Blog #1: Analytical Response to "The World Is My Textbook..." - Module 2

         The World Is My Textbook: Participatory Learning and New Media for Connecting, Creating, and Collaborating with Students is an informative slideshow on how active, collaborative, and technology based learning can be incorporated in the educational setting. It majorly focuses on the use of new media literacies as well as social media.

         This slideshow displays to the audience exactly why evolving our educational methods so that they pertain to the student who has grown up "digital, mobile, as a multi-tasker, continuously connected, social networked" as stated in slides 2-7, is so significant. I strongly agree that transformation needs to occur within our current educational system. Constantly, I hear the saying, "technology is the way to the future," and it could not strike me as more than true, especially within our current age. Simply put, our world and the way we communicate has expeditiously changed over the last decade. I do not think it is too far fetched to claim that this technological shift in the way we function and communicate is eternal. We can still manifest the old ways, i.e. reading textbooks and newsprint, writing handwritten journal entries, etc. However, I think it is vital to our rapidly advancing society that the new ways, the new media literacies, be incorporated. If done correctly and appropriately, focusing the ways in which we learn to be part of a larger network, an online and socially connected network, I think, will promote more discoveries. The more we incorporate new media literacies, the more access to information we have, and therefore, the more knowledgeable we become. The possibilities, truly, are endless.

         However, there are a few areas in this slideshow that I did not particularly agree with. The author of the slideshow seldom discussed the face-to-face aspect and how that should still be incorporated within new media literacies. While it is a nice idea to shift the way we educate and learn in a place where everyone is connected in the world within our computers, tablets, smartphones, etc., I personally do not find it to be efficient. I do not think a learning environment that almost completely centralizes itself amidst new media can be as active and participatory as it claims to be. For some people, yes, learning in a predominately technological based environment can be more than efficient. But for others, it may not materialize. The point I am attempting to make is that every student learns differently. From my personal experience, I know I would rather be in the classroom and having an open discussion because that is what gets my mind flowing. I would rather be in the classroom and actively listening to the instructor, because it is easier for me to learn socially and aurally. Moreover, establishing a balance between physical learning and new media learning is significant to ensure each students' individual needs are met.

     Nonetheless, I think that conforming our learning style to the style of the future would be beneficial for many reasons. I think it is also important to recognize the obstacles and challenges that emerge from new media literacies and to question how we can overcome said obstacles and challenges.