Jay Maisonville
The following is my reflection on the 2018 article, “Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom” by Ashley Hinck. (http://hybridpedagogy.org/digital-ghosts-modern-classroom/)
In her article, American digital media professor Ashley Hinck describes university students starting her class expecting to complete digital media assignments by following instructions and using templates. Hinck suggests that digital media educators should encourage digital literacy instead by allowing students to become true digital media makers and to learn through trial and error.
In the following clip, I examine her proposal of allowing students to be ‘creators’ and compare it to the traditional template-based ‘recipe’ style of instruction. Traditional recipe or template-style assessments dominated most of my own education, and though I still appreciate its use in some contexts—like larger classes, compulsory classes, and classes that do not demand much creativity—I support Hinck’s claim as a means to deepen the learning experience and to inspire students. Reflecting on my time both as a student and as an aspiring educator, I explore opportunities to bring the creator model beyond the university-level digital media realm before confessing to my rocky but slowly improving relationship with technology.
Looking back on this project, I understand that the content and delivery may have been better-suited to a video or a twitter essay. This is something I’ll keep in mind for my next media reflection. Working with some new tools and methods (voice recordings, timing and linking a PowerPoint, searching for appropriate images) was a little challenging but a valuable experience. This project also reminded me that a good old-fashioned Google search can offer priceless insight, that inevitable mistakes and frustrations can be easily worked through with the right attitude, and that technology is sometimes even more cooperative than expected.
And to clarify something I said toward the end of the clip: I assure you that I know, and always have known, what a telephone is. I should have specified that I related to Mr. Carson’s feelings while discovering other valuable technologies throughout my teenage years…including the GPS, the NHL app, Google slides, and the lowly toaster oven.
Reference:
Hinck, A. (2018, March 29). Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom. Retrieved from https://hybridpedagogy.org/digital-ghosts-modern-classroom/.