I really enjoyed the class this week about new media and the opportunities it presents. One aspect of new media is video and the presentation by TED curator Chris Anderson on the power of video really underscored this idea. The rise of new media provides for connections and collaborations only previously dreamed of, as evidenced by the brief video clip of the Kibera Film School. They are showing the power and influence that can be wielded by a camera and web connection and highlights what new media is all about. It was a great overview of what is possible.
The proliferation in the past few years of web enabled mobile devices means that video is now completely portable. Even if you are in an area with out some type of internet connection, the ability of mobile devices to download and store information means video can be available everywhere.
New media is having big impacts in learning. Take a site like http://www.instructables.com. Here you can learn how to do or make almost anything you can imagine. You will find text instructions, pictures, and usually a video demonstration as this example shows: http://www.instructables.com/id/Motion-Triggered-DSLR-Remote-System/. No longer do you have to find a course at your local college and hope it is offered at a time convenient for you. New media now means that you can learn what you want when you want through sites like https://www.coursera.org/, http://www.lynda.com/ which is available through the University of Lethbridge library, and the previously mentioned instructables.com. Other changes that new media is bringing include a melding of traditional literacy with technology. For example, taking a poem, finding some pictures that represent the message from the poem, adding some music and a voice over, then turning it into a video. Visit http://movingpoems.com/ for some examples.
Closer to home, we had the opportunity to see how this can work in a classroom setting through participating in a virtual classroom demonstration via live video with the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller. Through a video camera setup we were connected in real time and saw a demonstration of the learning programs offered through the museum. It was analogous to using Skype or a similar technology to connect with someone at a distance.
I am finding it quite an eyeopener the changes that new media is bringing. As a result, the need to teach media literacy is becoming as important as reading or writing literacy, especially considering the number of hours per day most students spend in front of some type of screen.
The proliferation in the past few years of web enabled mobile devices means that video is now completely portable. Even if you are in an area with out some type of internet connection, the ability of mobile devices to download and store information means video can be available everywhere.
New media is having big impacts in learning. Take a site like http://www.instructables.com. Here you can learn how to do or make almost anything you can imagine. You will find text instructions, pictures, and usually a video demonstration as this example shows: http://www.instructables.com/id/Motion-Triggered-DSLR-Remote-System/. No longer do you have to find a course at your local college and hope it is offered at a time convenient for you. New media now means that you can learn what you want when you want through sites like https://www.coursera.org/, http://www.lynda.com/ which is available through the University of Lethbridge library, and the previously mentioned instructables.com. Other changes that new media is bringing include a melding of traditional literacy with technology. For example, taking a poem, finding some pictures that represent the message from the poem, adding some music and a voice over, then turning it into a video. Visit http://movingpoems.com/ for some examples.
Closer to home, we had the opportunity to see how this can work in a classroom setting through participating in a virtual classroom demonstration via live video with the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller. Through a video camera setup we were connected in real time and saw a demonstration of the learning programs offered through the museum. It was analogous to using Skype or a similar technology to connect with someone at a distance.
I am finding it quite an eyeopener the changes that new media is bringing. As a result, the need to teach media literacy is becoming as important as reading or writing literacy, especially considering the number of hours per day most students spend in front of some type of screen.