Approach and Trend of New Media Literacy in S...

Approach and Trend of New Media Literacy in School Teachers

Author Name : Vinod Kumar

ABSTRACT The development and trend of new media literacy in the class emphasizes independent learning based on the activities of the students, constructivist learning and student-centered lessons in general. Using new media in the class does not prompt more efficient learning and teaching in itself, but can initiate the learning processes by didactically shaping the class with regards to student and teacher motivation, previous knowledge, aims, methods and content. Thus, the media changes the role of the teacher, who becomes the organizer of students' independent learning activities. On the other hand, differences have traditionally been seen between teachers from rural (village) and urban (towns/cities) areas. This research was carried out to investigate how often new media are used by elementary school teachers in rural and urban areas and what the differences are between those two subgroups of teachers in terms of ownership of new media. The studies show that computers, mobile phones and the internet are owned and used to a greater degree than social media, smart phones and tablet computers. Teachers who work in rural and urban areas trend personal computers, the internet and multimedia software in their classes most often, while they do not trend tablet comput-ers, smart phones, social networking or mobile phones as frequently. The study shows that using new media decreas-es the traditional differences between teachers from rural and urban areas, which implies that students can learn in classes organized with the help of new media, regardless of where their school is situated.