http://educationpr.org/2006/03/23/new-media-attention-span-and-engagement/ Thu, 26 Jan 2012 06:36:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://educationpr.org/2006/03/23/new-media-attention-span-and-engagement/#comment-196 Wed, 14 Jun 2006 02:01:34 +0000 https://pbaker.wordpress.com/2006/03/23/new-media-attention-span-and-engagement/#comment-196 [...] Many of you know my thoughts on the idea of learning through creating and presenting. One of the best ways to learn new material is to teach it. Russell Ackoff often says that because of this, teachers learn more than students, and I tend to agree with him. I feel strongly that new communications tools–blogs, podcasts, vlogs, etc., represent a key opportunity for learners in early part of the 21st century. If we can teach kids to use these tools, we have given them a dynamic, low-cost tool that they can use to present and interact in any educational setting–whether it’s learning to give speeches or sharing a lesson on local history or politics. For example, a class learning about local politics may ask students to go out and use video cameras to interview local politicians for their perspective on a given issue and then post video to a class vlog. The act of presenting and re-presenting ideas in a coherent way requires students to learn about their subject, and the video aspect brings a dynamic element simply not present in past media. We have to get beyond thinking of vlogging in education as relating to teaching film majors how to vlog, and we have to begin to think of teaching kids to vlog because vlogging is a tool that can help them learn anything. [...]

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