Computers, laptops, netbooks, iPods and mobile phones alongside videos, podcasts, Moodle, online presentations, social networks, course wikis, and other interactive media available via the internet, have the potential to fundamentally change the process of education as we have come to know it. Relying on both individual input and group collaboration, the internet has afforded us many new and exciting technologies to transform the ways that we read, write, acquire and think about information.
Michael Wesch, cultural anthropologist at KSU, remarks:
As we increasingly move toward an environment of instant and infinite information, it becomes less important for students to know, memorize, or recall information, and more important for them to be able to find, sort, analyze, share, discuss, critique, and create information. They need to move from being simply knowledgeable to being knowledge-able.
To understand more about the movement towards incorporating new media into anthropology and university education in innovative and - most importantly - useful ways, read the full text or listen to the podcast (.mp3) of Michael Wesch's talk, "From Knowledgable to Knowledge-able: Learning in New Media Environments".
What role do new technologies and media play in your everyday life, and do they meet your learning needs?