Technology Changes The Way We Learn
Digital technologies are changing the way people learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life—raising issues that are not just technical, they're social and cultural. Is it OK to sample one person's YouTube video to make another? How do we shape today's stories? Can a blogger be sued for libel? Are there new ways to work together? What does my Facebook page tell my employer about me?
Giving More Students Access
Researchers involved in Project New Media Literacies (NML), a Comparative Media Studies initiative, are trying to help students make the most of the new tools at hand. The Learning Library, an NML project, gives teens the chance to explore and practice the skills necessary to navigate the new media culture.
Judgment and Other Skills
These skills include judgment, the ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different information sources; networking, the ability to search for, synthesize, and disseminate information; and visualization, the ability to interpret and create data representations for the purpose of expressing ideas. "Old library skills take on new importance in the age of Wikipedia," says Professor Henry Jenkins, codirector of Comparative Media Studies.
The Learning Library gives students the language and the opportunity to reflect on what they learn online, and to share their experiences with a community. Geared toward high school students and their teachers, the site offers the first collection of on- and offline activities to help close the new media participation gap and encourages participants to create and share their own materials, enabling users to teach each other about the New Media Literacies.
Humanities Knowledge in Action
"At CMS, we're trying to teach students to take humanities knowledge and put it into practice," Jenkins says. "I think we're breaking a lot of new ground with this project."
For more information:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology