This is a question I've been asking myself while brainstorming ways to incorporate engaging future new media lessons in the classroom. This prompted the question, what are the possibilities within new media that can be explored? to what extent can new media be explored within a classroom setting with classroom limitations?
Thinking of the large spectrum of types of schools, we can either be faced with a highly equipped media lab room with a computer for every student, or a mere classroom with not a single technological device to be found. In either case, how can we help stir the minds of students about interpreting the media they see around them everyday? how can we address their learning needs in alignment with the speed of their growth and constant bombardment of the media world?
These are all questions I want to explore coming into this generation of students, in order to guide them in their ways of navigating through what they soak in every moment of the day in a healthy manner.
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I'm interested in how new media can transform the way people heal. Whether it be using new media to create certain environments for the disabled, elderly that are sick, or children who are terminally-ill. I think there are endless possibilities for the doors new media can open and the opportunities to change lives.
My friend is the Program Director for a non-profit organization called
Eti-Vision.
Eti-Vision seeks to empower the blind youth to become active and integrated into society. They provide training in assistive technologies and other life skills to
overcome difficulties arising from blindness, specifically those
encountered when in pursuit of an education. They also introduce popular local recreational activities to encourage awareness,
teamwork and independence among blind and sighted youths. Eti-vision collaborate with companies to create internships that allow blind young adults to integrate into a professional work force, and empowering the blind population to advocate for support of full
inclusion and non-discriminatory behavior toward people with blindness
on a local, regional, and national level.
This is something I came across recently:
How does a child with disabilities develop a sense of self?
The process of developing a concept of “self” is complex and
lifelong, and begins as an infant. One of an infant’s first tentative
attempts to interact with his world is the smile. This early
developmental milestone is termed the “social smile.” The child smiles
at its caregivers, and elicits a return smile. This event is important
for two reasons. First, the infant has an experience of being
“mirrored” by the caregiver. The caregiver reflects back to the infant
what he or she just did, and the infant gains great pleasure from it;
this pleasure encourages the infant to continue smiling at the sight of
the “mirroring” caregiver. Second, this interaction is one of the
first experiences an infant has that establishes an environment
separate from his or her own body and helps develop a positive sense of
self. If that return smile is forthcoming, the “social smile” develops
into playful behavior, which is one of the forerunners of a healthy
interaction between child and world. If the return smile is not forthcoming, the original social smile of the infant disappears, and the child “gives up,” so to say, interacting.
The failure to distinguish oneself from the environment is common in
children with disabilities, and especially with children who are blind,
because the self-development process involves a significant amount of
very early interaction with caregivers, interaction that is disrupted
by the disability. Most adult humans find an infant’s smile alluring,
captivating, and they cannot help responding to it with a smile of
their own. That is true whether the smile comes from a sighted or a
blind child. But a blind child cannot see the adult’s response smile!
A child who is blind does not recognize the response it receives from
the outside world, and it therefore reacts as though there were no
response; it reacts by withdrawing its own social smile. In this way, a
blind child raised by very loving caretakers can exhibit the same signs
of social non-integration as a child raised without human interaction.
How can we use new media to help re-shape peoples' lives?
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