Literacy and Reseach Guide for Technology Based High School

Type of Literacy	I Can…	I Can Use…
Traditional	ü  Read ü  Write ü  Speak ü  Listen	§  Text §  Voice §  Ears
Information	ü  State what information I need ü  Find information needed ü  Determine if the information is acceptable ü  Use the information I found	§  Computer/iPad §  Google §  Scholarly Articles §  Khan Academy
Visual	ü  Understand images ü  Make images	§  Powerpoint §  Prezi §  Makerbot §  Solidworks
Critical	ü  Question information I’ve found ü  Examine the purpose of the text ü  Challenge questionable information	§  The Onion (Other Satire News) §  Blogs §  News Sites §  Memes (Social Media)
Media	ü  Create a media message ü  Understand media messages ü  Question media messages	§  Social Media §  Schoology §  E-mail §  Discussion Boards/Blogs
Tool	ü  Organize information ü  Create information	§  Computer Programs (word, notebook, drawboard, excel, powerpoint, google docs)
Digital	ü  Use digital technologies ü  Use communication tools ü  Use networks to create information ü  Use networks to evaluate information	§  Computer §  Smart Phone/Cell Phone §  Social Media §  Schoology §  Makerbot Printers
Data	ü  Read and understand information ü  Read and understand statistics ü  Summarize data ü  Communicate data	§  Excel, Google Sheets §  Newspaper §  News Articles
Global	ü  Understand global issues ü  Speak about global issues	§  News Sites
Economic	ü  Make smart economic decisions ü  Understand the connection between personal, business, and government economic decisions ü  Understand the effects of economic decisions	§  News Sites §  Stock Market Data
Civic	ü  Participate in local/regional/worldwide events ü  Make informed decisions ü  Stay informed about local/regional/worldwide events	§  Global News Sites §  Local News Sites §  National News Sites

Research Process:

1.       Determine what information you need.

2.       Gather the information from a variety of sources

3.       Analyze the information. Is it valid?

4.       Communicate your findings.

5.       Use the results of your findings.

Resources:

Schrock, K., Literacy for the Digital Age. From: http://www.schrockguide.net/uploads/3/9/2/2/392267/literacy_defintions.pdf

Social Media, Cell Phone Use, Technology, and School Interview

The following is an interview I conducted with my 15 year old cousin. She is interested in going to college for design and fashion. She actively participates in school functions. She plays on the volleyball team and she is in chorus, select chorus, and show choir. She also is on stage crew for the school musical. 

While conducting the interview, I found it interesting that she thinks she spends only 3-4 hours using technology a day. She says that they use laptops in almost every class and that she is required to use the Internet for homework. So I wonder what she constitutes as technology. I also thought it was funny that she thought of Facebook as an app before thinking of it as a website. When I first used Facebook, it was not an app at all and only available via the Internet as a website. The times have changed rather quickly. 

It also felt like I could have been interviewing myself, she does her research on a product before even going into a store and pretty much only goes into the store to test the product before making a purchase and rarely going to get information on it. 

She is very wise, too, when it comes to the benefits and implications of using social media. She realizes that it can be used as a great tool as well as the fact that it can be misused easily. 

What really surprised me during the interview was her opinions on technology in school. She is definitely not a huge fan of using the laptops in the classroom. She made it clear that she values having the teacher to have conversation with or just to absorb information from them. She didn't have suggestions on how to use technology in a more beneficial way. This was strange for me because I work in a technology based school. It made me wonder if my students don't value the education that they get from the technology as much as they would if I were to use direct instruction, or  if I were to have conversation with them about it. She made it seem like the relationship with her teachers is absent due to the constant use of technology within the classroom.

Internet Use:

11.       How much time a day do you use technology?

3-4 hours, a lot at school

22.       How much time do you watch TV daily?

An hour or two, not much

33.       What sites do you visit most often on the Internet?

Google classroom, newsela

44.       What apps do you use most on your phone?

Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat

55.       If you had to choose between a tablet and TV what would you choose?

Tablet because you can do more with it.

Technology/Devices:

11.       Do you research devices before you purchase them? What do you look for when researching?

Yes, I mostly look at the reviews and if people have it, what their opinions are about it, the price or the best place to buy it, I like to look at the “specs”, does it have a good camera and a good battery? But I really want to read the personal reviews to see if it’s something I will want.

22.       Would you buy a new phone/tablet/laptop without experiencing it first in a store or from a friend?

No, people can lie in reviews. But I also want to get a feel for it or make my own personal opinion about it before I get it.

Social Media/Communication:

11.       Do you ever feel like your parents are distracted by social media?

Wait, my parents? No. (laughs)

22.       Do you ever think your parents think that you’re distracted by social media?

Yes.

33.       How do you communicate most with your friends?

Snapchat

44.       Do you think social media/phones have an effect on teens ability to by empathetic? Have a face-to-face conversation?

Yes social media makes it easy to judge someone based on pictures and shared images/links. People make assumptions through about people they don’t know through social media.

People don’t know how to talk in person anymore they would rather text or tweet.

55.       Do you think there are benefits of not having a face-to-face conversation?

I think there is a benefit to being able to wait to respond during a conversation.

You can think about the discussion before responding. I think it is really good for people with anxiety.

66.       What benefits do you think social media will have on your future? College/Job? What implications?

I think you can see what other people’s ideas are. You are able to see around the world at what other people are doing and get ideas from them. You can get ideas from anyone which is very influential.

In response to implications:

It’s a short route to cheating. Instead of looking for ideas, people are taking people’s ideas and using them as their own. Social media could get in the way of getting jobs or meeting people. It seems like people have no imagination and that they can’t think for themselves with is not a good thing.

77.       Do you think privacy is an issue with social media?

Yes, there is not a lot of privacy. I can find out anything about anybody by searching them. But I keep things private on social media to avoid that.

88.       Do you think there should be an age limit for cell phones? Social media?

Yes. They have to be mature about it first.

How old do you think they should be before they have access?

13 – 14 years old, that’s how old I was. I think they should earn their parent’s respect first, like I had to do.

School:

11.       Do you have teachers who allow you to use your phone in class? What do you use it for?

Yes. Look up simple things for projects. Get ideas for projects, research, get in touch with my parents if I need to by texting them.

22.       Do you have teacher who do not allow you to use your phone in class? Do you still use it?

Yes. No, because I give them respect. If they ask me not to use it in their room, I respect that because they must have a reason.

33.       Do other students use their phone in those classes?

Others do and probably social media or fool around. I don’t understand why though. Their friends are usually in the same class and they will still be texting people in other classes.

44.       Do you use any technology during your school day? What?

Laptops for the whole day. Everything we do is on them.

55.       Do you feel like your teachers utilize technology to its fullest potential?

Kind of, I feel like with the laptops you lose the learning ability. Sometimes you want people to talk you through how to do something instead of figuring it out on the computer. You miss the face-to-face conversation.

66.       How can your teachers use technology more effectively in the classroom?

Don’t know in what ways but I wish it wasn’t on the computer. I don’t actually talk to the teacher anymore. It’s hard learning new things without the teacher and in new ways.

77.       Do you feel like you remember more by reading a book, or reading on a screen?

Book.

88.       Do you use Internet for homework? Is it a requirement? What happens if someone doesn’t have Internet at home?

Yes I use it and yes it is a requirement.

If they don’t have Internet at home they have to stay after school. It would be useless to take it home. 

Media for Social Construction (Week 8)

I must say, I was off to a slow start with this blog post after watching the two recommended videos. But after watching them a second time, and browsing through the other interviews, I became enthralled in the discussions. I even chose to post one on my Facebook page. It was a bit difficult to follow the lecture by Dr. McLuhan about "Living in an Acoustic World". And I think it was because he spoke on the topic from a point of view that we are not familiar with. Although he did bring up some major points about society that still apply today, and I believe that it applies on a larger scale.

One of the topics that stuck out to me during this lecture was when he was telling jokes and talking about the way they change. It probably resonated with me because I love telling jokes. He talks about how jokes changed from having a story line to being one-liners, because that is all anybody has the attention span for. I think this really applies to today in the sense that people don't have the attention span to focus on something longer than a few seconds. This can apply to so many mediums, not just for a joke. He discusses this concept in a few of his other interviews as well. I really enjoyed his interviews about television and news media. In his interview, "What Television Does Best," he discusses the fact that in news/television media, "there is no follow through," "there is no sequence," "it's just all now." He's basically discussing how television media throws information at its viewers and jumps to the next topics. There is no rhyme or reason to the way the information is presented, and it is only presented to touch on the surface of the topic. Rarely does the coverage go deep into the topic, exposing all of the details involved. I think that is what he intended to be his analogy with jokes; that we only want to hear a punchline, and not the entire story to go with the joke. Get to the good stuff and leave out the rest.

Some other bits that caught my attention while looking through Dr. McLuhan's interviews was the one titled, "Violence as a Quest for Identity." Immediately while watching this interview it didn't bring me into the past, it brought me to the here and now. If you haven't already viewed this interview, I suggest you do. It brings to light the way that media gives identity to those seeking it. While I was watching it, I couldn't help but think about the movements going on right now in support of Black Lives Matter. While I'm not going to debate this topic, I want to discuss it briefly in relation to this interview. Many times we can see protests in our news feeds on social media, where people are being destructive in the name of this movement. Many people, like myself, will say that these acts of violence and destructive behavior do not reflect the black lives matter movement, but they are gaining attention based on their actions. Whether it is good attention or bad attention, they are still getting views on social media and on news media. McLuhan states that "all forms of violence are a quest for identity" and I truly believe that. He even discusses terrorists and hijackers, these people were without an identity until media exposes their story. I could go on with examples of people performing acts of violence to get attention from the media as I'm sure anybody could. It seems like it's all we see on the news. Snippets of badness it seems is all we see on the news, in social media, and in the newspaper (if there are people that are still reading it).

I could go on, talking about all of these interviews, but that would make for one long blog post. I hope to hear what you all think about the interviews as well and maybe a discussion will stem from it. In all seriousness, if you didn't look into the other interviews, you should definitely check out "What Television Does Best," "Violence as a Quest for Identity," and "Predicting Interactive Communication via the Internet"

I keep returning to the "requirements" for our blog posts, and the question about whose responsibility it is to teach critical media literacy. And honestly, I'm not sure whose responsibility it would be in these cases. People want to be a part of the news, they want to feel important; and if that is at the expense of their individuality and private life, they will do whatever it takes regardless of being taught how to view media, whether it is social media or news media, or other, through a critical lens.

References:
http://www.marshallmcluhanspeaks.com/
Marshall McLuhan Speaks Special Collection: Living in an Acoustic World
Marshall McLuhan Speaks Special Collection: Television News Is a New Mythic Form
Marshall McLuhan Speaks Special Collection: Violence as a Quest for Identity
Marshall McLuhan Speaks Special Collection: What Television Does Best

Youth Involvement in Trying Topics

Raquel Racuero's video snagged my interest a few times. They addressed the degree to which individuals are involved in discussions on social media, such as Facebook. Discussing the prejudices involved in Brazil was certainly interesting too, and how traditional media is trying to keep up with the topics that are being discussed on social media. They even go into the consequences and effects of sharing personal information on social media. These are all topics that are extremely significant, not only in Brazil as they are a new democracy, but also to any other developed country with access to the Internet and social media.

Greg Tuke, brought up the first question after Racuero's presentation about the depth to which people are involved in debate or discussion online. This is also something that I have been curious about. Many times when I am on social media, the conversation around major topics seem lacking in "nutrients." People are quick to state their opinions about something but don't necessarily respond to what others are saying. It's more of a place to state concerns and opinions, but not so much a place to have a rich and dense conversation or debate on a topic. Many times, people will think they are debating, but if you were to take the conversation that is taking place it would sound like a bunch of segregated thoughts and opinions and won't seem to have much of a direction, and it can often times be repetitive with multiple people stating the same opinions. Hearing this section of the video made me think of a quote Stephen R. Covey that I recently read while on Facebook, which reads, "Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply." This quote also seems true for things that are read on social media. We are more concerned with putting our on input on a topic, that we do not take the time to reflect and understand the other side of the debate or discussion. To make any sort of social interaction effective, we must have more in depth conversation. One of the issues brought up about debates on social media for Brazil, was the point made by Racuero that many people are hesitant to post comments on controversial topics for fear of being criticized. Which is somewhat different than something you may see in the United States. It seems that everyone is willing share their opinions on any topic even if they may receive criticism for it.

The other topic I found interesting was that of the prejudices that are now coming to light in Brazil due to the activity spike in social media. Again, as stated by Racuero, "I don't think social media is creating the problems, I think it is showing the problems." And I think this is an unbelievably true statement. If you are to watch any video on Facebook, and read the comments section. Everyone is posting opinions and even the silliest video can spark a debate surrounding a problem. Granted, those may not be valid debates, meaning they aren't exactly mainstream. But at the same time, it is addressed that the traditional media cannot keep up with the topics that are being discussed on social media. There appears to be such a great number of issues that are being brought to light through social media that traditional media is falling to the waste side due to the fact that they are unable to accurately portray each issue that is discussed on social media. They may be able to discuss the major, or "trending topics," but there are so many that they are unable to touch. My concern with this fact is that people may not think that their issue is being recognized and may feel certain prejudices against them because of that, and perhaps have the feeling that their issue is not important. There are pros and cons to being able to discuss issues on social media. A pro being that you are able to publish your issue; a con being that it may not be deemed a big enough issue to gain traditional media attention.

Lastly, the issue that I will always discuss when it comes up. The issue of privacy, and sharing too much information on social media. How do we make it clear that there are major consequences of sharing too much personal information on social media? Racuero mentioned the fact that her daughter's entire life is within the walls of social media. How can this possibly be a safe practice? So many people freely share information about their families, children, and activities. Racuero points out that there is good social media and there is also bad social media for lack of better terms. It is a simple point that she makes about good versus bad media, and there is a very fine line between them. I don't think there will ever be a way to keep social media a productive discussion space. And, I don't think that it is something that should be sought. Everyone has the right to share their opinion, but they will also face any risks or consequences that stem from sharing their opinion.

References:

Racuero, R. [Connected Learning]. (2014, June 17). Digital Youth, Social Movements, and Democracy in Brazil. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cYnoJ6Hjd4 and http://connectedlearning.tv/raquel-recuero-digital-youth-social-movements-and-democracy-brazil.

Week Three: Networked Publics Thoughts

I found this book difficult to get into, mainly because I didn't understand a significant amount of the terminology. But, once I made my way further into the text, it was easier to understand some of the concepts being addressed. I think the topic in the text that finally made it "click" for me was in Chapter 2 when the music industry was brought up. The first chapter had me somewhat confused on "place," but I want to look further into it to gain more understanding.

Chapter two helped clear up some uncertainties I had regarding terminology. I had been searching the text for tools and techniques that were being put into practice. I had this goal in my head, yet I couldn't seem to figure out what I was looking for. I knew that what I read had a list of new techniques, I couldn't see, however, how they were put into practice. Peer-to-peer was one of those practices that I was having trouble with. Recently, at school, we had to discuss our technology policy with the students about peer-to-peer file sharing such as BitTorrent. When we discussed this, I had no clue what they were talking about. The music industry discussion in this chapter helped with this disconnect. Since I can remember being on the computer, if I wasn't downloading music, my brother was. Before getting music on the computer, we purchased CDs, the internet, however, made accessing music very easy and convenient. We rarely used iTunes to purchase music, and found various ways of getting free downloads. P2P file sharing makes for an easy way to access almost anything through the internet. It does have it's downfalls though.

As stated in the text, "The emergence of P2P was an obvious threat to corporations that perceived file sharing as theft of their intellectual property." (p. 51). While I downloaded music for my own enjoyment, I rarely thought that what I was doing was illegal, but I did feel that I might have been cheating the system in some way. As mentioned in the text, "music industry's revenues plunged," (p.50) and they continue to today. I personally know a few musicians, and they know the struggle of trying to sell music. Many people expect the music to be free when they find it online, but they often don't recognize the time and effort that goes into producing the music; something I didn't realize when I searched for free downloads. File sharing can be misused across the board. Individuals have been using other musicians work in their own songs for decades, that is nothing new. However, this file sharing is now being battled with copyrights. Sampling, quoting, and remixing songs is making it difficult for some original artists to be able to make money off of their pieces. "There is a very real problem of artists being able to make a living through their music." (p. 51).

Additionally, the distribution of music has changed drastically. No longer do people need professional recording studios or to be signed by a record company. They have the ability to produce and distribute their own music. They have access to how to produce their own music and what equipment they will need. All they would have to do is read a few articles online, and scope out a few blogs to figure out what they need and how to use it. After they produce their own songs, they can easily share what they have made through almost any social media platform. Anyone can use "social networks [to] spread new and unknown artists to their friends and their friend's friends." (p. 54). I know from a variety of friends that this method has been effective; I have helped share music for friends, and I have been opened up to new music from friends. When the music is shared on a social media platform, I almost feel like people will be more willing to pay for their music, because they will feel a different type of connection to these musicians, than those that you don't know personal connection. Blogs and other platforms are used by musicians, too, in order to "market" their personalities and their music.

I feel like I am only skimming the surface with this topic, and I hope to become more fluent in it soon. It is easy to see that the internet is making many things (more than music) convenient for consumers, but it is also making things more complex for bigger companies, businesses, and corporations. Corporations are trying to control the way information is consumed, but at the same time, consumers are trying to control the way that same information is accessible. It's a two way battle that seems like a tug-of-war contest. I can see a lot of things going on with this book, and I want to get more of a handle on it. I'm hoping that through discussion with the others taking this course will help me get a better understanding of the tools, techniques, and skills being mentioned. Additionally, I am looking forward to reading other blogs about this reading. I feel like I am aware of many of the issues mentioned throughout the text, but I want to hear how they are applied to these tools and techniques. I'm still working on clearing up some confusion, but I feel slightly better after reading about the music industry and how I can relate to it in some way.


References:

Varnelis, K. (2008). Networked Publics. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.

Week 1 Post: New Literacies as a Social Practice

"The distinctive contribution of the approach to literacy as social practice lies in the ways in which it involves careful and sensitive attention to what people do with texts, how they make sense of them and use them to further their own purposes in their own learning lives" (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p. 9).

Literacy is not often thought of a social practice but more of something that you work toward through education. Lankshear and Knobel (1992/94/97) caught my attention when they stated "Literacies are many, not singular" (p. 76). I feel that people normally think of literacy as being literate in mathematics, or in different forms of sciences,  being able to read and write to convey a message, reading a book and being able to analyze it and summarize it. However, our world's definition is expanding exponentially. Within the past couple of decades, this shifts in literacy have been a challenge for many people on a multitude of levels. 

If I think of my own life, I can remember before being in pre-school that I could turn on my father's computer in his office and start up a CD-ROM computer game, a task that he had to attempt multiple times before he was successful. Not only are there generational gaps in these new literacies, there are gaps between cultures, social statuses, and economic statuses. 

On a cultural level, I can think of the students I have had that were refugees. In the country they came from, they were literate in a variety of modes. They could understand their government (whether or not good things were happening), they could understand the injustices that were present all around them, and on a basic level of literacy, they could read and write to convey a message and understand a text. But upon entering a new country, they have to meet new standards of literacies. We don't notice all of the ways in which they must become literate in our society. We certainly don't recognize the literacy surrounding technology, which was mentioned throughout Durrant and Green's article, we take our technologies for granted, when to many refugees, it may be a new source for texts. It is a challenging shift from using texts in our lives for an informative use only, to using text to deepen our understanding of the world around us and have purpose in our learning lives. I can understand two different viewpoints on media literacy that were brought up in "Critical Literacy and Active Citizenship." First, it was mentioned that through texts and images, we are "able to become more active citizens, eager and competent to engage in forms of social transformation" (Lankshear & Knobel, 1992/94/97). I feel like this is the mindset of many people who come to our country; they want to make change in our society and they need to be able to read texts, understand texts, process texts, and use that to mold their opinions. We need to be educated to make significant change. On the other hand it was discussed how "the more information people have of their world... the more powerless they often feel" (Lankshear & Knobel, 1922/94/97). I know that from talking to many of my students, they feel that they are powerless, even if they have the ability to vote. But, they are not the only ones that feel that way. My students have not been exposed to many texts regarding the world around them, including their own world and government. Even people that have read texts and understood them, feel that with the knowledge they have gained about the happenings in their lives, they have no control over what happens, or as Lankshear and Knobel say, they lack "sociological imagination" (1992,/94/97). Even with all of the texts we have available to us, we all make sense of them in different ways which makes literacy as a social practice a very complicated concept. 

Having multiple forms of texts available is a gift to education in general. It is now possible to teach and learn through so many different modes. My students are in a very technology based classroom where it is necessary for them to use different forms of texts. They may utilize a video, a physical manipulation, an on-screen manipulation, an article, an illustration, and so much more. For them, they are not just receiving information, they are gaining a deeper understanding of everything surrounding what they are learning. They are using all of these different modes to solidify their understanding on a single topic. It is amazing to see how they are able to use multiple forms of texts to solidify their learning. These student are moving away from a traditional approach to texts, "such as books [that] have strict order at various levels, and given entry-points" (Gillen & Barton, 2010). They have shifted from the old norms and have moved into the new norms of "multimodal texts, with their organisation on visual principles, and their multiple entrypoints [that] offer and even expect the reader to construct the order of reading for her/himself" (Gillen & Barton, 2010). In an essence, these students are creating designing their own learning lives; they have the ability to learn in almost anyway that suits them. It is quite an amazing shift in education, and society in general.


 Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2011). Literacies: Social, Cultural and Historical Perspectives. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

Gillen, J., & Barton, D. (2010). Digital Literacies. Retrieved from:  http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/33471/1/DigitalLiteracies.pdf.

Durrant, C., Green, B.( 2000) Literacy and the new technologies in school education: Meeting the l(IT)eracy challenge? The Free Library (June, 1), Retrieved from: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/literacy and the new technologies in school education: meeting the...-a063132991.