Media is ever present in the modern classroom. Clark, Kozma, and Schneider have taken sides on the worth, viability, and relevancy of media in the pursuit of educating students today. Clark believes that media is present, but should be cost effective to be of value. Dschneider believes that it is the choice of media that determine the effectiveness in todays classroom. I believe that Kozma has the approach that I agree with the most.
I believe along with Kozma that the debate over media’s value has already been established and we need to move on to the questions of how to use it the most effectively. I see this every day in the library I work in. I love when a student finds a book that they love and curl up on a reading chair falling into another world. However, our library commons is filled with multiple patrons seeking different information on different platforms. At any time of the day I can have :
- A intervention teacher working with a small group. The teacher will work one on one with a student while the other students are working on a computer program to determine comprehension or reading an EBook for supplemental instruction.
- A group of students working on a research project after which they present their report in different forms (ie. podcast, written report, etc.).
- A class using IPad mini’s to access learning Apps and EBook banks.
- Through a Skype connection, students interact with other classrooms and authors.
- Banks of students independently looked for books, took AR tests, and accessed our data bases.
- Plus one young Hatfield used our Gale data base to find out what the Hatfield and the McCoy feud was all about.
By the way, this all happened today!
I am actively finding ways to use media to expand my students world. i don’t really have time to question whether media is really valuable or not. My digital natives believ it is and my job is to lead them forward through this newly evolving world.
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