Media (theory) and the classroom

Students are technologically savvy and sometimes moreso than the professors who teach them.The technologies are the tools for the production. The theory and the background/history, economic, social and behavior context are areas that the professors can help inform the students of. Anything can be learned but the leaning of tool-use is simply time consuming. Many students will learn the tools one way or the other, now or later for the purpose of getting to an objective or completing a project. On the other hand many people might never learn a little theory or history or socio-economic contextualism if their teachers don't bring it to class. This is not to say that students will learn only the one op-ed version of a theory or the social economic context of an idea but that they will be exposed to the ideas that will instill in them a desire to learn more than just the technology. The adolescent question "why do we have to do this, it is not relevant?" would be killed off instantly by opening a students mind to a little philosophizing about the potentialities of an act.

Creating media projects does take a lot of time and patience whether at Final Cut Pro or Pro Tools etc., but a discussion of the possible implications of the framing of the message and how it is received can take as long as you wish to put into it. Instilling in students the desire for this discussion is the generous message of the professor. It is not a message of "this is how you should frame it", it is a message of "what if?" It is the message of how interesting and vital all these questions are and that all questions are equal. Students deserve to be challenged to be critical analysts of their own and others' work. This challenge indicates a level of equality which respects the students as creators and critics and analysts.

When I graduated in 1996, my thesis called for a humanistic approach to embracing the information age. Thirteen years later we are still talking about the information age. Frank Webster in his piece on the Information Society touches, in 2008, on what I alluded to in 1996. He asks if the quantitative increase in information increases qualitative social changes. My thesis basically said that in media analysis we were focussing on sociology and marxism etc. while neglecting the simplicity and complexity of a natural evaluation of the media. I said that we should allow for a grander evaluation of media related to whether or not it was good or bad for humanity. I know this sounds vague and maybe even naieve but isn't there room for simply thinking of media as a possible positive force in society for humanity? We can still do our semiotics, marxist, socio-economic, political-economic etc., analysis but for the purpose of teaching undergraduate introductory classes couldn't we just look at humans as the subject of receiving the media and have the students reflect on humanity as a collective audience?

While I could argue that there are universal truths of ethics, I won't because I believe there are none. This humanist approach to media analysis would merely introduce the student to every area of media theory and analysis. Some would shriek at covering Marx and Feminist analysis techniques in 3 hours flat, but the students would be getting their appetites wet. And even if they did not continue in the study they would be forever informed of material that they might not otherwise have been exposed to. I suppose I am arguing for the inclusion of theory in every facet of media study. What is media without the theory, the psychoanalysis? A bunch of jumble! If a student takes one class in a media program/study and they were never to take another media class, it would be a shame to have missed that opportunity to instill some intellectual capacity to understand the message, sender and receiver in that student.

Anyone can create media. Anyone can watch media. Everyone should be able to distill media. Everyone should be capable of intellectually layering messages into their production. Everyone should be able to critique Bill Maher and Michael Savage to understand what forces are being used to punch their ideologies home to the audience. Perhaps we should be teaching (media and) media theory aggressively in high schools?

This information age, as Frank Webster says, is just an extension of what we already have. Like TV after radio, the internet will not kill the TV. The world will change but in very small ways unlike how some "talking heads" would want us believe. The tools are just tools and they will change somewhat over the years. The theory is the theory and will probably change less because it doesn't need to, and it doesn't sell products.


Lievrouw, L. A. & Livingstone, S. (Ed.s) (2008). The Handbook of New Media. Sage: London

Webster, F. (2008). The information society revisited. Chapter 22.

Technology and the Classroom

Starting the semester with an introduction to aesthetics is always a joy. I emphasize the beautiful in life. It is a joy to be alive.

On the first day of class I recounted an experience of mine on a flight into San Francisco. The pilot announced, as we landed, that "any flight you walk away from is a good one." From this I added that any day I waken up and am able to get up and go is a good day, a great day.

As I am around academia more I realize that I am not the most technologically challenged individual, as I have previously thought, and also that at times it is an added attribute to be capable of empathizing with some students who are not tech-savvy. One student was happily relieved when I answered her question about the level of tech-savvy needed to participate in my class - zero.

This is not to say that techy is not desirable. It is, but it should not impede the learning process. After all there is a lot of learning to be done without technological assignments and/or use of technology. Technology is ubiquitous and therefore it is something to learn but we should not allow it to be the "only" way to learning in the classroom.

My virtual "friend", Professor David Silver, makes some interesting points in relation to the development of technology in the classroom and beyond. It is obvious that technology must be used in the class he is now teaching, Digital Media Production, but I wonder if the use of technology back in his 1995 class, Material Aspects of American Life, took emphasis away from the class material itself.

Perhaps the presence of technology everywhere is a good enough reason to avoid too much of it in the classroom? Perhaps the students will learn the technology in life outside the classroom or in the techy classes. Maybe some classes can be learning experiences without the necessity for technology?

I do, however, use a projector, lights, DVD player, audio, speakers, etc.