$160,000 Per Stimulus Job? White House Calls That 'Calculator Abuse'

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• Media production, from manuscript to 3d design, used to require arcane knowledge and power (in the form of political sponsorship in the old days, or financial backing in modern times). There's an accelerating trend that decreases the lag between the introduction of a new media technology and the creation of tools that blur the line between content creator and content consumer. For instance, the top-selling computer games in the 80s were text adventures, but now there are sophisticated tools that let a committed amateur produce a game that rivals the best of what the pros used to produce. The same can be said of the point-and-click 2D game creation utilities, or the kiddie programming environment Scratch.
  In the 90s, I remember students expected to be praised for making any sort of web page at all, and while I did have a "make a personal home page" assignment that pretty much gave them full points for posting a link and a few paragraphs, I also expected students to revise and improve that page -- and I remember getting some resistance from students who were used to being praised for accomplishing any technological task, since they grew up being told by their parents that they (the students) were technological geniuses.
  So it's up to us as teachers to make sure that students don't feel they are "getting points" just for using the technology -- they ought also to be able to articulate their goals, and participate in the collaborative, iterative, generative culture, so that they seek out feedback during the creation process, and are open to making improvements and re-edits when "done" isn't good enough. That means including peer review and working revision into the project assignments, so that students don't imagine that they can just drop off the "finished" assignment. (At the moment, I'm not teaching any class where "remix" is embedded into the design of the course, but I will be teaching another media-heavy class next semester.)

• It was a great pleasure that you’ve made a comment on my blog. This blog is related with the subject Digital Culture that I’m attending at the University of Bergen, Norway.
  Everything you have read in the blog are publications made after feedback in the classroom with the teacher and other students.
  I think, like you,remix culture needs to be taught differently to students. The phenomenon is difficult to analyze because it is constantly evolving, today. So, the teachers need to find another ways to teach it. I’m doing a project on how the remix culture can help create a more critically society. And I believe that education on the understanding of this new form of ‘art’ or ‘communication’ is very important in the process.
  It would be interesting if you could answer some questions or give me your opinion on my research question: How can the remix culture helps create a more critical society?
  For me it was a pleasure to find your comment on my blog, therefore I would love to keep in touch and use your opinions to my research.