This is the Media Project 2 Rationale and Rubric for Peter, Robb, Rahela, Justin, and Brian.
Media Project 2 Rationale and Rubric
Geoanimate Project: Media Project 2 by Geezers on GoAnimate
Author: robbross
Robb Ross: Commentary on presentation on “Good Video Games and Good Learning” article by James Paul Gee
I enjoyed this group’s presentation and thought they explored the topic of how engaging with video games develops universal and transferable skills. However I would like to further expand on the conversation that ensued after.
But before I do, Teresa, could we just consider the emails we exchanged on this subject to be my 300-word commentary, and call it a day?
lol
About 2 hours ago, as we were walking, I suggested that perhaps there was a link between the fact Naz, Peter, and I spoke critically of this topic because we have Master’s Degree and are older than other students. Therefore, we may have more entrenched (conservative) views about writing and the study of English. I have to confess that I harbor a very judgmental view that anyone reading comics or watching anime after the age of 12 is in some form of arrested development. Cognitively I know that’s harsh and limiting, but it’s just a visceral reaction I have. So when I hear about using games in the classroom I shudder.
Another issue is that for the past 4 years I’ve been an overseas high school IB teacher. I don’t teach ELA. My students write papers on existentialism in Albert Camus’ The Stranger or explore alienation in Kafka’s Metamorphosis. As well, the syllabus is packed and I often have only 12 classes to teach a complex novel and also conduct assessment. Therefore, time is an issue.
Part of the problem is that I’ve been pondering the use of video games in English lessons for only 4 days. I’m going to need time to evolve on the issue. As I said in class, I would think that the validity of using them could be tied to the nature of the text. Fantasy novels like The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe like C.S. Lewis would seem to more naturally mesh with learning through video games.
Probably the comment that most resonates in my mind is when you said that the types of narratives that exist in video games also exist in literature. Both can be equally complex or simple. As that’s the case, then video games can be a valid way to motivate students and explore the text.
What it likely comes down to is that I stopped playing video games when I was 10 years old. I just don’t know enough about them yet to make an informed judgment.
Our group had some difficulty with the Unsworth article and of even understanding what E-Literature is. At first it seemed too nebulous of a topic. Even mid-presentation, my group-member Peter disagreed with one of my definitions of E-Literature. However, in the end, I discovered that I have previously engaged my students with forms of E-Literature, while some of the IB Assessments I have conducted involved aspects of it. So while I was at first somewhat dismissive of its meaning and value, it turns out I’m actually a proponent. My involvement with this presentation provided me with some ideas and resources with which to more effectively integrate E-Literature into future lessons.
E-Literature involves the “comprehension and composition of images and text” (Unsworth, 2008, p. 62). I see this enriching the understanding and engagement of texts through a two-stage process. First, I would use text and/or images to facilitate understanding and knowledge of the text. For example, in the past I’ve used sites such as teachit.co.uk (a paid resource site of which I’m a member) to access what Unsworth defines as “fairly traditional lesson plans and tasks for teachers to download,” a category he defines as “Interpretation/Response” (Unsworth, 2008, p. 69). Another aspect of E-Literature that belongs to this category involves the use of online forums to discuss texts (Unsworth, 2008). In the past I have used discussion forums on the Moodle course website, to positive effect. This involved creating five discussion questions about the text, and asking students to respond. Any student can respond to any other students’ comments. This was an invaluable tool that allowed the students to express their opinions of the text outside of class time.
The second stage (in my view) involves evolving from understanding and comprehension to creation. Unsworth suggests that students “…write stories in the style of particular narratives, sometimes additional episodes” and contribute “… the creation of images” among other possibilities (Unsworth, 2008, p. 69). In the past I’ve engaged students in activities that could have been further exploited including elements of E-Literature. For example, one official IB assessment requires students to add an additional scene to a play, write letters between characters in a play, or change genres and write an additional scene of the play as a short story. While the focus is on fostering creativity, this assignment exists in isolation. A collaborative extension could be for students to select images associated with these texts and post their work online for the entire class to see and respond to. As well, other students could continue, for example, adding to the additional scene in the play.
I thought as a first attempt our group’s hyperlink workshop went reasonably well. However, it became quite clear that our lack of parameters and constraints resulted in our classmates mainly posting irreverent images. In a real class situation, I would have to add some constraints so that such a lesson had more value. As well, I would clearly assign certain students a stanza or passage of a text to ensure there isn’t overlap.
On a final note, I forgot to mention that E-Literature somewhat reminded of a book series I read as a kid titled Choose Your Own Adventure. In this series the point of view is in the second person ‘you’ giving the reader empowerment over the text. Every few pages, you got to choose the direction of the story from three or so prompts, with numerous illustrations in the books. To me, Choose Your Own Adventure seemed like the print precursor to a form of E-Literature. I Googled it, and sure enough, there is an online ChooseYourStory that includes several of the kinds of features of E-Literature outlined by Unsworth. The site describes itself as:
… a community-driven website centered on Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style storygames. Members create their own storygames, read and comment on other members’ storygames, participate in the forum, and improve their writing ability. (ChooseYourStory, 2014)
ChooseYourStory would seem to have embraced the spirit of the original print version while using the internet to expand opportunities for collaboration, expression, and developing writing skills.
Works Cited
ChooseYourStory. (2014). Retrieved from http://chooseyourstory.com/Default.aspx
Teachit.co.uk, English Teaching Online. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.teachit.co.uk/
Unsworth, L. (2008). Multiliteracies, E-Literature and English Teaching. Language and Education, 22, 62-75. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=72fe7046-6161-413e-a41e-960187d6a0cb%40sessionmgr4003&vid=2&hid=4101
This is a thought provoking article in which any number of elements could be explored in 400 – 500 words. One critique is that some of his terms could be more explicit. For example, even the term ‘visual literacy’ is limiting. ‘Media Literacy’ or ‘Critical Media Literacy’ is more accessible and encompassing of what he’s writing about. Similarly, ‘semantic and syntactic properties of language’ is somewhat opaque. Perhaps ‘content and form’ is clearer, and would certainly be clearer conveying to high school students.
I also thought he could have expanded on what drives the structure and production of visual literacy. The producers of such texts are concerned with persuasion and power: to influence how we think, what we believe, what we buy, and how we act. Granted, Messaris’ focus is on the visual and so this critique may be beyond the scope of his paper, but I’m not sure how we can separate the use of language, color, and choice of diegetic and no-diegetic sounds in any discussion of visual literacy. There is invariably a crafted synergy among them to achieve an intended effect in order to persuade the target audience, a technique known as ‘clustering’ (Allison & Chanen, 2011, p. 172). Non-diegetic sounds work in tandem with how images are sequenced (Consider the music that plays when Darth Vader enters the room, for example). While the manipulation of sound is not visual with paraproxemic elements it does follow a “well-developed, fixed set of rules” (Messaris, 1998, p. 75) that contribute to meaning.
An interesting feature of his article is the use of camera angles to objectify women in movies. This reminded me of the work of the sociologist Ernest Goffman (genderdisplays, 2014) who argued that in the field of advertising, the women portrayed are often dismembered (with only parts of their body showing), in which the men are shown in positions of dominance over women. Invariably the woman (or women) also gazes longingly at the man as he stares imperiously or indifferently into the camera or beyond. In real life, of course, most men are not nonchalant while having supermodels draped over them, but I believe Goffman’s issue is how women are represented in advertising, and for what ends. That’s for another essay.
I’m taught a course in Language, Culture, and Mass Communication in the high school IB program and am more familiar in approaching this from a semiotic perspective that considers aspects of Structuralism, Post-Structuralism and the role of the audiences of media texts. In this regard it seems as if Messaris considers a more Structuralism view, in that we as media consumers are potential victims in interpreting and responding to visual texts the way the producers of these texts intend us to. In suggesting that the role of education is to “’denaturalize’ the ads’ visual syntax” (Messaris, p. 77) he is urging that we as educators teach students how to deconstruct visual texts so that students are more aware of the producers’ agenda.
Works Cited
Allison, R. & Chanen, B. (2011). English A: Language and Literature Course Companion. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
genderdisplays. (2014). Goffman: Gender Advertisements. Retrieved from http://genderdisplays.wordpress.com/theory/
Messaris, P. (1998). Visual Aspects of Media Literacy. Journal of Communication, 48, 70-80. (UBC Electronic Holdings)
PLEASE NOTE: This website’s format altered the indent of each Works Cited entry and I can’t correct it.