C-Level View | Feature

From Digital Literacy to Media Fluency

At Ball State University, students must not only consume new media, they must be able to create it.

• By Mary Grush
• 09/11/12

Increasingly, institutions are seeing their students not only as consumers but also as creators of digital media--requiring a greater fluency in the use of new media tools. Ball State University (IN) has been on this track for years, under the leadership of Phillip Repp, vice president of IT. In recorded interviews, CT asked Repp and other campus leaders how to move students to "media fluency."

1) How does Ball State University prepare students to work with digital media?

"It used to be necessary to learn how to type so that you could write your papers and use Microsoft Word…. Now, we teach [students] the technical foundation of the media-creation tools and then build upon that." --Jonathan Huer, director of emerging technologies and media development

2) What types of new media tools and environments do your students experience?

"We're really looking at the potential for 3D immersive learning. Three-dimensional digital environments are, in our mind, more conducive to remote learning." --John Fillwalk, director, Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts

3) Have your goals for student learning changed?

"Content is important, but it's critical thinking, it's problem solving, it's adaptability and flexibility. I believe increasingly the higher education world needs to focus more on how we equip our students to handle life and work, not process content." --Jennifer Bos, assistant provost of learning initiatives

4) What are the important lessons for institutions as they approach digital literacy and media fluency?

"The future is bending toward online and blended education. The future is bending toward students having much more technologically mediated experiences while they are in higher education." --Rich Edwards, lead instructional designer, Integrated Learning Institute