1. This link is toward Jennifer R.’s Task 1- What’s in your bag?
https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540jenniferr/2021/01/15/task-1-whats-in-your-bag/
Jennifer chose her music bag to share her contents and it contained many musical tools, instruments including a microphone and cables.
I think Jennifer’s experience is different than mine as it is a bag of one of her passions and hobbies. I really like that way that Jennifer shared that her narrative of her bag actually conflicts with the one that she projects to the world. Music is a different community in her life. I resonate with her experience in this as I feel that sometimes other things in my life also outweigh my priorities. Certainly, things that are more of a hobby or activity which I would like to pursue and practice more of (eg. playing the piano). Jennifer had a microphone in her bag and in my purse that I chose to share, I had a mask. These text technologies are in a way opposite in how we choose to communicate. Jennifer’s microphone amplifies voice and enhance the volume in dialogue/communication while on the other hand, the mask in my purse, muffles the voice and can make it much harder to communicate because we can’t see someone’s mouth moving. Being able to read someone’s lips when they speak is very helpful in interpreting and understanding what someone is saying (not necessarily the content but the actual words themselves).
2. This link is toward Brendan Stanford’s Task 4 Manual Scripts Assignment:
I selected Brendan’s Task to link to because he chose the option to write a manual script and not the potato stamping, which I chose for Task 4. I wanted to hear about his experience and compare it with mine. I agree with Brendan that writing is a form of mindfulness. It is deliberate and there is intentionality behind it.
Our hands and minds are used to move objects. Typing on a computer is very tactile and both hands are being used whereas when handwriting, only one hand is being used to write. With the left and right hand typing memorized keys for our fingers, our brain is challenged to mindfully write our context meanwhile tell our fingers which keys to type. When handwriting, I think muscle memory is still used, as it takes our muscles to form the letters with the tools such as, pens, that we use to write.
With the students in my class, I have observed their handwriting and each is unique (as with anyone’s handwriting). The variation of student penmanship had me wondering about what handwriting might mean for someone’s personality. I find it very interesting that I can usually guess which students work is whose especially when they forget to write their name on their work. Their handwriting suits their personality in a way. I did a brief search and came upon this article where a graphologist, someone who analyzes handwriting to determine personality, was interviewed and described what to look for in someone’s handwriting when determining personality. There are many things to observe in someone’s handwriting that determine their personality such as, size of letters, pressure of the pen, connection of letters and even how you dot your i’s!
Here is the article: https://www.insider.com/what-your-handwriting-says-about-you-2014-7#dotted-is-
In thinking about the future of writing and it’s evolvement, I was reminded of a Ted Talk that I once viewed about how our hands can be used for creative expression with computers. Extracting the points from this Ted Talk is that there is physical feedback where someone manipulates objects. This could be an example of what Bolter (2001) discusses as remediation where we might be shifting from one medium to another in technology. As writing has evolved from handwriting, letter press and printing technology. This video offers an insight into how we might use our hands to express our ideas with objects on the computer interface.
If muscle memory in our hands is used when handwriting and typing then what other muscles or loss of memory might occur if we were to move toward this (the hands on technology) type of new technology?
Here is the Ted Talk link: https://www.ted.com/talks/james_patten_the_best_computer_interface_maybe_your_hands
References
- Bolter, Jay David. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print[2nd edition]. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
3. This link is toward Jennifer Li’s Task 5 Twine Assignment:
I chose Jennifer Li’s Twine Task to link to because I found that her experience was very positive using Twine and that we could both incorporate Twine into our classrooms, especially as a fractured Fairy Tales unit. I also chose Jennifer’s Twine task ,as I could make connections to her experience with my own.
I like Jennifer’s idea and having students map it out on paper first. Often students get so caught up and excited to use technology in our class, that they forget the intention of the assignment or task. I think taking an approach and dialing it back a few steps, just as in history, to using paper first, can really help students slow down and get the concept and meaning of the task. In Chapter 3 of his book, Writing Spaces: Computer, Hypertext and the Remediation of Print, Bolter (2001), compares how electronic writing is like hieroglyphics. Students are more exposed to writing using pictures. Bolter (2001) continues to say that hypertext can depend on the computer’s capacity to select text as an element in expanding vocabulary. I definitely felt that when creating my own Twine, it was a challenge to highlight text that I thought would be helpful with chosen vocabulary, as well as provide the reader with the appropriate text to highlight as their choice. So defining the links in hypertext and ensuring that the reader can take on the meaning of their decision (Bolter, 2001) was challenging. This was difficult for me to organize, as I was creating my story around the theme of acquiring super powers and I wanted to make it engaging and fun meanwhile provide appropriate choices for the reader.
I liked Jennifer’s connection to the modules readings this week on the reinvention of writing. I think that because technology is advancing so quickly, the methods of writing and reading are also advancing as well. New applications for reading to engage people are constantly in creation. For example, audiobooks. You can now listen to an entire book in a matter of hours. It’s convenient as you can multitask while listening (eg. driving, walking, doing housework) and the books are stored digitally and don’t take up space. Certainly, in my opinion nothing can beat the great feel of a book in your hands while turning the pages and feeling them between your fingers. I had a student once tell me that he read the entire Harry Potter series over the weekend! I was so impressed, I commended him and shared a compliment on his reading with his parents, His parents agreed and said that he “reads audiobooks” all the time. I was confused then quickly understood that she meant he was listening to all the Harry Potter books using an audiobook application.
My inquiry has me pondering about the next generations of learners in literacy. As a teacher, we have to do our part in teaching our students important skills. I feel that reading and writing are a crucial skills. So what might happen if students (and parents) are mostly listening to books instead of reading them? Perhaps, a stretch in thought but I did have a student who really only “listened” to books and didn’t read them with them physically in hand. How will technology companies keep students engaged meanwhile not diminishing the skill of reading? I notice so many books, for my grade level in teaching (4 and 5), have many graphics and pictures and animated font to try and engage the reader. The poor books on the shelf that don’t have pictures, large fonts and colorful imagery get ignored by my students. I can certainly incorporate Twine into my classroom as a fun and engaging application of writing and reading, but what about regular books with no hypertext?
This is an interesting article about the boom of audiobooks. Readers who may not normally read as often are listening to audiobooks for convenience, books are being recorded that may never have been considered audiobooks and people are attracted to A-list actors who narrate the books.
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200104-audiobooks-the-rise-and-rise-of-the-books-you-dont-read
This Ted Talk is inspiring and humorous in encouraging students to be life-long readers:
References
- Bolter, Jay David. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print[2nd edition]. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
4) This link is toward Meipsy Shackleford’s Task 7- Mode Bending Assignment:
https://blogs.ubc.ca/meipsyshack/2021/02/27/task-7-mode-bending/
I chose Meipsy’s Task 7 on Mode Bending to link to, as I found her semiotic mode, podcast, to be very informative and not just an audio recording.
I really liked how Meipsy touched on the diversity of this task in relation to the diversity of technology that we can use. As educators, we have a variety of student needs that we have meet in our classrooms. Even when listening to her podcast, I was already interpreting things differently than what she was explaining, furthermore, emphasizing the diversity of needs of each person’s learning experience. From Task 1 of What’s in your bag as a text description, we can truly see how multiliteracies in text are just one way to communicate our ideas (especially when technology is advancing so greatly).
For Meipsy’s podcast, I really enjoyed how she recorded her journey with her bag rather than an audio explanation of what the contents were in her bag. I appreciated hearing the realistic sounds and voices along her journey, which seemed like I was along for the ride as well. You could really get a feel and understanding of the experience of her bag’s journey with her. It was wonderfully done and entertaining to listen to.
I think the podcast mode is an effective way to get a broad range of understanding because you can listen at your convenience and multi-task at the same time. It does not require you focus on something visually and demands that you use your imagination to visualize what you are listening to. It is more of a horizontal understanding in literature that does not require a lot of investment in your time (Toffler, 1970). If we were to compare literacy (in reading books) with our students to listening to audiobooks, the rate at which students might finish their books (whether novels or audiobooks) would differ. Toffler (1970) speaks about the success of speed reading in schools and the rate of communication. He also discusses how people try so hard to get through as much information as possible throughout the day (Toffler, 1970).
I was thinking about how I feel pressed for time in the school day to get through as much information as possible with my students so that time is not wasted. After doing this assignment, I feel that one way to save time and deliver the information effectively and efficiently is to ensure I am choosing the correct mode for each lesson I am giving. For example, in Science to show the food cycle (eg. corn), I don’t think I would be explain the food cycle of corn with a podcast, but rather with a step by step video on showing how corn is grown and harvested. In addition, when getting my students to show their understanding of their work, they could follow a similar mode and create their own step by step videos with a food product of their choice. The correct choice of mode is important for how you want the information you are intending to teach, to be delivered.
The mode we use to teach and how we teach what we want students to learn is important. This Ted Talk showcases an online learning environment with an interactive webcast. Students in the class felt as though they were receiving one-one tutoring while thousands of students were online at the same time.
References:
Toffler, A. (1970). Future shock. New York.
5) I chose Kristin M’s Task 6-An Emoji Story to link to as I found her use of emoji’s to be vivid in description yet still challenging to decipher.
https://blogs.ubc.ca/narration4transformation/2021/03/08/task-6-an-emoji-story/
Kristin and I both agree that graphic novels can subordinate text and diminish the text in a novel. I brought up the same point in my reflection. Although, I didn’t find it discouraging to communicate with just the emojis. Kress (2005) says that meaning in language is clear and reliable. I think it can be clear when articulated and written with a detailed description. Only using emojis to communicate a message would be much more challenging. I think when we use emojis for the purpose of today’s communication: text messages, emphasis and elaboration on a thought or remark, it seems simple and still clear. There are numerous graphics in emojis to help you convey your message more descriptively. Certainly, nothing beats a face to face conversation where people are reading facial expressions, voice tone and volume are considered as communication skills.
I think even in the future, when technology evolves, there still won’t be anything as close to using words themselves to be able to communicate exactly what you want to say. It seems with texts, the message can be delivered and understood quite well, but with stories and essays? I’m not sure there will be another way?
I agree with Kristin in her explanation of using this task as a re-design of communication and not necessarily about writing and communicating using emojis. When we write we are coming from our own perspective and explaining what we know about something to others. When we read, we are also interpreting text from someone else in our own perspective as well. If we were to think about re-designing communication for the future years, we would need to consider people’s perspectives on things and how one might need to articulate the meaning of what is being conveyed.
I like how Kristin gave the agency of the reader to find our own meaning in her emoji description. Having seen and known this TV that Kristin chose, I re-read her emoji story through a different lens and came up with my own meaning and interpretation which was more insightful and interesting.
Since nothing can really be expressed as well as in person conversation, perhaps what the future in technology holds for communicating is using augmented reality (AR). AR could be used to send personal messages with your own avatar or holographic image. You could record your message and it could be sent word for word digitally in AR form.
It appears a close form of message communication using these graphics are with Animoji. This YouTube clip gives information on how Animoji is used:
This is also a great article on some of the sneak peaks in the future of communication and how we might be able to use augmented reality to communicate:
References:
Kress, G. (2005). Gains and losses: New forms of texts, knowledge, and Learning. Computers and Composition 22(1), 5-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2004.12.004
6) This link is toward Carlos Trentadue’s Task 9 Network Analyst on the Golden Curated Record as I found he was very detailed with his data findings.
Carlos’ analysis was very detailed and he found so much information through the Palladio graph. During my experience with Palladio, I found it difficult to interpret such data. Carlos found specific percentages and was able to categorize the songs that he chose and compare them with others in our class. I did not see that as very obvious when I was trying to decipher the data.
One commonality that we both found during this task was that the Palladio data did not give us any reasons for WHY our choices in songs are similar or dissimilar. Our reasons for choosing certain songs were very different, which leads me to wonder how the Palladio creates the nodes of connections. Based on what criteria exactly? Intention is important when using data to analyse things. Just as in all science experiments, what is the purpose? What is the purpose and reason behind each song chosen? This question doesn’t seem to have been clearly shown in the graphed data through Palladio. Each student had their own reasons for choosing the songs and the Palladio data was able to show the most common songs chosen, but not the reasons why.
I really connected to Carlos’ reflection on teachers’ political positions. I feel that when using social media, I need to be very cautious about the political positions I stand for and what I make public. Therefore, I never post anything political. Often, I find myself in a difficult position between posting things that I want to bring awareness to and on the other hand, having what I post be potentially incriminating. I like Carlos’ inquiry about having a universal curriculum. I think having a universal curriculum would be interesting and difficult. Maybe Palladio could be used to collect data around what the most common subjects and academic areas are most studied in the world and go from there…?
Below are two comparisons with the BC Curriculum (1st image) and Sweden’s Curriculum (2nd image) in Language Arts:
You can see different perspectives and approaches when teaching Language Arts to students in elementary school.
There may not be a universal curriculum as yet, but there is Universal Design Learning in schools. “The Universal Design Learning Center has identified three different learning networks rooted in neuroscience research.2 UDL teaching provides multiple options to access each network so that every individual can learn in the best way possible for them.”
https://www.verywellfamily.com/universal-design-learning-4141046
References:
British Columbia Curriculum (2019) BC Curriculum. https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/english-language-arts/5/core
Linell-Olsen. L. (2020, September 13). Universal Design Learning in Schools. https://www.verywellfamily.com/universal-design-learning-4141046
Skolverket.(Revised 2018). Curriculum for the compulsory school, preschool class and school-age educare. https://www.skolverket.se/download/18.31c292d516e7445866a218f/1576654682907/pdf3984.pdf