Troy Davis, the new director of the Swem Media Center, and I have just finished making a test podcast which we hope will become the first in a series of conversations we’ll be having with folks in the William and Mary community who are interested in bringing the power of this tool our students. Speaking of learning, both of us still have lots to learn about this new medium, but we sure know more than we did yesterday at this time! One thing that I found is that listening to my voice saying the same thing 15 times trying to get the sound level right was only a step below screeching chalk on the blackboard on the audio torture scale.
In our discussion, Troy gives an overview of some of the tools that will be available, and we talk some about the future of media production–not just consumption–as a key goal of general education.
Here’s the link and I’ll be testing this in a series of aggregators and on varying platforms.
Troy Davis was asked if being literate would involve knowing media literacy which he quickly answered yes! Mr. Davis also commented that students are not coming with the knowledge to manipulate the media in the various forms that it can be used.
I wanted to comment on this observation as a K-12 educator. While Virginia’s SOLs do address technology, it is very limited to just word processing and does not go further than this simply because it is not tested nor is their curriculum set around media literacy. I do feel that education needs to revamp once again with do I dare say with a longer school day to get it all done. I think the media literacy component to our K-12 curriculum needs to be addressed because if public education is responsbile to preparing students to enter the workforce or go on with higher education, recent graduates of K-12 education will need to be prepared with how to use it.
I agree that K-12 needs to be continually revamping itself to respond to the evolving needs of the society. It may require longer school days, longer years or a closer connection between the K-12 and higher education establishment. (Places like W&M may have to take greater responsibility for some skill-building that isn’t accomplished even by the best students in the best schools.) This course continues to be a revelation to me as I see how little those of us in the colleges really understand about the K-12 environment and the challenges faced by the faculty in those environments. Thanks to all of you who are doing such a fine job of continuing my education!
-gr