Can New Media Be Tought In Schools?

Would it be that bad if new media was tought in schools? Marshal Kirpatrick points out in this article that there is some merit to teaching new media in journalism and other schools. I would have to definately agree with this but also add that I beleive is a very good idea that such broader and real life topic be taught in included in journalism and taught in schools. I don't understand why would it be so bad since new media relates directly to journalism and has such big impact on people's lives.

Kirpatrick points out that old media is slow, less compelling and somewhat expensive compared to some media online. She is right, I beleive the use of old media now days has very little use compared to the new media being produced, there is no doubt in my mind that old media is still very useful, but when you have faster, easier, cheaper way to interact and receive news why wouldn't you explore it and try it out.

So, as Marshal points out, there are many skills that need to be taught about new media, like blogging, RSS, tagging, wikis, podcasting and much more, but are theses skill sets able to be taught in schools? Why not I say. Marshal states that most people they've talked to in schools think they can facilitate learning experiences in new media, however this isn't everything about new media.

I beleive it is all about transmitting to students in an interactive way the information that new meida provides. Visually I think is the best way to approach this in schools. Kids learn faster and better when they are able to see soemthing and play with it. A great example would be putting a kid to play Second Life as Kirpatrick says, "let them have an avatar for a day and then teach them how to navigate to the most interesting events going on there."

It is definatley a challenge, but a challenge that if it's overcomed, grown up kids and teachers are going to be thankful new media was introduced at such early age.