Big Thinkers: Henry Jenkins on New Media and Implications for Learning and Teaching

Henry Jenkins mainly says that medias are a new way for students to learn and that teachers, schools and schoolboards have to get along with it. A lot of schools don't have access to sites like Youtube because there can be presence of offensive content but they are minimal. It is such a useful tool when it comes to gather information about a specific subject. Teachers are accustomed to be the experts with whom students ask questions but with technology, there is a big chance that it might be the students' role and that frightens teachers. Poor students don't have the chance to benefit from the new medias at home so they look forward to go at school to use them.  New medias are a great way for learners to improve their social skills and to act as full participants in the new society. Teachers will have to change their way of teaching because now, with medias, they will have to let the kids share their technology knowledge with the class because everyone has his strenghts.

Schools are limiting the kids' access to digital tool by blocking a lot of useful sites because there can be offensive content in it but I am sure that they already saw a lot of things worse than that. By doing that, they close the door to useful information. Since poorer kids only have access to new technologies at school, it is sad to see that they see the browsing possibilities being restrained. the new generation of kids is very at ease with technologies so we have to let them be the experts in this so they can share their knowledge with us (as teachers) as well as the other kids.

I don't think that schools are ready to give up control to kids and families since a lot of schools think that background knowledge has not its place at school meaning that teachers have the absolute knowledge. I think it is a non-sense and that we, as future teachers, have to give more opportunities to students so they can use their strenghts to profit the class and so that it helps the class achieve its goals. Authorship is now taking a lot of place in the medias' society but we have less power on it than before. The best way to teach it to kids would be to spend 1 course talking about it and showing examples. This course should be given before the class starts using computers for a project or to gather information or etc.

http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-henry-jenkins-media-video