Digital Media and the Importance of Emerging Technologies
Educators must not only understand the changing ways that students are acquiring knowledge and interacting with content but also serve as guides to help them navigate the nuanced challenges of this digital world (Wilson et al., 2016). This sentence opens up the first chapter of the book “Digital Media in Today’s Classrooms: The Potential for Meaningful Teaching, Learning, and Assessment.” This assertion helped me understand just how prevalent digital media is in the modern world and how educators and future instructional technologists, such as myself, will have to remain in constant awareness of the ways technology and digital trends are evolving and impacting learners. Whether it’s teaching the importance of general digital literacy or introducing students to new technological assets such as 3D and virtual reality, the takeaway from this information is not just the importance of discovery and experimentation with new technology, but understanding that providing accessibility, teachin...