New+Digital+Media+and+Learning+as+an+Emerging+Area

New Media and Learning

Abstract
In this report, noted scholar James Paul Gee discusses the evolution of digital media and learning (DMAL) from its infancy as an "academic area" into a more organized field or coherent discipline. Distinguishing among academic areas, fields, disciplinary specializations, and thematic disciplines, Gee describes other academic areas that have fallen into these categories or developed into established disciplines. He argues that DMAL will not evolve until a real coherence develops through collaboration and the accumulation of shared knowledge. Gee offers a concrete proposal of one way scholars in DMAL could move the area forward to a more cohesive, integrated, and collaborative enterprise: the production of what he terms "worked examples."

Argument
Mr Gee is a professor at the University of Arizona and proposes that learning in school move forward to a collaborative arena to broaden the horizons of students. By conducting courses in person and via the internet, the professor claims there would be an dramatic increase in the learning curve based on the diverse population that would take part in each session. Once a thematic discipline is instituted the methodology of education and research will become more expansive and function as a continuum for higher learning and knowledge. Gee contends that writing is a technology for making meaning, as are the various forms of digital media thus supporting the above argument for implementing more technology in the class room.

**Key Passage**
"Right now, at best, digital media and learning is a loose configuration of scholars from different disciplinary specializations in different disciplines or fields." (3)

Selected Works Cited
Gee, James Paul. //New Digital Media and Learning as an Emerging Area and "worked Examples" as One Way Forward //. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2010. Print.