Metacognitve Journal Post

Below is my final post for the course New Media and New Literacies:

Metacognitive Journal Post

               I found this to be a very valuable course as it opened my eyes to the scope of new literacies.  I had not really thought about the changes occurring in media as new literacies evolved because what seems to happen and you just absorb the changes.  This course allowed me to step back and look with a critical eye. 

               Initially we evaluated how we use texts which gave us insight into our actions.  Moving onto define literacy in today’s world made us realize how much things had changed from when we grew up and analyzing the article (Rich, 2008) The Literacy Debate: Online, RU Really Reading? was an enjoyable and interesting assignment.  I was able to think about what skills would be needed for tomorrow.  Looking back, I would not have imagined the pace of communication and that I would be attending school online! Hence, this course has created a greater awareness in my mind of the need as educators to change our teaching/training methods.  One of the reasons I selected to investigate successful practices that had been adopted by institutions and individuals for my final project was that I felt I needed to know what was occurring in our learning environments as this is a stepping stone to the training environment.  These students often end up in corporate training centers and it is important to know how these learners have learned.

   I recently watched a portion of a film Robot & Frank (2012) where one of the scenes showed an elderly gentleman entering a library as it was being converted to a fully automated building.  The librarian was being replaced by a robot and the all the books were being scanned electronically and removed from the shelves.  The gentleman was the last visitor who was interested in selecting a book from the soon to vanish shelves.  This film took me back to the opening of this class where we thought about our different uses of texts and also made me realize that I too just bypass the library these days although I used to be a regular visitor.  Now I just download a book or order it online and do research electronically.  Certainly our patterns have changed as we become more immersed in the digital world. 

   We have seen how wireless technology enables people living in remote areas of Africa to be connected to the internet and our inability to live without a cell phone.  Gaming, social media, and blogs are changing the way we interface with each other as our world becomes more visual.  No longer are we content just to read a story but we want to be part of it, create and change the content to our desires.  Some individuals are leaping at the chance to have impact, for example, Wikipedia; they are prepared to share their expertise.  So for all the world’s problems the new medias do have untold benefits as we head for the next Century and just as when the printing press enabled literacy to expand so will the new medias as we move to a participatory culture where sharing will become the name of the game.

   I believe this course has given me a solid foundation and an awareness of how new literacies are impacting education and this insight changes my approach.  I need to know how to attract my learners’ attention in a vastly different world.  As more of my learners are “digital natives” I need to be aware of their learning needs and take this into consideration when designing materials and creating learning situations integrating the advantages that visual and multi-media can bring to learning.

References:

Rich, M. (2008). Literacy debate: online, R U really reading? Retrieved from:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/books/27reading.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

Schreier, J. (Director) (2012) Robot & Frank (Film)

Literacy Guide for Adult Learners

Literacy Guide                      Population:  Adult Learners

Introduction:

·        What is a Literacy Guide?

·        Why it is beneficial to you?

·        How it works?

Finding Information:

·        What are you looking for?

·        Search Options:

o   Library sources

o   Research guides

o   Research strategies

o   Video and multi-media

·        Types of Information:

o   Books

o   Research articles

o   Scholarly Journals vs. magazines

o   Google Scholar

o   Web searching

·        Examples – situations

·        Practice Run – (a couple of questions where you practice searching for information)

Now you have the information – what next?

·        How to evaluate?

·        What bias is it written from?

·        Who is the source – are they credible?

·        Identifying the author’s viewpoints

·        Practice Run – (a couple of papers where you practice identifying the bias or viewpoint written from)

·        Use Evaluating Web Information Worksheet (see exhibit 1)

Ethical Considerations

·        What privacy issues will you run into?

·        Key points on copyright

·        How to acknowledge authorship – various styles: APA,MLA

·        Basics of citing your work

·        Examples of citations

·        References to manuals of citations

·        Practice citations – (have a couple of examples participants need to work through with correct answer so they can check for understanding)

Putting it altogether

·        Share an example that shows the process:

o   Basic question

o   Where I looked?

o   What I found?

o   Determine validity and question bias or viewpoint

o   Citing this work

 

Exhibit 1 can be found in the following link: http://lgdata.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/docs/544/27922/Webevalorksheet2010.pdf

Reference:

Miller, J. (2013). Teach library research in your own classroom.  Retrieved 12/1/2013 from: http://library.sunyacc.edu/content.php?pid=43630&sid=322448

Miller, J. (2013). Web searching: Tips, evaluation, more. Retrieved 12/1/2013 from: http://library.sunyacc.edu/content.php?pid=42604&sid=313722

 

 

Blog Week 11 Interview with Zara, a Digital Native

I interviewed a 13 year old girl called Zara and was surprised to learn that although a Facebook member this is no longer the hot place to be.  The concern is that parents and grandparents now use Facebook so it has lost its ‘cool’ factor and no longer has the privacy it once had.  Other sites, Instagram, Twitter and one or two newer apps which I had never heard of seem to be more favorable.  However the number of friends one had on such sites seemed of vital importance.  What was important to her is that of her friends’ opinions and whether they like the latest picture she posted.  This seemed to make a difference to her social status among her friends.

Zara is a digital native and would be totally lost without her phone which goes everywhere with her unless she has to leave it in her school locker.  However, other than that it is in a pocket or always nearby.  At night it is under the pillow just in case she needs to text!  When asked if she could imagine life without a cell phone, she found that totally unimaginable – how would she communicate with her friends?

She prefers to text rather than call and will even text someone in the same room.  It appears as Sherry Turkle (2012) expressed in her interview that people prefer to text so as to have time to think about the answer.  With a phone conversation you may say something you did not want to – interestingly this was a similar thought that Zara had.  She liked the time to plan her answer as you may say something you really didn’t want to.

She has a group of friends that seem to have a constant ongoing conversation in texts throughout the day and it starts early prior to school confirming clothing choices for the day.  I personally was surprised by this but that’s because it never occurred to me as a teenager to have such concerns since I went to a school with uniforms so no discussion was needed.   Having had a son this did not seem a concern and I don’t recall that he spent much time texting early in the morning before school as it was really just get up and go. Not really sure if this is a change in text usage or based on gender but interesting to note.

Reference:

Gross, Terry (2012) (Interview with Sherry Turkle).  In Constant Digital Contact, We Feel ‘Alone Together Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=163098594   

What I learned from our deconstruction exercise

Blog – Week 9

What did I learn from deconstructing an advertisement?

               The process of deconstructing a video advertisement was fascinating.  It made me look at the ad in different terms and think about what message the company was creating.  I also felt that looking at the camera angles allowed me to notice the emphasis that was being portrayed.

               Often ads, if good, are entertaining and I believe we look at them in this light but ultimately there is a message in the ad about the product and why it is just for you.  Creating an awareness which may have been dulled over the years helps us to delineate substance from fluff.

               I selected a Coca-Cola ad and was so surprised that I as I wrote my deconstruction report that I kept hearing the song, “If I Could Help Teach the World to Sing” in my head which is from an ad that was produced back in 1971.  I imagine that this was a very powerful ad at one time and it came back to haunt me!  Does that tell us something about the power of advertising?  If an ad manages to create such an influence it will be hard to forget the product!

Media Education - Blog Week 8

               Although, many areas fascinated me in this week’s material, two comments made by Marshal McLuhan (1976) I found particularly intriguing. Firstly, he felt television is a participatory medium when many people view television as a passive activity.  However, when asked what type of programming is most effective he outlined sports events especially something like the Olympics because it is ritualistic and flows.  He felt that the viewers’ feel like participants.  Thinking back to watching the Olympics I do recall a sense of participation that seemed to grasp you.  It was a discussion point the next day at the office and the scope of the games from the opening ceremony to the actual events drew you into the excitement.  In fact, when the games ended I felt a sense of loss because to follow them had been so much fun.  However, if McLuhan had not identified this concept I don’t know if I would have recognized it as participation. 

In many senses, although I do not actually watch many of the popular television shows it does appear that Reality TV is exceedingly popular and these shows encourage people to follow and participate in. Viewers have the opportunity to vote.  This area of television seems to have exploded and it may be because audiences feel part of the process.

As to the next statement I found particularly interesting from McLuhan (1972) is that he felt that war was now being brought into the living room and this in itself would help prevent war.  This is an interesting concept that by visualizing the atrocities of war means people are more reluctant to sponsor a war.  Thinking back to when the troubles in Ireland and Vietnam were the forefront of the nightly news this type of reporting did have an impact on me.  I would not have been so aware of what actual fighting meant had it not be for this type of coverage.  Now whether it does ultimately prevent wars is another thing but it certainly creates awareness by the visual content.  Awareness and education can go a long way in solving problems.

Reference:

McLuhan, M. (2013) Marshall McLunhan Speaks Retrieved from:   

http://marshallmcluhanspeaks.com/television/

Digital Youth and Social Movements - Week 6 Blog

I was fascinated by the presentation from Raquel Recuero on her discussion of youth and social movements in Brazil.  What I felt was so interesting is that the country seems to have quite an experience with social networks with 70% of the population aged 16-25 using the Internet on a regular basis.  Brazil is now the 2^nd largest country for users of Facebook which was only fairly recently introduced.  Hence, I felt it was so valuable to reflect upon some of the areas Raquel presents as to what is occurring with use of the social sites in Brazil.

               The tools being used are social sites on the Internet and they seem to be creating powerful connections within the youth of this country.  One fascinating site she discussed was created by a young man who has grown up in the favelas and has created a space “Community Voices” which tells the story or what is happening in his favela.  Why I find this so intriguing is that this is coming out of a favela which traditionally has been ignored by the local agencies and really is unto itself and here others have the opportunity to see and hear insights into the community.

               Another recent emergence Recuero’s described is the site created to show dance moves and then invite others to the challenge to improve the dance in the Small Step Battle. Groups were learning from each other and had formed their own competition.  What is important is that individuals came together for this activity and connected which may not have happened without this particular site and additionally this was a peaceful interchange. 

               What I find so exciting is the energy and passion that is being created by such activities.  Although, when looking at “Changing Citizenship in the Digital Age” the article seems to paint a much more dismal picture of youth and the social sites.  I feel that if groups are able to see opportunities to create, learn and change using the internet we have the potential to create a much better society.  Perhaps how we measure social responsibility in this country is too tied to government agencies and we need to reevaluate and encourage the opportunities the Internet can create.

Digital Youth, Social Movements, and Democracy in Brazil. Retrieved on 10/16/2013 form:

http://connectedlearning.tv/raquel-recuero-digital-youth-social-movements-and-democracy-brazil

Recuero, R. (2012). Brazil: Kids using digital media to teach each other, change culture. Retrieved on

10/16/2013 from: http://dmlcentral.net/blog/raquel-recuero/brazil-kids-using-digital-media-teach-each-other-change-culture

Collective Intelligence - Blog Week 3

Coming from the business world one of my concerns is very much that our employees are prepared for the tasks in hand.  One of the crucial skills necessary in the workforce is teamwork and collaboration.  Many organizations have moved to team structures where one relies heavily on your team to get the job accomplished.  Training departments spend time and money training individuals to become part of a team and how to function in a team.  Therefore, with this thought in mind I was most interested in the aspects of the new technologies that relate to developing teams and team work.

I truly believe that you need basic competencies but you also need to learn, share and grow from the people around you so this is a very important component to develop.  Levy (2000) as cited in Jenkins, (2006) defines “collective intelligence” as the way to explore network communications by gathering online to embrace common enterprises (p. 39).  This concept has a lot of offer the business environment.  The concept is that it pools individual talent to accomplish a task.  One of the keys of success in an organization is to know the pool of talent you have and can tap as well as external resources.  One organization I worked for enlisted active managers, team leaders etc. to help educate new employees.  Instead of just using training staff we enlisted the help of seasoned managers to give their perspective and participate in training sessions.  It was beneficial to all but similar to a “collective intelligence” of an organization.

From what I understand both in medical and law school the work load is tremendous so students devise plans whereby they work in teams to learn the material.  These teams develop because of member needs. Often our education systems want “individualized” work stating it must be all your own work; however many business environments do not function in this manner, so one of the skills that seems to be evolving from the participatory cultures is that of collaboration and collective intelligence.  Jenkins (2006) shares an example of Hurricane Katrina where collectively it was possible to develop an overlay of “Google maps” to allow victims to find out information about specific locations (p. 41).

However, Jenkins (2006) stated, “most contemporary education focuses on training autonomous problem solvers and is not well suited to equip students with these skills” (p. 41).  There are some practices that have embraced this technology.  For example, the MIT Sea Grant College Program offers students in different schools to learn to cultivate eelgrass and share data.  We need to be able to create teams in schools internally and externally whereby we allow individual talents or strengths to cultivate and develop. What seems to happen as Jenkins (2006) describes we seek to develop “generalists” (p. 42).  Whereas, giving students an opportunity to problem solve in teams with a wider community will prepare them for the 21^st century workplace.  Specialists that cross standard boundaries will find jobs in the next century.

Considering Green’s model of literacy I’m really not sure how this fits into team work since it seems to pertain to texts other than perhaps the cultural dimension Lankshear and Knobel (2011) mention where the text and information is in relation to “real life practices” (p. 175).

References:

Jenkins H.J. (2006)., Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21^st  Century  Retrieved on 9/26/2013 from:

http://digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF

Lankshear, C. & Knobel, M. (2011) Literacies: social, cultural, and historical perspectives. Peter Lang

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