Making Connections…and Changes

Posted on December 1, 2013 by cdirks

In reflecting on this course from beginning to end, I find myself with a much better picture and time-line of the process from oral language to the forms of text we use today. Ong (1982) wrote about oral cultures and their ability to preserve knowledge without the ability to write, and how that increased the need to develop memorization skills, oral histories, and the importance of conversation and social speech.    Early styles of writing were developed as cultures had the need to express their thoughts and ideas in ways that would preserve their knowledge, which in turn progressively improved with the invention of papyrus and writing tools.

Moving the calendar ahead to present time we can see the larger picture of the journey from orality to literacy, and to the multi-literacies we recognize today as part of the more commonly recognized 21st  Century Learning Skills.   As we   explored the multi-literacies described by the New London Group (1996), I can see the importance of re-defining writing and literacy for the 21st century students I am teaching.

Throughout this course I have had the opportunity to discover how these multi-literacies can be implemented and integrated into the curriculum I teach every day. Using the course weblog to publish my work, and to see the work and ideas published by my peers has given me the opportunity to express my learning along side of my peers. The blog also provided me with a chance to reflect on my work based on the responses and perspectives posted by my readers.  I found the final project by Grant Sorensen and Andrew Lemon,  Media Representations of the Attacks on the World Trade Center,  inspired me to reflect on the ‘image’, and how it can be used not only to describe an event or moment in time, but can also be purposefully  used to evoke an intentional literary response.

I explored several different web 2.0 tools such as, Toondoo, slidebomb, smilebox, among a few others, as I tried to find ways to express my work in other media.  I found it most useful to see how others used web 2.0 tools to present their work, as it inspired me to venture a little further to try out new tools.  My group presented our final project with Prezi, and I find myself still searching out resources for ways to make future use of it smoother and less tedious.

Over all, my discoveries in this course have lead me to delve deeper into finding creative ways to inspire my students to write for their audiences. My students need to be prepared to write and communicate in very different ways and for very different purposes than when I was their age. I realize that as technology changes, and our global community grows, the needs of my students’ will change. My challenge will be to model and inspire them to be communicators who can respond to, and evoke response from, their global audience.

Chenoa Dirks

References

Ong, Walter. (1982). Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. London: Methuen.

New London Group. (1996).   A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures.    Educational Review, 66(1), 60-92

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Making Connections: ‘I write therefore I think. I think therefore I am. Who am I?’

Posted on November 30, 2013 by ween28

Making Connections

“the late age of print may also become the late age of prose itself” (Bolter, p 213)

I have come to the conclusion, after all the readings and explorations we’ve done, that my initial response to Ong’s Orality and Literacy was accurate.  The evolution of writing as a technology is not as linear a progression as it might appear.  It is a spiral, or rather a coil, of ever changing oral and literacy skills wrapping around each other in increasing amounts of tension.

We have examined how writing has evolved from the earliest cave drawings, friezes, scrolls, codex, novels, been influenced by radio and television and final reinvented by the internet.  While the web is primarily text based, it too has seen the encroachment of the visual, in maps, pictures, and finally video.  Chapter 9 of Bolter’s Writing Space addresses literacy from a philosophical perspective, that being that literacy is necessary for sophistication and abstract reasoning. (2001) This raises the question, in my mind at least, that if we are moving away from writing and back towards the visual are we also moving away from sophistication and reasoning?  Bolter states that our ability to reason in writing is what sets us apart as it can be uses to actually create the mind. (2001) So Descartes’ claim could be paraphrased to ‘I write therefore I think.  I think therefore I am.  Who am I?’  We are the author of our own inner text but does the decrease use of text mean that we are somehow less than our old philosophical incarnations?  Personally, I don’t think so.  I think we are simply in a period of flux and change. 

While Bolter argues that hypertext  technologies “lend themselves more readily to the construction of the self as a social agent rather than a reasoning machine” (2001, pg. 128), I believe this a short sighted response to relatively new technology that has not yet evolved in to its full potential.  We are already seeing that social media is being used to network likeminded people to further their professional development, such as the unofficial MET community on Google+.  Other apps offered by Google allow peers to collaborate and explore new ideas both in text for and through face to face interactions (Google Doc. And hangouts).  TED Talks, one of my personal favorites, proves that sophistication and reasoning can exist without writing.  There is no question that writing had been an important part in the changes the human mind has undergone, but is it because of the act of writing and rewriting, or was it the ability to record and pass down information through the ages for analysis and re-examination?  Now we find ourselves back in the coil of ever remediating knowledge through orality and literacy.

Like this spiral staircase, it is hard to see exactly where we came from, what steps we took and where exactly we are going, but it’s an interesting journey nevertheless.  Is the late age of print the late age of prose? I don’t believe so.

 Personal Reflection on the Course

Throughout this course we have used multiple spaces for authorship and have seen how those spaces can add something to the writing itself.  We each chose our preferred mediums for expression when authoring new material for the affordances they offered and how they might enhance our topics.  One of the challenges I found in ETEC 540 was the multiple spaces we used.  While they added educational value and experience to the course, there were simply too many (Blackboard, Weblog, Social Book) for me to manage effectively this semester.  I valued seeing the work others contributed to the Weblog, but the layout made it frustrating to navigate and see contributions at a glance, which is one of the features I enjoy in Blackboard, scanning titles and names and starting with familiar people’s work or those with catchy titles, something I was unable to do in the Weblog format.  Social book was a great experience, but I felt I was repeating work, namely highlighting and margining the readings, which I had already done on my printouts.

In addition, I was disappointed by the amount of time we spent on the history of writing and the emphasis on philosophical thinking and discussion about it.  As a teacher, I was looking to this course to help me make concrete changes to my approaches on reading and writing, rather than attending so much to theory.  I found as a student, I was left to construct my own learning, once again.  I would have rather the course dealt more directly with the use of technology in the delivery of the reading and writing curriculum. Finally, I find it continually ironic that so much of our learning in the MET program is text based readings rather than the myriad of other resources available.  Why are other technologies and mediums not being taken more advantage of?  Readings need to be streamlined and other mediums used to reflect the goals of the MET program.

References:
Bolter, Jay David. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print [2nd edition]. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Ong, Walter. (1982). Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. London: Methuen.

Postman, N. (1992). Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology. New York: Vintage Books.

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Making Connections… A Final Reflection

Posted on November 30, 2013 by emonks

ETEC 540 – Text Technology Reflections:

Although I found this course presented me with some personal challenges, mostly in the form of the amount of reading, I also found the course to be relevant and interesting. Looking back and reflecting, I realize just how much I’ve learned and how these pieces fit into my personal pedagogy. It has allowed me to reconsider and change not only how I present information to my students, but how I can offer that they present information and demonstration of their skills to me.

Before embarking on the ETEC540 journey, I had found it hard to make a solid shift in my concept of literacy, from reading and writing in the form that I had grown up with, to what I was noticing from my students. Each year, as I see my next group, I have thought to myself that they are becoming less and less literate, their writing lacking what I had expected for their grade level. However, as we have progressed through Text Technologies, Ong (1982) has helped us to explore primary oral cultures, through the ages, to today’s version of literate cultures. Readings by Postman (1992) and Bolter (2001) have allowed me to reconsider this, and my previous understandings, and have helped to lead me to see how perhaps we are not becoming less literate, but how we view literacy is changing. Some feel that the written word is disintegrating however, when we browse the internet, we quickly see this is not the case. It is the form that has changed.

Current technologies, such as some that we have explored and even used in ETEC540, have demonstrated how tools, from papyrus to cellphones, typewriters to digital story-telling programs, and the internet, have changed the way that we can communicate with others. Not how we are necessarily forced to. With each change, whether small or large, is brought about by advantages and challenges, pros and cons. If the benefits outweigh the challenges, we/society adopt the change. If not, it either falls to the wayside or becomes modified and adapted until it is advantageous to utilize.

When I reflect on the literacy around me in all of its forms, I am no longer in the same struggle with my concept of “What is literacy?” and “Am I doing enough as a teacher to promote literacy in the students whom I work with?”. With all of the changes evidenced through history, I know that only time will tell where we are headed, and will be based on what our ever-changing definition of literacy is at any given time. Be it the long flowing, thoughtful texts and beautiful, artistic scripts initiated many centuries ago, or the shortened versions and multimedia presentations witnessed today, each needs to be considered as literacy and communication with society and the world around us.

References:
Bolter, Jay David. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print [2nd edition]. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Ong, Walter. (1982). Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. London: Methuen.

Postman, N. (1992). Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology. New York: Vintage Books.

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Making Connections

Posted on November 30, 2013 by dchrisman

When I first thought about making connections throughout the course, it seemed very daunting.  There was so much material in the course, and I feel that personally my thoughts and perceptions changed so much throughout the course, that it can be difficult to make sense of them all.

When I look back on originally my thoughts on literacy and technology, I believed that literacy was the written word that we wrote.  And I viewed technology more as computers, tablets, smartphones, mostly computerized gadgets.  It is interesting to have what has been engrained in my mind by my school board and government as what is considered technology and what is literacy.  I’m sure that when I am asked in job interviews what technology I’m going to use in class, the last answer they would expect would be a pencil.  Or the idea of changing the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test to have computer literacy on it, would never cross EQAO’s mind.

It was interesting to go back in time when orality was prominent and writing wasn’t “invented”.  I think that we assume that writing is already something that has just been around forever, and never stop to think what it would be like without it.  I know that I look at students today and their go to is to look things up on the internet, whereas when I was younger I remember going to the library and looking for books and using the encyclopedias.  Never did it cross my mind that somewhere along the point these books were a new idea, and the printing press was created so that they could be made with ease, and people thought that new generations had no idea what life was like before that, since this was all I knew.

Showing how all these technologies evolved into the fast paced digital age we have today was a real eye opener.  It was interesting to see how items we take for granted were once these amazing technologies.  It was also interesting to see how with every technology there comes a fear, and negatives along with the positives.  It happens with every technology, although personally there are items that I couldn’t see a negative for.  For example, a book, or a pencil, or an overhead projector, but at the time these inventions were radical and changed how people communicated.

And that was something that fascinated me as well.  To really stop and think about how these inventions changed society, the education system and communication.  Every new invention did change it in some way, however, some were more subtle than others.  Because I have been raised in the digital age, and I’ve seen how much digital technology has changed communication, education, and society as a whole, I have never paused to think about the technology that came before it.  The changes we see now, must have been similar to how society felt with these previous changes.  It was eye opening to really put today’s modern technology into context of life altering changes in the past.

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Making Connections

Posted on November 29, 2013 by lindsayn

The following is a link to the Prezi I made on making connections: http://prezi.com/aafzw3jwhqgg/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy.

Lindsay

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Making Connections – The Negotiation Continues

Posted on November 29, 2013 by Kim Wagner

Prior to the course, I already felt strongly about the idea of different communication modes having importance in our society as outlined by the New London Group (1996) which recognized methods of representation as significant and interrelated. Their continued focus on refining this conceptual framework is an important piece in continuing to examine the nature of our communications which is still rapidly changing, so we can continue to renegotiate what it means to be literate today. I am still convinced that literacy is far more encompassing than textual communication, including oral, visual, spatial, and gestural meaning; however, I cannot deny that that I am not concerned about the apparent decline in writing skills that I have witnessed in my 16 year teaching career.

Initially, I had a strong reaction to Postman’s (1992) comments about children not being able to read and/or not being willing to read because he was responding to a real, current concern in society. I struggle with the idea that we are becoming less literate as opposed to the nature of literacy and communication is in transformation.  In trying to renegotiate a balance between text and other modes of representation, on one hand, I think that there is going to be a changed (possibly every-changing) power dynamic between text and visual; but, on the other hand, I feel concerned with the diminished writing ability of students and feel strongly that it’s the main basis for strong communication. Ultimately, though, I think there is greatest communicative power in using them together. In renegotiating modes of communication, it’s not surprising that students have weaker writing skills (for grade level) as compared to the past when text was at the forefront of learning. I believe that ‘weaker’ skills are actually delayed development because we have borrowed time from writing activities and given them to other modes, for example, posters, audio recordings, photo essays, videos, etc.  Instead of seeing skills as deficient, could we not possible see them as different? Digital storytelling and podcasting are meaningful modern modes of representation that are a part of the new technological literacy that is arguably equal in importance to textual literacy (Chu & Graves, 2013). Film is a significant visual form that has built upon our rich history of narrative and resulted in highly evocative products as narrative is combined with spectacle (Aubanel, Dickens & Wagner, 2013). According to Chenoa Dirks (2013, Final Project), digital writing forms have multiplied and become more social in nature: blogging, texting, email, social positing, and collaborative writing. People are actually writing more than ever before but are not concerned with formal grammar and spelling. There is an increased focus on keeping it short and ‘to the point.’

I struggle with the idea of this situation being a concern or not as the world is quite different since modern communications, digital technologies, and mass media have developed; however, in higher learning, writing skills are still at the forefront being highly important to the learning and research process. Not everyone is destined for higher learning; thus, we all have different literacy needs. I was guilty of simplifying the issue which is multi-faceted and complex.

Rebecca Harrison (2013) makes the statement, “There have always been changes in literacy when new technologies are introduced, many people will fear and question these changes, but we may not know the impacts of them until after they have changed us (demonstrated through our research projects posted on the Weblog and through our readings)” (Making Connections). The ongoing remediation between text and other mediums as a result of technology is uncertain and presents questions that we should actively address during this ongoing cycle of change, so we can best understand the change and impact on society. Aristotle’s distrust of the written word in favour of oration is comparable to our discomfort with new ways of communicating today (Seventh Letter). The old, traditional form holds power in its current position and the new is viewed as threatening. Renegotiation – or change – is always uncomfortable and uncertain. I look to the future with optimism as we seek to redefine what it means to be literate in our time (Cope & Kalantzis, 2009; New London Group, 1996), and as we remediate this change by determining how we can better use new communication forms.

References:

Aubanel, M., Dickens, J. & Wagner, K. (2013). Cinematic Impact on Literacy and Education.  ETEC 540: Text Technologies [blog].  Retrieved November 25, 2013, from https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540sept13/2013/10/27/cinematic-impact-on-literacy-and-education/.

Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2009).  “Multiliteracies”: New Literacies, New Learning.  Pedagogies: An International Journal, 4(3), 164-195.

Dickens, J., Dirks, J., Gill, K., & Quigley, S. (2013).  Writing and Typing in the Modern Classroom.  ETEC 540: Text Technologies [blog].  Retrieved November 25, 2013, from https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540sept13/2013/11/24/writing-and-typing-in-the-modern-classroom/.

Harrison, R. (2013).  Making Connections:  An Overview of Literacy and Technology.  ETEC 540: Text Technologies [blog].  Retrieved November 25, 2013, from https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540sept13/2013/11/25/making-connections-an-overview-of-literacy-and-technology/#comment-1758.

New London Group. (1996).   A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures.    Educational Review, 66(1), 60-92.

Plato.  (360 B.C.).  The Seventh Letter. Retrieved November 25, 2013, from http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/seventh_letter.html/

Postman, N.  (1999).  Technopoly:  The surrender of culture to technology.  New York: Vintage Books.

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Making Connections: Reading the Cloud

Posted on November 29, 2013 by benferrel

Well, the first time I published this post it came out blank, and I always have a hard time producing a reproduction of a previously written and lost work, but I’ll try.

What does the title of this post say to you?  To me, it provides a thread to connect the ideas we have explored throughout the duration of this course.  It’s my last post of the course, so please allow me the metaphorical lenience to explore how reading the clouds might provide a way to interpret the vast shifts in communication that have occurred throughout history.

Beginning our class with the establishment of oral versus literate cultures through the tenuous theories of Ong provided a starting point to consider the impact of technology on culture.  Through Ong’s lens, expressions such as “head in the clouds” are residual pieces of our oral culture histories, providing easily referenced forms of meaning where a lack of written records created a reliance on epithets for social memory.  It was even suggested that the cognitive structure of an oral culture was different from a literate one in that information and communication in an oral culture was experiential, creating a far stronger bond between an individual and their environment.

However, as further readings began to soften the distinction between orality and literacy, a theory of multiliteracies began to emerge that postulated for a resurgance of orality in our digital era.  Framed through the analysis of the history of printing technologies, the determinism of our cultural forms became a contested topic between cultural and technological determinism camps.

Regardless of your position on the topic above, I think it is clear that our culture and the technologies that it uses are always in flux, and our perception of our reality is shaped by the combination of both.  Returning to my metaphorical tool-of-a-title, it is apparent what types of implications this may lead to.  When I say reading the clouds, what stands out to me is that as a kid I was certain that no one else could see what I saw in the clouds.  Whether it was an elephant or a submarine, by the time I had explained to a friend where to look, the atmospheric winds had turned it into something different.  Our observations were subjective, our reality was our own interpretation of our experiences and those of others.  However, a modern usage of “reading the cloud” conjurs thoughts of infinite information, completely accessible and objective.  Although we all know through our relationships that our reality is still completely subjective and uniquely our own, the notion that the objective truth is only a google search away is slowly creeping into our psyche, and this will certainly impact future generations.

I work in adult literacy, and so I thought I would make a word cloud using an RSS feed from the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy.  What do you see?  I see a submarine.

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Making Connections

Posted on November 29, 2013 by grants

As an instructor of adult ESL students, I found the study of orality and literacy very valuable and informative for understanding my learners’ strengths and challenges. Currently, I’m teaching students whose orality is much higher than their literacy, both in English and their first language. Their listening and speaking skills are much stronger than their reading and writing ability because they have had limited years of education, and what schooling they did have was largely oral, with little exposure to print. Many of them struggle to read basic text or write complete and correct sentences, but speak quite fluently, even eloquently, at times. It was informative to see some of this behaviour reflected in Ong’s descriptions of oral cultures.

Although I am a language instructor and avid reader, I had never contemplated the development of text and all the incremental steps involved. Therefore, I enjoyed tracing the development of literacy from papyrus scroll, codex, manuscript, to new media. On the surface, it’s hard to believe there is a connection between these seemingly disparate writing spaces, but the readings and discussions showed they were revolutionary for their time and each an important step in the development of reading and writing. Living in such a print rich environment where so much of our attention is directed toward text and visual communication, we take for granted the existence of text and images. Therefore, it was fascinating to see the journey from orality to multiliteracy, including the “secondary orality” of radio and television, to the ubiquity of electronic writing and rebirth of the visual that we are experiencing today.

Observing low literacy students using new media is both predictable and eye-opening. Of course, their struggles with paper-based print carry over to electronic media, but some have surprisingly sophisticated navigation skills and are competent at following hypermedia to find the information they need. Students who are not able to follow paper-based text and complete the required tasks are sometimes able to do so on computer using links and icons. Their comprehension may improve due to the decreasing ratio of text to visuals since the images make content more concrete and decrease the amount of text required to relay information. Also, since sites are navigated by easily recognized icons, and audio and video content is increasingly accessible, these students may need to rely less on print literacy skills. However, to maximize these benefits, students must receive training and practice in developing their multi-literacy skills. When I look back at my introductory post, I can see my definition of literacy was focused solely on reading and writing on various platforms. I now see that it is much more complex than that and must include the skills to search for, analyse, assess, manipulate, and use information effectively.

Have a great break, everybody!

Grant

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Rip Mix Feed

Posted on November 29, 2013 by mrsingh

Rip Mix FEed

  • What motivated you to explore the appliction(s) you used?

I originally was going to use Pixton to create a comic because I have used it before.  As I went to login under the educational license that I had originally signed up for, I realized my 30 day trial had expired.  I was then prompted to pay.  So, I decided to try ToonDoo.

  • What have you attempted to achieve in your project?

I attempted to re-create a conversation I had with a student a few weeks ago.  I wanted to show some students an example of some of my former student’s artwork.  The only picture I could find was one that was on my Instagram account. I showed them the picture briefly on my smartphone, and next thing I know it they were all trying to follow me on Instagram.  What a mistake! I was amazed at how they were able to remember my Instagram name even though they had only seen it for a matter of seconds.

I overheard some of them talking about how many followers they had on their accounts.  Many of their numbers were in the hundreds.  Clearly they weren’t close friends or even acquaintances with most of these people,  but they all seemed to give social value to those students who had more followers.

  • What are the particular affordances (for knowledge mobilization, learning, etc) of the form of production you’ve selected in relation to previous forms of production we’ve considered in this course?

It is fairly easy to use and gives you many options to choose from.  I think it would be a great activity to use with my students as a way to show their understanding of a particular topic that we had discussed in class.  The first activity that came to mind was making a political cartoon.  Rob Ford is a topic that I think the students could have some fun with.

  • What are the potential drawbacks?

Some of the drawbacks are that there are certain features that you don’t have access to on the free version. But, for the most part it seems like it would be a valuable tool to use with my students.

 

Mike

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In closing, a Visual to Connect

Posted on November 28, 2013 by rahdube

Although part of me has known this fact for a while, our journey from ‘Papyrus to Cyberspace’ has solidified for me the fact that I place great importance on visuals that accompany text. At first I thought that this preference might be based on my personality, learning style(s) or any number of reasons. Having been introduced however to the link from ‘Orality to Literacy’ I see now that visuals have been an integral part of formal communication for centuries. Images, illustrations and ‘illuminations’ have been there from the beginning. In fact some might sight cave paintings as first examples of written records.

So it is not hopefully, too far of a stretch then to end with some words accompanied by a visual, made up of words.

These words comprise the major ideas and names that have impacted and altered my thoughts along the past 13 weeks. In visual form, they will be able to quickly remind me of their inter-relatedness and interdependence. Here, there is a ‘Breakout of the Visual’ which ‘Connects the Visual to the text’ by way of a ‘Rip.Mix.Feed’ that I have seen elsewhere but, up until now, never explored myself.

In time I will revisit this visual and it will surely assist me in making the connections we collectively explored in this course.

Best wishes and good luck to all,

Ryan D

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