New Media Resources

For more information about using new media technologies, check out the following works.

Books

Educating Educators with Social Media, edited by Charles Wankel, is brimming with case studies demonstrating social and new media implementation into the university classroom.

Web Resources

The Association for Social Media & Higher Education is a community for sharing information, learning, tools and ideas among social media practitioners, scholars and higher education officials.

New Media Literacies, a project headed by USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, is a portal for instructors interested in developing and sharing ideas for media use in the classroom.

The Pew Research Center's Millennials: A Portrait of Generation Next: "A yearlong series of original reports that explore the behaviors, values and opinions of today’s teens and twenty-somethings."

• How much do you have in common with your students? Find out how Millennial you are.

ProfHacker, a blog from The Chronicle for Higher Education, "delivers tips, tutorials, and commentary on pedagogy, productivity, and technology in higher education." Follow ProfHacker on Twitter and Facebook.

Journal and News Articles

Dunlap, J. C., & Lowenthal, P. R. (2009). Tweeting the night away: Using Twitter to enhance social presence. Journal of Information Systems Education, 20(2). 

"The future of higher education: How technology will shape learning." (2008). The Economist Intelligence Unit. Retrieved from The New Media Consortium.

Zhao, D., & Rosson, M. B. (2009). How and why people Twitter: The role that micro-blogging plays in informal communication at work. In Proceedings of the ACM 2009 International Conference on Supporting Group Work.

Please feel free to leave suggestions for additions to this resource list in the comments!

The Pros and Cons of New Media in the Classroom

New media are an accepted form of communication and learning among Millennials, the current generation of students making their way into colleges and universities. Implementing these technologies in the classroom has a number of potential positive impacts on the higher-education environment.

New media contribute to higher education by…

• …enhancing professional writing skills.
  The brevity of new media encourages students to write clearly and concisely, especially important when using these technologies as professional communications tools. Social media also help students think critically about their contributions to the online community: the ideas and perspectives they share publicly.
•  …supporting informal, interactive learning.
  Incorporated into the classroom, new media help learners participate beyond traditional channels by allowing them to create personal learning environments. New media can be incorporated into textual assignments, allow students to both produce and access audiovisual content, and facilitate collaborative work and knowledge-building.
• …helping instructors address issues in a timely fashion.
  Time-sensitive matters, including questions and clarification for assignments and notification of personal emergencies, are easily handled by logging into Twitter and Facebook. The immediacy of online communication allows instructors to sort out issues before they spiral out of control. Instructors may also use social media to disseminate information related to the course and provide students with quick access to resources on the World Wide Web.
•  …allowing students to build and maintain relationships beyond the classroom.
  Social networks are used by professionals around the world, and students using those technologies can enhance their networking skills by interacting with authorities in their fields of interest. Relationships with classmates and instructors, which often end with a semester, may be maintained through social media connections.

Applying new media to the higher-education context is not foolproof, however. Before employing new media technologies in the classroom, instructors should carefully consider that…

• …not all Millennials use technology constructively.
  Because Milliennials were raised with computers, mobile phones, video gaming systems, and the Internet, instructors often overestimate these students’ technological savvy. Some Millennials lack basic computing skills, and despite their multitasking abilities, they are easily distracted and require some formal instruction.
• …new media use may spur a digital divide among students, their peers, and instructors.
  The use of new media in a course requires students to have access to potentially costly technology inputs. Lack of ready access to computers and mobile devices may put some students behind their peers. Likewise, instructors may lag behind their students in understanding social media, putting them at a disadvantage in the classroom.
• …the Web is a free, open, and often unpredictable environment.
  Unprotected student-produced content is open for commentary and criticism from non-class-related parties. Generating two-way dialog on blogs and microblogs is a potentially dangerous proposition for students unschooled in productive online interaction. Constant change requires students and instructors alike to stay abreast of new technologies and applications.
• …social media change how students and instructors interact.
  The norms of traditional classroom interactions may not translate into the realm of social media. The essence of social media lies in sharing personal information and media content, and such disclosure may result in loss of privacy for both students and instructors.

Identification of New Media for Educators

Are we as far from robot teachers as we think? In the movie, “Class of 1999,” robots are secretly substituted for human teachers. Today’s classroom usually contains a human instructor, however, instructional methods and/or course materials often rely on technology in order to access, deliver or supplement lecture. Human educators are constantly searching for new and innovative ways to reach their audience, the digital native. Whether it be facebook.com to coordinate discussion or twitter.com to create a course resource database, students are using new media to learn or enhance learning. So should educators.

Facebook.com is a social network, but lends itself to multiple learning components. In agricultural media and communication, facebook.com is being used by media professionals in various ways from coordinating public relations campaigns to disseminating educational materials to negate crises. Utilizing facebook.com in the classroom allows students to gain experience in using an otherwise social tool to communicate to pertinent audiences in a professional manner.

Twitter.com was originally used as a micro blogging site by users interested in knowing where their social network was and what they were doing. In recent years, twitter.com has been a pivotal communication tool for agricultural industries and news outlets. In addition, consumers and advocates of and for almost every agricultural product have created groups and #hashtags to discuss trending issues or to show their support. Respectively, groups against agricultural practices are also using twitter.com to form groups and discuss trending issues. From an educational component, bringing in twitter feeds and/or trending topics on twitter.com allows educators to bring the most current and trendy topics about agriculture to the classroom.

Prezi.com as a freeware version, enables students and faculty to create an interactive, text-based presentation and share with students. The sharing of presentations creates a database for classroom materials and encourages students to view lectures outside of class. Also, this presentation tool allows students to get excited about layout and design for professional audiences and encourages presentation skills through the use of supporting materials. From an educators’ stand point, prezis create a new and innovative way to create lecture materials that adds motion and movement to notes.

Youtube.com is one of the fastest growing websites in the world, and for good reason. The concept of posting videos to a centralized server has endless benefits for personal gain (record deals, acting gigs, etc.), personal entertainment and education. Students are utilizing this media to serve multiple needs. Educators may find youtube.com important for supporting materials such as a how to video of the 4-cycle engine or a 3:00 minute clip on gerunds.

Second Life or other virtual reality worlds play a new role in society and this role can be extended to education. These worlds are fluid and constantly change based on the dynamic of the users. Scenarios play out and can be created, directed or observed by educators. These virtual worlds provide endless opportunity for students to gain hands-on learning without leaving the comfort of their own reality.

Blogs and/or vlogs (video blogs) are becoming ever popular with college-age students both as a form of entertainment and expression. From an educators stand point, blogs are a great way to disseminate course information, create topics for discussion and/or to strengthen writing and critical thinking skills.

Skype.com has allowed the world to be more global. Students are slowly adapting this technology, and industry is too – perhaps at a quicker pace. Not only can skype.com be used to communicate to global experts from the classroom increasing students’ global awareness, but also can be used by educators who are absent from lecture. Live video feeds to the classroom from other areas will allow faculty to be more available to student learning as well as more available to industry support.

Free website development software is available in almost every corner of the web. Sites such as Joomla allow students and web users to create interactive sites with little to no knowledge about design or technical code language(s). This technology paired with guided instruction could allow students to interactively learn design skills, promote critical thinking skills, promote skills to potential employers and/or provide students an online “portfolio” of course assignments or work. No more excuses about the dog eating your homework!

Podcasts are not just for NPR anymore! Podcasting now incorporates audio and visual cues to produce an array of content. Again, students use podcasts for entertainment but also as a supplemental learning tool. With free software such as Audacity or freeware programs pre-installed on most platforms (Microsoft Movie Maker and Imovie), students have new, more interactive ways to learn.