Wireless Technologies and Multimedia Literacies

Abstract

Internet as a new medium offers unlimited opportunities to education and knowledge sharing but it can also shape specific improper attitudes and cultivate erroneous and potentially dangerous ideas. As more kids go online worldwide so do the concern increases about the safeness of the websites they visit. In this chapter a list of potential online risks is presented. Then, the safeness of the favorite Web sites of 270 Greek high school students is assessed in connection with these online risks. Inappropriate content was found in more than 30% of the evaluated Web pages, although specific security policies apply to computer labs of Greek schools. Last, a filtering tool for analyzing and restricting the access to improper Web sites is presented and evaluated. In this chapter, the author analyses advances in wireless technologies and the associated pedagogical shift from traditional to multimedia literacies in K-12 education internationally. The premise is that multimedia, made more accessible with mobile devices, gives students and teachers greater access to the Internet and interactive software for research, communication, and presentations. In particular, the planner, voice, color, graphics, video and text messaging features of smart phones and ultramobile computers, which have been used socially by students of the “Net Generation,” are now being used educationally by administrators and teachers to create media rich schools. With multimedia literacies, the focus is on inquiry, collaboration and project based learning. However, effective integration of wireless technologies in the literacy-based curriculum is dependent on adequate resources and appropriate professional development opportunities for teachers in both economically developed and developing nations.