Hi All,
In order to make this a useful reflection and connection piece, I will try to pull out some key themes that resinated with me during this course and make an important connection between the ubiquitous nature of text and it’s impact on us.
Orality
- I believe that orality and oral cultures are extremely valuable.
- When we converse in direct face to face environments, trust emerges and deep connections are made.
- Oral cultures debate, learn, collaborate, connect, trust, and value environments in deep and meaningful ways. Text itemizes and dehumanizes. There is a lot of value in a face to face meaningful conversation
- Tradition and culture flourish in oral settings
Literacy/Writing
- Writing fulfills a desire to store information for later use
- All writing is valuable and important
- Writing must be learned . . . not natural
- Printing Press
- Innovative
- Brought text, knowledge and information to the masses
- Striped the power of information from churches
New Media
- Open source. Anyone can be an author
- Information available as hypermedia
- Connection to “global communities”
- We gain knowledge/information in a non linear fashion.
- We decide how we want to view/digest the information we seek
- Social Media = Collaboration
How have various communication technologies modified reading and writing practices situated in education?
- The gradual remediation of text has slowly (lately very rapidly) shifted the power/control of knowledge from a position of authority (teacher) to input and control shifted to the user (student). This shift in authority is showcased in the new BC Ed Plan’s view of teacher as a facilitator & guide
Finding Balance And An Ethical Lens in Text Based Societies
We are constantly surround by and engaged in text technologies and new media environments. Because of the omnipresent nature of current media and text technologies we can sometimes feel overwhelmed by the constant “need” to be connected to people and communities across the world. I believe that we miss or don’t spend enough time considering the impact the fast paced remediation of text has on the individual. With this in mind I would like to pose the following questions:
- How do we handle and make sense of our busy and globally connected lives?
- How do we find balance?
- What do we value?
- What text/media do we trust? What bias?
These 4 Youtube videos help focus me as I try to ethically manoeuvre throughout the multifaceted world of new media technologies.
Tim Cook – Collaboration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZPYLZ7I6gs
Simon Sinek – First “Why” Then Trust
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VdO7LuoBzM
Graham Hill – Less Stuff More Happiness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8YJtvHGeUU
Nigel Marsh – Life Work Balance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXM7MpoVAD0
Best
Steve
Steve,
Thank you for sharing your impressions of the course. As I read through the different themes you suggested, I could not help but reflect over our major project assignment.
First of all, I really valued the orality of my group as we met together physically and virtually to discuss our project ideas. My partners taught me a lot and meeting face to face helped to establish trust and foster deep collaboration. Writing and Literacy also took place as we constructed/shared knowledge through email, Google docs, and a website. As I completed my part of the work, I kept coming back to the written information that we had stored for reference. Thirdly, engaging with New Media allowed me to gain knowledge in a non-linear fashion and create my own content.
Overall, I appreciated how this course was designed to facilitate our learning. The professors provided focus for our learning and guided us with readings and feedback on our posts and assignments. However, we were the owners of our learning, having freedom to explore topics and create content.
With regards to your question about what we value, two things stood out to me as I reflect over my online learning experience. I appreciate the expanding research and literature that is being made available online. Living in a foreign country where I do not have access to a library with English material, I am thankful for online databases and the ability to search for what I need. Secondly, while reading others’ blogs and participating in online discussions are helpful, the face-to-face environment is still a necessity for me. My understandings are solidified when I get to talk them through with others. Literacy and orality are integral to my learning and New Media allows me to connect with both on a daily basis.
Heidi