No, MTV isn't the world itself. But, I do think of it as a metaphore for
our times. Consider the amount and types of information that we are
bombarded with daily. We no longer live is isolated bubbles within which we
can live out our lives untouched by the world around us. Instead of MERELY
worrying about this morning's latest pimple ;-), kids are also forced to
worry about shelling in Bosnia, starvation in Somalia, war in the mid-east,
gansta-rap, killing of whales, etc., etc. etc.--all brought to us in living,
multimedia color.
I fear that following certain trends to
>their extreme can only result in an impasse. Multimedia has little
>to do with getting things done. I can write a message of 50
>carefully chosen words in 1/10 to 1/100 of the time it would take
>to present the same message in multimedia. If the world can't
>use the custom 50-word message to get something done, then the
>wheels of progress are likely to grind to a "virtual" halt while
>the programmers spin their webs.
IMHO, the most important lesson kids must learn is not so much HOW to
compose multimedia messages (that, frankly, isn't so hard) but rather how to
decipher the messages they ARE receiving. Not will receive--ARE RECEIVING.
They need these critical thinking skills NOW. The saying is Fight Fire With
Fire. I don't see how educators can adequately address the needs of THESE
kids without being "fully armed" (I don't like the military analogy either
but it was the one that worked at the moment). :) The great challenge to
teachers is to use these technologies to help kids deal with the realities
of their lives, to sort out the world as best they can and be productive
Earthlings.
Just my humble thoughts...
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Sharon Foley President
Tulsa Associates sfoley@tulsa.iii.net
Blackstone, MA
Making Technology Work for Education
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