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Transforming Education with New Media

Participatory Pedagogy, Interactive Learning, and Web 2.0

by Peter DePietro (Author)
©2013 Textbook IX, 188 Pages
Series: Counterpoints, Volume 435

Summary

The possibilities that online platforms and new media technologies provide, in terms of human connection and the dissemination of information, are seemingly endless. With Web 2.0 there is an exchange of messages, visions, facts, fictions, contemplations, and declarations buzzing around a network of computers that connects students to the world – fast. Theoretically this digital connectivity, and the availability of information that it provides, is beneficial to curriculum development in higher education. Education is easily available, democratic, and immersive. But is it worthwhile? Is the kind of education one can get from new media platforms and social media resources, with their click-on videos, rollover animations, and unfiltered content, of sufficient quality that educators should integrate these tools into teaching? This book examines the use of new media in pedagogy, as it presents case studies of the integration of technology, tools, and devices in an undergraduate curriculum taught by the author, at an urban research university in the United States.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the Author
  • About the Book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Dedication
  • Contents
  • Introduction
  • 1. Web 2.0 and New Education
  • 2. Technology, Purpose, and Meaning
  • 3. Tool Literacy
  • 4. Interactive Learning
  • 5. Participatory Pedagogy
  • Case Study No. 1: New Media Process and Product
  • Course Plan for Team Collaboration in Media Convergence Lab
  • 6. Social Media and Collaborative Learning
  • Case Study No. 2: Interacting with Literature on Facebook
  • Examination Process: Phase I
  • Examples of Questions and Answers from Phase I
  • Examination Process: Phase II
  • Examination Process: Phase III
  • Assessment
  • 7. Backchannels and Multitasking
  • 8. Microblogging in the Classroom
  • Case Study No. 3: Engaging Students with Twitter
  • 9. Presumption of Connectedness
  • Results-Oriented Instruction
  • Phase No. 1: Talk, Show, and Do Model
  • Phase No. 2: Academic Conditioned Reflex
  • Phase No. 3: Solidifying Behavior
  • 10. Interactive Content and Online Agenda
  • Case Study No. 4: Analysis of Content in Wikis
  • 11. The Cost of Technology
  • 12. Mobile Education
  • 13. Interdisciplinary Idea Exchange
  • Four Stages of the Idea Exchange
  • Stage No. 1: Communicate
  • Stage No. 2: Receive
  • Stage No. 3: Process
  • Stage No. 4: Inspire
  • Case Study No. 5: Conducting Research with Text Messaging
  • Research Objective (Text Message)
  • Research Data String (Text Message Replies)
  • Student Text Message for Research Project (Received)
  • Sample Text Replies Received from Students
  • 14. The Power of Games
  • Case Study No. 6: Learning by Playing Games
  • Parameters for Devising an Original Game for the Classroom
  • Educational Game for Team Selection and Student Engagement
  • Number of Players
  • Description of Gameplay/Rules of the Game
  • Part I: Choosing Squares
  • Part II: Organizing Groups
  • Part III: Forming Project Teams
  • Part IV: Creating Team Projects
  • Observations and Conclusions
  • Diagrams for Choosers and Choosees
  • 15. The Amorphous Cloud
  • 16. New Media’s Transformation of Education
  • Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

The possibilities that online platforms and new media technologies provide, in terms of human connection and the dissemination of information, are seemingly endless. With Web 2.0 there is an exchange of messages, visions, facts, fictions, contemplations, accusations, exclamations, and declarations buzzing around a network of computers that connects students to the world, fast. Theoretically this digital connectivity, and the availability of information that results from it, is beneficial to curriculum development in higher education. Education is easily available, democratic, and immersive. But is it worthwhile? Is the kind of education you can get from new media platforms and social media resources—with their click-on videos, rollover animations, and unfiltered content—of a quality that educators should be quick to integrate these tools into teaching?

This book examines the use of new media in pedagogy, as it presents case studies of the integration of online tools and social media in courses I, a professor of new media at an urban research university in the United States, teach or have taught. There is an assessment of the pedagogic endeavor in terms of benefits and risks to students, an analysis of interactive learning as it pertains to each case study, and an investigation into the future potential of new media concepts and technologies in higher education teaching. Technology can transform the process of education. However, we educators need to create standards that will guide students in the appropriate and responsible use of these tools. That way, education with technology-based models for teaching will produce meaningful learning.

1

WEB 2.0 AND
NEW EDUCATION

For the purpose of this book, I am broadly defining Web 2.0 as a movement focused on technologies that engage the user. Typically these technologies are available to users via the Internet and on mobile devices. User-centered design, which involves users in an intuitive way, is necessary. More broadly, Web 2.0 is part of new media.

New media, contrasted with conventional (or old) media, rely on a digital signal instead of an analog signal to communicate message. New media include websites, wikis, interactive forums, e-learning systems, software, hardware, mobile devices, and the list goes on. Many of these items are discussed in this book. When successfully integrated into classroom instruction, new media can facilitate learning. A main reason for this is that technology spurs communication, supports information sharing, and creates access to data around the clock. In education there is an environment focused on technology use and integration that has become commonplace. Moreover, new media and associated Web 2.0 technologies can provide a foundation for the development of a new kind of education, one that is participatory and relies on digital innovation in the classroom. This new education engages students with technology like never before, and it provides unique and effective ways for students to interact with information. Thus, students learn differently. Web 2.0 can produce Education 2.0.

These are lofty terms: Web 2.0 and Education 2.0. But together they describe our advancement to a new level in education, made possible by new technologies—technologies that serve curriculum development and integrate ← 1 | 2 → well into teaching. Admittedly, in the age of new media, we tend to describe systems, methodologies, and processes that employ technology or that have technology as an integral component, with made-up, sometimes superfluous terminology. Here is a list of some examples: asynchronous interaction, blogosphere, social intermediary, mash-up, social news aggregator, and WYSIWYG. However, with a term like Education 2.0, we appropriately stress the importance of moving to a new level: the second level. It seems that in the history of education, advancing to a second level because of new media was inevitable. Describing the transformation with the label Education 2.0 seems right. With this label, we reference the technology-focused concepts of Web 2.0 and give importance to our use of new media in the classroom. New media in education is transformative, and it is the foundation of new education—education at this new level.

It is important to acknowledge that new media is an ever-changing discipline. More than a discipline, new media is a bundle of concepts, a set of technologies, and a trend. New media is also a reinvention of older methods of content production and delivery, just now digital. It is all of these things—discipline, technologies, concept, trend, and method for content production and delivery—and it is new. A question must be asked: What is new about new media, and is it always new?

The tools, technologies, and platforms of new media become obsolete quickly. New versions of hardware and software seem to be in an endless cycle of reinvention.

Technology ages so quickly that many institutions update computer labs, in terms of both hardware and software, when budgets allow, not when new versions come out. Online learning systems like Blackboard become digital dinosaurs before instructors and students can master updates. Social networking platforms that are integrated into course instruction may disappear. These networks may be bought by a competitor or be losers in an ongoing battle for market share. Because the tools, technologies, and platforms change, the theories educators integrate into teaching new media must also change. There needs to be a theoretical dynamism that matches the ongoing evolution of the tools. This combined theoretical and practical flux is real. It is necessary to embrace this constant inconstancy when educating with new media.

With new media, a successful pedagogy is an evolutionary one. This, perhaps, is the biggest challenge in new education. The concept of an evolu ← 2 | 3 → tionary pedagogy is relatively new. In the age of new media, as pedagogy changes with the advent of new technologies over time, it is understandable that the tools we teach with will come and go. Therefore, it seems that our pedagogic concepts and teaching methodologies will come and go as well. This coming and going sometimes is more a race to keep up with technological trends than an evolution from one trend to another.

In any event, these trends affect the process of education significantly. A new media course designed specifically for production work on a tower computer will need to be altered for work on a tablet computer, which has less memory, processor speed, and screen real estate. The same course will need to be altered again, when smartphones or other devices become part of the course or when they replace the tower computer and the tablet computer in the marketplace altogether. These alterations are necessary, because the process of creating course-related work on these devices will vary from device to device.

Details

Pages
IX, 188
Year
2013
ISBN (PDF)
9781453908310
ISBN (ePUB)
9781454192381
ISBN (MOBI)
9781454192374
ISBN (Hardcover)
9781433117930
ISBN (Softcover)
9781433117947
DOI
10.3726/978-1-4539-0831-0
Language
English
Publication date
2011 (November)
Keywords
higher education information curriculum development connectivity
Published
New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, Oxford, Wien, 2013. 200 pp.

Biographical notes

Peter DePietro (Author)

Peter DePietro is a professor of new media. He served as the first Director of Digital and New Media of the William J. Clinton Foundation in New York City. On topics related to digital media, new technologies, education, and interactive art, DePietro has been published internationally. As an executive in Silicon Alley (NYC), he created digital projects with international exposure for a roster of Fortune 500 clients.

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