Image used with permission from Anne McColl.
Regardless of whether are not the stats above are true, it’s hard to deny the power of this visual. What I like most is that even though on first glance, I think, “yes that’s a visual image” it’s really mostly text, presented in a visual way.
As discussed by Bolter (2001), printed text has long dominated visuals throughout history. What did this domination mean for the consumer, or reader, of this text? According to Kress (2005), it meant that the reader had to follow the order created by the writer, “needing to interpret the word-signifiers, turning them into her or his signs” (p. 9). In other words, the writer had control, and the reader had to follow along and attempt to decode the author’s intent.
Take Kress’s example of the electrician book. The young readers of this book were meant to follow along, chapter by chapter, regardless of their individual interests. The text was meant to be read cover to cover, where “the reader has to follow the strict order established by the writer” (Kress, 2005, p. 9). The author of the electrician book claims to know what the reader wants, without regard for their different backgrounds or cultures or experiences.
Recently though, there has been a “readjustment of the ratio between text and image in the various forms of print … and the refashioning of prose itself in an attempt both to rival and incorporate the visual image” (Bolter, 2001, p. 48). Kress (2005) discusses this transformation and says how where once the author had all the power, now, with so much choice, it’s the interest of the reader that rules, depending on their interests and needs.
I see this remediation from printed text (where the author ruled) to multimodality (where the reader rules) paralleled in recent educational transformations. Education and teaching methods used to be all about the sage on the stage. The teacher was the authoritarian “transferring” their knowledge to their students, with students not having much or any control over their own learning. Same as the case of the reader of printed text, where they had to follow the order established by the writer. Fast forward to today, where constructivism rules the day, and teaching is much more centered around the learner, offering them the opportunity to choose their own paths to learning.
When thinking of constructivism and learners building their own knowledge, I was brought back to our last couple weeks reading about hypertext, and how hypertext gives us the ability to pursue our interests and not have to follow a linear path that’s been designated by someone else. Like Bolter (2005) said, “instead of strict subordination, we have paths that weave their way through a textual space.”
I loved reading about Vannevar Bush’s ideas for the memex. Although he wasn’t exactly describing hypertext as we know it today, I found many striking similarities between the two. What I enjoyed most about this article was his claims that such a device, where any and all information is available at our fingertips, will make us smarter. This debate is still going on today, just replace “memex” with “Google.” As we’ve seen throughout this course, any time new technology or forms of media are introduced to society, they are met with either pessimism and predicted to be the doom of humanity, or optimism and will be humanity’s saviour.
This brings me back to Kress and his call to critically reflect on the distinct potentials and limitations of new media. It’s neither doom and gloom nor utopian ideal, but our ability to critically engage with various modes of representation that will benefit our pedagogy.
References
Bolter, J. D. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print [2nd edition]. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Bush, V. (1945). As we may think. The atlantic monthly, 176(1), 101-108.
Kress, G. (2005). Gains and losses: New forms of texts, knowledge, and learning. Computers and composition, 22(1), 5-22.
McColl, A (2014). Why words + visuals rule. [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.annemccoll.com/blog/why-words-visuals-rule
Zale Darnel
July 24, 2018 — 7:27 pm
Great post Katie!!
I love your “sage on the stage” comment because I find that so true that education is changing and that no longer is it about “drill and kill” or “stand and deliver” as you said, it’s more like a choose your own adventure.
When I was reading your post it really made me think of the movie Wall-E. For anyone who has not seen it, the concept is that humans are useless, because they have progressed so far that they no longer need to do anything for themselves any more. I think that fits with your last paragraph, that the technological changes that are happening in the world today can be viewed as doom and gloom, or a utopian waiting to unfold. However, in reality these changes really mean that we just need to “critically engage” with what is going on and work to insure students are prepared in a world that is changing more rapidly than ever before.
I was fortunate enough to hear BC Deputy Minister of Education Scott Macdonald speak in the first week of July at a course I was taking at UBC and he presented a lot of data on how the changing trends in technology are driving the direction of education and forcing us to adjust the way we have always done things. I wish he has shared his slide deck, because some of his stats were fascinating. The truth is that the work world that our students will enter will be vastly different than the one we entered. The idea of teaching students’ facts and knowledge has shifted to teaching students how to communicate, think and know themselves. The hard part will not be shifting the students, the hard part will be shifting the teachers.
Thanks for a great topic of discussion, I could discuss this tons more, but will leave it at that.
Zale
sara segovia rocha
August 10, 2018 — 5:39 pm
Hi Katie,
It was great to read your post! The first image definitely got my attention and persuaded me to keep reading.
I also find very intriguing how we have the possibility to navigate through digital information in a variety of reading orders that differ to the linear, static and hierarchical mode of printed text.
According to Bolter, the connections of a hypertext constitute paths of meaning for the author and the reader. “Each topic may participate in several paths, and its significance will depend on which path the reader has traveled in order to arrive at that topic.” (Bolter, 2001, pp 39). I think that it is through these paths of meaning that as readers we are able to develop different orders of reading that are triggered by associations. In contrast to the printed text, where the reader uses the fixed order of an index that had been outlined by the author.
Gary Small and colleagues’ study, for instance, explores how the brain of middle-age and older participants respond when using an internet engine. The results found that compared to reading text, internet searching “increased activation in several regions of the brain, but only among those participants with internet experience” (Small G, G. W., Moody, T. D., Siddarth, P. & Bookheimer, S. Y. 2009, 17), in other words those who were digital literate. Based on the regions involved, this study suggests that internet searching alters “brain responsiveness in neural circuits controlling decision making and complex reasoning” (Howard-Jones, 2011). These findings emphasize the influence of hypertext and multimodality in reading modes and thought process.
On the other hand, I also agree with you that “it is neither doom and gloom nor utopian ideal, it is always important to analyze the potentials and limitations from this medium. Multimodality and hypertext do not guarantee full success to enhance thought processing and learning but they are valuable resources from the digital space which requires a judicious usage and the development of appropriate skills from the user to enable learning.
References
Bolter, J.D. (2001). Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print. Routledge.
Howard-Jones P. (2009). The Impact of Digital Technologies on Human Wellbeing. 23-24.
Small, G. W., Moody, T. D., Siddarth, P. & Bookheimer, S. Y. (2009). Your brain on Google: patterns of cerebral activation during internet searching. 116-126.