Communication is Changing

Times have changed, and the internet is changing the way we do many things. In the past, to be an author, you had to submit an article to a publisher and hope to get approval. Today, you set up a blog account and then keyboard away. This allows anyone and everyone to read what you have to say. This is certainly a radical change from the past, for anyone can become a writer.

Visual media used to be solely the product of movie producers and large corporations. Today, a person can take their digital video camera and film their project. They can then load it into their computer and use an inexpensive program, such as iMovie, to edit their film and add effects. For more extensive changes there are other applications available for use at a higher cost, but still within the everyday person's budget. Upon completion, they can take their movie and upload it to YouTube.com for everyone to view.

So what does this mean to education?

In the past, a student wrote an assignment for the teacher to look at and grade. No one else would see it, so the whole goal would be for a grade. Making movies was unheard of. Becoming a published author was reserved for only those lucky enough to catch someone's attention and interest that had the power to publish.

Now all that has changed and is available to everyone. Classblogmeister.com, gaggle.net, or epals.com provide safe places for teachers and students to go and speak their mind and yet allow it to be under the teacher's control. If we, as teachers, continue to do writing the old way it doesn't reach today's students. This isn't how the real world works. If our goal is to get students to become better writers and get excited about writing, we need to provide real world experiences for them.

Your students will thank you, as mine have.