Thursday, August 26, 2010

Media Technology's Role in Teaching

Welcome! This blog is created for my English 495ESM class, Multigenre Literacy in a Global Context.

For this particular post I've been asked to consider what kind of role media technology should play in teaching. As I am a college student, I suppose it's only natural to assess the level I'm most familiar with; the university level. While I've seen some very effective uses of media technology in the classroom, I've also seen many instances where it actually hindered learning. We've all had those experiences where the professor is less than technologically savvy and makes it harder for students by not knowing how to access different types of technology. However, overall I think media technology in the classroom can greatly benefit the student. I don't think the sole focus should be on the media technology, but as a support of the curriculum being taught, I think it's definitely useful. I have had this experience in two of my classes particularly, in both my Critical Theories class with Professor Wexler, and in my Drama in Language Arts class with Professor Dwyer. The Critical Theories class in particular was a favorite of mine not because I happen to have Professor Wexler again, but more because the media examples he utilized were very poignant-- they were the link between the classical literary theories and the modern day student. The use of media technology in that class was a clever way to keep students interested in the theories and apply it to modern texts. Professor Dwyer's class focused more on the use of media technology as a teaching tool in the classroom and showed us various ways to use it. I suppose that's a different situation, since she was demonstrating through her teaching how to use media technology in a classroom. Nevertheless, these classes successfully integrated media technology into their pedagogy and  were more successful for it.