Media Ecology Case

Media Ecology Case

Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices

Chapter 7: "By investigating their digital practices, the study investigated the way that pre-service teachers experience their use of digital texts and the value they and others place on their use."

I thought this was an interesting investigation and got me thinking about my own experiences as a pre-service teacher, since it wasn't that long ago and technically still where I am in the process. The results were a bit surprising because I did not see myself doing what they did. Everyone does things differently I guess.

Chapter 8: "The ‘multi’ prefix was designed to signify two key dimensions of the changing contexts for literacy education: the multiple ways of being in the world according to (sub) culture, language, place, and so on; and multiple modes of representation available, especially by virtue of new and emerging digital technologies."

This is an interesting break down of the prefix and broadens it's meaning so much. There are tons of ways of being in the world and they grow each day. Though they might go under the same categories as other, there are new venues for being in the world that arise every day. The different modes go with the ways of being because they are connected to each other and intermingle. This was a very enlightening quote.

Chapter 9: "Storyboarding, in this view, is to a visual story what outlining is to a print story – a parallel sequence of images, voiceover text, notes on the soundtrack, transitions and effects, somewhat akin to a comic strip (Lambert, 2002; and Figures 9.4, 9.5 and 9.6)."

I remember doing a few storyboards for classes and most were Denis Lindstrom. I always enjoy doing these because it is an efficient way to tell a story and is more engaging than other forms. Finding pictures to tell your story is much more fun than trying to figure a way to word what you want to say.

Digital Texts in and Out of School

Chapter 4: "In each of these articles, Wikipedia is represented as an inferior source of information and its use is linked to a perceived deficit in the young: they are not achieving; they are lazy; they are not critical; and they do not appreciate the significance of traditional forms of knowledge."

What this sounds like to me is a bunch of grumpy old people who are jealous that they did not have access to this source when they were going through school. Though Wikipedia can be changed by anyone on the internet it is easy to be swayed as an unreliable source. Wikipedia is monitored by people who are hired to do just that and by the community that uses it. Even if you think what you read might not be true, there are usually sources at the bottom that can be clicked on so that the viewer can see exactly where the information came from and determine if that is a reliable source. If used correctly, Wikipedia can be a powerful tool for research.

Chapter 5: "As we have seen from our initial exploration, the blog format offers a range of interactive and collaborative possibilities for individuals and groups."

Well this is a familiar sight; I am sure that we are all aware of how power a tool blogging is by now. Being able to collaborate and interact with other people and share ideas is a great way to start a project and get feedback on it. Seeing the views of others on the same subject can help the blogger have a deeper understanding of the content because they can now see it from multiple angles.

Chapter 6: "Arrangements had been put in place to design a 3D virtual world in which pupils would be engaged in purposeful interaction and communication."

So this sentence blew my mind! I have seen some stuff with the Oculus Rift Virtual Reality technology and this reminds me of just that. It also reminds me of an anime I watched called Sword Art Online where the players put on nerve gear that actually puts them in the game; of course the sensors for pain are disabled and abnormal human strength is gained like in most video games. Pulling that into the classroom would be some exciting technology, but maybe not to the extent of the anime. In the anime someone deactivates the pain override and players are stuck in the game where their lives are at risk because they cannot re-spawn.

Step #2 Analyze Interview

For this interview I sent these questions to my cousin Sarah who is 18 and has just graduated High School in Kentucky.

Questions for Interviewing a young person:

Ask your young person to choose a pseudonym for you to use in the writing of your case.
1) Do you have a computer /iPod/MPC playerWii/ ect....?
2) What kinds of things do you use the computer for?
3) What is your favorite thing to do on the computer?
4) How did you learn to do that?
5) What are some other things you use the computer for?
6) What is your favorite game? Why?
7) Do you know other people who do this?
8) How do you use the computer at school?
9) How would you like to use the computer at school?
10) Do you think teachers would let you use the computer to do those things? Why? Why not?
Anything else you would like to tell me?

1) MacBook/ iPad/ iPhone
2) Research/ typing papers/ other homework/ listen to music/ YouTube/ online shopping/ watch Netflix/ email/ blackboard/ communicate with others/ photos/ social media
3)Netflix
4)self explanatory
5)already listed all of it
6)I don't play it anymore but sims because I got to create people and houses
7) lol no
8.) I don't
9) ...
10) I hate online classes and homework and test... Computers aren't always reliable- some times the website doesn't want to work or you don't put the answer in the way the computer wants and it counts it all wrong. Or you have to send your paper into your professor and your email decides not to work. I honestly hate computers for school reason except research and typing.

Title: computer this or computer that

Analysis:

Hanging Out: How did your young person's use of computers reflect friendship driven practices and facilitate social interaction between their peers? Give concrete examples.

The only thing mentioned in the interview that is a concrete example would be social media. This is not specific, but I know she uses snapchat, facebook, and I'm pretty sure twitter and instagram. 

Messing Around: How did your young person's use of computers provide them with informal learning opportunities to develop tech savvy skill sets? Give concrete examples.

The biggest thing that lead to informal learning opportunities would be research on the internet and youtube. Netflix could provide learning opportunities if she watched a documentary, but I know she doesn't watch them.

Geeking Out: Has your young person developed a particular interest or highly specialized skill sets as a result of their use of computers at home and school? Describe?

Sarah has not developed a particular interest or highly specialized skill set as a result of their computer use. She mostly uses it for Netflix and avoids it otherwise. She has developed some researching skills, but I wouldn't put that under either category. 

Schooling: Does your young person talk about use of traditional literacy practices like using correct spelling vs text messaging lingo? Reading books over use of the computer? Writing in traditional genres like poetry or essays? Conducting research for personal or school related purposes?

She talks briefly on the school related computer use. She states that computer use for school has always been a problem for her, except for typing and researching. 

Digital Texts in and Out of School

Introduction: "Students are required to shift from a world replete with multimodal text, remixing and mashing, and fluid novice– expert relations, to a relatively unidimensional formalized context centred upon only one form of static text and structured by particular adult– child authority and knowledge hierarchies."

It took me several times of rereading this sentence until I fully grasped what it was talking about. It speaks of the shift from learning outside the classroom that is filled with new technologies to the way most school system present their education in the form of textbooks and other more outdated ways. This is not always because the teacher feels more comfortable with that style, but they might not have the funds to facilitate that type of learning. The interactions are also completely different; in the classroom there is a certain hierarchy that is maintained, while the outside learning place can have roles reversed. I remember one time I was looking up how to reformat a hard drive and the educator in the video was a boy around the age 8. At that age he knew more about computers than I did and I appreciated that he would post a video to help others through the process.

Chapter 1: "For Jacob, motivation to produce a movie about skateboarding comes partly from the fact that it is a subject with high status in his peer culture and that it is familiar to him as a consumer (he said he had watched ‘millions’ of skateboarding videos)."

Expertise of the learner is a large portion of education. If the student is interested in the subject and has experience with it they are much more likely to readily participate in the assignments. Concepts from every discipline can be taught with a degree of freedom in subject. The challenge is correlating the two, but that is a process the student needs to participate in that will ultimately lead them to a critical thinking activity about the concept and the subject they chose.

Chapter 2: "Literacy is not just about decoding marks on a page; it is also about performing social acts of meaning, where meanings and practices vary according to context (Barton and Hamilton, 1998; Street, 1997)."

This sheds new light on how I see literacy. I have not thought about it in this way, but this makes sense. Literacy varies when applied to different things, it does not remain constant through it's application. Not sure there is much more I can say about this quote, except that it makes you wonder.

Chapter 3: "From a critical digital literacy perspective, the creation of a profile page is clearly socially motivated behaviour, where the power relations that exist around the text are explored, unpicked and possibly transformed."

In a profile page it more about framing for the editor because this frame is their way of giving the viewer perspective. Though everyone has different perspectives on things, it is the job of the editor to guide your way of thinking. In a way it is like selling a product, just the product is the editor.

Explain the readings are changing or reinforcing the ways you think about technology in your classroom. What are the barriers/challenges to integrating technology in the ways the reading are promoting? How do you see the literacies practices identified in the readings as promoting the kinds of academic literacy practices we want young people to develop through schooling?

I think the largest struggle, especially where we are, is access to the technology to integrate it. Funds are low and overall wealth of the state are sub-par. This leads to the better and more successful technology integrations out of reach. The literacy practices seem to be promising with the correct integration. As we move forward with education we see a lot more third party opportunities for students to help with the integration. Colleges and government offices are helping public schools enhance their capabilities at a reasonable cost.

Media Ecology and Learning Case

For this interview I sent these questions to my cousin Sarah who is 18 and has just graduated High School in Kentucky.

Questions for Interviewing a young person:

Ask your young person to choose a pseudonym for you to use in the writing of your case.
1) Do you have a computer /iPod/MPC playerWii/ ect....?
2) What kinds of things do you use the computer for?
3) What is your favorite thing to do on the computer?
4) How did you learn to do that?
5) What are some other things you use the computer for?
6) What is your favorite game? Why?
7) Do you know other people who do this?
8) How do you use the computer at school?
9) How would you like to use the computer at school?
10) Do you think teachers would let you use the computer to do those things? Why? Why not?
Anything else you would like to tell me?

1) MacBook/ iPad/ iPhone

2) Research/ typing papers/ other homework/ listen to music/ YouTube/ online shopping/ watch Netflix/ email/ blackboard/ communicate with others/ photos/ social media 

3)Netflix 

4)self explanatory 

5)already listed all of it 

6)I don't play it anymore but sims because I got to create people and houses 

7) lol no 

8.) I don't 

9) ... 

10) I hate online classes and homework and test... Computers aren't always reliable- some times the website doesn't want to work or you don't put the answer in the way the computer wants and it counts it all wrong. Or you have to send your paper into your professor and your email decides not to work. I honestly hate computers for school reason except research and typing.

Title: computer this or computer that

Connections to Course Text

"And yet, in many classrooms these devices and the texts produced with them are still perceived to be irrelevant, and even dangerous, in relation to children’s learning and their development of powerful practices with text."

"We believe that new teachers must be prepared to teach in schools that are embedded in a world where technologies, particularly portable digital technologies, are changing the ways in which we make meanings and engage with each other."

"It is time our classrooms became places where digital and print literacies come together to allow children opportunities to develop the skills and attitudes they will need to navigate complex urban sites and social forms."

"Drawing on classroom research, she argues learners require guidance in reading multimodal texts and that we need to ‘redefine the work of the reader’ (Jewitt, 2005, p. 329)."

Beyond Digital Natives

Chapter 10: "However, even among the small cohort discussed in this chapter, it was clear that the children had different responses to digital technology, especially in relation to its perceived place within the school discourse."

Though the three students that were being examined were born slightly more technologically advanced due to their environment, it does not change their responses to digital technology. How digital technology is used is "in the eyes of the beholder". It all has to with what it means to the user; in some cases it can be a means to an end or a way of self-expression. Some can see it as a punishment an educator gives or as an opportunity for them to do something spectacular.

Chapter 11: "The clear disparity between the confidence with which claims about a new generation of “Digital Native” students have been made and the lack of empirical evidence to support such claims raises the question of why they have gained such currency."

This statement I found very interesting because it addresses a large problem that has always been. The acceptance of information without evidence of it being true or false. This is why you can't believe everything you read on the internet. Not that this problem started with the internet, but it is more easily spread; of course this also makes it more easily dis-proven because of how fast information spreads.

Chapter 12: "With the help of our children and our students, we can design and craft a much better information environment not just for today's youth, but for society at large and for future generations."

It might be a bit cliche to use the last line in a book, but I think that the final statement is the most powerful of the entire book. It is the answer we have been waiting for the entire novel. For this book the message is clear and hopeful. There is a mission to be taken up in this statement and the responsibility is ours.

It is amazing that formal schooling does not explicitly teach digital literacy when most have a computer science class that student are required to take. Making this class more into a digital literacy would be much more effective than just working with typing and Microsoft Office.

Stand Alone Presentation

This presentation takes key concepts from Deconstructing Digital Natives: Young People, Technology and The New Literacies. The concepts are in chronological order from the first chapter to the last. Each chapter has 1-2 slides that convey their message. What the story shows is that world is split into Digital Natives, people born in 1980 or after, and Digital Immigrants, people born before 1980. This concept is quickly examined and concluded that this is not a good method for discerning different levels of digital literacy skills. Digital literacy is more likely determined by the amount of interest a person shows and not some inherent ability. Taking what we see as Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants and transforming their image. Also, being more specific in the terminology that is used when analyzing the data collected. Having more defined terms can give the data more specific meaning, which can lead to more tangible results. Even taking the terminology we already have and reclaiming it to give it a better definition could give the data more meaning. This book is about giving these terms more meaning, how digital literacy affects the population, and what determines an individual's digital literacy. One that can be certain is that if someone has an interest in a subject then they tend to do better at it than a person who does not show interest. This is the same in all areas of life, no matter the age.

Stand Alone Presentation

Digital Natives: Navigating Literate Worlds

Chapter 7: "Over time, the study of the age group between childhood and adulthood has been seen as a struggle over cultural positions and between different scientific fields, especially psychology and sociology"

This is a time when lines are blurred and stress levels are high. Finding one's true self, gauging their abilities, and how they will use them in the real world. In this stage some may realize that, even though they are born digital natives, they do not possess the skills in the digital world to pursue a career in it. There are always varying levels of skill, in this group they might be at the bottom, but the top in another.

Chapter 8: "When combined with broader studies of young people's use of technology, our review of students’ scholarly information-seeking behavior shows that despite near-ubiquitous use of the Internet for information seeking and communication, students are challenged by scholarly information seeking at university."

Though it is easy to just Google the answer, it is harder to search through scholarly articles. One of the struggles is that a specific search engine is required for these articles and it may not be as well developed as something like Google. The background knowledge needed to go through these articles also plays a key role in finding the information the student is seeking. It starts takes a lot more effort for students to find the information which is frustrating when they are so use to being able to find the answer instantly.

Chapter 9 : "Participation is in many ways considered to be a democratic issue, meaning that it is a human right to be able to express opinions and become actively involved in society."

This concept is the basis for our nation. So we believe it to be a human right in our society, but it may be viewed differently by other groups.That being said I do think that it a human right to have a persons opinions and views expressed and heard. This goes back to the chapter about the Japanese students using the internet for self-expression and voicing their thoughts. Just like any good relationship it is good for all points of views to be heard and explored. Having an open mind and good discussions are key for the government and general public relationship.

Right now there isn't a large focus on developing digital literacy. It is almost assumed that digital natives already have the skills needed in this area. So one does not simply digital media, like all other skills it is learned and not everyone has such an easy time learning this skill. For now it is not a large role in formal schooling, but hopefully it will have a presence in the future.

The Civic, Social and Multi Modal Lives of Digital Natives

Chapter 4: "Some producers have even been reduced to faking comments in their forums to stimulate debate from “real” young people, which, sadly, failed to materialize."

Getting young people to participate in online is something that is hard to get them to do of their own free will. The best way is o use a site that they are already using, such as reddit, and getting a popular poster to get it started. If it is already popularized it is more likely that the youth will participate. Faking comments is a typical thing to do now, especially for things like yelp and other review systems. This gives them a better score than they would normally have, and if they are the only reviews, and get people in the door.

Chapter 5: "They also participate in these American SNSs to disembed themselves from their Japanese uchi and have a chance to express themselves free from Japanese cultural norms."

This is an interesting concept, but I have seen the opposite happen. American youth participating in Japanese culture in various ways. Most of this intrigue seems to be related to their obsession of anime and manga. For the Japanese it seems to give a liberating feeling. The ability to express themselves the way they want.

Chapter 6: "Characterizing young learners as a homogeneous group through the use of terms such as “Digital Natives” is problematic for a number of reasons, but the main one is that through a broad generalization such terms gloss over the need to identify and recognize difference."

This quote goes with what I have been talking about throughout my posts and it is nice to see that the author agrees with my thinking. I knew I couldn't be the only one. Like taxonomy in biology, it is important to categorize things with precision.




This shows a bit of the learning curves associated with getting onto the internet for the first time. All of the ads and pop-ups can be overwhelming. Without any guidance someone ma not assume that these are a ploy to lure people in.

Digital Natives: Reflecting on the Myth

Foreword:

"The digital natives argument also overstates the differences between generations, and understates the diversity within them."

I thought this was an interesting quote because there are many digital immigrants that are just as good or better users of digital media as the natives. In fact, it is hard not to notice that the immigrants are often the ones teaching the higher levels of digital media to natives.

Chapter 1:

"Bennett, Maton, & Kervin (2008; see Chapter 11, this volume) have rightly described the mood of such passages as increasingly akin to a form of “moral panic,” in which the differences between young people have been eradicated and they all appear to have been born with the same potentially transformative powers: digital natives are problem-solvers; they have new expectations; they invent new processes; they don't only work for an organization, they think of work as play; they are enthusiastic and skillful."

This is a bit of a long quote, but does present a very good point. Not all digital natives are good with digital media and use it for all its potentially that we see. Just because we can see how this technology can revolutionize how a person solves problems and goes about thinking, doesn't mean they are going to.

Chapter 2:

"Digital wisdom is a twofold concept, referring both to wisdom arising from the use of digital technology to access cognitive power beyond our innate capacity and to wisdom in the prudent use of technology to enhance our capabilities."

I found the concept of digital wisdom to be interesting that it was a twofold concept. The first part makes me think of a cyborg, where humans have adapted pieces of technology to increase the physical limitations of their body. The second part is the actual process behind thinking that that type of enhancement is a logically sound idea. I know that is referring to using digital technology as more of a learning tool and how to use that technology to the extent of its potential, but if we go a step further, the prior may not be too far-fetched.

Chapter 3:

"Technological changes consequent on the development of the Internet have been linked to cooperative and collaborative forms of learning for many years."

This quote is under the Collaborative Learning section of the chapter and it caught my eye because it seems like I use this type of collaboration everyday. If I am at work or just doing a homework assignment, collaborating through email, texting, or some other sort of messaging system I am usually somehow collaborating with someone else to finish what I started. This extends to even getting back on track when I am not sure what to do on a particular assignment. Now I can just send an email that someone will more than likely see in less than 30 minutes that I will receive a reply. No more arranging times to meet or waiting until you see the person again to get back on track. Technology has made it where a team of people can be working on the same project at the same time and everyone can see what the others are doing. We have come a long way in technology and how we get hings accomplished. With this technology we are able to get more tasks completed in a shorter amount of time. It is truly an enhancement for the workforce and learning community.

Has my thinking changed?

After the foreword and chapter one there is more to think about. I guess that I was just more optimistic with my first opinion, but now reality is starting to creep its way in. Instead of a complete change I will go with just a shift in my opinion. Digital natives might not all use technology to increase their learning abilities in the way I want them to, but the ones that do have an edge. It is not all about the natives though, the digital immigrants can also have the same edge by using this technology. In other words, the segregation of the two types of users is irrelevant and the one that uses the technology gains the edge.

Visual Metaphor:

A Digital Native is Born

A digital native is only defined as a person typically born after 1980. This is the only factor needed to categorize a person into that field. Though it does not describe the technological abilities of the native, they are still a native to the new world of technology. Immigrants can still survive and even surpass natives, but they might have to work harder to get to that point.

THIRST

Instead of picking an easy picture to determine how the metaphor and metonymy, I decided to pick the one picture that did not make sense to me. In a way I want to reason it out in a post and get the interpretations of others. The first thing that comes to mind is that this iceberg contains frozen water that has been there for billions of years. Maybe? Looking at this iceberg and seeing that it is by itself floating in the middle of the ocean, it probably hasn't been frozen for billions of years. The only ice that might even have stood a chance through all the climate change through the entirety of that time might be at the middle of the poles. When I see this statement I think of the water cycle and how the same water on this Earth just gets recycled through the process. Personally I think a different picture could represent this message better than the iceberg because it does scream recycling to me. I am going to just go with the iceberg standing for being around for a long period of time. 

Digital Media Effects on Conventional Reading and Writing Practices

"Does Digital Media Make Us Bad Writers?"

Quote: '“We need to decide whether we wish to take writing seriously and if we value the importance of a properly chosen word,” Baron says.'

I find that this decision is made every time someone writes to someone else. This connects back to audience affecting how the person sending the message writes. This is what determines the seriousness of the writing and the importance of proper word choice.

" Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?"

Quote: "Nicholas Carr sounded a similar note in “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” in the current issue of the Atlantic magazine. Warning that the Web was changing the way he — and others — think, he suggested that the effects of Internet reading extended beyond the falling test scores of adolescence."

When I read these sentences I could only think of this being some sort of ignorance of how Google has affected thinking. It is my belief that Google does not take away, but relieves the mind of a task that is has not become necessary. Recall of mundane facts are no longer needed and more focus on critical thinking by using the information that is found on Google can help us become masters of multiple subjects. If anything, it gives everyone a broader understanding of all subjects.

The Stance Dance:

Overall I would put myself on the side of Web Evangelist rather than Traditionalist but, like most things, I prefer to be between the two, Digital media is definitely changing the way people read and write. It allows for people to find specific information quicker and writing has been taken down to almost exclusively grammatical errors with word processing. The downside of this is that the reading of books and when search for specific content there is a lot of other valuable information that is lost. Writing might be down to mostly grammatical errors, but now they are very prominent and becoming more accepted to occur as long as the main message is still received. This is seen in the Rich article when the young girl is reading her fan fiction; the content makes sense, but the grammar is not on par. I have noticed that it also has made the professional messages less professional because people are so use to communicating in this manner.

Texting and Multi-modal Texts

The important things I learned from the video are how the word lol has changed it's definition to be a symbol of empathy, how a new language has been born, and the differences between speaking and writing. But the most important thing I learned is that it is a feat for this new generation to create a new language.




I would encourage students to make funny or serious videos with different characters. One that would be cool is if they took and animal from an ecosystem and had that animal talk about what it's like in that environment. This could incorporate climate, food chain/web, ecosystem, invasive species, reproductive genetics, and tons more!

Disruption: The role of image in communication.

"Photos, once slices of a moment in the past — sunsets, meetings with friends, the family vacation — are fast becoming an entirely new type of dialogue"

After reading this sentence the only thing I could think of was how the evolution of communication to others has gone to a heavy photo base. Things like snapchat, instagram, reddit, and even picture messaging. These are just a few examples, but these mediums use a caption and a photo to convey a message.

A picture can say more.

This photo doesn't necessarily point towards the downfall of reading, but that all the words in this book can be conveyed with pictures in less space. It is similar to the evolution of computer games going from text based adventures to visually stunning adventures that can still engulf the player, but requires far less dialogue. This can also be compared to adapting a book into a movie, all the descriptions used in the book are presented as beautiful scenery that the viewer only needs to glance at to see what might have taken several pages to describe.

Introductory Post for EDUC 6809

Hello all! My name is Sean Harwell and I am from Charleston, WV and I am currently a graduate assistant for Dr. Debra Hemler at FSU. I will be working with her through half of the summer and working with a couple summer camps through WVU and FSU. I am hoping to get better sense of what roles new media plays in our ever evolving world. I am a Digital Media, New Literacies and Learning major and have completed 18 hours worth of courses this far. I have taken EDUC 6810, 6814, 6305 and ONLR 6802, 6804, 6808. For the summer I am enrolled in this class and EDUC 6816.