The Impact of Digital Media in Classrooms 

        Technology is undoubtedly a prevalent part of our daily life. It plays vital roles in every aspect of life such as jobs, education, and leisure. We rely on technology to complete many tasks and communicate various information. The 21st-century world of today is far different from the world of yesterday. There have been rapid advancements in technology that have catapulted our modern-day society into another realm where technological future-ready skills are a must. This is a skill set that 21st-century people must acquire in order to be successful in this technology-dominated world. The current education is stuck in traditional systems of the past. Such as classroom environments that have not changed for hundreds of years. One where students are stuck to individual desks and where the teacher is stagnant at the front of the room. The class is teacher-led where they are for the most part the bearer of all knowledge. In this setup and format, future-ready skills are not at the forefront. Teachers and students must be in an environment that fosters collaboration and meaningful interactions through the use of technology as a tool. The use of digital media for instruction and learning is an integral part of 21st-century learning. Today’s students are natives in this rapidly evolving and often bewildering new media landscape (Wilson, Alaniz, Sikora, 2017). Teachers must utilize digital media and harness its ability to have meaningful impacts on their student's learning.

            

        Students of today are born into being digital citizens as technology is all around them. It is only natural that technology has now become a forefront in their educational settings as well. They must learn how to be responsible digital citizens who use technology wisely within various digital environments. With current society being technology-driven, digital citizenship has now become part of everyday life. As stated in the Research and insights behind the Common Sense K–12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum, Digital, and social technologies have become increasingly pervasive and are now arguably indispensable tools for navigating our world. Today's young people lead profoundly connected and networked lives (James, Weinstein, Mendoza 2019). This is where digital media must be integrated into educational settings to use technology as a tool for learning. If multimedia is used in the daily lives of children and manipulated by them in many ways, educational systems must make use of these interests and skills into something productive within the classroom. Today’s educators must learn to harness the enthusiasm students have for multimedia (content that uses a combination of text, images, audio, animation, and video) into daily lessons in order to enhance student interest, engagement, motivation, and achievement in classroom environments (Wilson, Alaniz, Sikora, 2017). Students will be engaged and actively learning when teachers utilize digital media to meet their educational needs because it is something intriguing and fun to them.

           There is no doubt that the Internet has forever changed the world of education because it allows access to an endless array of information and resources. In the twenty-first century, digital devices provide instant access to information in a dynamic and versatile way, unlike any other time in history (Wilson, Alaniz, Sikora, 2017). Outside of the classroom students are immersed in an overabundance of digital media content such as from smartphones, gaming devices, and apps. Students should be taught progressively using the forms of digital media that encompasses their daily lives. Progressive teachers realize that various forma of multimedia creates an enchannced learning environment for 21- ceneitry students. This provides vast opporutjnites for active learner engagement, differtianted learning styles, means for creativity, and network collaboration. The impact of digital media in education will surely only continue to grow and evolve.

References 

James, C., Weinstein, E., & Mendoza, K. (2019). Teaching digital citizens in today's world: Research and insights behind the Common Sense K–12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum. Common Sense Media.

Wilson, D., Alaniz, K., & Sikora, J. (2017). Digital Media in Today’s Classrooms: The Potential for Meaningful Teaching, Learning, and Assessment.