Hacktivism Intent – IanD
Working Project Title: Our New Media
Abstract: A web platform for both students and professors to express what they want to get out of the New Media program at UMaine. Professors address student needs, allowing for better career preparation and communication as a whole. Students address the desire of professors and rise to their expectations.
What is your concept?
UMaine NMD students create an “Our New Media” profile that outlines their interests and some future careers/fields that they may be considering. Once these careers are chosen, students are able to view what skills they will need to get that job. You are able to search for New Media classes that fit these certain skills. Under each class, any registered student can make a post about the course’s content and how effective it was at teaching those skills. Instructors (registered under a different type of account) can respond to these students. Instructors can see the goals of the students currently in their class and can shape their course to the needs of the students.
Who is this important for and why?
This is important for both students and instructors in New Media. It’s a platform that no one should be against. It provides students with the opportunity to speak out together and demand what they want from the education they pay for. Instructors get to know how to better their curricula, form a stronger dialogue with their students, and stay up to date with relevant demands of the professional fields their students want to enter. Additionally, if instructors aren’t getting the performance or interest they want out of students, they can address those issues with the students directly and figure out where problems lie.
What New Media / Hacktivism Strategies are used?
This project aligns with the “many-to-many” principle in New Media. When a student has a gripe with a class or a professor, it’s unlikely that they’ll try to address the problem on their own. Likewise, professors may want to know when there are issues, but are simply not confronted with them. This site allows both students and professors to stand together and make known the changes that need to be made.
Who is the audience? How will this influence them?
The audience in this case are both the students and faculty of the New Media department. I think that this could open the faculty’s eyes to what students want from their education and, furthermore, reinvigorate the program. It would also clue students in to what they need to be focusing on in their classes to be a better student. Prospective students looking to come to the University of Maine with New Media interests would also be an audience for this project. It may convince them that this is a place where their education is both in their hands and more likely to prepare them with the skills they need in a creative career.
Materials:
Bluehost Domain: $99/3 years
(May be able to acquire domain from department)
Time Required:
Estimated 50 hours
Other Requirements:
WordPress, MySQL, My Laptop
One thought on “Hacktivism Intent – IanD”
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This is a potentially useful “new media” strategy for addressing New Media issues and concerns by making student feedback available to professors. I wonder if the project might go further and address collaborative ways to address this? In other words, rather than maintain the power hierarchy with students on one end expressing concerns and professors on the other as empowered listeners, what would happen if there were some issues around which s=both student and profs could find common ground? For example, it can be expensive to keep hardware and software up to date for use in learning environments. Could students and profs find a way to collaborate on some solutions? Could the model for learning be more co-learning (especially in areas that are just new for both groups) with respectful give/take? Could students offer workshops for both faculty & students on new tech they have just learned? In a field that is a moving target, a collaborative model might work better? But maybe this would be one of the suggestions?
I would like to see this feedback. I am wondering how to motivate students to contribute anecdotes and suggestions….and i’d like to see the web platform link to more real time community actions or forums that address the issues.