Big Thinkers: Henry Jenkins on New Media and Implications for Learning and Teaching

Henry Jenkins is a media professor who decided to tackle the use of digital tools in school environment. He mentions two major problems; the first one concerns the use of technologies in school. He says that schools deskill the students by limiting their access to information. Indeed, some schools cannot access information because it is blocked by some filtering system in place. For instance, students cannot get information about the story of Moby Dick because there was the word “dick”.

The second problem was that some students do not even have an e-identity online. Some of them do not have access to technology at home, which increase the phenomenon of what Jenkins calls the participation gap. How can a kid get learning experiences, social skills and cultural competencies if he cannot have access to digital information at home and at school? It impedes him to be a fully participant of his digital generation and thus, he is not totally a part of it.

Then, Henry Jenkins gives some solutions to the issue when saying that teachers and schools must stop hurting and do damage to digital tools. Teachers must be open minded and be willing to explore in order to recognize the values (inside and outside the school) of online resources. In doing this, it will create a new relationship between teachers and students. If teachers have difficulty in using digital tools, they can ask for support on their own online community of teachers to help each other.

My point of view related to how people can create shared learning opportunities across generation is really positive. I like the idea that we can teach not only students, but also older generations. People can use digital tools to create relationships between generations. The example that comes in my mind is a video we have watched for the purpose of one of my classes where students were teaching older people how to use a computer. It is usually the opposite; older people teach younger ones.  I thought it was an excellent idea because it gives space to students as to show their expertise to other people. They get involve in situations that are meaningful to them, especially because they can see results of their teaching on their “new friend”. Older people can use digital tools as much as others do, they just have to learn how since they were not born in our generation. I think it can create interesting shared learning opportunities across generations.