers are guides and coaches to assist students in their pursuits. The internet can be a useful source of data and evidence for students to use to arrive at their own conclusions. They need guidance and assistance in gathering data, evaluating it, and arriving at conclusions, and at limiting their conclusions to the data available. Excellent lesson plans and programs exist to guide teachers. Use a search engine (such as Google) and look for Media Literacy + Lessons.

Just as it can be argued that a student’s access to a higher quality of life is enhanced or hindered based upon their ability to read and understand print (a literacy divide), so too a student’s access to the economy and a higher quality of life is enhanced or hindered based upon whether or not they have the skills to access and utilize computer technology and the Internet (a digital divide). It was this belief that drove the United States to invest heavily in the 1990s to place computers into schools and to connect those schools to the Internet.

There was a belief by some in the early years of the 21^st.century that placing computer technology into schools and connecting schools to the Internet would somehow bring equal opportunity to the classroom, it would level the technological playing field.. This view ignored a critical tenant of truth regarding public education - all schools do not begin with equal resources.

Most middle class schools are preparing their student for technology literacy- and most poor schools are not. Technology is shaping the world, from the internet to iphones, to cell phones, and it is shaping the business and trade world. Those who are well prepared will prosper, those who are not well prepared will fall behind. The future economic prosperity of our nation depends upon decisions we are making now. Our students will either gain access to technology, will learn to learn with technology, or they will have computers in their classrooms used primarily for low level tasks such as drills, keeping grade books and recording attendance.

Every student, every school, should have access to the skills to use technology and to access the vast media world around us, from libraries, to data bases, including Youtube and others. Henry Jenkins of MIT in an important paper written for the MacAuthor Foundation in 2006 says,

“Educators must work together to ensure that every American young person has access to the skills and experiences need to become a full participant ( in our democracy), can articulate their understanding of how media shapes perceptions, and has been socialized into the emerging ethical standards that should shape their practices as media makers and participants in online communities….

Fostering such social skills and cultural competencies requires a more systemic approach to media education in the United states. Everyone involved in preparing young people to go out into the world has contributions to make in helping students to acquire the skills they need to become full participants in our society.” (Jenkins, 2006)

Moving in this direction requires a revolution in how teachers use their time and resources. The wide use of technology and the internet will interest some students and motivate some students to remain in school. The materials on the web including museums, libraries, and special collections such as the Martin Luther King collections at Stanford, can provide students with excellent, interesting material, urgent and relevant to their lives.

Technology is already changing our world and our schools. Our challenge is to be certain that all our students join in this development rather than be left behind by a new form of tracking where the middle class and the elite have technology, and the students of color and language minority students have electronic worksheets and test preparation drill material.

From: Choosing Democracy: a practical guide to multicultural education. 4th. ed. 2010. Duane Campbell. Allyn and Bacon.