"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 & Barton, 2010)
I teach a 15 week course Information Literacy at a 2
year college. We discuss many of the
issues brought out in the reading throughout the course. I begin on the first day of class by telling
my freshman college students that I didn’t get my first email address until I
finished college. I went to a physical
classroom or lecture hall where an instructor communicated his/her knowledge of
the subject. Most teachers lectured,
some other professors were more interactive and dynamic. The classroom education was supported by
required reading in print text books, novels, and periodicals. Most classes had at least one assignment that
needed to be researched using the print materials in the library. If you were more adventurous you used the
microfilm in the library – which at one point was high tech. After I tell the students about my traditional
schooling, a lively discussion amongst the students begins and the ice is
broken.
Being an information literacy course, I try to guide
the discussion towards describing the current information climate. I ask them how they access their
information. Besides reading, the
students mention TV, radio and the internet in its multiple forms. In this new digital age, the modern learner
does not gather information exclusively from printed text, but also from images
and sound. My observation and the
required reading suggest that the modern student, who had internet access their
entire life, perhaps digests information differently. As educators we must find ways to reach these
students. As stated in the Literacy and
the new technologies in school article, “account needs to be taken of a
profound media shift in literacy, schooling and society--a broad-based shift
from print to digital electronics.” (Durrant & Green, 2000)
Some say they get their news from Facebook and
Twitter. To me, I understand how someone
would use Facebook to find out the current events in their friends lives – but to
some students I find that this is their only portal into current events of the
world. If social networking has the students’
attention, can it be used for academic purposes? In our reading, David Huffaker suggests that
we use this medium, blogs, to promote literacy in the classroom. “Weblogs
resemble personal journals or diaries and provide an online venue where
self-expression and creativity is encouraged and online communities are built.” (Huffaker, 2005) Traditional print resources are social in
that the author attempts to communicate meaning to the multiple readers of the
text. Blogs and Facebook are social in a
different way than traditional print. The
originator of the blog also communicates a message to multiple readers. The multiple readers are given a platform to critically
respond to the blog. Through blogging, the
information consumer can also become a creator.
The traditional reader of printed text could always agree or disagree
with the text. But in the digital age,
the reader can now publish his/her reaction to the text. Other readers can reply to the original post
or to the new post. The originator of
the post can defend or add material. The
point is an online social network for learning can easily be developed.
In the digital
literacies article, the authors discuss other capabilities of Web 2.0. The nature of Wikipedia is that the reader
can change the information they are reading.
This is a different social experience than the print version of World
Book Encyclopedia. Also, the learner can
have multiple screens opened within one website. Connections can be made through hyperlinks to
other pages. “Multiple entry points
offer and even expect the reader to construct the order of reading.” (Gillen &
Barton, 2010)
The opening quote
suggests that educators meet the students where they are. We do not have to subject the students to
learning using the same methods we were taught.
I understand the resistance of some instructors to change, because of
the familiarity of traditional pedagogy.
The internet age is not a projection, it is a reality. As educators, it is our responsibility to
transmit meaning to the learners in the most effective way. We must use emerging technologies to communicate
understanding to the students. As the Gillen
and Barton quote states, they are already using emerging technologies to “make
sense of their worlds and further their purposes in their own learning lives.” (Gillen &
Barton, 2010)
Again, we must use the multi modal tools the students are comfortable with, in
the internet world that they are familiar with, in order to best transmit
meaning.
References
Durrant, C., & Green, B. (2000, June 1). Literacy and the
new technologies in school education: Meeting the l(IT)eracy challenge? Australian
Journal of Language and Literacy. Retrieved May 20, 2015, from
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/literacy+and+the+new+technologies+in+school+education%3a+meeting+the...-a063132991
Gillen, J., & Barton, D. (2010). Digital Literacies: A
research briefing by the technology enhanced learning phase of the teaching and
learning research program. TLRP Technology Enhanced Learning. Retrieved
May 21, 2015, from http://www.tlrp.org/docs/DigitalLiteracies.pdf
Huffaker, D. (2005, April). The Educated Blogger: Using
Weblogs to Promote Literacy in the Classroom. AACE Journal, 13(2).
Retrieved May 21, 2015, from http://www.editlib.org/p/5680/
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ReplyDeleteWhat a thoughtful response. Maybe I can push your thinking a bit further. What happens if we change our stance in the classroom not to transmit knowledge but to co-create that knowledge in using a new literacies stance. As you must know because of your teaching position, the tools of technology aren't the source of learning, just merely a mode of exploration. As a middle school/high school teacher, and as a student at UB, we often explore what happens when we change the idea of education as "I have to get this bit of information into the minds of my students" to what happens when we create knowledge in a sociocultural and collaborative environment. If you're interested in reading more about this idea of transmission of knowledge vs. creation of knowledge, Paulo Friere is a great source. http://www.freire.org/paulo-freire/
ReplyDeleteOur reading, Lankshear and Knobel, suggests that our classroom practices are not pacing with the practices outside of the classroom and that new literacies and practices are actually invented outside of the classroom. I agree with your comments that today's students should be taught differently. The old methods of lectures and testing require a make over. I don't believe that many of our teachers are equipped to use technology effectively within their classroom. Their unfamiliarity with technology and the recent state mandates to incorporate technology places teachers at a disadvantage. No longer are the teachers the authority in the classroom. Students' use digital literacies surpasses the ability of the teachers. While teachers are struggling to design ways to have collaboration on a project, students have already set up an OOVOO site and are discussing a topic with three of their friends. Why? Because literacy is social. We learn through interacting with others. The world outside of the classroom evolves faster than the practices of the classroom.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the thought-provoking comments. Mrs. Grandits, I agree that learning should not be similar to brainwashing. The lesson is well taken. Learning should and can be a collaborative process. Using the wikis I mentioned in my blog is one method. But I agree, I have to keep in mind throughout the instructing process, how can I involve the learners in mentoring and apprenticeship. Thank you for the web link.
ReplyDeleteCorintha, thanks for articulating what I was trying to say. Some of my students are more technology fluent than I am. Yes, learning should be collaborative and interactive, but I must strive to keep up with emerging tech so that I can be a better facilitator in the process. I think that would give more "authority ", yet not in a fascist manner. I think that's what you meant...