Week 14

The 21st Century Literacy

The article, Toward a Theory of New Literacies Emerging from the Internet and Other Information and Communication Technologies, points out that in today’s business world we are getting away from the industrial-aged organization model and becoming more of a vertical, top-down model. Decisions were made at the higher level and then communicated down to the lower leveled workers.  Today, teams in the lower levels are created to make important decisions related to their functioning. “As collaborative teams seek more effective ways of working, they are expected to identify problems important to their unit and seek appropriate solutions.” (Leu et. al., 2004).

So, what does this mean in the education world?  As teachers, it is vital for us to make sure that our students are walking out of our doors and buildings with the skills that are needed and used in the 21sr century.   “We need to provide students with greater preparation in identifying important problems and then solving them, often in collaborative situations.”  In today’s society, and in today’s classroom, workers and students “must quickly identify important problems, locate useful information related to the problems they identify, critically evaluate the information they find, synthesize this information to solve the problems, and then quickly communicate the solutions to others so that everyone within an organization is informed.” (Leu et. al., 2004). In order to successfully make our students active participants in the 21^st century, we need to introduce, practice, and utilize new literacies with them in the classroom so that they can become active in the workplace teams that are bettering our economy, society, and world. 

“In just one year (August 2000 to September 2001), use of the Internet at work among all employed adults 25 years of age and older increased by nearly 60%, from 26.1% of the workforce to 41.7%” and now, being 2011 this number much be staggering.  It is essential that in the classroom, we allow our students to have access to new literacies, work in collaboration with their peers and work quickly and efficiently to solve problems and research material. 

“Moreover, this story will be repeated again and again as new generations of students encounter yet unimagined ICTs as they move through school and develop currently unenvisioned new literacies.”  (Leu et.al., 2004).  It is up to us, as educators, to make sure that we keep up with the new literacies of the world and adjust the ways that we teach which encourage the new literacies of the age.

The first two minutes of the YouTube video below shows the benefits of Tagxedo.  The last two minutes compares Tagxedo to Wordle.  Enjoy!

Tagxedo v. Wordle

Earth Day

Earth Day

Here is a video clip that I created for my lesson plan. I was only allowed to make a 3o second clip without spending money, but it is only $5 per month, it is worth the expense!

Week 10

           Prior Knowledge on the World Wide Web

         Prior knowledge has always been a key educational component to allow our students to strive to their greatest potential; using Web sites in the classroom does not mean that the prior knowledge is not a must anymore; it is in fact just as important. “Within more traditional learning environments, findings have indicated that learners with greater preexisting knowledge about a topic typically understand and remember more than those with more limited prior knowledge.” (Lawless, Schrader, Mayall, 2007, p.292). As Lawless, Schrader, and Mayall recapped that prior knowledge has been supported by many (Chi & Ceci, 1987; Glaser, 1984; Schneider & Pressley, 1997) in a traditional learning environment, they wanted to take this theory one step further.  They did a study in 2007 to determine if the relationship between prior knowledge and WWW browsing was significant.  Lawless, Schrader, and Mayall went into the study with two questions in mind: “Does a prereading activity aimed at increasing prior knowledge significantly influence a user’s navigation on a Web site within the domain?” And, “Does a prereading activity aimed at increasing prior knowledge significantly influence posttest knowledge recall from a Web site within the domain?” 

    The participants were forty-two undergraduate and graduate students from across the country who currently studied in the educational field (80% of the participants being women).  The topic of human genetics was the domain for the study.  Both the control group and the treatment group were administered the pre-knowledge measure and the same posttest measure.  Then, the treatment group got a short prereading text which was 500 words in length where as the control group did not.  After the pretest and prereading activity, both groups were given the same prompt, instructions, and posttest.
            To answer question one; the results indicated that the control group used the menu driven navigational scheme significantly more than the treatment group.  The treatment group however, spent more time on the Web site, viewed more graphical representations, and followed a higher number of text-embedded links.  To answer question two, “the treatment group performed significantly better on the posttest than the control group.” (Lawless et al. 2007, p. 297).
            These findings show that not only is it vital for teachers to make sure that students have accurate prior knowledge in traditional educational settings, but students also need prior knowledge to be successful on the World Wide Web. 

                       Essential Literacies for the Millennial Learner

 

TYPE OF LITERACY	DEFINITION	A LITERATE PERSON
Technology Literacy	“The ability to use computers and other technology to improve learning, productivity, and performance.”	“A technologically literate person is someone who understands what technology is and how it can be used and is comfortable with its use”
Visual Literacy	“The ability to understand and produce visual messages.”	“A visual literate child can examine, extract, meaning and interpret the visual actions, objects, and symbols that he/she encounters in the environment.”
Informational Literacy	“The ability to find, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize information.”	Informational literate children will be able to determine the “reliability or authenticity of a source, its currency or recency…and the ability to identify information as fact or opinion.”
Intertextuality	“Ability to represent the process of comprehending one text by means of previously encountered text.”	“Students will be able to synthesize and integrate information from a variety of resources and media based on important underlying principles of a content area versus  surface details.”

           Smolin & Lawless, 2003, p.570-2

Classroom Websites

A common theme, point, and blanket of information that was mentioned in all four of our readings this week was the fact that the first step in designing a web-site or using a website for instructional purposes, is to define your goals and determine your purpose.  In the first couple of paragraphs in all of these articles you will find the same key concept of defining your purpose and your goal of using websites in the classroom, the only difference being the wording.  Clearly, this is a key piece of information; we as educators need our students, parents, and users of our website to go onto the site and use it with ease and with purpose. 
            The article written by Miller, Adsit, and Miller, Frequency of Appearance and Stakeholders’ Judged Value, left me with solid information that I will remember when making a classroom website.  In their study, they aimed to “determine what elements are currently contained in representative school based websites and the degree to which various users of school websites value specific features that are included.” (Miller et. Al., 2005, p.35). A total of 70 elementary websites were reviewed in the metropolitan area of Atlanta and participants (simply put) were students, parents, and teachers.  The results showed that the physical location of the school was the component most commonly included followed by listing of faculty and staff.  The third commonly represented feature was the school calendar which was followed by the schools mission statement. These components are all pretty static in their information, which says they will most likely not change from year to year. As teachers, this next part is important, the part that talks about what the three groups felt was most worthy to be on the classroom websites. “All three stakeholder groups felt that the school calendar was most worthy of inclusion in the school website.” (Miller et. Al., 2005, p.37). Students, parents, and teachers all ranked the homework hotline high as it was third, second, and fifth respectively. The table on page 38 that shows the grand mean for all links that are on the website is extremely informational and something that I will refer back to when I am building my classroom website!
            Julie Coiro and Jay Fogleman’s article, Using Websites Wisely, focused on three types of web-based learning environments which are: informational reading systems, interactive learning systems, and instructional learning systems.  In the web-based instructional learning systems section I learned about Google Lit Trips which I was thrilled to learn more about and research.  “When readers download a Lit Trip from the lesson database, they can follow the plot and characters of a given book through those areas of the globe that serve as the book’s setting.”  (Coiro & Fogleman, 2011, p. 38). This is one of the great features and benefits that comes out of the 21^st millennium classrooms, students have easy and quick access to research where in the world they are reading and learning about which is only enhancing and growing their worldly knowledge base.  

Annotated Bibliography

Riddle, J. (2010). Podcasting in the classroom: A sound success. MultiMedia & Internet
      @ Schools,  17(1), 23-26.

In this article of podcasting in the classroom, Riddle explains the benefits of using audio  (podcasting) in the classroom.  Riddle first explains how podcasting can be beneficial in the institutional level as college professors have started to utilize podcasting to upload their lectures.  

This article then gets into the benefits that podcasting has in the K-12 community in the 21^st century and briefly introduces Radio WillowWeb which is an elementary podcast. A good portion of what Riddle writes about in the article is the classroom of Sebastian, a music and English Language teacher in Germany.  Through Sebastian’s experience we learn ways to use podcasting in the classroom and the advantages and benefits podcasting has on our students.

Robin, B. (2006) The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling. University of Houston.
        [Internet document available at http://www.coe.uh.edu/digitalstorytelling/evaluation.htm]

At its root, this article explains what digital storytelling means, where it came from, how to use it in the classroom, and the challenges that educators should be aware of.

In describing what digital storytelling is the author includes what the seven elements of digital storytelling are along with the three major types of digital storytelling. The article also speaks upon the benefits that digital storytelling has in the classroom. Bernard briefly covers the five types of literacies that come out of digital storytelling: digital, global, technology, visual, and informational literacy.  In addition to the benefits that digital storytelling has on different areas of literacy, nine skills are briefly touched upon that students gain form creating and learning with digital storytelling.    
 
Furthermore, Bernard realizes what it means to teach the millennial learner and be literate in the 21^st century; a topic that is hot on the press. Not to be naïve, this article also recognizes the challenges that come out of digital storytelling and outline them in simple and realistic terms. 

Sheneman, L. (2010). Digital Storytelling: How to Get the Best Results. School Library Monthly,
         27, 40-42.

Sheneman explores three different types of digital storytelling applications in this article  that are applicable for the 21^st century classroom: Windows PhotoStory3, Windows Movie Maker, and Animoto.  Sheneman focuses on the benefits and challenges behind using these three applications and what field research as told us about these applications. 

Villano, M. (2008). Building a Better Podcast. T.H.E. Journal, 35, (1), 30-32.

 This article focuses on how podcasting can be brought into the K-12 classroom community.  Villano speaks about how educators can make content unique, relevant and compelling through technology, or more specifically podcasting.  Villano doesn’t merely talk about why podcasting is good in the classroom, he goes in depth as to how to podcast in the classroom and what teachers should do to make podcasting a success.

A main focus that educators should take into account when incorporating podcasts into the classroom is being prepared; Villano speaks to educators on what needs to happen before simply sitting students down and having them speak into a microphone or listen to a podcast, which he does with success. Villano also describes how to accurately edit through podcasting, how to be consistent, and stay on top of the latest news in technology.  This is a great article to get started podcasting in your own classroom!