The web created the first universal publishing platform but schools, of all levels, are still having students submit paper or “electronic documents” for grading and review. Academic work lives in private, closed systems, never exposing students to the opportunity of external feedback.
This session will propose a different approach. We require incoming college freshmen to become publishers during their first few weeks in school. They create websites and use that publishing platform to post personal reflections, current event updates … and all of their assignments. The website becomes a repository for what will be a portfolio of assignments by the time a student graduates.
Our approach could work for any discipline, but it will take a change of mindset and the acquisition of new skills and infrastructure. It’s time to change the culture of education by creating college graduates that are media literate, proficient web publishers and good digital citizens.