As radio emerged as a tool for broadcasting in the early 1920s, educational institutions began setting up stations. In many cases, the institutions used the stations to deliver educational material rather than just teach about the new medium. The idea of radio as an educational tool was actively promoted and supported by the United States Office of Education (now the Department of Education), which developed both scripts and recorded programs for educational institutions--it created over 700 programs between 1936 and 1940 alone. Educators similarly touted television as educational tool and a number of colleges of have offered course via that medium. Not surprisingly, educators are now using the Web as a way to deliver courses and course material.
Online courses are not new. Faculty have, with varying degrees of success put syllabi, PowerPoints, and other course material online. Products like Blackboard, WebCT (which have merged), and Texas Tech's own eLearning have attempted to make the process easier. Social networking tools such as MySpace have also been co-opted as educational tools
Other products, have tried to replicate the classroom itself in the virtual world in a synchronous (everyone meeting at the same time) mode. One option for this is a MOO (Multi-user domain, Object-Oriented), a text-based virtual reality system that was originally developed for role playing games, but was rather quickly adopted as an educational tool. Internet-based video-conferencing classrooms go back to at least the mid-1990s and the program CU-SeeMe, which allowed faculty to meet with multiple students to using Webcams.
More recently, many educators have returned to the radio model of education and have begun posting their lectures on iTunes--take a look at the offerings in iTunes University for Texas Tech and other colleges. The idea of interactivity, however, is strong. One option that faculty are now exploring is Second Life. If you haven't been to Second Life yet, you should take a look at the homepage. Options include creating virtual worlds as well as building virtual campuses. Check out EDTech Island and see what the folks at Linden have to say about options for educators.
What are your thoughts on new media and education? In your post, I would like you to address a)have you had classes with new media components? b)if so, describe what you liked and what you didn't like c)having looked at Second Life a bit, explain why you think it is a good or a bad environment for learning.
For class, be prepared to discuss the above questions as well as your ideas on how you think new media could be better used in education.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
New Media and Education
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10 comments:
I think this is pretty cool! I've had classes like Spanish and POLS that have online elements to them but none that totally replaced the classroom environment! After going through the YouTube videos and seeing everything thats being done currently with Second Life, I'm pretty blown away. It makes me want to register on Second Life and check things out myself. I thought it was cool how you can sit in on classes and discussion. Also, really fascinating how you can learn another language through immersion! Just being around that language for long enough Second life and you got it! A great new resource to have and certainly something that should be harnessed for new media and educational purposes. I checked out the Boise State site and I think it'd be cool to get a degree or at least take some classes on Educational Technology!
I have had 2 classes that have used new media, writing for electronic media and Spanish. For the most part, I understand how it can be easier, but at the cost of the student I believe. I was responsible for spending MY time to "redo" an assignment that didn't load correctly or experienced a problem with. It is very sensitive for input and allowed for no mistakes, ones that a teacher could see was not relevant. I can also see that there are better alternatives and good advantages. As for second life aspects, it is asking a little much to make someone do this for a class. Now if they chose to take it that way because they can't come to a class, it is a plus, but for me not really. There is a lot that needs to be fixed with online learning, but that will most likely be eliminated in the next, say 10 years. My kids will probably benefit greatly from web learning.
I have had several classes that are very online intensive. Assignments were completed online and notes had to be printed off. Where I work, we connect classrooms in different cities with T1 lines or direct dial with their IP addresses. I see that there are huge advantages to that. Also, I did not realize how large the whole Second LIfe thing really is. I am currently having a hard time learning another language in a classroom, I can't imagine how it would be through immersion. I did not know that you could get a degree in educational technology and I think that it is great that these new areas are becoming acknowledged and supported.
i think it's good because it makes education more interesting. i think it allows you to learn about technology at the same time you learn about whatever topic or subject is included in the discussions or lessons. i think it's kinda funny and that there will be some students or teachers who will not take these approaches to learning seriously. but i think that if these technologies became accepted by the masses, we would see more of this on college campuses. i've taken english, spanish, and cinema courses that used online media tools for assignments and essays. i liked that this was available because it added a convenience factor to the course that i wasn't able to have in any of my other classes. for example, i could not attend class but study my notes online, and still pass the class. i like educational technology for reasons like that. however, i still appreciate the face-to-face teaching and learning methods.
I think using new media in the classroom is a risky proposition. It doesn't always go as planned, to put it mildly. I've been unfortunate enough to deal with a software or hardware failure when attempting to meet an academic requirement. The result is that an otherwise qualified and dedicated student, who may not understand the technology, will have difficulty performing at a level on par with his or her peers.
There are three things I never realized before I read the blog concerning new media and education. One of those is the ability for an online tool such as WebCT to help shy people open up and talk more. The ability to help people open up translates well to group work as well.
In the Wired article about Elgg, it stated, “the open-source networking software, encourages group work in a way that in-person meetings cannot.” I’m definitely not one to open up in group work, so I think Elgg would be beneficial to me. Another benefit to Elgg that MySpace or Facebook lack is that ability to collaborate beyond your school.
One way to go beyond the brick and mortar walls of your school is to go to the virtual world. The 3D world of EDTech Island in Second Life could definitely beneficially to people studying architecture or any other field were visualization would be a key learning method.
The main class that I use technology in is in here, with blogspot. I personally enjoy learning with technology, that is when it has been used before and there are not as many glitches in the system, which can really be a burden on how effective learning with technology can be.
I think being able to communicate with professors through web cam can be highly effective only if it is used effectively. Does that make sense? For example, some professors have ways of using technology however, they never give their students any incentive for learning and using the technology. It is effective in this class, Spanish over the web, however, was a disaster!
I have had quite a few classes that have new media components. A class that I am currently in is using wikipedia as a method for discussion. I think it can be really helpful and I like the ease of posting from anywhere at anytime. The problem we've run into is that my teacher isn't quite familiar enough with the technology to teach us so that we can really get the most out of it. It also requires us to check the site frequently which can be hectic with everything else that students have going on. As far as Second Life goes as an educational tool. For me I think it would be way too tempting to get distracted. I'm so ADD that I would have a difficult time focusing. On the other hand, the things that are going on with it at this point are remarkable, and it seems like the potential is infinite.
New media and education is actually a really interesting and upcoming subject. There have been many Universities around the world that have engaged in online learning through courses and other school related material. I have had several classes at tech which I had to use elearning and webct for. Personally, I think they are great tools for a better education. These two online tools help make getting class material a whole lot easier. Second Life is actually really cool. I don't think it's bad for the environment. I think Second Life will help people socialize and achieve a better learning through this new use of interactive media. Education through the use of media will continue to evolve and take another step forward throughout the next couple of years.
Every semester at Tech, I have had a few classes with online elements to them. In some cases they are just places to turn in papers like webct. I used the podcast that you put out in one of the emac lecture classes. I enjoyed using the podcast as a learning tool, especially for tests. It gave me the ability to fast forward through the gist of your lectures while studying. Even if material wasn't covered, it often helped me to remember some of the material covered in class. Second Life is something that I can see my self becoming involved with. I think it might be a fun idea to have second life classes too. However, I think that the classes should be chosen wisely. Classes that deal with new media, will be directly related to second life usage, but just normal classes such as a foreign language class or math class could be harmful if presented through second life. It will take away some key components to learning if given online.
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