As an educator at a time when digital media is rapidly changing the ways in which we communicate, learn, and participate in society, I am constantly thinking about the impact of such incredible (and sometimes unwieldy) innovation on teaching and learning. I’m not just talking about how we use technology and digital media in the classroom, but rather, how they are becoming an embedded part of how we exist and interact — both inside and outside of the classroom. I have been searching for a new language to talk about what we do, say, think, and are in the context of a new era. After brainstorming digi- and techno-friendly language (for far too long, hoping for a lightning bolt of vocabu-brilliance), I settled on the word “mediated” for my blog title, because it really conveys, better than any other hybrid or made-up word, what I want to talk about here.
Dictionary.com offers three definitions for the word “mediated,” and all three include the word “intermediary,” which is essentially defined as “a go-between.” In many ways, teachers have been the traditional go-betweens when it comes to learning. Today, things aren’t so clear-cut. The internet has become the captain of all go-betweens. It has changed everything. This blog is intended to be an exploration of what all of it means in the context of teaching and learning.