Media in College Classrooms

I've really noticed over the last week how prevalent media has become in education, especially in our college courses. In several of my classes this semester we use power points that are often filled with links to YouTube videos with the purpose to either entertain, provide further explanation, or give examples for analysis. It's amazing to imagine that ten years ago being able to watch a video explaining Determinism (something I watched in my Family Theories class) would have been impossible.

 Of course there are always advantages and disadvantages to using media in the classroom, and that's probably why a couple of my professors have us print off our readings and just have us focus on discussions, but overall I think it has helped improve the learning process for many people. We all learn in different ways, with some of us learning through reading while others are visual learners and I think it's good to use a healthy amount of media in order to make education more wholesome and effective. I look forward to seeing how media can influence education in the classroom in the years to come.

Really Captain America?

One of my roommates broke his collarbone over the Christmas Break and has had a lot more spare time on his hands as he recovers from his surgery. As a result there has been a significant increase in the amount of movies that are being watched each week, with this last week seeming to carry a Marvel theme. 

One evening this last weekend we watched Avenger's 2 which includes a running gag revolving around Captain America correcting Iron Man for swearing. For the whole movie Captain America is the butt of everyone's jokes about cursing, until at the very end, he says a swear word of his own.

Even when I saw this movie in theaters I was bothered by the end result of this particular joke. It seemed like a sad lesson for audiences, especially for those that are younger and that would undoubtedly be watching the film, that if you're ridiculed for taking the moral high ground, it's ok to give in and join the crowd. 

Profanity in television and movies is something that seems to be on the rise, as more and more is allowed to creep in for the sake of a good laugh. It's too bad that the Marvel movies, a subsidiary of Disney would be willing to let some of their standards slip just so that their movies could win more audiences over. Couldn't there have been some other way to resolve the Captain America joke without him having to give in to his peers?

An Exciting First

For a Media and Development class I'm taking this semester I was asked to create a blog and discuss some of the media content I've been exposed to. I've never created a blog before, but I'm pretty excited. At least once a week I'll be posting about some of my thoughts regarding things I've watched, read, or listened to. Here goes to a great semester!