Part A, Blog 2: Unpacking Digital Media Platforms

What is Digital Media?

When people think of media they think of newspapers, radio, the local news, and communication avenues where news or information is transmitted. Whereas media is forever changing and developing into a digital platform where information is easily accessible and easily created. Digital media put simply is content you watch, read and see every day. Right now, you are consuming digital media by reading this blog post. Digital media is an umbrella term, covering a range of different products, industries and job roles (Macleay College, 2019). Digital media in relation to literacy helps students identify, access, analyse and evaluate different sources and information to develop their knowledge (Menten, 2021). It is a whole new platform for learning that incorporates higher order thinking and assists students in developing their creative thinking. To learn more about Digital Media read this short blog post here. 

There are some serious risks with digital media and its functionality and use in the classroom just like any other tool we choose to incorporate into our teaching. Some functional risks are laptops, projectors and internet failing, sound or video unable to play and content that is not accessible due to school restrictions. Some risks for students include, inappropriate content and misinformation. Misinformation is false information that is not presented to cause harm but can be misleading for students (Dictionary, 2021). To ensure our students are using the internet safely, ethically, and legally we need to show them how to identify falsification of information which is produced from websites that are easily edited such as Wikipedia.

Developing and Researching Digital Media Platforms

We are encouraging our students to be active members of our classrooms, thinking on their own, using their brains which will result in long-term memory retention. Students will not only develop their knowledge but their interest and freedom of expression (Knapen, 2018). Through my research and online exploring on different types of digital media platforms that could be incorporated into the classroom, I found a bottom-less pit of resources. Teachers are able to create interactive images and resources such as timelines using Dipity and Popplet. Students are able to create their own images, digital maps and timelines to reveal their own points of view and learning styles.

I conducted my own research for resources to be used in a Home Economics and Physical Education classroom and I quite enjoyed experimenting with Logo Type Maker and Poll Everywhere. Answer a poll I created on how much you exercise weekly. Below is a logo I created in less than two minutes for a Home Economics class and a screenshot of how the poll was developed. 

These resources allow you to create logos for any product. In Home Economics students are constantly asked to design new food products and advertise these products and the Logo Type Maker tool would be an asset for this task. Poll Everywhere allows students to conduct research using selective questioning by creating easy to answer questions that will develop their relationships with their peers and gain insight on their peers’ thoughts.

Kahoot

The main site I connected with was Kahoot, which is a game-based learning platform that allows you to create quizzes and take quizzes in the classroom on any topic. When first entering the site, it asks you to sign up as a student or teacher and add your school, which a great tool to keep our students accountable. It then allows you to create quizzes or it provides templates with links to formative assessment, spelling and many more resources. Try the quiz here, I made on First Aid which took less than five minutes! Below is a screenshot that shows the options for each questions and how the questions and answers are developed. 

Teachers can create their own quizzes based on their subject areas which can be used as a revision task or an assessment task. When creating your quiz you can make it public or private and have full control of the questions and answers and only you can edit the quiz. This platform would be a great tool to incorporate into my Physical Education subjects where students can create quizzes to test their peer’s knowledge and demonstrate their knowledge on the subject area by showing how well they write and answer the questions.

The important factor that students are to consider when using sites such as Kahoot, is that they are using that platform safely, legally, and ethically. They may understand the concept of copyright and plagiarism but when creating their own content there is still a risk of plagiarism when using images, information they got from a website. Hence, why it is important students are constantly made aware of the risks when using and creating digital media.

SAMR Model

As mentioned, digital media is a new platform that develops high order thinking in students and encourages students to be active members of the classroom. In my Physical Education subjects digital media can be incorporated in every aspect of students learning and will be explained in detailed below using the SAMR Model. The SAMR model was as framework created by Dr. Ruben Puentedura that categorised the four different degrees of technology integrations. SAMR stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition.

SAMR MODEL	Physical Education Incorporation of Technology
Substitution	Students use word to create a paper-based quiz for their peers based on First Aid. This can be presented using images where students are referencing their sources.
Augmentation	Student’s research first aid scenarios where they can create an interactive quiz for their peers to complete and use YouTube videos and websites to help them develop their knowledge on effective quiz questions.
Modification	Students are to create a private quiz using Kahoot which is compiled of 10 questions that test their peer’s knowledge on first aid.
Redefinition	Students make their quiz public and allow other physical education students in the region to complete and provide feedback via email.

Digital media is the new form of education and is a great educational tool all teachers should be including in their pedagogy. It accommodates for all learning types especially those who are creative and visual learners as these students are not normally challenged in the traditional learning environment.

References:

Dictionary. (2021). Misinformation vs. Disinformation. Dictionary.com. Retrieved from https://www.dictionary.com/e/misinformation-vs-disinformation-get-informed-on-the-difference/

Knapen, R. (2018). 20 Interactive teaching activities for an interactive classroom. Kidimedia. Retrieved from https://www.bookwidgets.com/blog/2018/06/20-interactive-teaching-activities-for-in-the-interactive-classroom

Macleay College. (2019). What is Digital Media. Macleay College. Retrieved from https://www.macleay.edu.au/blog/what-is-digital-media

Menten, A. (2021). Five ways to use technology and digital media for global learning. Asia Society. Retrieved from https://asiasociety.org/education/five-ways-use-technology-and-digital-media-global-learning