What's the Deal With Teaching New Media?

As the internet evolves and more and more social and also economic activities happen online, we have to ask ourselves if it is necessary to have a class on New Media in university and in schools respectively. In the curriculum of the English teachers degree at the University of Marburg such a course is obligatory, which is not the case for other departments. This fact shows the different attitudes towards the topic and the appreciation it receives in the university system.

If we face it, regarding our recipients, school children were already born into a world where technology and the internet were part of every-day life. They just adapt to any device in a natural way and are able to handle it in any given situation. This is part of the reason why still many teachers refrain from the use of New Media in their classes: They are afraid that the children could outsmart them while surfing in the internet or display the teacher’s inability to operate the computer or smartboard.

This contributes to the fact that working with New Media should be implemented in the curriculum of future teachers, no matter the subject. Not only are the teachers primed for dangers and problems that are attached to modern technology, they also represent a fun way of bringing across learning materials. It is often said that most of the pupils enjoy working online very much. There is a vast amount of useful tools and material available, which can be integrated in the usual class routine. Moreover, as a lot of the activities of young people take place on the web, exercises involving the internet represent a way of learning that is close to the surroundings of the pupils. In that way, they feel that the lessons are not as far away form their world as they usually seem.

I want to illustrate the possibilities of New Media in the classroom by using the example of the so-called smartboard. The smartboard or white board, as it is also referred to, is a canvas on which visual images can be projected. This feature functions much like a normal beamer only with one exception: You can draw directly on the smartboard. These drawings are not physical but of digital nature and they are implemented in the document you are working with.

One big advantage is that the teacher is able to prepare any diagram or image before starting the class. He or she can then work with this template during the lesson and modify it. The drawings that are made on the smartboard can be saved as a backup for later use. This gives the teacher a greater deal of flexibility and spontaneity as parts of works done in class can be reviewed at any time.

On another level the mere usage of technology can be of advantage for the pupil’s future. In  a world, where it is absolutely vital to know how to navigate in the internet or use PowerPoint for example the education should incorporate these things. These competences are taken for granted in today’s job world. An employee nowadays has to be able to present something with PowerPoint or do a thorough internet research. Moreover it seems to be impossible to run most of the areas of the civilized world without the use of modern technology, if you take hospitals, science centres or banks for instance. In conclusion, this means that we have to prepare our pupils for the needs of their future jobs.