Article Review - Week 9 Assignment

Research on blogging and its ability to positively effect reading comprehension for college level students is limited as it relates to new media technologies.  The article, “The Impact of Using Blogs on College Students' Reading Comprehension and Learning Motivation,” presents findings on this limited area of study.  Ultimately, blogging correlates with higher retention rates and improved class discussions.  However, the data did not support the assumption that blogging would positively correlate with higher reading performance scores.  As an educator, what I find to be the most critical conclusions from this study is how the integration of new media technologies in the classroom such as blogging can positively impact the learning experience in terms of retention and peer engagement. 

In thinking about common core shifts, specifically the focus on information rich texts and writing tasks, I don’t believe blogging offers the best forum for producing this type of work.  My opinion is based on personal use of blogs in the higher education setting, which I see used to express opinions and spark dialogue more than provide a forum for research and the development of reading comprehension and writing skills.  As mentioned by some of the professors in the study, they too still preferred to give students personalized feedback in a hard copy format as it related to the development of students’ reading and writing skills.  Blogs were mentioned as being a helpful tool, but would not dictate the way in which the courses were structured.   With that said, I feel as though blogging could shift into meeting this need if a new model of interaction is developed. 

I found this area of research important as it relates to the assessment of students growing up in the digital age, specifically how technology can negatively impact reading and writing skills as assessed through traditional models.  I believe, the next area of research should focus on the outdated models of assessment as it relates to students who are actively engaged with and utilize new media literacies.

Digital Storytelling Project

Please check out my digital storytelling project, "What is Printmaking?"  I enjoyed working with iMovie and plan to continue utilizing the program in my classroom.  I selected printmaking as a topic, as I saw an opportunity to create a video I could utlize for my Creative Crafts course.  The intended audience is 9th-12th grade students.  

What is Printmaking?

Book Builder Project Take Two

Here is another link to the book builder project:


http://dl.dropbox.com/u/60651445/58398-Playing_With_My_Thoughts-en-us.zip

UDL Book Builder

I created “Playing with my Thoughts” after I attended a workshop on an anti-bullying program we will be incorporating in the middle school next year.   Students will meet weekly to discuss issues surrounding bullying as well as other topics of concern.  In thinking about the hesitation of middle school students to share their personal feelings about their lives, and I came up with a journal that could aid and assist the various teachers who will be responsible for facilitating this program in their classrooms.  The journal establishes writing prompts or idea starters for students as a way of connecting with themselves, which will hopefully help them, connect with other students.  In my conversations with an ELA teacher, she often describes the hesitancy of students to begin any new activity.  She describes it as a lack of play or desire to explore the unknown without her direction.  This type of journal or sketchbook is a great resource to get students motivated and reflecting on their ideas and feelings.  She even saw the journal as having daily or weekly relevance in the classroom as a DO NOW or DO LATER activity.  UDL Book Builder she agreed was a great resource to use in the classroom.  Publishing books would not only give students more ownership over the work they were creating, but she saw it as a bridge between the school and the community.  Students could create books that they could share with the elementary school or that reflected a current issue or topic occurring in the community.  Other teachers in the school could use the same format as the journal I created, but change the types of prompts, asking students to consider their thoughts on any number of topics relevant to the specific course they were taking.  Emma, the avatar I used for the book, also provides additional prompts that help students think about what I am asking them to write about.  

UDL Book Builder - "Playing With My Thoughts"

 

Uses of Second Life in an ELA Classroom and Avatar

Using Second Life was a bit intimidating.  I immediately felt concerned about the environment I was in, as I did not know the individuals who were present.  As a teacher, I would have an issue with this feature because I could not adequately monitor the interactions between the avatars.   Also my computer seemed to have difficulty uploading the various screens and there was a long time delay in each of the environments.  There is a steep learning curve I still need to cross over to feel comfortable making best use of the program.

After discussing Second Life with an ELA teacher, she suggested using the various environments as writing prompts for character development.  Students could create avatar characters and through the interaction with a specific environment, students can develop the voice of the character with more certainty as they are constructing the experiences they will be writing about.  She also suggested using Second Life as an alternative to class discussions.  So often students are too shy to participate, but this environment provides a public forum in a more private setting.  In addition, she also had strong concerns about outsiders being able to impede upon her learning environment.  Overall she was excited about being introduced to something she hadn’t heard about before and was interested in exploring other virtual environment programs.

Week 7 - Article Summaries

“Theories and Practices of Multimodal Education:  The Instructional Dynamics of Picture Books and Primary Classrooms”

By Dawnene D. Hassett and Jen Scott Curwood

The article, “Theories and Practices of Multimodal Education: The Instructional Dynamics of Picture Books and Primary Classrooms” details multimodal education, a new shift in understanding how 21^st century learners receive and interpret information.  Awareness and a focus are placed on the interpretation of how information is presented in a digital society versus the print-based education of the past.  Students need to decode image and text relationships, while teachers have to adopt new roles to help facilitate the learning process.  New teacher roles include maintaining reliable resources for student use, adopting a co-learning model between student and teacher, and consulting with students to provide feedback and a broader perspective.  Multimodal reading places importance on the various design choices made in the presentation of a book, specifically the use of color, line, shape, or texture to help construct meaning.  I find the crossover between ELA and art significant and fascinating.  Art students learn about the elements of art (line, shape, color, form, texture, and space), and principles of design.  Students take these concepts and learn how to critique and evaluate art based on the combination of these elements and principles.  Critiquing art and multimodal reading comprehension utilize the same skills.  Any visual learner can tap into these skills to better inform their comprehension process.   

"Using the ADDIE Model to Design Second Life Activities for Online Learners"

By Shiang-Kwei Wang and Hui-Yin Hsu

Second Life is a virtual environment, created with the intent to improve online learning motivation. Constructivist theory states that knowledge is constructed through experiences unique to the individual.  Second Life addresses the gaps in shared experiences in a virtual classroom environment, specifically student interaction. The constructed environment offers a unique, shared experience amongst students, which as the authors suggest, can positively effect the learning environment and desired learning outcomes.  The authors also describe some of the drawbacks of Second Life, which includes hardware issues of space and upgrade requirements, as well as public accessibility and limitations for creating secure environments.  Second Life definitely addresses a new educational need.  Online classes offer accessibility, however they often lack connectivity to the group.  Creating an environment that fosters collaboration in a natural way is a challenge due to the physical level of disconnection.  Second Life offers a solution to this problem.  The authors note the importance of goal setting when implementing Second Life in a learning environment.  The purpose is not to throw a technology tool at students for the sake of using one.  Well-constructed goals and outcomes should be established first to determine the benefits of creating a shared environment and experience. 

Game Scenario/Script - School Safey

Below is a link to a PowerPoint presentation on a game scenario which involves school policies and procedures. 

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/60651445/Game%20Scenario.pptx