DIIA Associate Dean Robert Bruce has announced that S. Craig Watkins, associate professor in the Department of Radio-Television-Film and in the John L. Warfield Center for African and African-American Studies, has agreed to join DIIA’s Faculty Advisory Council. The group of distinguished faculty provides important guidance in the development of DIIA initiatives to support teaching, learning, assessment, research, and technology.
Bruce believes that Watkins’ presence on the council will deepen DIIA’s ongoing conversation about the use of emerging technologies to stimulate active and collaborative learning. “DIIA stands to benefit greatly from Dr. Watkins’ experience, counsel, and vision concerning the application of media and social networking in the classroom. I am delighted to welcome Dr. Watkins to the Faculty Advisory Council.”
Recognized nationally for his research concerning the media behaviors of students and young adults, Watkins is a gifted teacher and social media expert. He has served as a consultant for the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division, Kaiser Permanente, Nokia, and KLRU-TV. He was selected to join other scholars and visionaries at the MacArthur Foundation Series on Youth, Digital Media and Learning, an initiative to explore the impact of digital media tools on learning, networking, communicating, and playing as users develop their ability to learn, exercise judgment, and think systematically.
His research has been covered by many print and broadcast media groups, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, Black Issues in Higher Education, The Chronicle of Higher Education, National Public Radio, The Tavis Smiley Show, ABC World News Tonight, and ESPN.
Watkins recently spoke with The Chronicle of Higher Education about his latest book, The Young and the Digital: What the Migration to Social Network Sites, Games, and Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for Our Future. He told the Chronicle that students are arriving on college campuses expecting to use their mobile phones and laptops while they’re in class. “It’s really forcing university professors to think about their teaching style and the pedagogical techniques that they use in the classroom.”
In a talk with Omar Gallaga of the Austin American-Statesman for a piece about “Facebook Activism,” Watkins said that he has seen evidence that “the thirty and under set are coming into their own politically” by means of social media. Watkins suggested that those media “will be a dominant aspect of their involvement in political life.”
And in speaking with UT Austin’s bi-weekly magazine OnCampus, Watkins explained what it is that intrigues him about his research. He said, “Our adoption of new communication technologies is changing long established media industries like music, print, and television.”
Education no less than politics and communications is being transformed by social media. With the addition of S. Craig Watkins to its Faculty Advisory Council, DIIA has been favored with a well-known champion and mentor for its investigations of emerging technologies likely to enter mainstream use for teaching and learning.