Chapters 15 & 16

Chapter 15: "Lessig argues that digital remix constitutes a contemporary form of writing that is reaching the stature of a mass everyday cultural practice."

The first thing that came to my mind when I was reading this was Meme's. I kept reading and saw that I was on the right track and was enlightened by other things I didn't think much about. I had almost forgotten about AMV's, which I use to watch all the time, and Lessing is definitely right. All the different remixes out there are a form of writing, much like writing a script is a form of writing. Something like a Meme takes a lot of thought process because one has to get a big message across in a few amount of words. This is the same way people have to deal with tweets, because they are character limited, the message has to be condensed. I remember listening to a Startalk podcast and Neil deGrasse Tyson was talking about how hard it was to condense what he wanted to say into the character limit of a tweet; it would sometimes take him hours to refine it down to what he wanted to say. So not only are these remixes technologically advanced, they take a lot of brain power to think about how to convey the message you want in a short amount of time or in a way that makes sense in the media that is used.

Chapter 16: "Rather, the point is that if it is possible to appropriate principles and procedures associated with efficacious learning from outside formal institutions in ways that enhance the efficacy of formal educational learning, other things being equal we would be silly not to."

It's like having a whole store room of lab supplies and only doing worksheets. There is so much technology available that it would be silly not to use it to our advantage and education people with it. The concept this chapter presents with the classroom seems to be familiar, because I have classes like that and because it reminds me a lot of what I do a work everyday. I use most of those tools on a daily basis and I know that I have to use Google multiple times a day just to survive. I have even put some of resources it mentions into the class I am building, but it has given me some new ideas for future assignments. There is certainly a lack of group work right now, but that may change soon. This last chapter finished off the book well and combined all the other chapters into a class that uses it all in the way we all hope to.

Chapters 13 & 14

Chapter 13: "'It' is susceptible to policing and 'moralizing' on the part of producers and other consumers alike, just as much as and in parallel manners to the literacies of physical spaces like schools--where the 'players' involved are also inclined to invoke notions of fairness, propriety, and 'getting it right.'"

I like how they connect the rating system used by eBay to how we take criticism from students about the grades that we assign. Fairness, propriety, and "getting it right" are always the go to topics. In the classroom it is hard not to make these mistakes because grade, although it shouldn't be, has a lot of opinion basis. Did the student cover enough of the question to warrant full credit? Is there enough detail in the answer? Were they right or just missing the part YOU wanted? All these factors come into play at school the same as they do in customer reviews. This is by course evaluations are so important and can help teacher find out if they are perceived as being bias or unfair. Opinions are always welcome from students and, even though they might come out a bit harsh, always take in what they are saying a reflect.

Chapter 14: "Today, however, a laptop computer, $30.00 game (e.g., The Neverwinter Nights Diamond Pack), video and audio editing software (often part of the software bundle that comes with a new computer), and some free or low cost video recording software (e.g., Fraps) comprise ample resources for creating polished animated movies."

In this chapter it goes on to mention the Red vs. Blue series by Rooster Teeth, which is on Netflix and is hilarious. This series is like a cartoon made by recording game play of Halo and doing some voice overs. This is not their only accomplishment, but is what they are most well known for. People can turn this type of thing into a full time, well paying, job. With advertisements and sponsors some teens are making more than I could even imagine. Streaming has become extremely popular with games like League of Legends, DOTA 2, Counterstrike GO, and Hearthstone. Streaming required only a computer, webcam/microphone, and access to the internet. How do we harness this power for education? Well making Machinima style videos can make for great learning tools. The students can create videos with their games that explain things like how traits are chosen during evolution with a game such as Spore. There are so many possibilities for this type of tool and it can come in handy later in life for their careers.

Analysis and Discuss

Questions:

1. Student engagement is a must for teaching, but keeping students engaged can be one of the hardest tasks they are given. What problems are there in keeping students engaged? 

2. There many ways to keep student engagement with technology. What do you think are some technologies tools that help student engagement?

3. Staying relevant by using examples of how the material will affect them in the working world is a tactic to have students see the why the material matters. Do you think using examples from current events makes material more relevant? Why or why not?

"Answer Key":

1. Some problems with keeping student engagement is finding material the students want o learn, or at least presenting it in a way that makes them want to learn the material. Students often don't see the value of what they are learning because they don't know how to apply it to their lives. When they see this factor presented, they tend to be more willing to participate in classroom activities and learning. 

2. Picking the right technology tool for student engagement is a trial and error method most of the time. What works for some students might not work for others, so having options on how to complete an assignment is a great idea. Since there are varying degrees of technology proficiency among students offering a variety helps no one feel like they are too "stupid" to do the assignment well. It depends on the assignment to which type of technology top pick, but one of the most engaging technology tools I have used is scratch, because it can be used for almost any assignment, is easy to use, and allows to students a lot of self-expression. This tool has programming built in, but with an easy drag and drop method. It has far exceeded my expectations and allows for a lot of creativity. 

3. Relating material to current events and everyday life is one of the most important parts of teaching. It lets students see why they would want to learn the material and even shows them how to use the material. Students all have varying interests, but it is possible to cover a lot of different interests in one lesson. If it is a lesson on bio-molecules, then bring in how we use them everyday. This can be anything from how they affect us to how they can help a student raise and more healthy animal on their farm. Covering how it will affect them personally and possibly their interests. 

Chapters 11 & 12

Chapter 11: "Not every jacket owner/wearer will be able to use it successfully as a means to gain and sustain real attention. Moreover, the jacket itself (or any similar device) cannot be the medium for sustained attention unless its wearer can claim a 'space' to which others 'return' in order to see what she or he is up to today."

This is the whole thing about engaging students, the teacher has to make the students come back to see what's new in the class. When using digital media tools and planning lessons, the tools that are used have t be used in a way that engages the students and makes them ant to come back to the classroom to see what fun way they can learn material. In other words, the have to enjoy coming to class. Using technology in this engaging way can be difficult and the teacher will not get it perfect with every tool, especially the first time it is used, but the students can generally tell what was being aimed for and will give the teacher notes on what caused the downfall. This is also why professional development comes into play. Learning how to use these tools in an engaging way is key because it helps the teacher see how it is meant to be used and does not have to dream up some way that it might work. Let your classroom be the "space" to which students "return" to see what the teacher is up to.

Chapter 12: "The role of education in relation to personal development has been massively complicated during the past two decades."

I'm going to start this response off by saying, no one uses Zines anymore. I know there has been a chapter about this already, but I finally remembered where I had heard the term before. There was a show on Nickelodeon called Rocket Power where one of the characters put out a Zine that she spread around town. This show aired in 1999, now this might not seem like a long time ago, but that was 17 years ago and typical teenager has moved far beyond that; just think about how much technology has changed in that amount of time. The concepts in this chapter are still good because they deal with the personal development of students and how the can express themselves. Even today Blogs are not the most popular way that teens write about their feelings and problems, though there definitely still a lot that do. The main venue for personal development these days is, unfortunately, Facebook. It is public and nearly everyone has it, it is like a blog that you and your few hundred or thousand friends tell each other your opinions. Back to the quote, the state of education and personal development has been thwarted a bit because of Facebook being the main source of it for teens. It makes most of the other methods not as enticing as they once were. If we decide to use Facebook it can end in disaster, there are so many cases of cyber bullying through Facebook and it can be fatal for some students. Personal development in education is a complicated thing and there is no clear answer to the best way to handle it. Maybe it is blogging along with some private journaling that only the teacher can see. Maybe it is creating a heavily monitored Facebook group, or maybe it's something else. In any of these cases, students need a way to express themselves with digital media and it is a tough lock to pick.

Are you excited yet?!?!

At Fairmont State University we have a diverse population for the area, but are predominately white middle-class. While developing an online Introduction to Oceanography class, title of the class is still tentative, we have had a white female go through the modules and complete the assignments to give us feedback for improvement. The course integrates a variety of technology to keep the content from being repetitive and to take advantage of the technologies available. There is now an "escalating dependence of work and other daily tasks and processes on computer-mediated texts is associated with prominent references to technological literacy and technologized curricula in education reform pronouncements, Indeed, according to Aronowitz and Giroux (193: 63), 'The whole task set by contemporary education policy is to keep up with rapidly shifting developments in technology.'" Which leads us to wanting to use more current and also useful tools that the student can use in the future.

The problem is when a student does not see the same vision with the technology as the instructor, or doesn't know how to use the technology at all. I provided, what I thought were clear, instructions for how to turn a PowerPoint into a video that they could then voice over and post onto YouTube. The assignment was the create a public service announcement (PSA) to educate the general public on Tsunami's and what to do if one is headed their way. I recommended that they filmed themselves like a news caster, but gave the option for just a voice over if they were camera shy. What I ran into the first time she sent in the assignment was that she could not figure out how to voice over the video. PowerPoint does have a built-in system to do this, but I am assuming she could not figure out how to use it properly. I then gave her detailed instructions on how to use windows movie maker and sent her links to videos and documents on how to complete this task. Though this pushed back the due date, I was still happy to see the final version sent in.

The finished product got the job done, but was BORING! It was like listening to Siri read me the powerpoint slides. Where is the enthusiasm? What makes me want to finish this video? Why don't I just read it myself if you're going to just read what is on the slide? I wonder if giving more detailed guidelines to what I want would be enough. Even though I could tell them not to read exactly what is on the slide, have a word limit per slide, or have them put in videos; what will give them the drive to want to do more than the minimum? These are technologies I thought were current and could definitely be used in the work setting. I thought this would be fun and I know when I had to do a similar assignment I had a ton of fun with it. So what can I do to push the students? What can I do to make them care and see the relevance of the technologies they're using?

At the end of the day I think I might just need to have more examples of what a good PSA is and how the student can make it more than just reading a PowerPoint. I am still unsure of how to instill this craving for an exciting PSA video, but examples is probably my best shot. I wonder if showing them my PSA video would make the students feel more comfortable knowing their instructor has already fully embarrassed themselves. My goal is to use new and exciting tools for learning, but maybe I'm just not using the right one.

Chapter 9 & 10

Chapter 9: "That is, effective teachers will always go beyond the standards and benchmarks to enact meaningful and richly conceived literacies in their classrooms."

Though teachers are, at this time, forced to teach towards the standards and benchmarks, effective teachers do go above and beyond for their students. Finding new ways to reach out to their students is how we get students to do more than what they think they can. In this case study there was a students that needed that extra step to relate the content to their life. Being able to embed the content was vital to this students learning. Standards and benchmarks are important, but they are by no means the final say in a students achievement level.

Chapter 10: "Engaging in critique of new literacies should also be taken as an invitation to examine our own mindset as much as an invitation to judge a practice."

I am reminded of how we look at different scientific practices. It is a way to help the person being critiqued and the person performing the critique. We can critique what the other person is doing by making suggestions on how to do things differently, but we take away what they did well and we might use that in our own experiment. Do this enough times and eventually we have a refined process. At the end of the day it is jut another type of collaboration and is important to any type of research.

Chapter 7 & 8

Chapter 7: "Escalating dependence of work and other daily tasks and processes on computer-mediated texts is associated with prominent references to technological literacy and technologized curricula in education reform pronouncements, Indeed, according to Aronowitz and Giroux (193: 63), 'The whole task set by contemporary education policy is to keep up with rapidly shifting developments in technology.'"

This has become more clear to me as my career has progressed. I have noticed that many students are not as technologically advanced as I had presumed. I had always thought they would have more knowledge in this area than I do, but it does turn out that they lack in the areas of technology tools that can help them with day to day tasks and organization. Things like Google Drive, Dropbox, and even email are not in they're sights and if a teacher doesn't show them the benefits of these tools they won't have the advantage that is almost a standard in the working world. Staying current is important for the teacher to show the students current methods that they can then utilize.

Chapter 8: "As with the issue of access, however, this does not mean holding back on demands for more and better professional development and inservice teacher education -- or, for that matter, preservice teacher education."

Now I am not in the public school system, but I often wonder if this is what is holding some teachers back from not participating in technology professional development or if it is just them not being comfortable with the technology. Having this training and information can help teachers find ways to get these new technologies into the classroom and many times the technology is free. Putting more efforts into applying for grants and helping teachers get these technologies is just as important and training them. I think having a more well rounded professional development for all teachers is what is needed.