Media Literacy Module 2: Trends in Media

Which of the following is NOT an example of modern wearable technology?

What technology takes advantage of the user's sense of touch using computer applications?

Which of the following refers to the model for delivering content online to any person who wants to take a course with no limit to attendance?

Which of the following refers to a type of learning that happens anytime, anywhere and with anyone?

Which technology provides a big picture of learning outcomes through available data such as test results?

What 'futuristic drawing' can you see in the picture?

The picture was drawn in 1905, two years after Wilbur and Orville Wright invented the first successful airplane. Based on your knowledge in science and technology, do you think this airplane model would materialize?

What do you think is the next major innovation in transportation technology?

The communication process in the actual scenario is user centered: users have the control to choose, to decide, to search, to define and configure, subscribe or unsubscribe, comment and, most importantly: write, talk and film.

The media convergence has reset media identity. Media brand image becomes one of the most valuable activities of media companies: a source of credibility and prestige for digital content.

The multimedia identity of the actual environment allows all media industries to converge online and traditional media (press, broadcast, movies). Online media is multimedia, and multimedia is a new language.

Sharing news and opinions with the ability to interact in real-time are the seed of cyber communities. However, opportunities for reflection diminishes when information comes and goes as quick as time, but today's fast-paced information promotes dynamism and new conversational styles.

Space for the print media and time for broadcast media ceased to be the limit to content and now the time of the user is the new scarce resource. The overflow of information calls for new skills and tools to manage data, news, and opinions.

Worldwide publishing without editors, but with a close peer review daily process and in most cases open to comments from readers is the nature of social web publishing. Hence, the agenda of relevant current affairs goes beyond the established media land and now is share with a wide variety of new sources, most of them not media.

The access paradigm is complementary with the user-center paradigm. The two explain the strong interactive nature of the new environment. Access means to seek, search, navigate, surf, decide, an active attitude, a will to connect and communicate. This contradicts the passive reception of media content.

Hypertext becomes the grammar of the digital world. The pathways of the info-spaces are built on links. Creating and activating links online could be the new name of alphabetization. Reading and writing by linking, this is, exploring and creating hypertextual environments daily is the most strategic skill digital natives are achieving.

The extraordinary amount of data these days brings back the role of media as social managers of knowledge. Today, the strategic mission of media is the information about the information: information intelligence, interpretation, filtering and searching combined with the challenge of new interactive multimedia narratives and delivered by a wide range of channels.

The change started with the network. Moving digital information instantly from one place to another has reshaped delivery systems, business models, and economics and has led to the globalization of almost every industry. However, this "network effect" is about more than the dissemination of information. It is about connections. We are no longer in the information age-we are in the connected age. Everyone and everything is interconnected. Anyone who can access the web can participate. The connections magnify the reach and value of not just information but also relationships, creating opportunities for learning, working, and collaborating on an unprecedented scale.

Keep in mind the concept of the ______ web. A web cannot hang on its own with just a single stand. For it to spread out, each of its stand must be interconnected, and a spider's power to capture its prey depends on how wide its web spreads and how many connections it has.

With that said the next matter to be considered is on how we as citizens of this age keep ourselves connected to the ______ network. It cannot be argued that getting updated as often as possible is the key to our connectedness. Hence, the educating aspect of the connected age becomes a prime concern, and with this, MOOC comes in the frontline.

The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is defined as a model for delivering learning content online to any person who wants to take a course, with no limit on attendance. It can be characterized by the following:

MOOCs are a revolutionary approach to education that moves away from the physical to the virtual.

MOOCs are a kind of learning that happens online, breaking the norm of traditional schools or universities for higher education.

MOOCs utilize information technologies like analytics to help instructors gauge their student's learning.

MOOCs emphasize connectedness.

By taking learning into virtual space, attendance is no longer a determining factor in one's education. This makes MOOC learning a popular alternative for those whose life situations make them unable to attend regular schools.

Managing MOOC is relatively cheaper than running educational institutions. By taking out the experiences of Universities - which are passed down to students in exorbitant fees - MOOC addresses the high cost of education.

Analytics provides information about the learning process of students. Through the use of data collected through analytics, MOOC provides a means to improve learning.

Since it focuses on connectedness as part of the learning process, MOOC allows education to take place on a global scale, connecting learners and instructors all over the world to one another to maximize education.

Have you watched the film WALL-E? It is a creative look into the future, and a terrible interpretation of what could happen to the world due to pollution and to mankind if they would continue sitting in front of computer monitors. We do not want these to happen, do we? In the movie WALL-E is a robot designed to compact trash and clean up the highly polluted earth. He is efficient, cute, and alone, yet he manages to find proof of new life on earth to signal the human beings' return to the planet after centuries of exile in space.

Now, it's time for you to design your own robot, but not the type that kills alien monsters with a laser sword. This time, its primary function is to safeguard media and information and promote MOOC. There are already robot designs that showcase the functions indicated above. (I have seen an actual design that is used to teach English as a Foreign Language via distance mode.) You way Google about them as a reference to your personal design. Let's give it a name: M.I.L.Droid, the Media and Information Literate Android.

You are given the freedom to decide how M.I.L. Droid would look, but make sure that you are able to enumerate and explain at least five functions relevant in promoting MIL and MOOC. Enjoy designing!

It would help if you have an elder answering this with you. Choose a current media and information technology you currently own or patronize and create a review about it. Then, ask an elder (parents, aunts or uncles, grandparents) for their opinion of a similar yet earlier version of the technology you used for your own review. Lastly, think of how this technology will develop 10 years from now. You may follow this format in your discussion.

(______, Online) learning means that education can happen anytime, every time.

The grammar of the digital world is (______, linear text).

Real time information dissemination promotes (reflective, ______) interaction.

The communication process nowadays must be (audience, ______)-centered.

The influx of online learning opportunities that allows wide networking is a clear proof that we are in the (digital, ______) age.

When it comes to management, MOOCs are (______, more expensive) compared to traditional learning.

(______, Haptics) provides relevant and reliable information about the learning process of students.

(______, Printed modules) are tools for MOOCs.

MOOCs are designed for (small, ______) classes.

A MOOC program is (restricted, ______) for the learner.

Due to the current world health crisis, many Filipino students are compelled to engage in MOOCs in order to continue with their studies, and the concept of ubiquitous learning (that is, learning anywhere, everywhere, anytime and every time) has been realized sooner than expected for many. Whether you are engaged in online, blended or modular learning, reflect on your current situation as a learner. Write about the challenges you encounter every day, the funny moments you experienced in distance learning, and personal suggestions as to how the learning process can be improved. It may also help if you ask some of your friends who experience much more intensive online session about their own reflection. In such way, we acknowledge the highs and lows of the new normal mode of studying and empower ourselves to do better despite the challenges.