Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century (The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning) Paperback – 5 Jun. 2009

Received way before expected date! Perfect for my current subject of study.

It's a good book and has some useful quotes in it however I thought it would've had more about convergence but it was free so I can't really complain.

Tutto perfetto! Ottimo axquisto

Although there was a lot of talk about using video games in the classroom and that won't be in line with the curriculum of every teacher, the point was well taken; technology needs to be more prevalent during instruction and carried out in a variety of manners. If teachers can use gaming as a tool, then they should. Other points that were discussed that I found to be very important were that students need to be taught more about the importance of internet safety and security. They should learn how to decipher between believable websites and those with inaccurate information. Finally schools facing budgetary issues and/or in a low-income area may not have the same resources that another school does but teachers and administrators should still stress the importance of technology in the classroom and strive to ensure that it is used.

The author's, Jenkins, intent is laudable, looking at media and media technology is a most relevant topic and especially relevant when focused on academic institutions. Supported by several other books (cross referenced and cited by other pubs available at Amazon), Jenkins being the archetype regarding the subject, the primary thesis is based on an analysis of media and institutional biases in an anecdotal and empirical manner.Though accurate in the assessment, Jenkins' anecdotal and empirical methods of measurement fall short of flushing out the core or systemic issues, my reading of the book left me wanting to see more elaborate proposals specifying more rigorous analytical methodologies. More disappointing though, Jenkins makes "gaming" a nearly unquestionable means of enhancing multi-media approaches in pedagogy for use in academic "like" environments. The content and the emphasis stressed in the overt narrative, one that considers gaming and simulation as a pedagogical panacea thus undermines, what I believe to be a sound a reasonable argument to "traditional academic institutions", the tenant and call to action made by Jenkins. Additionally, the assertion that rethinking pedagogy in a new media culture is "right on", but, Jenkins does little to provide specific courses of action (examples and anecdotal cases are used but aren't very useful for the layperson).Topic/Subject ratings: subject 5, topics 4, analysis 2, emphasis 2, bias 1 (so a sound 2.75) though amazon doesn't allow me to score it that way.

This mirror much of the information found within "Convergence Culture", a book that I read for a New Media class that I took. This was a free Kindle download, so if you are interested in discussions about new media, this is worth checking out.

I did not ordr this item