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New media technologies are changing the face of education. Current generations of students are growing up more technologically advanced then the children their age were a decade ago. Today’s youth have access to an increasing number of devices and services such as; Mobile Phones, the internet, Computer Games, E-mail, mobile gaming devices and instant messaging (Swan et al 2005, 99). Youths of all ages use these media and information communication technologies (ICTs) to; communicate with their peers and relatives, stay current within their culture, relax, create personal Web pages and complete school work (Alvermann 2004, 79). For the youth of today to be able to participate easily in the 21st century they need to be literate in these media and ICTs; thus the convergence of new technologies and education results.
A concern raised by the convergence of technology and education is the cost. While technology has advanced rapidly educational institutions, especially those dealing with youths, have not followed suit. The re-structuring of schools requires considerable funds; with new media technologies comes the cost of the technology itself, infrastructure, software and training. It is important that teachers are equipped with adequate knowledge to be able to use these technologies and therefore training is important (Kellner, 2002 pg 98). Evaluators of multimedia software for educational institutions should posses’ skills which enable them to critically evaluate and make decisions on the content and process of learning, not only formatting (Clifford 2005, 14).
Another concern is that if you ignore the influence of ICTs and media technologies on youths this could result in failure to benefit from such insights which could be gained by tapping into literacy’s that count in today’s youth culture (Alvermann 2004, 80). It is agreed however, by most academics, that new media technologies cannot be ignored and need to be embraced by students and teachers through the curriculum.
Despite this, what remains to be taught and what students can have access to continues to be a heated debate. The idea of actively introducing youths to new media technologies has caused social panic among many. Some believe that these technologies will allow youth to access inappropriate information and further more be placed in danger of, for example, cyber bullying and predatory peadophiles.
Many issues have arisen from new technologies and the restructuring of education. Douglas Kellner who has focused on young people and new media in his studies poses the ultimate question; will the introduction of new media technologies increase democracy by giving all people access to these tools and therefore decrease socioeconomic inequalities? Or will it cause educational institutes to become product-orientated and simply another money making business transaction? (Kellner, 2002 pg 92). These questions remain to be answered as the introduction of such technologies have yet to be adopted by schools on a large enough scale for a conclusion to be drawn. However, there is promising evidence of the effectiveness of education which integrates hypertext, hypermedia, the Internet and other ICTs. There is also further evidence showing that youths are making valuable reading-writing connections in their bid to communicate in a computer dominated world (Alvermann 2004, 93).
Alvermann, D. 2004. Media, Information Communication Technologies, and Youth Literacies: A Cultural Studies Perspective. The American Behavioral Scientist, 48(1) 78-83.
Clifford, P. 2005. CYBER kids. Education Canada, 45(2) 14-16.
Holmes, D and Russell G. 1999. ‘Adolescent CIT Use: paradigm shifts for educational and cultural practices?’ British Journal of Sociology and Education, 20 (1) 69-78.
Kellner, D. 2002. ‘New Media and New Literacies: Reconstructing Education for the New Millennium’ in Lievrouw, L., and Livingstone, S. (ed) The Handbook of New Media, London: SAGE Publications pp. 90-104.
Swan, K., M. Hooft., A. Kratcoski, and D. Unger. 2005. Uses and Effects of Mobile Computing Devices in K-8 Classrooms. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 38(1) 99-112.
Adele Graves 08:52, 28 Oct 2004 (EST)
Alicia Michelle Machin 10:24, 27 Oct 2005 (EST)
