"The distinctive contribution of the approach to
literacy as social practice lies in the ways in which it involves careful and
sensitive attention to what people do with texts, how they make sense of them
and use them to further their own purposes in their own learning lives"
(Gillen and Barton, 2010, p. 9).
The first course I took at ESC was
Digital Storytelling, a course based on telling stories, sharing communication
on a broader stage than I had been used to. It incorporated the use of
several media platforms such as Blogger/WordPress, Wordle and Twitter, as well
as several other sites which have multimedia capabilities such as Voice
Threads, Animoto. While I had read blogs and heard about the Twitter
craze, I hadn’t used either. I came to find that the use of blogs had had me connect with others in similar topics/subject areas. I may have read their blog and from that researched other information that I made a connection to.
Huffaker cites 2003 statistics that
indicate 51.5% of all blogs are being developed and maintained by 13-19 year
olds. I tried finding updated statistics
because I have to believe that there is a shift in the percentage. The use of blogs has become widespread
with adults. Companies use blogs
on their websites for promotional purposes; newspapers have both their printed
version and online version (which includes a variety of bloggers on subjects
from politics to finance to entertainment and lifestyle) and social media
platforms such as LinkedIn include subject area experts sharing their viewpoint
as well as trending material. In
academia, instructors have students use Blogger and WordPress as part of the
curriculum.
According to Huffaker, blogs are both
individualistic and collaborative promoting self-expression and connecting with
an online community. From a
learning theory perspective, I tend to favor humanistic style learning and
through my own experiences or others I am able to make correlation between the
text and assignments and shared experiences. I have used both for several of my courses in both
undergraduate and graduate work. What began as generalized voicing my
opinion or writing about nothing much, became writing blogs reflecting on
weekly readings, and another way for me to learn.
At the same time, I hadn’t quite caught
the Twitter craze. It didn’t seem
to make much sense to me. I
revisited it about a couple years later, and found learning advantages to
it. I started following
individuals on subject areas I had an interest in, particularly online learning
and adult education. Through this
platform individuals can share their viewpoint on a worldwide stage for anyone
to read, interact with and share.
It’s not to say that any of the authors are experts – but more sharing
their view which a reader can relate to.
Lankshear and Knobel discuss active
citizenship and its affect on education.
They state, “Education for active citizenship calls for fostering a
sophisticated “sociological imagination” that incorporates (what we call)
institutional imagination, political imagination, cultural imagination and
moral imagination.” (Lankshear & Knobel 2001-2003, p. 86) Twitter and blogs share information
which individuals can either accept or reject based on their views. For example, today an blog was shared
on LinkedIn about the MBTI (Say Goodbye to MBTI, the Fad That Won’t Die). Supporters and those that favor the use
of MBTI may reject what the author is saying based on their institutional imagination.
Lankshear, C. & Knobel, M. (1992/94/97). Critical literacy and
active citizenship. In C. Lankshear & M. Knobel, Literacies: Social,
Cultural, and Historical Perspectives (p. 89). New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing.
Huffaker, D. (2005). The educated blogger: Using weblogs to promote
literacy in the classroom. AACE Journal, 13(2), 91-98.
Anita,
ReplyDeleteVery nice deliberations. I have had similar stops and go's with the various 'new' tools which we would consider a certain type of literacy. But my personal sense of obligation to be not only an informed Digital citizen and as a point of professional development. I also understand that as so many tools are developing and changing it can be overwhelming and we all need to make personal choices on where and how we feel about that.
Professor Forbes -
DeleteI can agree with the personal sense of obligation of being an informed digital citizen. At this point, I use most platforms Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram. I notice that the filter (or lack of) that people use, particularly on FB, Twitter and IG is something that needs to be improved on. Some tend to forget that once an electronic trail begins, it's somewhat hard to pull back on. Not everything should be for public consumption.
In thinking about the many tools that are available, I also feel that not every platform fits into every course - however, blogs seem to be one area that can be highly useful. Last semester I took a course on Assessments and prepared 3 assessment plans on different platforms. It certainly made me think about how they could fit (or not) into curriculum design. I know that a complaint about online learning is a feeling of isolation, especially with someone who tends to be extroverted. I looked at the use of VoiceThreads to replace a discussion board for a module - it may not resolve the isolation issue, but it was something that could work in a course.
In the digital world, everyone needs to pay attention to their brand - a company, a school and an individual. One needs to make sure they have a handle and understanding of how to use the tool, and when to use it, in order for it to be affective ~ and that can be overwhelming!
Anita
Anita, great post. And in your comment to Professor Forbes, you mention a very important detail:
ReplyDelete"In the digital world, everyone needs to pay attention to their brand - a company, a school and an individual. One needs to make sure they have a handle and understanding of how to use the tool, and when to use it, in order for it to be affective ~ and that can be overwhelming!"
This arena can be hard enough to navigate as an adult, and trust me I've seen many adult make poor social media decisions, but it can be even more so for the children that are connecting more and more in an open and often permanent setting. You also mention Huffaker's statistics about blogs being maintained by 13-19 year-olds. I know from experience, that children have a hard time understanding the potential negative consequences of sharing their thoughts and lives in an online environment for all the world to see.
I think when teaching new literacies, we also must include a component to address the impact that comes with exposing your inner most thoughts and lives.