The Participation of all of us in the Mediascape

The world is changing, if it hasn’t already. We all know that technology and our ability to be connected 24/7 has and will change how we interact in our daily lives, but what does that mean for the classroom? What do we, as teachers or future teachers, need to do to change with it? Teachers are already facing the challenge of cell phones and the internet in the classroom. I say challenge because it appears that when the topic of phones in the classroom gets brought up it’s negative. Despite all of the positive possibilities that phones give us, they have become more of a distraction than a support. As discussed in class we mentioned the strategies that we have seen imposed to try to combat phones in the classroom. These included blocking websites, setting up firewalls, and confiscating phones. The problem with most of these is that the strategies involve brute force which historically has not been a great way to combat change. Instead of teaching how to keep phones from being a distraction we bottle up the distraction and force it away. All that does is make the explosion that much bigger when it inevitably comes out. Furthermore, when blocking sites or creating restrictions, students will find ways around it. I know I sure did when I was a student. Any block or restriction will only be temporary until someone finds a way around it and then that information gets passed around to everyone. Finally, confiscating phones is not a great strategy either. Students only resent those who take away their phones. Additionally, there is a real problem with cell phones and separation anxiety.

We need to adapt to the times and incorporate cell phones into how we teach daily. I don’t feel that we must allow students to have free reign to be on their phones constantly. Really I think the opposite. I say we should teach students how to use phones efficiently and productively. Teach them to be responsible and in charge of their life. Teach them how to use their phones as the super tool that they were designed to be. Instead of restricting how students use the mediascape, teach them to use it in beautiful, entertaining, fun, and SAFE ways. With anything in life, there is going to be positives and negatives and we must be able to recognize both.

As Michael Welsch said in his video on YouTube, An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube, the internet and the new mediascape is “a new form of empowerment”. The internet and the participation of people online can be wholesome and full of fun and joy. If we can teach the students to use the internet and the mediascape in these ways that is for the betterment of everyone. The participation of people online interacting with other common inte

rests has put us in a new era of connection. While we can still connect with those physically around us, we now can connect to everyone, everywhere. With that ability obviously, there are good parts and bad parts. Our job as teachers is going to have to be showing the students how to interact with the good parts and identify the bad parts.

As teachers, we must lead by example. If you preach one thing and do another, not only will students not listen to what you’re currently saying, but they won’t listen to anything you say in the future as well. This topic has me thinking back to the SAMR model. The power of cell phones and the empowerment that the networked connected digital world  gives us can allow us to reach the highest level of the SAMR model. We can redefine how we teach and approach everything. We can skyrocket the education of the youth and become an overall more educated society. With connections to anyone, anywhere, we can learn from all kinds of sources. No longer does it have to be the textbook in front of you. We can connect with different experts on different subjects. We can observe their work from wherever so long that it is online, which basically everything is.

Thinking about my university experience, I am lucky to have the networked participatory mediascape. If I struggle with a subject or topic in any of my classes I know I can find sites, blogs, YouTube videos, pdf’s of that topic to aid me in my learning. This has helped me more times than I can count. I have an unlimited amount of resources available to me to help me learn and further my education. The best part about the mediascape is that it is not restricted to anyone. When searching any subject there are many different sources that can help many different people. If one source doesn’t quite help me, there are more that I can check out. What I know from this is that there is a source out there that can help anyone interested in learning on any topic. This ability is so great that we should teach students how to use it responsibly.