Metacognitive Journal Post

As I reflect on the content of this course I realize how complex 21^st century society is. Some of us are connected through so many electronic devices while others are still waiting for ubiquitous internet. Those without the access are crippled in terms of participation in our digitally wired civilization, while those with access are citizens of a participatory culture that is designing our future. Prior to this course there was a lot that I used to take for granted in terms of computer technology, access to it, and its usage. Through this course I have learned that computers and other digital devices are gateways to participatory cultures that have “relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby experienced participants pass along knowledge to novices.” (Jenkins 2006, p. 3)  It is an ecosystem that explores, creates, and develops content. “New media positions their users in society, making them both producers and consumers of information,” (Bennett 2008, p. 9) It has also developed a new area of linguistics outside of the technical binary language of the devices they use. “There is a widely held intuition that some sort of Netspeak exists – a type of language displaying features that are unique to the Internet, and encountered in all the above situations, arising out of its character as a medium which is electronic, global, and interactive.” (Crystal 2004, p.18)

There are some hindrances to participatory cultures. One of them is a gap, which to some extent intersects others such as the gaps in wealth and achievement, called the participation gap. It is “the unequal access to the opportunities, experiences, skills, and knowledge that will prepare youth for full participation in the world of tomorrow.” (Jenkins 2006, p. 3) There are also issues surrounding constitutional rights such as freedoms to speak and assemble in regards to network neutrality caused by capitalistic ventures involving the blocking of internet content delivery without the user’s knowledge. “Internet freedom matters because the internet is the modern printing press distributed to all of us. It is the infrastructure for us to exercise our freedom to speak, read, and connect with others. These freedoms are basic to democracy and for individuals to control their own lives and reach their full potential.” (Ammori 2013) A loss of such online freedom would hinder the creation some of the most valuable digital content, users of all ages, genders and ethnicities. “More than one-half of all teens have created media content, and roughly one third of teens who use the Internet have shared content they produced. Contrary to popular stereotypes, these activities are not restricted to white suburban males. In fact, urban youth (40 percent) are somewhat more likely than their suburban (28 percent) or rural (38 percent) counterparts to be media creators. Girls aged 15-17 (27 percent) are more likely than boys their age (17 percent) to be involved with blogging or other social activities online.” (Jenkins 2006, pp. 3 & 6) 

Moving forward, the knowledge I have gained through the content of this course will assist me as I develop programs and curriculum. During the next year I will be working with a community agency to set up an outreach program that will address the participation gap. In addition I am working to establish a charter school for at risk middle school students in the Syracuse area. I will ensure that new literacy is an intricate part of the curriculum.

Literacy Guide

Information Literacy Guide for Secondary School Students

Purpose

To be effective in the 21^st century citizens must develop a level of fluency with technology that exceeds basic computer skills. “Educators must work together to ensure that every American young person has access to the skills and experiences needed to become a full participant, can articulate their understanding of how media shapes perceptions, and has been socialized into the emerging ethical standards that should shape their practices as media makers and participants in online communities.” (Jenkins 2006, pp. 3-4) Therefore, by the time secondary school students graduate they “must acquire a set of intellectual capabilities, conceptual knowledge and contemporary skills associated with information technology.” (CITL 1999, p. 49) This guide outlines the skills students need to participate in today’s digital culture and to succeed in school and the workplace.

Definition

Information literacy is the ability to determine what kind of information is needed to answer a given question, the ability to locate that information, evaluate its authority, use it effectively, and cite it properly. (The New School 2013)

Standards and Objectives

Standard One: Digital Literacy

The ability to access networked computer resources and use them. (Gilster 1997, p.1)

Objectives:

The student should be able to

·         Operate various digital devices such as mobile phones, desktop, laptop, and tablet computers, printers, scanners, mp3 players, cameras, etc.,

·         Use networked digital media to locate information,

·         Use a variety of software applications to create and edit original texts,

·         Protect devices from cyber attacks by using firewalls, anti-virus, etc.,

·         Download and upload data.

Standard Two: Critical Media Literacy

The ability to compose, evaluate, and apply information obtained in a digital environment.

  

Objectives:

The student should be able to

·         Research and verify information,

·         Interpret and determine the legitimacy of information,

·         Distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate web content,

·         Apply information to a given task such as creating original texts,

·         Abide by terms and conditions of networks in terms of intellectual property,

·         Respect and properly cite the intellectual property of others.

Standard Three:  Visual Literacy

The ability to understand and produce visual images. (Churchill 2009)

Objectives:

The student should be able to use digital media to:

·         Create original images,

·         Record and create videos,

·         Edit original images and videos or those created by others,

·         Reproduce images and video using various tools, equipment, and/or software,

·         Copy images using simple built-in editing commands and tools.

Standard Four: Cyber Literacy

The ability to actively participate, understand the language, and demonstrate the appropriate behavior of online communities.

Objectives:

The student should be able to

·         Post and respond to blogs and other websites that invite user participation,

·         Interact responsibly and collaborate with members of online communities,

·         Set-up user accounts,

·         Understand how to respond to inappropriate behavior by other users,

·         Protect their privacy in terms of sharing personal information and guarding passwords,

·         Appropriately use the freedoms that the internet affords,

·         Communicate using the vernacular of the digital world.

References

Churchill, Daniel. "New Literacy in the Web 2.0 World." New Literacy in the Web 2.0 World. N.p., 2009. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. <http://www.slideshare.net/zvezdan/new-literacy-in-the-web-20-world>.

"Collateral Issues." Being Fluent With Information Technology. Comp. Committee on Information Technology Literacy. Washington, DC: National Academy, 1999. 49. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. <http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=6482&page=49>.

Gilster, Paul. Digital Literacy. New York: Wiley Computer Pub., 1997. Print.

"Information Literacy Guide for The New School Faculty." Definitions, Standards, and Outcomes. The New School, 11 Sept. 2013. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. <http://guides.library.newschool.edu/content.php?pid=434947>.

Jenkins, H.J. (2006)., Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. <http://digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF>

                                          

Growing Up Digital Adolescent Interview

“We should be able to use our smartphones in the classroom to do research rather than having to wait for the laptop cart to arrive or having to go to the library.” This suggestion was made by JJ, a fifteen year old tenth grade student from the Westhill School District just west of Syracuse, NY. Westhill High School has projectors, Smartboards and two or three Macbooks in each classroom. They use Blackboard for class assignments and offer multiple technology courses. JJ said she was taught how to do research online when she was in middle school. “We were given a list of reliable websites. They told us to compare [information] to other websites.” She said the majority of her teachers are quite tech savvy and that when she needs assistance she will seek it from a teacher rather than a classmate.

At home she has a laptop, but uses her iPhone to go online most of the time. JJ said she spends 50% of the time on her phone using the internet and uses it to text most of the rest of the time. Texting is her preferred method of communicating with friends and family, but said she chooses FaceTime over texting with most adults because they don’t understand her texting shorthand. “Then I have to spend time explaining what my text meant.”

Outside of school JJ spends a lot of her internet time on social networks. She has hundreds of friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter. On Instagram she has over 1000 followers. She said knows 50 – 75% of them and keeps her profiles private. Those she doesn’t know send her requests after they saw something she posted that was then reposted by a friend or follower. JJ also uses the internet to listen to music, and watch videos. She said she’s acquired a lot of do-it-yourself skills online. These include things that range from how to decorate her room to how to improve her basketball skills.

JJ was among a group of students at her school that experienced cyber bullying.  She and the other students reported the incidents to their building administrator and the police were called. When the bullies were identified they were suspended from school.

Other than the time spent waiting for the laptop cart to be delivered to the classroom, JJ had no complaints regarding the availability and use of the technology in school. I found her suggestion that students use their smartphones for classwork the most interesting part of our interview. She admits that students at times use their phones in the classroom when they aren’t supposed to use them and for things that aren’t connected to school.  She said that some students would abuse the privilege, but she feels that most students are responsible enough to use their phones in school for research purposes. 

Media Education Journal Post

Henry Jenkins notes that media literacy advocates “have longed called for schools to foster a critical understanding of media as one of the most powerful social, economic, political, and cultural institutions of our era.” (2010, p. 31) In addition he says, “the new media literacies should be taken as an expansion of, rather than a substitution for, the mass media literacies” and they “should be seen as social skills, as ways of interacting within a larger community, and not simply as individualized skills to be used for personal expression.” (2010, p. 31-32)  In embracing Jenkins’ statements it becomes evident that new media literacies empower our students with “social capital – those interpersonal connections that make it easier to effect change.” (Leistyna and Alper 2006, p. 55)

Media education is needed for a number of reasons. If we continue to train students to work autonomously, we are not properly preparing them to “enter the workplace [where] they are increasingly being asked to work in teams, drawing on different sets of expertise, and collaborating to solve problems.”  (Jenkins 2010, p. 33) New media literacy prepares them for collaborative participation. We also must teach students to “access books and articles through a library; to take notes on and integrate secondary sources; to assess the reliability for data…to distinguish between fact and fiction, fact and opinion; and to construct arguments and marshal evidence” (2010, p. 30) because their success requires critical thinking skills to navigate the plethora of information available to them.

In order to effectively do this all involved in the education process must learn from “librarians, who in the modern era, are reconceptualizing their role less as curators of bounded collections and more as information facilitators who can help users find what they need, online or offline, and can cultivate good strategies for searching material.” (Jenkins 2010, p.30) Tom Wolfe summed it up in the introduction of the Matthew McLuhan Speaks video when he quoted McLuhan saying, “Today’s children will be baffled and bored sitting in classrooms run by print bound teachers. The educational system must be totally changed.”

Print Ad Deconstruction

I chose was a print ad for Sleep Number mattresses.  The ad evokes thoughts of luxury, relaxation, comfort, peacefulness, and security. It depicts a married couple sleeping peacefully and comfortably in a luxurious bed. They are covered from the waist down and his hand in placed on her side hinting at security as she slumbers. Everything in the room is white, light grey, or silver, except her soft blue tank top, which is similar in shade to the color of the text which reads, “sleep number”.  Its color contrasts the rest of the text on the page, which is grey. All of the text is in a smooth san serif font that portrays the same nuances as the rest of the advertisement.  In between the words “sleep” and “number” is a button similar to the one on the product’s remote control.  It has up and down arrows that point upwardly, toward the couple, and downwardly, toward the motto, “Comfort. Individualized.”

In terms of gender related assumptions and messages, the man definitely seems to be the more dominant in terms of positioning.  Even though the couple sleeps side by side, from the angle of the camera, he is positioned above her. The placement of his hand on her side conveys the message of his being protective. She seems quite secure in the more submissive role. His dream bubble has a higher sleep number than hers. The higher number can be interpreted in many ways, most of which put him in a more powerful position.

I am unable to determine the ethnicity of the couple, except that they are not African American. But, by comparing this ad to the one on the Sleep Number website that depicts a couple in bed, I noticed that this ad shows a married couple, evident by a wedding ring that is visible on the ring finger of the man’s left hand.  The web ad shows an African American couple whose marital status cannot be determined. The African American couple is not resting peacefully, but enjoying each other playfully. That ad definitely sends a different message. The web ad also has the woman in the more aggressive role.

Regarding class, there are nuances of lavishness. The couple appears relaxed and trouble free. Does it convey the message that wealthy people sleep better or have fewer troubles? Yes, it definitely reinforces those stereotypes relative to class.

Jean Kilbourne’s statement regarding change being dependent upon “an aware, active, educated public that thinks for itself primarily as citizens rather than primarily as consumers” means that each person has the right to be an individual, authentically himself or herself, not defined by advertisers who attempt to make people appear incomplete or unacceptable without the product that is being sold. A person can be both a citizen and a consumer, but the key is for them to think for themselves and determine their own legitimate needs rather than allow the advertisers to tell them what they need. Citizens have rights, including the right to think for themselves. If a person is primarily a citizen he or she won’t buy just because they have been convinced by the advertiser that they need a particular item or because they believe the item will transform them into a personification of the images that the ad suggests. A person who is primarily a consumer will allow himself or herself to be sold without thinking it through for themselves every time.

Weblogs, It's Not What You Know, But Who You Know

"It's not what you know, but who you know" is a phrase I have heard often in my youth as I overheard adults lamenting about the challenges they faced "getting ahead in life." I was reminded of this adage as I read Weblogs and the Public Sphere by Andrew O'Baoill (2004). In the article O'Baoill assessed "the potential impact of weblogs on the public sphere." Using the definition proposed by Jurgen Habermas in The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, O'Baoill concludes "that inclusivity of access, a disregard for external rank, and the potential for rational debate of any topic until consensus is achieved are necessary criterion for meeting Habermas' model of an idealized public sphere."  In his assessment of these three criteria, I found his assertions regarding "rank" to be the most interesting. 

O'Baoill makes a point of saying that well written blogs require well informed bloggers and that the internet offers an accessible venue for would be bloggers, even those with low levels of technical skills. The challenge, however, is to acquire a significant following since without followers, the blogger's voice is not heard, and without the subsequent debate that is a part of blogging there is little or no impact on the online and offline communities. O'Baoill says, "Reaching an audience is, of course, a necessary step in becoming involved in a debate and having one's ideas have an impact on it." He suggests that there are primarily two ways to achieve online prominence. They are having fame in the actual world, which will then transfer into the virtual world, or having a relationship with a blogger who has a significant following who will place a link to your blog site on theirs. "Given the personal informal nature of weblogs it is not unusual to welcome a friend who has started a new weblog with a post from one's own site. To break into the consciousness of the blogosphere one needs to already have a reputation off-line or get significant numbers of links from already prominent bloggers, preferably over a short amount of time."

The internet has been proven to be a powerful tool for sharing information, mobilizing people, and launching careers, yet its digital communities seem to not be much different than real world communities in that you still need connections in some arenas to make an impact. If as O'Baoill states, you need a connection to an "A-list" blogger to get noticed by the masses, then the blogosphere does not meet the criteria set forth by Habermas for public spheres because, even in the virtual world, "it's not what you know, but who you know".

 

Participatory Culture - Week Three

“If it works on an organizational level to mobilize citizenship, shouldn’t we bring it into our classrooms?” were the closing words of Henry Jenkins in his presentation on Participatory Culture in the TEDx NYED video. These words sum up my sentiment on the use of digital technologies in the classroom. I have heard many students, my own children included, ask the question, “How does this apply to real life?” in regards to the curriculum they are being taught. Yet, it appears that participatory cultures have found a way to teach and develop transferrable skills at play and through leisure activities.

            In his White Paper, Jenkins points out how participatory culture games use the world of politics to allow those who normally stand on the side lines to get into the game.  He states, “The new participatory culture offers many opportunities for youth to engage in civic debates, to participate in community life, to become political leaders, even if sometimes only through the “second lives” offered by massively multiplayer games or online fan communities. Empowerment comes from making meaningful decisions within a real civic context: we learn the skills of citizenship by becoming political actors and gradually coming to understand the choices we make in political terms. Today’s children learn through play the skills they will apply to more serious tasks later.” (2006: p.10) He also makes reference to the Pew study (Lenhardt & Madden, 2005), which found that “young people who create and circulate their own media are more likely to respect the intellectual property rights of others because they feel a greater stake in the cultural economy.”

            I’m sure it is no surprise to most of us that students learn by doing. Digital technology presents an opportunity for students to have hands on activities that we can’t necessarily give them in the classroom. Yes, we can teach them the mechanics and the principles offline, while online they learn the value of not plagiarizing or of active citizenship.  Still, there are so many challenges that we face on this matter. These include ethics, access to technology, and cross-curricular skills development.  I believe the main challenge of the 21^st century educator is to find the pedagogical recipe that interfuses the lessons students can learn in the informal classroom called the internet with the formal lessons we teach in the schoolroom.

Response to Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?

As an educator I neither view digital media as a threat to nor a replacement for traditional media.   To me it is an opportunity to embrace a new culture, a culture that our students were born into, making them natives, and the rest of us, immigrants. That aside, new media presents educators with an opportunity to teach new skills and further develop old ones. 

            The internet is a gateway to participatory cultures where there are “relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices.” (Jenkins 2009: p. 3) Such interactivity can be difficult for a teacher to monitor and nearly impossible to control, yet it does present numerous teaching moments.

            Teachers that allow their students to participate in these cultures will encounter opportunities to build critical thinking and ELA skills.  Students are capable of being taught to evaluate sources and check information against those deemed reputable for accuracy. Participatory sites that are plagued with spelling, grammar, and content errors can be used to hone students’ skills by having them find the inaccuracies and re-write the text correctly offline, or online in the case of wiki community participation.  Student blogs can be used to encourage civic participation, engaging students in the democratic process. Character education can be integrated to teach responsible participation and responsible use of web resources and school technology. Progressive educators will capitalize on the opportunity to “build on the foundation of traditional literacy, research skills, technical skills, and critical analysis skills taught in the classroom.” (Jenkins 2009: p. 4)

Using New Literacies

The multimodal nature of contemporary texts that combine writing, images, animated objects, music, etc. (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p. 6) allow individuals to thrive in today’s information age in a way they may not have been able to using traditional text. My Smartphone allows me to send images, photos, sounds, animations, video, emoticons, and hyperlinks in messages. My Facebook posts often contain links to other pages or tags to other people. I find that the visual elements in messages make concise communicate easier in a society with a microwave temperament, whose citizens are often too busy to spend too much time on any one task. It also allows participation by people whose literary skills would be challenged by the use of traditional text alone.

New literacies’ interactive nature makes it easier to acquire and share information.  My favorite interactive category is the hyperlink. It makes information gathering so much easier when I can click or hover over a word or image that directs me to more information about something or someone I am researching or reading about. I found myself longing for such links today as I tried to find out more information about Green’s model, which we are supposed to use as we write our weekly reflections. I found numerous references to Green in online articles, and one or two properly placed links would have shortened my search considerably. I had no idea if Green was a man or a woman neither could I find the name of the work he published in 1988 that was frequently mentioned by other authors. Why didn’t any of these pages have a link to a book, an article, or biography of Green? After all, Green is not a unique name and since everyone is talking about “going green,” the word is all over the internet today. Finally, I found a reference to Bill Green by Lankshear and Knobel (2011, p. 191). Now if only I knew which of the dissertations published in 1988 was the original work in which he shared his thoughts about this model.

I use texts to inspire, encourage, enlighten, educate, and amuse. When I learn something new, I share it. The use of texts in our digital society makes sharing so much easier.