As a self-proclaimed link to the old media, I’ve realized that I’m going to have a ridiculously steep
learning curve in our seminar. So be it.
What has struck me, as I’ve been procrastinating
actually getting this up and running, is how many different moments over the last
several days have been about incorporating new media elements into my professional life:
- Some of my Encounters students asked me if we’re going to have another Facebook-based final project this term
- I’m nudging several students to develop blog posts
about their experiences in our new civil rights teaching initiative (I neglected
to ask if any of them had actually done this before…)
- The SEC team has adopted a set of goals about
significantly increasing our use of social media to engage students with our
programming
- I’m developing a new position in our office that will allow
us to dedicate staff time to focus on new media enhancements to our
communications strategies
And, the big one…
I just told the board of trustees that our office knows that
we’re behind the curve when it comes to all of this and that we’re going to be
at a very different place in a year or so, technology-wise.
So, the take away lesson for me is that I need to exploit our time
together this semester to learn and practice and understand as much as I can because
if I don’t ... I’m doomed.
And, from a teaching standpoint, if I can’t learn this new
material/philosophy/skill set/mind set/approach to reality, how can I ask (or
tell) anyone else to?
Finally, since I’m likely to be worrying about these
questions all day while everyone else is watching football, here’s my attempt
to pull together the old media, the new media, the Super Bowl, and my gratuitous
effort to learn how to add a web link into this pioneer post–
Keep in mind that "getting" New Media isn't a switch you flip on and off, and there are no "right" answers. It's an iterative process. The point to what you're chasing after, I believe, is the learner's mind. The experimenter's mind. You used the words yourself-- "this pioneer post!" In fact, I believe that this pursuit of yours is something perfectly suited to the 21st Century scholar!
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