Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices Chapters 6-9

Chapter 6

“ The educational value of game-playing comes not from the game itself, but from the creative coupling of educational media with effective pedagogy to engage students in meaningful practices.” – Squires

The way that game playing is viewed by educators needs to be changed. There are a lot of aspects of playing video games that can be incorporated into teaching practices. The way that students learn to play video games through trial and error can be brought into teaching practices onto schools. More hands on and interactive activities with other students, less pencil/paper individual assignments would be one example.

Chapter 7

“It is not technology itself that creates the opportunites for transformation, but the way it is inflected by and related to other practices that happen within the environment.”- Cathy Burnett

Just because you have a mimio board in your room, does not mean you will use it. Technology can be a scary thing especially for senior teachers. If teachers have the chance to receive training on how to use technology properly and feel comfortable with it, I think they are more likely to use it. 

Chapter 8

“ The advent of digital technologies has also precipitated a move from consumer to producer dispositions with recognition of the participatory potential of new technologies.”- Buckingham, 2003.

I love this quote, and I feel it sums up how students learn and grow. Digital natives are interested in being creators of technologies not just participating in it.

Chapter 9

“In literacy education, we find ourselves in a strange time period in which movements pull us in disparate directions.”- Kevin Leander

I think this is true, teachers are at a cross roads from more traditional teaching practices and contemporary activities. Although this is true for today’s classroom, this can be said for any time period there is always going to be those who are more comfortable with traditional or new teaching practices.

One way in which I may use a technology traditionally used outside of school in a lesson would be to start a class blog. I’ve enjoyed using this class blog, and feel it is great to have collaborative learning because of the blog. Two heads are better than one, you can learn more together than separately. After taking this class I do feel much more prepared and comfortable to incorporate digital text or literacy into my lesson plans for my students. I would feel more prepared if I continued to have exposure to web 2.0 tools. I am very likely to use some of the technology that I have learned about in this class, especially like I had mentioned earlier, a blog. 

Illuminated Text 3

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Media Ecology and Learning Case

Media Ecology and Learning Case

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Chapter 4

" Wikipedia at its best, is a grand social experiment."- Victoria Carrington

Sometimes the most can be said with the least amount of words. This quote really spoke to me, wikipedia cannot be viewed as factual, but knowledgeable. I like the fact that anyone can delete or add input to this site, it's collaboration. I feel that this quote sums up the experience we as educators as trying to bring to our students now, social collaborative learning has a lot to offer.

Chapter 5

"Critical reading will help pupils to explore the meanings and nuances of online texts and will also make them safer and more responsible participants in our networked society." - Julie Davies and Guy Merchant

Online safety in the classroom would be my main concern if I were to incorporate blogging into my teaching practices, especially for younger students. I can see the great benefits of blogging in classrooms, it allows for shared digital literacy, and many types of multimodal experiences. I would just be careful about using it and closely monitor my students. 

Chapter 6 

"When asked about the chat function they repeatedly described it as 'cool' or suggested that they 'like it a lot' with some students arguing that it helps improve typing speed."- Guy Merchant

I loved the idea of the digital town that this chapter discussed for online learning purposes. Children love to play games and interact with technology. With the right safety measures and online experiences, I feel that ample digital literacy learning could take place. It's just thinking outside the box. 

Reading chapters 4-6 only reinforces the thought of using technology in my teaching practices. My only concern before was knowing how to incorporate it, but after reading these chapters and taking this class I have many more examples on how to do this. Like I mentioned before after learning how to use technology in teaching, I am concerned with safety and would take precautionary measures in my teaching practices.  I also think I would have to find the right supportive administration to allow me to use some of the technologies mentioned in my lessons, such as the online video game world to promote literacy. I would simply need to give examples and finding supporting standards to emphasize the learning possibilities. I feel by providing the kind of experiences the book mentions this will prepare our students for the workforce and what an employer may expect them to be able to do. 

Illuminated Text Week 2

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" Interview" Week 2

Hanging Out

The person that I choose to interview does not interact socially using a social networking site yet, she is only eight. So, the social interaction that she had was through the games that she played with her friends and family using the Wii.  I feel that this still counts as technology social interaction. She acted as an avatar and interacted with peers. The only social interaction she had as far as the computer is concerned is sending pictures and letters to her friends through email. I’m sure in these two senses, using the Wii, and sending letters and pictures she feels connected to others in some way.

•   What is your favorite thing to do on the computer?

Send my friends pictures and letters that I write.

•   What is your favorite game? Why?

My favorite game is Mario on the Wii, because it is fun and you can race against another player.

Messing Around

She mentioned that she enjoyed playing games both on the computer and using the Wii. I have personally watched her playing her games, and she did not ever read any instruction manuals or ask an adult how to play, she just taught herself through trial and error. I feel that this reinforces a hands-on learning approach in which she learns through doing.

Geeking Out

Unfortunately, I do not think that she has developed any high-specialized skills as a result of her technology use other than basic typing skills, and gaming skills that most children have. I am sure once she grows older and continues to interact with technology this will change and she may develop specific interests and require specific skills. Although, I guess it depends on your perspective, as to whether the skills she possesses are “highly specialized”. From the viewpoint of our “Nan”, grandma, she may think that “Niah” is technologically advanced. Nan doesn’t use the computer at all, or any video games.

•   What is your favorite game? Why?

My favorite game is Mario on the Wii, because it is fun and you can race against another player.

Schooling

“Niah” is just learning correct literacy practices being only eight, so no she doesn’t really talk about the differences in lingo. I am sure that the letters that she writes do have some creative spellings though. She does prefer to be on the computer or play an interactive game than read a book, I have never seen her read an age appropriate book, and her brother is the reader. At this time she does not conduct research for school purposes.

•   What is your favorite thing to do on the computer?

Send my friends pictures and letters that I write.

How did you learn to do that?

My mom taught me.

Quotes:

“One technological determinist view represents contemporary children as increasingly ‘active’ and ‘worldly’ because there are not technologies that enable and encourage this.”- Victoria Carrington

“ We therefore see digital literacy as a set of social practices that are interwoven with contemporary ‘ways of being’.”- Julia Davies and Guy Merchant

“ The educational value of game-playing comes not from the game itself, but from the creative coupling of educational media with effective pedagogy to engage students in meaningful practices.” – Squires

Carrington, Victoria & Robinson, Muriel. Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices. London: SAGE, 2009

Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices 1-3 and Illuminated Text

Chapter One-

“ As is evident when watching a child learning to play a video game, there are few times when children will sit down and be given step- by-step instructions by a tutor or instruction booklet.” – Rebekah Willett

I think this is how most children learn now. Monkey see, monkey do. I feel that this has happened because most children do tinker with technology on a daily basis without adult supervision. I think that schools need to take this into consideration when thinking about how to instruct their students. First demonstrate and let them try the concept in a hands on approach.

Chapter Two-

…” I and others have noted about online learning collaboration that each individual can achieve more by interacting with others”…- Gee, Williamson, and Facer.

 The push now in school is to operate our classrooms in a center based manor, where students are working together. This past year I can speak from experience my children loved to work in small groups and centers they seemed to thrive off of the experience, and even began to teach each other even in the first grade. I see this as being the way of the future.

Chapter Three-

“The creation of a child’s profile page can be viewed as a form of text production that occurs beyond these institutions and that differs from curriculum-directed text- production. “ – Clare Dowdall

This surprised me and the whole chapter really did too, although if you look at the dates from the references in this chapter they are somewhat dated. I think there needs to be a collaboration of the two schools of thought, and online literacy participation needs to be incorporated into everyday school practices.

After reading this week’s assignment, I can see from the examples that the book gives that children’s technology usage outside of school is still considered as being a separate being. I feel that the younger generation of teachers needs to challenge this notion and be an example to all that incorporating interactive or online social learning is here to stay and will really benefit the learner. Why would we not instruct our students in the way that they show interest. The reading didn’t really change my mind on technology incorporation, just reinforced the thought.

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Media Ecology and Learning Case: Initial Interview

I have no neighbors that are children, and my child is only one month old. I also have no nieces or nephews, so I chose to interview my first cousin’s daughter. She is eight years old and going into the third grade at a school in Marion County. She lives in a rural community with an average household family income with her step-dad, mom, and younger brother. Here are her responses. She seemed to be most interested in playing interactive video games, and viewed working on the computer at school as work.

•   Ask your young person to choose a pseudonym for you to use in the writing of your case.

“Niah” (lover of gaming)

•   Do you have a computer /iPod/MPC playerWii/ ect....?

Yes, I have a computer at home, an I-pod, and a Wii. I also have an i-pad.

•   What kinds of things do you use the computer for?

Today I got on the computer for math games, and also at school I take tests on the computer like reading tests every week.

•   What is your favorite thing to do on the computer?

Send my friends pictures and letters that I write.

•   How did you learn to do that?

My mom taught me.

•   What are some other things you use the computer for?

I also play other games for example Sugar, Sugar.

•   What is your favorite game? Why?

My favorite game is Mario on the Wii, because it is fun and you can race against another player.

•   Do you know other people who do this?

My friends at school, my brother and my dad like to play this game with me.

•   How do you use the computer at school?

I use the computer to take my reading tests at school, and also I take benchmark tests online too.

•   How would you like to use the computer at school?

I would like to play more interactive games.

•   Do you think teachers would let you use the computer to do those things? Why? Why not?

No, my teacher told me the computer time at school is mostly for schoolwork.

•   Anything else you would like to tell me?

I love to play the Wii the most especially my new game All Star Party. I would like there to be a Wii at school.

Quotes:

“ As society and the world of work change, the skills that students need to live and thrive also change. The competition will be fierce and can come form anywhere in this flat world. In some ways, students today are ahead of their elders. Technology is second nature to them and they accept and use it without question Schools lag behind.” – Chris Jones.

…” They thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards. They prefer games to serious work.”- Shakuntala Banaji

Thomas, Michael. Deconstructing Digital Natives: Young People, Technology, and the New Literacies. New York: Routledge, 2011. 

“ As is evident when watching a child learning to play a video game, there are few times when children will sit down and be given step- by-step instructions by a tutor or instruction booklet.” – Rebekah Willett

“One of the significant changes in relation to learning with digital technologies is the scaffolding that current technologies provide for learners.” – Rebekah Willett

Carrington, Victoria & Robinson, Muriel. Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices. London: SAGE, 2009