Welcome,
I’mDanielWesta graduatestudentinthefinalstagesofearningmyMaster’sdegreeinDevelopmentalEducation
I’mAmarilisCastilloa2nd yeardoctoralstudentinDevelopmentalEducationwithafocusonliteracy
I’mDaveCaverlywith 40yearsexperienceteachingandresearchingdevelopmentalreadingandtheroleoftechnologyinsupportingthatreadinginstructionProfessor,GraduatePrograminDevelopmentalEducationDirector,DevelopmentalReadingProgramDirector,TechnologyInstituteforDevelopmentalEducatorsDepartmentofCurriculumandInstructionASBN406DTexasStateUniversitySanMarcos,[email protected](office)512-245-7911(fax)512-665-6424(mobile)
1
Recently,theSmithandPage(2015)atthePew ResearchCenterpublishedasurveyandfound64%ofadultsover18owneda“smartphone”
Thisisnottoosurprising,asitisverydifficultnottogetasmartphonefreewhenyouenrollinadataplan.
However,Smith andPagealsofound15%havelimitedonlineaccess astheyhavedon’thaveaccesstootherdevices(suchasatablet,laptop,oradesktop).Moreover,10%havenoWiFi(specificallybroadband) athomeotherthantheirdataplanfortheirsmartphone.Finally,7%havebothnoWiFiathomeantheirsmartphoneistheironly device.d
2
Note,asthetableontherightshowyou, thisdigitaldivideisnothavingthedevice,buthavingaccessforstudentsofcolorandstudentsofpoverty.Ofthose18-29(typicalcollegeagestudents),15%onlyhaveasmartphoneforInternetaccess(orare“smartphonedependent”).Disproportionatelymoreminoritygroups,andthoseclosetopovertyaremorelikelytobesmartphone-dependentusers.
Moreover,51%ofsmartphone-dependentusersfrequentlyoroccasionallyuseuptheirdataplanbeforetheendofthemonthcomparedtothosewhohaveotherInternetaccesspoints.
So,cautiontousifwethinkstudentswilldotheirhomeworkinsteadofFacebook neartheendofthemonth.
Moreover,whiledigitalliteracyisprevalentamongstudents,notallhaveavailableaccesstotheInternet.
3
Ourquestionis,canwetakehowstudentsdeveloped theseliteracieswiththeirsmartphonesandadaptthatknowledgetonewcommunity,an academiccommunity?
Toward thisend,wedevisedaDigitalTechnologyLiteracyAutobiographysurveytooltogatherinformationaboutstudents’past,present,andfuturetechnologyuse.
4
The theoreticalfoundationweareusingforintegratingDigitalTechnologyLiteraciesintoacademiaisLeaandJones(2011)researchframeworkusedtoexaminestudentsuseofdigitaltechnology.Theydevelopedauseful“researchmodel”ofthefactorsthataffectmeaningmakingwithdigitalliteracies.
• Participants – howstudentsareintegratingdigitaltechnologyintotheircoursesthrough“digitalapps”
• Modes - what“texts”thatarebeingaccessed(broadlydefinedasprint,audio,video,graphic,gestural,multimodal;(Cazden,Cope,Fairclough,&Gee,1996).
• LiteracyPractices – whatarethe“situatedtasks”orpurposesforwhichthestudentsareusingthedigitalliteracyappsincludingphysicalorvirtuallocation,institutionalandsocio-culturalconstraints(Street,2003)
Then,theinteractionsbetweeneachofthesethreefactorsresultingin“meaningmaking.”
5
Towardthisend,wedevisedaDigitalTechnologyLiteracyAutobiographysurveytooltogatherinformationandmakestudents’awareoftheirpast,present,andfuturetechnologyuse,howtheydevelopedtheirliteracies.
Thesurvey,whichisavailableatDigitalTechnologiesLiteracies,asksquestionssuchas:
- Whatwereyourearlyexperienceslearningtousedigitaltechnologiesanddigitalspaces?Whatkindofdeviceswereyouusingandforwhatpurposes?
- Howdidyourvalueswhenusingdigitaltechnologiesanddigitalspacesdevelop?Whoandwhatinfluencedtheseusesandyourvalues?
- Describeyourtypicaluseofdigitaltechnologiesanddigitalspacescurrently.Arethereotherdigitaltechnologiesandspacesthatyoudon’tuseorvalueregularly?Why?
-Inthefuture,imagineandexplainhownewdigitaltechnologiesandspaceswillbeusefulandhowwillyouvaluetheminthepersonal,academic,andworkareasofyourlife.Howwillyouadapttoandvaluethesenewdigitaltechnologiesandspaces?
6
Thenextfewslidescontainanexampleof aDTLAwrittenbyoneofAmarilis’studentsinlastspringsemester.
6
Thisstudent’sfirstmemories involvingtechnologywerefromkindergarten.Asyoucansee,sheincludedtaperecordersandoverheadprojectors.Sheexplainedvariousgamedevicesandnamedquiteafewvideogames:Tetris,Sonic,TheHedgehog,PacMan,Mario,Contra,StreetFighter.Shealsodiscussedusingadisposablecamerabecauseshelikedhowthepicturesdevelopedinstantlyandthenumberofpicturesleftonthecamera.
Note,howshereferredtoinformationsources(suchasherteacherorherfriends)forhowtolearnthesetechnologies.
7
Continuingwithpastexperiences,shereminiscedabouthaving nomobilephone,butusingafriend’sortheschool’sofficephonewhenneeded.Here,weseemoregraphicsthatgiveanindicationofherevolutionintheuseoftechnology:fromhandheldrecorderandWalkman withheadphonestocomputers.Shewroteaboutherfirstexperiencewithacomputerwasintheseventhgrade,andrememberinghowshe lostherfirsteverUSBkeyandtheburdenttosavetoafloppydisk.Interestingly,therecalledhowtheclassroomtechnologychangedfromprojectorsandchalkboardstoTV/VCRscreensonacart.
8
Shespentquite abitoftimewritingaboutpasttechnologyuseincludingmovingtosocialmediatoolssuchasMySpaceandFacebook.Iimportantly,forher,wasthepointwhereshewasabletoupgradeagamingsystemstoXbox360 andPlayStations.Alsoimportant,washerdiscussionofhowtechnologyintheclassmovedfromprojectorsoncartstotheteachersusingsmartboardsandclickers.
9
Currently,incollege,shewrote abouthowshenowownsa computer,acellphone,and hasseveralsocialmediaaccounts.Shebelieves“Wi-Fiisoneofthegreatestinnovations”andislearningaboutvariousresourcesinthearea,likethosethatprovidefreeinternet.
Note, shedid notdiscuss muchaboutwhatrolesheexpectstechnologywillplayinherlifeinthefuture.Still,thisDTLAgivesmeaverygoodindicationofhowliteratesheisabouttechnologyandhowithasprogressedovertheyears.
Wecanusethisinformationtomakeaconnectionbetweenthestudent’suseoftechnologyingeneralandsocialmediainparticularasweencouragecriticalreadingstrategies.
10
• Wecanturn,therefore,fromexamples ofcriticallyreadinginformationfoundonasocialmediasite,suchasFacebook anddemonstratehowtousethosesameskillstocriticallyreadanacademictext.
• Wecanshowthestudenthowsimilarelementsareusedtocriticallyreadbothtexts;infact,wecanarguethattheonlydifferenceisthedeliverysystem.
• Oneisdeliveredviaasocialmediatoolandtheotherviaatextbook,academicjournal,orthroughotherwrittensource.
11
- The goalistohelpstudentsrecognizethedifferentelementsinatext. Forexample, thestructureofanarrative,whichisdifferentfromthestructure ofanexpositorytext.
- Also, ourgoalisthestudentsunderstandthestructural elementsthatarepresent(e.g.,macro-structuresspecific toeachgenre)andseeingtheparallelismbetweenmulti-modaltextandtextbooks.Inmanyways,itisadifferentdeliverymechanism(ingraphic,novel,TVshow,Advertisementetc.)
- Bymakingstudents awarethattheyalreadyhavetheknowledgetocritically readbasedupontheirdigitaltechnologyhistory.
- Wewanttohelpthemunderstand thatitworksinasimilarfashionforcriticallyreadingworksinahistory,philosophy,orbiologybook,for instance.
12
Letmeputon myteacher’shatnowtoshowyouhowweteachalessonguidingthestudenttounderstandthetranslationofdigitalliteraciestoacademicliteracies.
As anexample,considerteachingyourstudentshowtocriticallyreadFacebook postsfromtwodiametricallyopposednewssources:FoxNews andTheHuffingtonPost.
ThesevideosarepostedontheFacebook pagesofeachofthesenewssites.TheyaresnippetsofCongressionalproceedingsthisweekwiththepresidentofPlannedParenthood;Ms.Richard.Forbackgroundinformation,theCongressmanwasveryinterestedintheorganization’sbudgetnumbersthatshowedthemoneywasnotbeingusedasindicatedbytheorganization.Duringanintenselineofquestioning,Ms.Richard’slawyercameupandwhisperstoherthatthenumbersarenotfromPlannedParenthoodbutfromanotherorganizationthatmayormaynothavefabricatedthenumbersfortheirownagenda.
Thisisimportantteachablemomentwheretheycanapplytheircriticalreadingquestions.
13
Inmy(Amarilis’)classthisweek,Ibeganmyvisualanalysisunit.ThisawarenesslessonwiththesetwovideosisoneIwillusewithmystudentsnextweek.Thesevideoareeachlessthanaminutelong.Iwillaskthemtowatcheachvideooneatatime.Aftereachone,Iwillaskthemtoconsiderandwritedownsuchcriticalreadingquestionssuchas,
Whatisthepurposeofeachvideo:-- HereyoucanseeIcircledthetextthatspeakstothepurposeofeachvideo-- -- FoxNews isinterestedinshowingthattherewasaconfrontationbetweenaRepublicancongressmanandthepresidentofPlannedParenthood-- -- TheHuffingtonPost isinterestedinhighlightingthequestionabledatausedbythecongressmantomakeanargument
Whoistheintendedaudienceofeachvideo;-- forthesesiteswecanlooktothenamesoftheorganizationsputtingouttheinformation;Ihavethedasheddark-orangelineshere;-- -- eachofthesenewssourceshasaveryspecificaudience.Iwillworkwithmystudentstopulloutwhotheybelievetheaudienceisforeachofthesesites.-- IexpecttohearthatFoxNews isaconservative,largelyRepublicanvotingaudience,andtheHuffingtonPost isamoreliberalnewssitethatinthiscaseistryingtopainttheRepublicansinanegativelight.
14
-- NoticethattheFoxNews sitebringsattentiontothecongressman’sstatementaboutanincreaseinabortions.Fortheirside,theHuffingtonPostbringsattentiontowhattheycallthecongressman’sflat-outlied.
14
Asfarastheclaimbeingmadebyeachauthor, inthiscasetheauthoriseachindividualnewssite
-- Whethertheinformationthecongressmandependsonisquestionableornot,
-- -- FoxNewswantstomakesurethewordsareouttherethatmoneyisgoingtosomethingotherthanwomen’shealthcare;
-- -- theHuffingtonPost wantstomakeclearthatRepublicancongressmencannotbetrusted,bothsitesstandfirmlybehindtheirindividualagendas.Iputagreensquarearoundwordsthatcanhelpstudentsdecideontheclaimeachauthorismaking.
So,let’sdothesamecriticalreadingwithanacademictext.
15
Byanalyzingavideotext,IbegintomovemystudentsfromdigitalliteracytoacademicliteracywhenIintroducethemtodoingthesamethingtheyjustdidwiththetwovideopostingswithatexttheymayfindintheirsciencetextbook.
Workingwithatextthatrequiressomemorethoughtandcarefulreading,thestudentscandeciphercriticalreadingelements,suchas:
- WhatisthePurposeofthetext?Herethepurposeisunderlinedinred.Itisanargumentfortheimportanceofphysicsandwhatthefieldofphysicsprovidesforhumanity.
- Whatistheclaimtheauthormakes?Inthiscase,theauthormakesanargumentforscienceasimportantbecausehumanshaveaninnateneedtomakesenseoftheirreality,theybelievethereisanexplanationforthethingsthathappenorthatthereshouldbe,thisisexpressedinthelinesIunderlinedhereindarkgreen.
- Iunderlinedinyellow thetextthathighlightswhytheauthorismakinghisargument. Thisisprobablyaplacewherethestudentscanmakeaconnectiontothetext;thedesiretoknowandunderstandwhatishappeningaroundthem.Here,wecandiscusstheconnectionsstudentsmaketothistextandhowthiscanconnectbacktothosevideopostsbecauseisitpossiblethatboththosenewsoutletsand
16
thissciencetextaretryingtosellusaveryspecificviewoftheworld?Itisourjobasconsumersoftexttoreaditcriticallyandexaminealltext withoutmakingadistinctionbasedonthedeliverysystemused.
16
Next,let’sseehowwecanbuildondigitalliteraciestodevelopwritingliteracies.
I willaddress:
• AffordancesofTextingvs.E-mail
• DigitalTechnologyinstructionalconstraints
• E-mailvs.Texting:Howwouldyoudoit?
17
-- Let’sbegin withthe affordancestextingande-mailprovidestudents;thatis,theopportunitytocommunicateindifferentcommunities.
-- Textingallowsstudentstocollaborateinaninformallearningcommunity,whilee-mailisframedaroundaformallearningenvironment.
-- Dependingonthesituationanduseofdigitaltools,certainvisualandaudiocuesarealsoavailable.-- -- UsersofWeb2.0toolsmayreadandwritemorewordsinadaythantheirunconnectedpeers.
-- Textingcangenerateamoreinstantaneousorfasterresponse
-- Finally,textingaffordsaconversationwherebothproducerandconsumercanbeactiveparticipants.
18
-- Whiletextingisfaster,andallowsstudentstowriteinanon-standardlanguage,theymaystilllacktheskillsnecessarytocommunicateinanacademiccommunity.
-- Thinkaboutthis:Whyisitimportantthatstudentsknowhowtowriteaproperemail?
-- Acoupleofexamples:Communicatingwithprofessors,administrativeassistants,applyingforgraduateschool,andcollaboratingintheworkplace.Additionally,studentshavetheopportunitytoproofreadandspellchecktheiremailspriortosending,whichallowsthemtocommunicateinamoreacademicandprofessionalmanner.
19
Texting: Textingallowsstudentstocommunicateinaninformal,non-standardcommunity.Theycanusetextlingo,emoticons,pictures,forexample.Thetextmessageontheleftiswritteninalanguagemostofusprobablydonotwriteinonadailybasis.EventhoughJohnisaskinghisclassmatewhatthehomeworkis,associety,wenormallydonottalkinabbreviations.Whiletextingaffordsstudentsinstantaneouscommunicationinaninformallearningenvironment,withaudioandvisualcues,whatbenefitisitprovidingthemacademically?Asyoucansee,textingallowsstudentstosendmessagesinabbreviations,buteffectivelycommunicatingisaproblem.(TWshouldbeTY).However,usingtextinglingoinanacademiccommunityisnotcommonpracticenorappropriateinmostsituations.
Email:Whiletextingisfaster,andallowsstudentstowriteinanon-standardlanguage,theymaystilllacktheskillsnecessarytocommunicateinanacademiccommunity.Think about:Whyisitimportantthatstudentsknowhowtowrite aproperemail?Acoupleofexamples:Communicatingwithprofessors,administrativeassistants,applyingforgraduateschool,andcollaboratingintheworkplace.
20
Priortoincorporatingdigitaltechnologyintoyourclassroominstruction,youshouldconsidertheinstructionalconstraints.Students’abilitytoproductivelylearnandmultitaskislimited.• Somestudentsmayusetextingasameansforprocrastination.• Limitedabilityandaccessincertainenvironments.• Searchability:Studentsmayhavetodigdeepertoaccessinformationandknowledge.
• Unknownifstudentsaretakingfulladvantageofemails.
21
We wanttohelpthemadapttheirnonacademicliteraciestobuildacademicliteracies.Thinkaboutworkingwithyourstudents.
Whywouldyou,asaprofessor,be askingthemtosendyouanemail?
• Request dateandtimetomeetwiththeinstructor.• Whattimeareyouavailableandwhy?• Whatclassareyouin?• Subjectline• Nameonthetitleoftheassignment• Thankyou
• Howmightyoucomposethate-mail?
22
Howhaveyouanysuggestions howyoumightusestudents’digitalliteraciestobuildacademicliteracies?
Anyquestions?
23
Herearesomeresourcesforyou.
24
Recommended
