Media Literacy News for Classroom Discussion: Media Technology

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April 16, 2008: A survey by Project Tomorrow, a national education nonprofit, reveals a growing "digital disconnect" between students and their teachers and parents about the role of technology for learning, and how well schools are doing to prepare students for the jobs of the future. This disconnect is evident in the fact that 66% of school administrators, 47% of teachers, and 43% of parents say "local schools are doing a good job preparing students for the jobs and careers of the future," but over 40% of middle and high school students stated that teachers limit their use of technology in schools. Forty-five percent of middle and high school students indicated that tools meant to protect them, such as firewalls and filters are inhibiting their learning.

"Students continue to be on the leading edge in terms of adopting, modifying and re-using digital content and technology tools to enrich both their personal and educational lives. The students in many ways are far ahead of their teachers and parents not only in the sophistication of their technology use, but in the adoption of emerging technologies for learning purposes," said Project Tomorrow CEO Julie Evans. "It is in our nation's best interest that we support and facilitate student usage of technology for learning." Source: PRWEB.
    Classroom focus/media literacy discussion: Do you feel your school is preparing you for the types of jobs that will be available to you in the future? Would greater use of technology in your classroom (the Internet, educational electronic games, online learning, mobile technologies) make you more prepared, and if so, how? What skills would you learn, if any, that are transferable to an office workplace? To a mobile job, like a sales rep who visits customers in their workplaces? How about to a job that requires lifelong learning to keep up, such as medicine, the law, etc.? If schools don't incorporate these technologies into their teaching, what is the problem: money to buy the equipment, training for teachers, or....? How could these problems be solved?