Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

3.18.10 | C-SPAN Online Archives Will Redefine Social Studies Education In America: Frances Martel of Mediaite argues that C-SPAN’s decision to make more than two decades of video archives available for free online is nothing short of a transformative moment in education. “[W]hile a five-hour congressional session from 1967 may not be interesting in and of itself,” he writes, “the shift to film and digital media is fascinating.”

The fact that 23 years of video footage of America’s history is accessible online for free at an age where most Americans have access to the Internet renders the entire debate in Texas over the content of textbooks obsolete. Teachers now have access to a library of raw data with which they can enhance their lessons, and if they don’t, students don’t need their teachers’ permission to do a quick fact-check. [...]

C-SPAN has provided students an avenue both of objective history and of instant academic gratification, and given this alternative, most will be hard-pressed to take a second look at the books their parents are currently warring over. As the pool of information widens and becomes more organized, there will come a time when textbooks will have little to no place in the classroom at all.

Plus: Historians speak out on the Texas textbook shake-up.

In Defense of Wikipedia as a Breaking News Source: Mike Melanson of ReadWriteWeb reports on a South by Southwest panel on Wikipedia, featuring journalists from the New York Times, SeattlePI.com, Journerdism.com and Gizmodo. In a clarification of remarks about students using Wikipeda for source material, Moka Pantages, communications officer for the WikiMedia Foundation, said:

I absolutely believe Wikipedia is a good, trustworthy source for contextual news and information and should be used by everyone, including students, as a resource. When I was asked during the panel whether or not Wikipedia should be accepted as a source for college papers, it was my opinion that, just like any other encyclopedia, I don’t think it should be cited as a reference source. However, I do think it’s a great starting point for students to start their research and begin to understand the topic or issue they are writing about.

Not Your Parents’ College Dorm: Remember long lines waiting for the dormitory phone? Or a roommate who tied up the phone for hours? Now that students bring their own cell phones to campus, those inconveniences are a thing of the past. In fact, for the first time in about 50 years, University of Illinois dorm rooms don’t have working connections for land-line phones, reports the Chicago Tribune.

“It was very close to nobody noticing,” said Kirsten Ruby, the U. of I. housing marketing director. “Most of them said, ‘Uh, duh, why would I need a phone?’”

And the university has learned how to make the most of them: “Students now use their cell phones to get text alerts when they have a package, to wake up for classes and get notified of a weather or safety emergency. In one private dorm at U. of I., they can get a text message or e-mail when their laundry is done or when there’s an available machine,” writes Jodi S. Cohen.

Reader Challenge: Creating Meaningful Vision, Not Missions: “There is a continuing frustration amongst many that for the past decade we’ve talked so much about the potential of digital media for learning, but that it hasn’t translated into enough action,” writes education policy expert Ewan McIntosh. “I wonder whether this is to do with the way we’re expressing our vision(s) of the way it could be.” Continue reading ...

Intel Science Award Winners Announced: Erika DeBenedictis, 18, took the top prize—a $100,000 four-year scholarship—in the Intel Science Talent Search. DeBenedictis developed a software system, based on an original optimizing search algorithm, that may help autonomous spacecraft better navigate solar system pathways with lower fuel requirements.

The annual competition encourages math and science education in the United States and enables students on the path to innovation. David Liu, 18, took second place for creating software capable of automatically searching through digital images and grouping together those that are conceptually similar. And Akhil Matthew, 18, won third place for his work on representation theory and for showing that important properties of mathematical categories are determined by constructible sets.

Science News has more about the 40 finalists’ trip to Washington, D.C., where they presented their work and met with members of Congress and science experts. Lisa Grossman writes:

The Glenn T. Seaborg award winner, Alice Zhao, was elected by the other finalists to give a speech at the gala. Zhao, who studied dynamical spraying of nanoparticles for her project, urged her fellow finalists to take initiative, become inspired, surround themselves with like-minded people and not to worry about the problems facing their generation — they’re in good hands.

In the video below, DeBenedictis discusses her work and its applications: