Spotlight on Education : That’s soooo dotcom
Posted on Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Middle school students typically possess more technological knowledge, skill and capability in their thumbs than most adults do in their entire bodies. They can communicate to masses without speaking a word while seemingly to pay attention. Middle schoolers shoot video, take pictures, record sound, send text messages and surf the Net all with their ubiquitous cell phones. (I know ubiquitous is a word because it's on my word-a-day calendar. ) It seems that middle schoolers have repurposed their opposable thumbs, and in doing so, moved themselves up on the evolutionary ladder. This interest in mass communication has not gone unnoticed in Rogers Public Schools.
In our inaugural year of four middle schools, we offer a Mass Media class to our eighth graders. As seventh graders, students could take an elective class and receive 12 weeks of media technology. That class has grown up to become a year-long course charged with producing live video feeds of principals'state-of-theschool reports, book-talk videos, yearbook; creating and updating Web pages, team newsletters and school newspapers.
In an age where rigor and relevance are demanded, our mass media course meets both challenges. The middle school mass media class will begin to teach the basic principles of design, layout, theme, as well as the technology side of hardware and software. It is much more than just PowerPoint and distribution email lists. The greater challenge for us is to impart the ethics and responsibility underlying mass media. Middle schoolers have access and knowledge to communicate to chosen masses. What they don't always possess are the maturity or judgment to do so responsibly.
The district is committed to the mass media project. At each middle school we are taking inventory of existing hardware and software, purchasing digital video cameras and software, drawing up a wish list and defining a curriculum. In the fast moving, digital world, keeping the curriculum fresh and current will be a challenge. For those of us who think e-mail still rules and had to have our children help us set up our Facebook accounts, take note of this recent exchange with a student from my church's youth group.
Me: Why aren't you all reading your newsletter ? That information was clearly in the newsletter.
Student: We don't read newsletters.
Me: Well then, we'll send it out in an e-mail.
Student: We don't read emails. E-mails are soooo dotcom, unless it's from our Facebook friends.
Me: I'm too old to have a Facebook. It's kind of creepy for a 40-something-year-old man to have a Facebook.
Student: Just text us.
Me: My fingers can't type on such a small keypad.
Student: You don't use your fingers. That's what thumbs are for.
Me: I need to evolve.
Wondering what "dotcom "means and it's not on your worda-day calendar ? I was told that it means "old, out of date, obsolete. "Rogers middle schools are embracing technology and evolving with new developments along with our students.
David Smith is the assistant principal at Oakdale Middle School.
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