scholarly journals Education and technology: critical questions

Author(s):  
Neil Selwyn

The use of digital technology is a central component of most forms of contemporary education provision and practice. Crucially, educational technology is now a multi billion dollar business – involving global technology corporations in local educational provision and practice. The need for critical questions to be asked of education and technology is more pressing than ever. This chapter lays out some fundamental questions that need to be voiced in the face of such advances. In particular, it reconsiders seven critical challenges raised by the media critic Neil Postman. While Postman was concerned with the effect of computers and the internet on schools in the 1990s, much of what he argued for could be seen as having continued relevance to our current era of smartphones, big data and cloud computing. The chapter outlines the implications of these lines of critical questioning for making sense of the current state of education and technology. These are discussed in terms of: central topics of concern; key actors and interests; methods of inquiry; and likely outcomes of asking critical questions of education and technology.

Author(s):  
José Leite dos Santos Neto

O presente artigo discorre sobre as interfaces entre cinema, mídia e educação e tem como objetivo discutir tendências da educação midiática para a escola do século XXI. Considera-se o contexto da linguagem audiovisual e cinematográfica como componente central para a definição desse conceito. Elementos da mídia moderna, através do seu poder de persuasão, de maneira intencional ou não, contribui para o ensino e a formação do sujeito. A partir de uma abordagem qualitativa, realizou-se uma revisão integrativa da literatura, que se direcionou por questões sobre recepção dos conteúdos com o enfoque para o audiovisual, ressaltando que, o sujeito não é passivo diante do que acessa, mas que tais referências tendem a contribuir com o seu posicionamento político e ideológico. Versou-se também sobre os pressupostos históricos da experiência britânica que, colaboraram significativamente para a compreensão da Educação Midiática enquanto instrumento para formação plena do sujeito. Este estudo reforça a tese de que o elemento audiovisual é um produto de caráter extremamente educativo e, que, frente as mudanças sociais e tecnológicas, a disciplina de Educação Midiática no currículo escolar, se faz necessária para a escola. Nesse contexto, a mídia como um instrumento arrojado da cultura se torna um instrumento capaz de levar ao autoconhecimento e criar representações involuntárias que, como significação e parte da visão de mundo, pode orientar a ação do sujeito.What is media education? The interface between cinema and educationThe present research discourses about the interfaces between cinema, media and education and aims to discuss trends in media literacy for the school in the 21st century. The audiovisual and cinematographic language context has been considered a central component to define this concept. Elements of the modern media, through their persuasion power, whether intentionally or not, contribute to teaching and human development. Drawing from a qualitative approach, an integrative literature review was carried out, which was guided by questions about the reception of contents with a focus on audiovisual, emphasising that the subject is not passive in the face of what he accesses, but that such references tend to contribute to its political and ideological positioning. The research has also presented the theoretical assumptions of the British experience that collaborated significantly with the comprehension of Media Education as a tool for the human formation. This study reinforces the thesis that the audiovisual element is an extremely educational product and that, in the face of social and technological changes, the subject of Media Education in the school curriculum, is vital for school. In this context, the media as a bold instrument of culture becomes an instrument capable of leading to self-knowledge and creating involuntary representations that, as a meaning and part of the world view, can guide the people’s action.Keywords: Media education; Media and Education; Cinema and education; Technology and education.¿Qué es la educación en medios? Un campo de interacción entre cine y educaciónLa presente investigación, ubicada entre las interfaces de cine, medios y educación, tiene como objetivo discutir las tendencias en la educación en medios para la escuela del siglo XXI. El contexto del lenguaje audiovisual y cinematográfico se considera como una especificidad central para la definición de este concepto. Los elementos de los medios modernos, a través de su poder de persuasión, ya sea intencionalmente o no, contribuyen a la educación y capacitación del tema. Basado en un enfoque cualitativo, se llevó a cabo una revisión integral de la literatura, que se guio por preguntas sobre la recepción de contenido con un enfoque en el audiovisual, enfatizando que el sujeto no es pasivo frente a lo que accede, sino que tales referencias tienden para contribuir a su posicionamiento político e ideológico. También abordamos los supuestos históricos de la experiencia británica que, colaboraron significativamente para la comprensión de la Educación en Medios como un instrumento para la formación completa del tema. Este estudio refuerza la tesis de que el elemento audiovisual es un producto extremadamente educativo y que, ante los cambios sociales y tecnológicos, la disciplina de la Educación en Medios en el currículo escolar es necesaria para la escuela. En este contexto, los medios como un instrumento audaz de la cultura se convierten en un instrumento capaz de conducir al autoconocimiento y crear representaciones involuntarias que, como significado y parte de la visión del mundo, pueden guiar la acción del sujeto.Palabras-clave: Educación mediática; La alfabetización mediática; Cine y educación; Tecnología y educación.


Author(s):  
Derek D. Rucker ◽  
Mauricio O'Connell

In 2009–2010 Procter & Gamble’s Old Spice brand had to respond to two important challenges. First, after a successful rebranding of the Glacial Falls scent into Swagger (see Kellogg Case #5-411-752), Old Spice’s core brand team had to determine its next step in advertising. The options being considered included continuing to advertise Swagger, switching to advertising a different scent, advertising the umbrella brand, or placing an emphasis on body wash instead of on deodorant. This decision also involved proposing both the messaging and the media buy for the option selected. Second, in conjunction with this issue, the brand team had to decide whether the messaging of its advertising should respond to competitor Unilever’s new advertising for Dove for Men, which would be kicked off in an upcoming Super Bowl spot. Students will step into the shoes of Mauricio O’Connell—one of the assistant brand managers of Old Spice—as he and his team brainstorm how to position the brand for another big success.After reading, analyzing, and discussing the case, students should be able to: Ask critical questions to help decide among multiple advertising strategies Describe issues for a brand that relate to managing advertising across its portfolio Understand how competitive behavior can affect a brand's decision


Author(s):  
Chris Forster

Modernist literature is inextricable from the history of obscenity. The trials of such figures as James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, and Radclyffe Hall loom large in accounts of twentieth-century literature. Filthy Material: Modernism and the Media of Obscenity reveals the ways that debates about obscenity and literature were shaped by changes in the history of media. The emergence of film, photography, and new printing technologies shaped how “literary value” was understood, altering how obscenity was defined and which texts were considered obscene. Filthy Material rereads the history of modernist obscenity to discover the role played by technological media in debates about obscenity. The shift from the intense censorship of the early twentieth century to the effective “end of obscenity” for literature at the middle of the century was not simply a product of cultural liberalization but also of a changing media ecology. Filthy Material brings together media theory and archival research to offer a fresh account of modernist obscenity with novel readings of works of modernist literature. It sheds new light on figures at the center of modernism’s obscenity trials (such as Joyce and Lawrence), demonstrates the relevance of the discourse of obscenity to understanding figures not typically associated with obscenity debates (such as T. S. Eliot and Wyndham Lewis), and introduces new figures to our account of modernism (such as Norah James and Jack Kahane). It reveals how modernist obscenity reflected a contest over the literary in the face of new media technologies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3465
Author(s):  
Jordi Colomer ◽  
Dolors Cañabate ◽  
Brigita Stanikūnienė ◽  
Remigijus Bubnys

In the face of today’s global challenges, the practice and theory of contemporary education inevitably focuses on developing the competences that help individuals to find meaningfulness in their societal and professional life, to understand the impact of local actions on global processes and to enable them to solve real-life problems [...]


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 215013272110167
Author(s):  
Tara Rava Zolnikov ◽  
Tanya Clark ◽  
Tessa Zolnikov

Anxiety and fear felt by people around the world regarding the coronavirus pandemic is real and can be overwhelming, resulting in strong emotional reactions in adults and children. With depressive and anxiety disorders already highly prevalent in the general population (300 million worldwide), depression and/or anxiety specifically because of the pandemic response is likely. Moreover, the current state of panic in the face of uncertainty is apt to produce significant amounts of stress. While this situation has the potential to cause psychological disorders in previously unaffected populations, perhaps more impactful is the exacerbation of symptoms of many existing disorders including anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and hoarding disorder.


2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-117
Author(s):  
Christian Henrich-Franke

Abstract The second half of the 20th century is commonly considered to be a time in which German companies lost their innovative strength, while promising new technologies presented an enormous potential for innovation in the US. The fact that German companies were quite successful in the production of medium data technology and had considerable influence on the development of electronic data processing was neglected by business and media historians alike until now. The article analyses the Siemag Feinmechanische Werke (Eiserfeld) as one of the most important producers of the predecessors to said medium data technologies in the 1950s and 1960s. Two transformation processes regarding the media – from mechanic to semiconductor and from semiconductor to all-electronic technology – are highlighted in particular. It poses the question of how and why a middling family enterprise such as Siemag was able to rise to being the leading provider for medium data processing office computers despite lacking expertise in the field of electrical engineering while also facing difficult location conditions. The article shows that Siemag successfully turned from its roots in heavy industry towards the production of innovative high technology devices. This development stems from the company’s strategic decisions. As long as their products were not mass-produced, a medium-sized family business like Siemag could hold its own on the market through clever decision-making which relied on flexible specialization, targeted license and patent cooperation as well as innovative products, even in the face of adverse conditions. Only in the second half of the 1960s, as profit margins dropped due to increasing sales figures and office machines had finally transformed into office computers, Siemag was forced to enter cooperation with Philips in order to broaden its spectrum and merge the production site in Eiserfeld into a larger business complex.


Leadership ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 174271502199649
Author(s):  
Dag Jansson ◽  
Erik Døving ◽  
Beate Elstad

The notion of leadership competencies is a much-debated issue. In this article, we propose that how the leader makes sense of his or her competencies is key to leadership practice. Specifically, we look at how leaders reconcile discrepancies between the self-perceived proficiency of various competencies and their corresponding importance. Empirically, we study leaders within the music domain – how choral conductors make sense of their competencies in the shaping of their professional practice. We investigated how choral leaders in Scandinavia ( N = 638) made sense of their competencies in the face of demands in their working situations. A mixed methodology was used, comprising a quantitative survey with qualitative comments and in-depth interviews with a selection of the respondents. The results show that when choral leaders shape their practice, they frequently face competency gaps that compel them to act or adjust their identity. The key to this sensemaking process is how they move competency elements they master to the foreground and wanting elements to the background. The concept of ‘sensemaking affordance’ is introduced to account for how various leader competency categories are negotiated to safeguard overall efficacy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 2068
Author(s):  
William Villegas-Ch. ◽  
Xavier Palacios-Pacheco ◽  
Milton Roman-Cañizares ◽  
Sergio Luján-Mora

Currently, the 2019 Coronavirus Disease pandemic has caused serious damage to health throughout the world. Its contagious capacity has forced the governments of the world to decree isolation and quarantine to try to control the pandemic. The consequences that it leaves in all sectors of society have been disastrous. However, technological advances have allowed people to continue their different activities to some extent while maintaining isolation. Universities have great penetration in the use of technology, but they have also been severely affected. To give continuity to education, universities have been forced to move to an educational model based on synchronous encounters, but they have maintained the methodology of a face-to-face educational model, what has caused several problems in the learning of students. This work proposes the transition to a hybrid educational model, provided that this transition is supported by data analysis to identify the new needs of students. The knowledge obtained is contrasted with the performance presented by the students in the face-to-face modality and the necessary parameters for the transition to this modality are clearly established. In addition, the guidelines and methodology of online education are considered in order to take advantage of the best of both modalities and guarantee learning.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-231
Author(s):  
V.S. Pai

Maggi was the most popular instant noodles brand in India, which children in particular loved to snack on. The brand had a dominant position until suddenly in mid-2015 it got engulfed in controversy. Several state food regulators found that Maggi contained monosodium glutamate as well as lead well above the prescribed limits. Both these substances were harmful especially for children. When Nestlé India was confronted with lab test results it stuck to its position that they had a world class quality control process in place and that their products were safe for consumption. Finally, the national food regulator FSSAI, ordered a ban on the sale of Maggi including product recall. Consequently, several state governments imposed temporary ban on the sale of Maggi noodles in their respective states. The future of the company suddenly looked very bleak. Nestlé India was slow to respond to this fast unfolding crisis. Further, their responses were very brief and not adequately culture-sensitive. This led to the feeling in several quarters that the company was probably guilty of wrongdoing. To set right things Nestlé's worldwide CEO flew into India to douse the flames of the controversy and draw up an appropriate strategy to bail out the brand. He address the media, put in place a new CEO for Nestlé India and set brand Maggi on the path of recovery. However, Nestlé India was still facing a number of critical issues. What should be done to win over the trust of its customers? How should it recover market share lost to competitors both old rivals and new entrants? What strategy should it develop to succeed with the new products, especially hot heads, launched along with the comeback strategy? Should it change its approach to dealing with government health officials to prevent confrontations in future? How should it shorten the response time and make it effective in the face of a media backed public outcry in future?


2014 ◽  
Vol 652 (1) ◽  
pp. 206-221
Author(s):  
Anton Harber

Two decades of contestation over the nature and extent of transformation in the South African news media have left a sector different in substantive ways from the apartheid inheritance but still patchy in its capacity to fill the democratic ideal. Change came fast to a newly open broadcasting sector, but has faltered in recent years, particularly in a public broadcaster troubled by political interference and poor management. The potential of online media to provide much greater media access has been hindered by the cost of bandwidth. Community media has grown but struggled to survive financially. Print media has been aggressive in investigative exposé, but financial cutbacks have damaged routine daily coverage. In the face of this, the government has turned its attention to the print sector, demanding greater—but vaguely defined—transformation and threatened legislation. This has met strong resistance.


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