New Media Teaching Obligatory?

In this portfolio-entry I will try to evaluate if future teachers should be taught  the use of the Media in their university career. At the Philipps-University in Marburg a whole module is obligatory and relevant for the students final state examination.

In one meeting, after the use of an interactive smartboard was demonstrated to the course, exactly this question was supposed to be answered. For that, the course was split up in groups of two or three students and every group should state advantages or disadvantages of New Media teaching from their vantage point.

The groups were:

The KMK (Kultusministerkonferenz - They decide what should be taught in school)
The parents
The University-professors
Older teachers
Instructors of the respective seminars
The students

After each group presented arguments why New Media should or should not be taught in university, it became clear that common opinion rather showed a tendency for New Media in the university curriculum. Every group came to the conclusion that the usage and knowledge of/about New Media is, or at least will become, a major argument for companies whether one applicant gets a job or not. It is absolutely vital to train these competences and as long as schools prepare their pupils for their professional life, the schools need to employ teachers who know about the use of New Media. 

On the other hand it is the duty of the university to prepare their students in the use of New Media for their future profession as teachers, because pupils need a qualified and enthusiastic teacher to develop profound media skills for themselves.