Media ecology is the study of media as an environment. Media plays such a large role in our lives that it shapes our environment by filtering what we read and see and manipulating how we feel. The media ecology of my high school varies greatly from that of UGA, in terms of the uniformity of the media used. Everybody at my high school was required to purchase the same version of a Chromebook, in which we could only use Google Chrome, Gmail, and Google Classroom. All of the forms of media we used were monitored by our teachers using a software called Go Guardian, in which they could watch our screens and close any tabs or apps we had open on our laptops. After arriving at college, it’s been nice to have the freedom of the ability to use my computer how I want to in class and not be limited to what only a Chromebook can offer. It took time to adjust to new forms of media that UGA prefers, such as Microsoft Outlook over Gmail or PowerPoint over Google slides, but the adjustment wasn’t hard, as these forms of media are very similar to one another.
Another difference in media between my high school and UGA is the forms of media that professors and teachers use to communicate. In high school, many of my teachers used Remind 101 and Google Classroom to contact students. On the other hand, professors at UGA use email and eLC as a form of communication. Although different institutions utilize varying forms of media, it isn’t hard to adjust to these changes, as media is so universal. Different forms of media affect the media ecology of an institution, as what content we receive and how we receive it varies depending on the media platform used.
My high school used Remind101 as a form of communication as well. I enjoyed that because it would remind of assignment due dates and if I were to have a meeting or something that day.
This is something that never occurred to me: having a requirement (essentially) that everyone use the same media for academic purposes at your HS, versus the comparative “media anarchy” at UGA. (I guess we have eLC in common, but maybe not a lot else.) Are there complications when you have to scramble not just to do the work but also to figure out new kinds of media in class after class (err, the WordPress blog in your FYOS, for instance)?
After coming to UGA, I found it very interesting at the various forms of media used! I use a different platform for every one of my classes, such as WebAssign and MindTap for Chemistry, Emma for English, eLC for History, and Connect for Spanish. This is so different from my high school, where we only used Google Classroom. I found it pretty hard to get my head around all of these new platforms, since they’re all pretty different from each other. Each media platform has a different set up and purpose.