Nancy Keck’s Blog

Jenkins notes that in 2004 political candidates who were successful on the Internet were not necessarily successful with the general public. He notes that new media did not take over the political process but it did influence the process.

How has the Internet and new media changed culture and institutions in general?


Media played a tremendous role in this year’s elections do you remember how the public were able to video tape their questions and the candidates had to respond. What a turn around from the 2004 debates. There has been quite a stir last week with the “Tax Parties” on April 15… some blame Fox News and some blame has been put on the Republican Party. The event was orchestrated through the internet and it might mean a change in how the Republicans will use the internet and media in the next election.

How has the Internet and new media changed education?

My thoughts are best expressed in a December interview that I gave to Cable in the Classroom magazine about my use of technology and media in my special education classroom.

Bits and pieces of my interview…

My students have specific learning disabilities. They have been able to interview the producer of Discovery’s Planet Earth, conduct interactive experiments with Mr. Wizard, or chat with an astronaut through online tools like the Discovery Educator Network and live webinars. I use cable television, the Internet, digital cameras, and a projection system to come up with interactive, hands-on activities to teach math. I teach by strand areas… I just hit them in a different way. Using technology in interesting ways makes math class a favored destination for my students. For one project, my students followed an Animal Planet program (Meerkat Manor) like a soap opera, keeping track of the animals and their families. The math lesson emerged through the bar graphs and data the students created to monitor the meerkats’ activities. I see what programs are out there, tie them into something from the real world, and then look for the math. This outside-the-box teaching has resulted in improved test scores and more. I’ve seen my students placed in co-taught classrooms with success and our test scores have gone up. My students have become used to using their math skills developed by internet/discovery education programming to solve real world problems. 

Link to the magazine article…

 by Cable in the Classroom Magazine