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

This story appeared in the August 2012 digital edition of Campus Technology.

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?


Video courtesy of Ball State University

"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?


Video courtesy of Ball State University

"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?


Video courtesy of Ball State University

"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?


Video courtesy of Ball State University

"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

About the Author

Mary Grush is Editor and Conference Program Director, Campus Technology.

Featured

  • blue and green lines intersecting and merging in an abstract pattern against a light gray background with a subtle grid design

    Data Integration Market: Cloud Giants Down, AI Up

    "By 2027, AI assistants and AI-enhanced workflows incorporated into data integration tools will reduce manual intervention by 60 percent and enable self-service data management," according to research firm Gartner.

  • stylized illustration of a portfolio divided into sections for career training

    St. Cloud State University Adds Four Tech Bootcamps via Upright Partnership

    To meet the growing demand for tech professionals in the state, Minnesota's St. Cloud State University is partnering with Upright to launch four career-focused bootcamps that will provide in-demand skills in software development, UX/UI design, data analytics, and digital marketing.

  • network of transparent cloud icons, each containing a security symbol like a lock or shield

    Okta, OpenID Foundation Propose New Identity Security Standard

    Okta and the OpenID Foundation have announced the formation of the IPSIE Working Group — with the acronym standing for Interoperability Profiling for Secure Identity in the Enterprise — dedicated to a new identity security standard for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications.

  • computer with a red warning icon on its screen, surrounded by digital grids, glowing neural network patterns, and a holographic brain

    Report Highlights Security Risks of Open Source AI

    In these days of rampant ransomware and other cybersecurity exploits, security is paramount to both proprietary and open source AI approaches — and here the open source movement might be susceptible to some inherent drawbacks, such as use of possibly insecure code from unknown sources.