https://soundcloud.com/carlottanoela/the-benefits-and-limitations-with-using-digital-media-to-facilitate-student-learning-and-engagement

The rapid growth of advanced technology has made it beneficial and easier for students to use for academic purposes. I chose this topic, as I am an avid user when it comes to digital media, which made me more curious and interested to research its impacts on students for educational purposes. In my podcast, I discussed the benefits involved in digital such as easier to create new ideas, collaborative learning with technology and source of engagement tool. In contrary, it also has its limitations such as less safety due to its inevitable access to cyberbullying and disruption of concentration.

To begin, I wanted my audience to have a clear understanding of what digital media is, which is why I stated its definition on the first part of my podcast.

Afterwards, I did an in depth research ranging from scholarly articles and a range of websites. The scholarly articles and websites I found online varied, but I found 5 articles that stood out the most, and the positives definitely outweighed the negatives in terms of using digital media to facilitate student learning and engagement. I placed in a few statistics in correlation for my supporting evidence. Researching helped me gain a deeper understanding towards its positive and negative effects on digital media on students.

Afterwards, I narrowed down and outlined the things I wanted to convey in my podcast. By narrowing and outlining things down, helps me prepare and practice before my actual recording for my podcast. After recording, I had to edit and input creative common music into my podcast. During the editing process, I luckily had only a little clip to cut due to the background noise involved whilst I was recording. However, I found it interesting to use and go through a variety of creative commons music as it made my podcast more interesting and less dull.

There were a few challenges I faced in this assignment such as technical and audio issues. Firstly, I had to make sure whether there weren’t any background noises during my recording as I went through approximately 5 outtakes due to the noise involved. To solve this problem, I recorded my audio in a room that was impermeable. Furthermore, I had to make sure I was speaking clearly so my audience knew what I was conveying, I practiced a few times to make sure I was articulating the words correctly. Lastly, I had a bit of an issue in trying to find the right scholarly articles, as the ones I found online didn’t really suit what I was looking for as I was looking for sources that were more statistical based so I can persuade my audiences.

This assignment was very educational and enjoyable especially as it was a task with something interested me the most. Additionally, I found this task very helpful due to the fact that I am a student enrolled in a Communications major. As a result, the outcome of my podcast went well. It all resulted in accordance in between my plans and goals.

Reference Lists

Bridgstock, R 2016, Educating for digital futures: what the learning strategies of digital media professionals can teach higher education’ Innovations in Education and Teaching International, vol.53, no.3, pp.306-315, retrieved 19 September 2019. 

Eady, MJ & Lockyer L 2013, ‘Tools for learning: technology and teaching strategies’, Learning to Teach in the Primary School, Queensland University of Technology, Australia, pp71

Faizi, R, Afia, AE, Chiheb, R 2013, ‘Exploring The Potential Benefits of Using Social Media in Education’ International Journal of Engineering Pedagogy, vol.3, no.4, pp.50-53, retrieved 20 September 2019

Griffey, H (The Guardian) 2018, The Lost Art of Concentration: Being Distracted In A Digital World, The Guardian, retrieved 21 September 2019, <https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/oct/14/the-lost-art-of-concentration-being-distracted-in-a-digital-world>

Machimbarrena, MJ, Calvete E, Fernandez-Gonzalez, L, Alvarez-Bardon, A, Alvarez-Fernandez, L, Gonzalez-Cabrera, J 2018, ‘Internet Risks: An Overview of Victimization in Cyberbullying, Cyber Dating Abuse, Sexting, Online Grooming and Problematic Internet Use’ International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, pp. 1-15, retrieved 19 September 2019. 

[No Copyright Music] Ukulele 2018, YouTube, Royalty Free Music, 11 March, retrieved 22 September 2019, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mISpQeuS3b8>

1.Cyberbullying is a heinous act that can’t be avoided online. However, ‘research suggests that introducing supportive mentors, giving youth opportunities to demonstrate choice and responsibility, and acknowledging and honoring young people’s ethnic and cultural identities. (Hudley & Daoud, 2008; Hudley & Duran, 2013; Masten, 2001). As a result, this act could be hindered through ‘teachers using school-owned technologies to control students’ actions in the classroom. (Davis et al 2017, p40)

2.Social media has been a crucial part of modern-day education. While educators have a level of control on the youth’s usage of social media, that control is very limited. How youths shape their lives on social media is almost entirely controlled by each individual themselves.
Barton and Tan (2010) explained how the youth’s identities can be adaptive depending on their surroundings.
Taken from a research done for the Digital Culture & Education journal, a student participant stated that the fear of being judged and judgement itself is a part of social media culture (Davis et al 2017, p40).

3.Gamification is game which typically function as online marketing technique to encourage engagement with a product or service. As this current era is known as “the crisis of engagement”. The ELE programs supports agency by engaging students in challenging activities that focused on creation (Ito et al., 2013). In order to implement this program better, research suggests that introducing supportive mentors, giving youth opportunities to demonstrate choice and responsibility, and acknowledging and honoring young people’s ethnic and cultural identities can be beneficial (Hudley & Daoud, 2008; Hudley & Duran, 2013; Masten, 2001).

In this era, it is certainly inevitable to avoid social media. It’s ease of access to communicate, upload pictures and information online is what makes social media unique. An online identity is known as “everyone who uses the Internet has a detailed, persistent digital footprint, created knowingly or unknowingly, actively or passively” (Frunzaru & Garbasevschi 2016, p104). The existence of social media makes me question whether my identity is masked for the public.

According to Goffman, we have a front stage and back stage behavior (Bullingham & Vasconcelos 2013, p101). A front stage behavior is where one is ‘conscious of being observed by an audience and will perform to those watching by observing certain rules and social conventions’ (Bullingham & Vasconcelos 2013, p101). In contrary, a back stage behavior is who we really are where ‘no performance is necessary’ (Bullingham & Vasconcelos 2013, p101) As a result, users fear to depict a true version of oneself as one might fear of judgment on one’s personality and the public’s point of view.

Through having two Instagram accounts, both accounts show relatively same personalities. As I don’t like to over share my life to strangers, my main Instagram account is kept on private with only 191 followers. Privacy is important because everyone does not deserve to know my every move. I believe over sharing online can result into a lot of controversies and hatred towards the public. As a result, I only show the highlight reel and pictures that are suitable for the public to see, as my followers are mostly my family, friends and coworkers. My Instagram only has 7 posts consisting of my travel pictures to Japan and Australia. Although there are only a small number of images on my Instagram, I try to make it aesthetically pleasing through editing my pictures for the public to see.

In contrary, my private Instagram account depicts a back stage behavior where I have the freedom to post an unfiltered version of me, strictly for the people I’m close with such as my friends. My private account consists of my life on a daily basis and pictures that are more private and personal. It is a platform where I tend to overly share my thoughts on personal issues and struggles I’m facing without being judged on. For instance, through a screenshot of my private Instagram below, I post goofy highlights consisting of the funny moments I had with my friends all the way to pictures of my favorite food. Even though my public account allows me to do this, it still makes me uneasy, as it may not be professional and very unnecessary for the whole world to see.

My Twitter allows me to convey and exchange my thoughts online. Due to this, it is more realistic and less filtered as the people in Twitter generally consist of my friends. Unlike Instagram, I find Twitter to be more exhilarating as I can find humorous and news worthy content. In addition, I generally use it as a platform to update content for my assignments.

Below are a sample of my tweets:

Although social media has a lot of advantages, it can be quite degrading at times. The people online especially Instagram influencers- those with a huge following online, tend to depict the perfect side such as lifestyle nor one’s body. However, through what I’ve learnt in recent years, it has been filtered and edited. These Instagram influencers are one of the reasons why I have developed insecurities such as body issues. They tend to promote fad diets, bogus products and making one feel like they aren’t enough.

Through posting pictures of their lavish lifestyle, perfect bodies and perfect life, makes me question more about my life- whether my life should be as perfect as theirs. Despite me knowing that it’s merely a highlight reel, this can result me into altering my online identity or also known as ‘the creation of ‘new selves’ online. (Bullingham & Vasconcelos 2013, p102).

I believe who we are online differs to who we are offline. Our followers online shapes our personality through conveying how we want the public to see ourselves as.

However, who we are offline shows a different side of persona. I am different with my friends and family compared to my peers.

Through analyzing my identity online, I try to be authentic and show my true self to everyone. I feel it is useless to edit pictures for hours and post it online just to be recognized and find validation from a bunch of strangers. People try to mask off their perfection so much that they don’t know who they really are. Who I am online aligns with who I am offline. I will keep on being who I am today whether people like it or not, as I will never change my identity just for someone else.

Reference List

Bullingham, L & Vasconcelos, AC 2013, ‘ ‘The Presentation of Self In The Online World’: Goffman and the study of online identities’ ‘ , Journal of Information Science, vol. 39, no.1, pp. 101-112, retrieved 18 August 2019.

Frunzaru, V & Garbasevschi 2016, ‘Students’ Online Identity Management, Journal of Media Research, vol.9, no.1, pp. 3-13, retrieved 20 August 2019.

Social media has been a popular network for today’s generation, making it one of the major communication and social community. This social phenomena are impacting our daily lives, this includes political scenes and how social media can be a form of political discourse. This technological advancement brings back Habermas’ theory of public sphere, where social media is now becoming a place where private people come together as a public (Habermas 1989). The public sphere on its own can be defined as an imaginary community, where people come together and discuss about the societal issue where political scene can come into place.

Social media has the ability for people to provide free informations, a platform where it is known for its freedom of speech. The power of social media has allowed people to freely express their opinion, proven by “the increase in visible social movements on social media have led to assertions that people are empowered to engage in communicative action online” (Kruse, LM 2018) .

Social medias has created a place and a public sphere where the society can freely show their idea and opinion towards their political view. Though we need to keep in mind no matter how free the social media is, it still very much limited. Habernas has criticised how the public sphere still has its limitation. Mentioning how the public sphere has excluded the minorities and women. This resulted on a form of a barrier, contradicting the idea of social media as the most perfect form of public sphere (Kruse, ML et al 2018). In addition, we must notice the fact that the social media and internet in general are greatly controlled by large institution, especially when it comes to politic related contents.

In conclusion, social media is a good public sphere, but we must take notice of its limitation when it comes to political discourse.

Kruse, LM, Norris, DR, Flinchumb, JR 2018, “Social Media as a Public Sphere? Political on Social’, The Sociological Quarterly, VOL. 59, pp 62-84, retrieved 23 August 2019, Midwest Sociological Society.

1. How have dominant conceptualisations of gender, sexuality, and/or so-called ‘race’ influenced identity construction in online spaces? Have users at times subverted traditional expectations and in what ways?

Though, race discrimination has long been an issue on social media resulting on cyber-discrimination, there has been an improvement amongst Indigenous youth as they are less ‘shamed’ compared to the previous generations allowing them to be more comfortable on expressing themselves by posting/putting their names and images online publicly (Rice et al 2016, p10) Through the presence of social media, the Indigenous youth has a way to convey things at ease.

2. What ‘digital divides’ are you aware of existing within Australia and beyond? Is this just a matter of access to technology or are there other forms? How might exposure to digital divides impact on one’s online identity?

“Cyber racism has been another negative consequence of social media use. Based on research with a survey group of Indigenous young people in Victoria, online racism is experienced regularly by them” (Rice et al 2016, p13) With social media coming into a play, Indigenous people aren’t considered as a minority in Australia resulting racial discrimination on social media.

3. In what ways have socially and politically marginalised individuals and groups pushed back against systemic power structures to create powerful online identities and communities? List as many examples as you can think of.

Indigenous people are starting to be confident with they roots, allowing themselves to have a voice within the community “Indigenous young people can participate and use social media without any control or input from adults or from the non-Indigenous community that controls the larger, more conventional media forms” (Rice et al 2016, p10) Although young Indigenous people have no control, they should be more wary and take precaution due to the racial discrimination and negativity available online.

4. What considerations must be taken into account in relation to online dating and identity-building? How do dating sites impact on people’s self-presentation in their profiles? What role do algorithms play in the evaluation of user compatibility? What does this suggest about the relationship between identity and artificial intelligence?

People tend to put more thought and effort into finding the perfect photo to represent themselves rather than simply describing themselves through words due to high potential of meeting face to face. Therefore, it’s better to appear realistically attractive on a dating profile. As a result, we should be original and truthful online so that people don’t set high expectations for themselves.

Is print media slowly dying and converging into online media? As scary as it sounds, a huge number of traditional media are slowly moving into online platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

In today’s era, spreading news no longer comes from a reputable source; anyone can create a news article online. For instance, during the May 22 2019 riot, people could easily update the occurrence through one’s phone and upload it through various social media websites.

As a result, the changing nature of journalism has been revamped and slowly converging to the online media due to its ease of access, free news articles and real time news- people no longer have to wait for a certain news article, whilst they can easily read it online. However, the ease of access also allows reader to garner false information known as hoax.

Furthermore, the traditional media such as the newspaper are no longer desired due to a variety of setbacks such as environmental awareness, hassle and require payment. Due to global warming, people are becoming more aware by reducing less waste such as paper. Secondly, the hassle of having to bring and pay for a newspaper creates an inconvenience for the readers.

To conclude, the changing nature of journalism is converging to the online media. It provides a plethora ease of access to news articles. In contrary, there are a few consequences that comes with the traditional media that are inevitable such as fake news and environmental issues that comes along such as providing more waste and its non-conduciveness. Moreover, people should be more wary towards online content specifically on towards a reliable source.

Reference List

Arsenijevic, J & Andevski, M 2015, ‘Media Convergence and Diversification- The Meeting of Old and New Media’, vol. 19, pp. 1149-1155, retrieved 27 July 2019.

CFM Team 2016, ‘The Clear Advantages of Digital Media’, Available at: https://www.cfm-online.com/marketing-pr-blog/2016/12/8/the-clear-advantages-of-digital-media, retrieved 26 July 2019.

Lawson-Borders, G 2003, ‘Integrating New Media and Old Media: Seven Observations of Convergence as a Strategy for Best Practices in Media Organizations’, The International Journal on Media Management, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 91-92, retrieved 29 July 2019, Academic Search Complete.

2012, ‘Driving the Dialogue: A Media-Use Profile of Online Newspaper Commenters’ Internal Communication Association, pp. 1-28, retrieved 29 July 2019, Academic Search Complete.

I am Carlotta Noela Abigail Bako, from Deakin College taking Diploma of Communications and currently living in Jakarta. I am passionate in sports specifically in running. I enjoy running marathons in different countries.