EDUC 6816 - Final Draft Citizen Journalism Project

Final Citizen Journalism Project report:
Pocahontas County: Season to Season

Final Track star:
The effects of a tourism economy on employment in Pocahontas County

EDUC 6816 - Weekly Reading #10

DeforestACTION, New Literacies and Authentic Research

In What Wikipedia can teach us about New Media Literacies, Henry Jenkins outlines four skills necessary to New Literacies, which he calls “a set of cultural competencies and social skills which young people need as they confront the new media landscape.” Of these skills he outlines four of particular importance:

Collective Intelligence — the ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with others towards a common goal.

Judgment — the ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different information source.

Networking — the ability to search for, synthesize and disseminate information.

Negotiation — the ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and respecting multiple perspectives, and grasping and following alternative sets of norms. 

This video describes a global student collaborative research and action project from DeforestACTION to stop illegal deforestation happening in Borneo.




This project relates to Mr. Jenkins’ four skills required for new literacy in the following ways:

Collective Intelligence — students in remote schools across the globe collectively monitored the Satellite images of Borneo to identify illegal timbering which triggered local, democratic, action when illegal logging was observed.

Judgment — Reliability and credibility were questions that needed answered as the students learned about deforestation, its effects on the environment and the local people, while also learning about corporate interests and governmental corruption that contributes to it.

Networking — Students were allocated plots of land to monitor for changes and disturbances. They compiled and compared these changes with other students across the globe and then disseminated that information to the eco-warriors “on-the-ground.”

Negotiation — As students digitally monitored the satelitte images of the forest, they were able to act as the eyes and ears of the local Borneo people. To do this effectively required student knowledge of the cultural, environmental and social reality of the people. Those locals, armed with the images and information possible by 21st century technology, were then free to physically confront and stop the illegal encroachment that was happening.

Real World Research Practices

"Proficiency at effectively using the new literacies of networked information technologies has become critical to our students’ success in the workplace and in their daily lives." (International Reading Association, 2009).

This project is consistent with the kind of research people might encounter in the workplace. For one, it is authentic. Students aren’t just reading about deforestation and its effects and then writing a report about it, they are using 21st century technology to learn about a problem, and then taking action to solve the problem.

The direct link between learning about a problem and taking action to solve it is an example of the types of research necessary in a business or service workplace, for example. In an innovation-economy, identifying problems, finding solutions, and putting those solutions into production is the information research required of its workers.

In that way this project is an example of that:

Identifying Problems - Illegal logging that creates deforestation.

Finding Solutions -  Using Satellite images to monitor illegal encroachment.

Solutions to Action - Alerting “on-the-ground” locals to protest the activity.

The connection between 21st century technology, global citizenship and action is a strong example of authentic research for the students. I particularly liked the direct change the students could see/experience (for example, when they triggered the alarm that illegal encroachment was happening they could visually see it stopping).

I think this has more implications than just teaching students how to research in the workplace. I think it can be a powerful motivating factor for democratic participation. Many times, I think people want to help when they see a wrong-doing, but too often they feel powerless to influence real change. This example shows a straight line between observing wrong-doing and taking action that leads directly to change. This shows students both the VALUE they have in the global world and, for educational engagement purposes, the VALUE of their learning experiences.

Sources:

Jenkins , H. What wikipedia can teach us about the new media literacies (part one) [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://henryjenkins.org/2007/06/what_wikipedia_can_teach_us_ab.html

International Reading Association (2009). New Literacies and 21st Century Technologies. Retrieved from http://www.reading.org/Libraries/position-statements-and-resolutions/ps1067_NewLiteracies21stCentury.pdf

DeforestACTION. Retrieved from: http://dfa.tigweb.org/

EDUC 6809 - Learning Adventure Rubric

 Here's the link to the rubric I created for my Learning Adventure Product:

Exploring the Constitution Through Photography

I choose to use "Platinum," "Gold," "Silver," and "Bronze" instead of numbers. These designations reflect the scale that WorkKeys uses. Workkeys is a work-based certification test my students must take.

EDUC 6809 - Weekly Reading 10

This post is written in response to the ISTE 2012 Tuesday Keynote featuring Dr. Yong Zhao


(Dr. Zhao takes the stage around the 24 minute mark)

His Argument

“Test Scores are seductive but don’t lead to real education”

- Dr. Yong Zhao

Dr. Yong Zhao argues that standardized curriculum and national assessments stifle creativity and entrepreneurship, which he believes to be the engine that drives economical growth and innovation. He uses China, and the rest of Asia, as an (convincing) example. His presentation makes a powerful case that those countries may be winning the assessment/standardization battle but losing the business/innovation war.

Do I agree?

Dr. Zhao states that technology has been misused as a way to improve test scores and this is because the focus of education reform has been place on assessment standards. I agree with his argument.  I believe with less focus on high stakes assessments, students would be better prepared for the 21st Century workplace. With a new focus, technology could then be better utilized and the potential for creativity, critical thinking and innovation could exponentially increase.

 I think technology is currently being over-emphasized but under-utilized. There has been a lot of emphasis on technology in education lately, unfortunately, the education system is still struggling to figure out what to do with it. As evidenced by the case studies I and my fellow students created this semester, in-school technology use is limited at best. My fellow student, Abigail Hayhurst writes about in-school computer use in her case study about 14 year-old “Jane:”

“The computers are used for traditional assignments. Students take benchmark assessments and conduct research for writing papers.” 

Abigail concludes, as I do, that “There is nothing innovative of 21st century about these practices.” (Hayhurst, 2013).

"Know where you are going"

- Dr. Yong Zhao

Dr. Zhao uses the example of China (to good effect) to illustrate the folly of assessment tests. He speaks of the Chinese economic transformation from “cheap labor to knowledge driven, innovation driven” and uses statements from Chinese leaders to claim “they don’t think their system can do it.” Dr. Zhao believes that China’s rigorous, standards driven, educational system stifles the skills necessary for innovation and entrepreneurship. The implication is: an increase in standardization will result in a similar stifled environment that would be detrimental to the future of our students (and our world!).

In the U.S, focus on standards have been increased. This is true even in the college admissions programs. A Policy Research brief produced by the National Council of Teachers of English, called Writing Now (2008), states:

“research shows that these high-stakes timed-writing samples are often ineffective or incomplete indicators of student ability and capability for college work. Misuse and misunderstanding of the results of standardized tests of writing is common, which may lead to inequalities in admission to colleges and graduate programs, especially for traditionally underrepresented groups.”

Assessments really don’t tell you anything about the success of students in the workplace either. If that was the case, Chinese and other Asian students would be better represented in the business field. According to the information presented in Dr. Zhao’s presentation, Asian students represent 15 - 25% of Ivy League students, but only account for 2% of the total board seats of Fortune 500 companies.

A similar comparison can be made in the paper "Reading by Design: Two Case Studies of Digital Reading Practices" (2009) about the students who were extremely capable of creating out-of-school writing, but didn’t do well on assessments. Take, for example, “Peter” who was a capable student when it came to new literacy practices while reading the digital text "Naruto", but performed poorly in traditional, print-based, school reading assessments:

Jennifer (the researcher) was impressed with his advanced vocabulary and in-depth appreciation of content in the series and found it difficult to reconcile his poor reading scores with Peter’s knowledge and understanding of Naruto’s storyline and plot.” (Rowsell & Burke, 2009).

"Creativity can’t be taught but can be killed”
-Dr. Yong Zhao

As evidenced by China, focusing on standardization is a main determent to innovation and creativity. In “Multimodal Literacies: An Introduction” the connection between creativity and innovation is further explored.

"We know that when people are actively engaged with inquiry, have a desire to learn new things, and try out different digital, visual, musical, spatial, dramatic (and so on) tools and techniques, they have the potential to say and do things that we have never before imagined."

This goes hand in hand with Dr. Zhao’s final thoughts about student autonomy. One way he contends to increase this crucial component is to enhance student strengths and talents.

“Every Talent is useful.” 

- Dr. Zhao

The policy research brief “Adolescent Literacy” (2007), promotes a student-centered classroom environment to engage learners:

“Providing student choice and responsive classroom environments with connections to “real life” experiences helps adolescents build confidence and stay engaged

Furthermore, the brief goes on to say:

“Teachers often devalue, ignore or censor adolescents’ extracurricular literacies, assuming that these literacies are morally suspect, raise controversial issues, or distract adolescents from more important work. This means that some adolescents’ literacy abilities remain largely invisible in the classroom.” 

I suspect the “more important work” this may refer to has to do with the pressure to raise test scores. Talent comes in many forms, and it typically manifests itself in out-of-school activities. Providing student choice and responsive classroom environments with connections to “real life” experiences helps adolescents build confidence, creativity, critical thinking and engagement - which lead to student autonomy.

"A real good education is one that helps every individual child to maximize their potential." 

- Dr. Yong Zhao

Technology should be utilized to enhance student strengths, foster individual talents and build confidence in a student. Using technology to teach new literacy skills and as tools for students to create multi-modal products that showcase their learning is one way to do this. These skills, paired with internet technology allows students to participate in a global dialogue. In this way, technology can truly be used to grow creativity, critical thinking, innovation and global participation required for the 21st Century.

Sources:

Hayhurst, A. (2013). Media ecology case study: Jane (the social bug). Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZCynN5JiPaqasztPAvWPdCRHLTXmgD26E5e57rUB2Fo/edit

National Council of Teachers of English. (2008). Writing Now. Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Magazine/Chron0908Policy_Writing_Now.pdf

National Council of Teachers of English (2007). Adolescent Literacy. Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEfiles/Resources/Magazine/Chron0907AdLitBrief.pdf

Rowsell, J., & Burke, A. (2009). Reading by design: Two case studies of digital reading practices. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy ,53(2), 106-118. doi: 10.1598

Sanders, Jennifer and Albers, Peggy. Multimodal Literacies: An Introduction. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:ZnRBedCgj_IJ:https://secure.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Books/Sample/32142Intro_x.pdf+are+literacies+and+Discourses+used+interchanably&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjE9pBd2JmN_g_xuDVosAj01ImYkr6u-oyjriG0tREXG8fzwbyeuhcmDw0rrbTA1rug-bgizHwuiUlocJcQwdvcCiPOxZYWVExNgQ8BmulksyeRUcUX4LJmfxLlw7e8UTdG2TuT&sig=AHIEtbSZ7RHTNL_Rfe2bglUQRg9zzCD2JA

ISTE 2012 Tuesday Keynote Featuring Yong Zhao (Video file). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKXeNKsjoMI

EDUC 6809 - Learning Adventure Product

I'm not sure if this will work or not. The project is meant to be interactive, with hyperlinks within the project & to outside sources. I couldn't upload it that way, but it gives a general idea of what I was going for.

EDUC 6816 - Citizen Journalism Project - Rough Draft

I was intending to create a radio story, but I realized that what I really envisioned was a "documentary style" radio report. However, without conducting actual interviews this was not possible (and, I think would distract me). So, instead, I created a website.... which, I  think uses a lot more New Literacies than just a research report masquerading as a radio piece. Please feel free to leave comments for me. And, if you have any ideas - please post them to the Forum on the website!


Pocahontas County WV - Season to Season

EDUC 6809 - Weekly Reading #9

This is written in response to Responding & Assessing by Sonya C. Borton & Brian Huot

Quote:

"Similarly, an important assessment criteria for a multimodal text might be whether a student has taken advantage of the specific affordances, or capabilities, of each modality." (Borton & Huot)

Official seal of the
U.S. Senate

I am really trying to take advantage of the visual image in the learning adventure example I'm creating this week. I don't know if I'll use this in my project, but here's a story for you:

I get easily distracted when I research.... I tend to ask myself lots of questions and follow those answers even when I know it won't be useful to my project. This happened while I was trying to find the seal of each house of Congress.

Alternative seal of the
U.S. Senate

I kept finding "alternative seals" and not the "official" seal - which seemed weird to me. It turns out the Senate uses their "official" seal only rarely - mostly to ratify treaties and on impeachment papers! As a result, an "alternative seal" was created for common use. The same is true for the House of Representatives, except I couldn't find a visual for the "official" seal. According to Wikipedia "The official seal depicts the House side of the Capitol building, but is not used as a visual symbol." Fascinating!


Questions

1. What should the assessments of multimodal text provide for students?
An expectation of what a multimodal text should include and a framework for understanding the rhetorical nature of the final product. Multimodal texts are even more important to have an assessment for (than traditional texts) because students and teachers have less experience in "authoring, designing and thinking rhetorically about multimodal texts."

2. What are the benefits to using formative assessment when asking students to compose multimodal texts?
Creating a formal assessment becomes part of the learning experience. Learning to create a formal assessment (via a rubric or other form) of their own work (and the work of others) helps students make decisions about the effectiveness of their own texts. It emphasizes the process of creating the text vs. just getting the project done. It provides the students with a greater understanding of what the process is and what goes into the creation of it.

3.How do you feel about collaboratively constructing rubrics or assessment criteria with students?
I think this is a great way to reinforce key concepts and to put the responsibility of learning onto the student. I have had success with creating assessment criteria in the past - although I've never called it such (I don't give grades so the language is different). For example, we do a "Career Awareness" activity in the first few days of my SPOKES class. Part of the activity is creating a powerpoint about a chosen career.  I show a sample one and then we make a list of what criteria/research is needed to complete the project. I have, however, never included an image or sound criteria list but I see that it is needed. Looking back (especially after reading this article) I can understand now why some students just created a "word" powerpoint and I always had to encourage them to go and add photos and transitions. The problem was that I didn't emphasize that part of the criteria. That's going to change moving forward.

Additional Resource

Creating Rubrics Through Negotiable Contracting and Assessment

This is an article with both practical advice and real world examples of teachers finding success in putting student-created rubrics to work in the classroom.

Sources
Borton, S & Huot, B; Responding and assessing, Multimodal composition: Resources for teachers, 99-111, 2007.

EDUC 6816 - Weekly Reading #9

Original by Markus Angermeier Vectorised and linked version by Luca Cremonini
CC-BY-SA-2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
("Folksonomy" is my favorite term on this Word Cloud)

 

This is a response to:

The Participatory Classroom: Web
2.0 in the Classroom

What makes a literacy practice a "new literacy."
According to this article, literacy practices that emphasize participation, collaboration, shared ownership, and multimodality are considered "new literacies."

How might a Citizen Journalism project support the development of "new literacies."
The Citizen Journalism project emphasizes production over consumerism. In other words, the students will be producing a journalistic report instead of just watching, reading, or listening to one. This is placing emphasis on participating in their community, especially because non-traditional research methods are used (in my project, interviews will form the central part). They will be creating this project with their classmates, and will therefore share ownership of the project. On a final note, the project will embrace multiple uses of communication, instead of the report being just written, my students will be blogging, creating a radio report, and digitally "writing" a report with images and text while collaboratively creating a website.

What is critical literacy and how does your Citizen Journalism project encourage crtical literacy? How might you change your project to encourage critical literacy?
Critical literacy is examing the social, political, idealogical and economic interests in all text. My project could examine class issues in tourism and unemployment. For instance, people who have these jobs are from the lower class, earning low wages and stuck in the cycle of lay-offs. The low wages of the poor, benefits the middle classes (most of the tourists) by keeping their travel costs down. In the case of Snowshoe, the upper class is benefited by the low wages of the poor by keeping expenses of the resorts down and increasing their profit margins.

What problems may arise when students use Web 2.0 tools for learning in school and how might teachers capitalize on these opportunities to promote information literacy?
Which leads me to my quote this week:

"Because this posting happens in a public space, it becomes particularly important for students to understand the ethical and political context behind their work. Is the content the posted hurtful towards a person or group? Is the information they are publishing accurate and reliable? Are they contributing to knowledge or to misinformation?" (Asselin & Moayeri, 2011)

I think schools are reluctant to use these tools because of fear of liability issues and "safety" on the internet. However, I would argue that by teaching the "rules" of being a good digital citizen and then allowing students to have real-world practice within the classroom, this could help deter online bullying outside of the classroom. If done right, a school could, by embracing the democratic power and openness of social networking (in particular), could create a culture of online citizenship. A culture of good online citizenship is, in my opinion, intrinsically tied to our democratic future.

Additional Resource:
20 ways to use Edmodo
I was thinking of social networking alternatives to Facebook (since that site is blocked) and remembered that Edmodo was a possibility. It even, slightly, resembles Facebook. This slide has some great ideas of how to use Edmodo in the classroom. Figuring out how to make Edmodo work for my teaching context is definitely on my summer to-do list.


References:
Asselin, M., & Moayeri, M. (2011). The participatory classroom: Web 2.0 in the classroom. Practical Strategies Literacy Learning: the Middle Years, 19(2), i - vii. Retrieved from ictandliteracy.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/practical-strategies.pdf

EDUC 6816 - Citizen Journalism - Storyboard/Outline

So, as I've gotten further into this project, I've been able to zoom into the subject of unemployment in Pocahontas County. I'm focusing this project in on the tourism economy and its effect on the seasonal workers of the county. I also wanted to provide opportunities for my students to come up with their own ideas about how to stabilize the unemployment rate so it wouldn't fluctuate so wildly from month to month as seasonal lay-offs happen.

Here is what I'm working on:

The outline to my audio story. 
I have decided to turn this into a photo slideshow with audio, but my intention is for the audio to stand alone so I will develop that first.

The website my student's will use to gather their material, reflect on the process, and publish their final pieces.

The Trackstar to guide my student's through the process.

My students will use Jing, Audacity (an audio editing program), and Windows Movie Maker to create their final reports.

EDUC 6809 - Case study reflection

After reading my peer's Case Studies, I believe that technology use among young people could be better harnessed to teach school-based skills. I recognized a trend of out-of-school computer-based technology use among this group of Appalachian youth ages 9-17. Three things that most (and is some cases, all) of the young people used computers for where:

• socializing
•  Students used Facebook and other social networking sites (like Instagram) to connect with their peers
• Students spent large portions of their face-to-face time with peers talking about computer-based activities.
• gameplaying
• Students played strategy games that they claimed uses "critical thinking skills" such as Dishonored
• Students played puzzle games that they called "addictive" such as Candy Crush Saga
• Students played open-ended, building games such as Minecraft
• creativity
• Students created videos, graphic design and online characters utilizing fashion choices.
• Students used the open-ended game Minecraft to conceive and build unique buildings and other objects.

These students also used computer technology in their schools, albeit at less frequency. The use of this technology fell into two categories:

•  Research
• Students utilized Google to search for websites to use for research projects.
• Educational Gameplay 
•  Some (but not all) students were allowed to use the computer for pre-approved websites for content-specific learning such as CoolMath.
• Assessments
• Computers were utilized in assessment testing and prep.

It is clear to me that teachers are not utilizing computer technology in schools. In almost every case, the young person was aware of the benefits to learning that non-school use of computers provide. The implication is that teachers need to utilize these learning opportunities for students if they want to keep relevancy and engagement with the student.

I think this is of particularly concern with the rise of "home schooled" and online students. Although I believe quality is a point of contention (and so do a lot of other educators), these options are seen as viable alternatives for parents and students who are dissatisfied with the education they perceive they are getting in the traditional school system.  My gut tells me that this is partly (maybe primarily) due to the lack of things they enjoy and look forward to in school (engagement) and feeling like what they are learning in school is relevant to their lives outside of school (relevance). I think utilizing computer-based technology and aligning that to at-home computer usage (in an educational way, of course) could help that perception.

EDUC 6809 - Weekly Reading #8

This is a response to: Image, Language, and Sound: Making Meaning with Popular Culture Texts

"At times, adults position themselves as more knowledgeable about the meanings adolescents make of popular culture, and assume they already know what those meanings will be." 

I choose this quote because it is something that I have to keep in-check within myself.  I do this, and I know that I do this, and every time I do, it surprises me. I appreciated that this paper went on to describe the ways that the researchers/writers did this in response to Ned's interest in Goodie MOb. To their credit, they were flexible in adjusting their approach to better reflect Ned's personal interest in Goodie MOb. I think recognizing that you are doing this, and being flexible with your instruction is key to overcoming this.

The writers go on to say:

 "we implicitly believed that any and all texts we shared about the band would interest him.... adults assume that when we match a text to a child's interest, he or she will find pleasure in that text... pleasure in texts is often individually defined."

I found this true with my Media Ecology case study, who is also my 9 year old son. Obsessed with Minecraft and trying to get him to write something (anything!) this summer, I assumed that if I got him to write about Minecraft, he would engage. As I found out the other day - not so :(

I'm varying my approach and I didn't push it because it would quickly turn into a power struggle that would lessen my ability to get him to write. But, I did find a strategy that worked.... he created a schedule for the typical summer day and designated an "educational hour" that I was responsible for. I got the book "How to be an Explorer of the World"(which we read about a couple weeks ago in this class) and the first exploration is to WRITE 10 things that you notice sitting in your chair right now. I got him to WRITE!!! I think it was because he had control over the space by designating the time that I would be responsible for the activity. I also credit that text and the excitement it builds about exploring space in an uncoventional way.

He clearly engages in Minecraft as a build/play/creative space but that didn't translate into writing on paper about it. I think I need to find another way to utilize that resource.

 Questions:

1. What is your stance on using popular culture texts in school?

I feel that there is nothing wrong with using popular culture texts in schools. I enjoy popular cultural texts myself and also enjoy teaching with them. I also think that these texts are particularly important to learn how to approach in a critical way because they are the primary texts a person interacts with in most cases.  and should be used to teach those skills.

2. What are your concerns about using popular culture texts in school?

The distraction they can sometimes cause - all the side conversations and strong preconceived opinions about the texts.  I also think there is an additional layer of education a teacher has to do on the administrative and parental levels about the legitimacy of using popular culture texts in schools that sometimes seems like just too much work.

3. How can popular cultural texts support school-based writing?

 There already is a wealth of resources about how fan-fiction can support school-based writing. Also - writing character sketches or summaries of plots that requires a complex knowledge about a text (which is gained from long exposure to the text and not possible in time and subject limits of school).

4. Find and link to a  web-based popular culture text you might use to support writing in your teaching context.

22 storybasics I picked up in my time at Pixar

Found this while doing a search for ideas related to Pixar films. It was originally a series of tweets put out from this author using the hashtag #storybasics. I thought it could be interesting to go through and for certain ones brainstorm a pixar move that matched the item.  Students could then choose a Pixar character and one item to help them write a short story to learn about characterization.  

Additional Resource:

Using Pop Culture to Develop Critical Media Literacy in Adult Education

This article highlights a professor's work in adult education and how to teach critical media literacy skills using pop cultural texts. The professor argues (and rightly so!) that adults are influenced by pop culture as much as children and teenagers are. It was interesting for me to discover that there is research in this field and I'm interested in reading this professor's book about the subject.

Sources:
D.E. Alvermann, M.C. Hagood, & K.B. Williams (2001, June). Image, language, and sound: Making meaning with popular culture texts. Reading Online, 4(11). Available: http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/lit_index.asp?HREF=/newliteracies/action/alvermann/index.html

EDUC 6809 - Learning Adventure

 The learning adventure I plan to adapt for my adult students: 

Digital Reflections: Expressing Understanding of Content Through Photography


I got this lesson plan from Readwritethink.org and here's the overview:

Students explore both facts and feelings about a topic and make self–text–world connections as they prepare a presentation using word-processing and presentation software. Possible topics span many content areas, including science (animals, climate, space), geography (landforms), and historical events. Students select photos from websites that demonstrate their content understanding and communicate their feelings on the topic. They write and record a two-minute descriptive or persuasive script and pair the script with the photos using presentation software. Students and teacher assess the effectiveness of the presentation using the rubric and handouts provided.

I will:

1. Adjust the plan so a student could complete it individually if necessary
2. Use it to help prepare future High School Equivalency test-takers to answer Extended Response questions in Social Studies.

This learning adventure will engage students in the multimodal discplines of images, writing, text, audio narration, and music. This project supports the development of new and digital literacies because students will be using digital, creative-commons images, digital editing software and it will rely on the use of image, sound and text to convey the message and opinion of the student.

EDUC 6816 - Weekly Reading #8

This post is in response to the article: A Discipline-based Approach to Information Literacy

"In a holistic conception of IL, classroom faculty and academic librarians should have complementary, though distinct, roles in helping students become information literate" (Grafstein, 2002).

Okay - so, in an ideal world this would happen. This article goes on to talk about librarians' roles to teach the information skills needed as a prerequisite across subject matter.... such as:

photo by Ellen Forsyth
Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.0

*Searching skills
*Generic critical thinking skills including:
     -Timeliness
     - Authority
     - Bias
     - Verifiability
     - Logical consistency




While teachers should be responsible for the information skills that need subject-based context.....skills such as:

    * Evaluating the content of arguments
    *Assessing the validity of evidence
    *Proposing original solutions

So - this sounds right to me. BUT, in the real world, library funding is being cut. This article also says (in a nutshell) - the earlier the better. In other words, these kind of information literacy skills should be taught to children as soon as they enter school. I totally agree. BUT (again).... these skills, and these interactions, are not being valued (at least not financially) by administration.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that in a lot of cases (especially as students progress in their studies), this distinction between teacher & librarian roles will blur. Teachers (and librarians) should look out for both these skill sets, and, when necessary, compensate for them. I know I don't have the luxury of a librarian and a lot of my students come to me lacking some of the basic skills listed under the "generic critical thinking" category above. I feel responsible for teaching them those (especially when it relates to the internet) and fold them into subject-based context skills. It's probably not as successful as it could be though (in an ideal world).

Questions:
1. What is the difference between IL and BI and why is this distinction important?

Bibliographic instruction (BI) is instruction in "traditional (print) library resources" such as learning how to access information in reference sources and library holdings. Information literacy is about "evaluating information...for authenticity, accuracy, credibility, authority, relevance, concealed bias, logical inconsistency and so on" (Grafstein, 2002).

2. Why should classroom faculty teach IL?
 Two reasons why:
1. IL creates self-directed, life-long learners.
2. Attaining IL also means understanding the basics of subject-based knowledge - which classroom faculty are responsible for.


3. What is the role of classroom faculty in developing information literacy?
Subject-based knowledge is necessary to teach these IL skills (which is the role of the classroom teacher):

• Evaluating the content of arguments
• Assessing the validity of evidence
• Proposing original solutions 

Additional Resource:

A blended librarian talks information literacy

This is a blog post about a librarian at Buffalo State College in New York who teaches a class on information literacy - complete with a multimedia research presentation as the final project! It is presented as a microcosm of a larger movement within college libraries called "blended librarians."

Sources:

Grafstein, A. (2002). A discipline-based approach to information literacy. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 28(4), 197-204. Retrieved from http://westmont.edu/_offices/provost/documents/Senate/Full/2009-2010/Discipline-Based Approach to Information Literacy.pdf

EDUC 6816 - Citizen Journalism TrackStar Rough Draft

Here's the link:

Unemployment in Pocahontas County

It is very rough - and some of the tracks didn't show up when I published this. I think it's because they didn't have URLs to link to. I will fix that as soon as I can.

I am still fleshing out this idea. I really want to expand it, but I'm not sure how that will work within the scope of this project.  I see the final project being a small website with text, images and audio recordings.

EDUC 6809 - Media Ecology Case Study Final Draft

Avery - Video Game Enthusiast

EDUC 6809 - Weekly Reading #7

In response to: No Selling the Genie Lamp: A game literacy practice in The Sims by Elizabeth R. Hayes and James Paul Gee.

"She is treating the game as a tool kit for building simulations, not as a simulation in its own right. She is moving the center of the game away from the software (The Sims game) to her own work of organizing other people’s play in particular ways." (Hayes & Gee, 2010)

Game literacy, according to this paper's authors, is comprised of many different practices in the same way that print literacy is. This paper's primary concern was how "Yamx", a Sims user and online forum participant, designed her own simulation/game using The Sims as a platform based on a non-fiction work. It describes the "Nickel and Dimed Challenge" in which players were bound by rules created by Yamx to closely simulate the challenges of a poor single working mother inspired by the book "Nickel and Dimed" (which I read years ago - a good recommended read).

I felt this paper could help inform my case study because it presented a way students could design challenges based on a pre-existing game (i.e. no programming necessary). The game design took place entirely in writing, and also included interaction and instant feedback/adjustments (editing) to her game rules based on individual wants/needs.

The Sims is similar to Minecraft in that it has no win-state and is what some call a "sandbox." I think my case study, Avery, might enjoy creating a game/simulation challenge in Minecraft. I know his friends and him already challenge each other to do certain things in the game (for instance, somehow they discovered that if you dig all the way to the "core" in creative mode, it is possible to die... so they've been challenging each other to dig a hole that goes all the way through the bedrock!). What the author describes in the paper - about "Yamx" adjusting the game rules based on the individual questions of the user - is already happening in my son's social life... they are constantly challenging each other and then coming back to school with questions about the challenge. My point being, a teacher might exploit this by asking Avery (and his friends) to write these challenges on paper (or on the computer), which could help Avery's writing skills.

I just googled this - and - WHOA! - this is already happening on a mass scale with Minecraft! Way cool!

Second Source:Build engagement and knowledge one block at a time with Minecraft (need to log-in via Fairmont's online library)

This article is about one teacher's positive experience with using Minecraft in the classroom. He taught a small class and created an afterschool club. His students were involved in every aspect of creating the class -including setting the rules and determining what to build. I can see this helping give ownership of the class back to the students. the first project was building a pyramid, followed by building castles:

"Our next set of projects involved students interviewing their seventh grade social studies teachers to find out what historical buildings the teachers would like created in the 3D world. This led to the students researching and constructing medieval castles." (Tromba, 2013)

I liked that the students interviewed their social studies teachers to discover what buildings they could recreate. Although the focus of my case study is in improving Avery's writing, I think this could help Avery engage in Social Studies (his other weak subject) in a way I hadn't thought of before.

The students in this class also aligned their projects to other subjects. After the eight graders read the book "The Outsiders," the class recreated the town the book takes place in. Avery loves to build layouts in Minecraft  and I could see this being a foundation for a story. He could build the layout and have his character move throughout it as he records his story in audio and video.

One interesting, and unexpected outcome of the class was better attendance on the part of the students:

"In fact, every student in the class recorded better attendance, Madathil said, adding:  One very unexpected positive outcome of offering a Minecraft class was the increase in consistent attendance for the students involved. Their attendance history was sporadic, and while their capabilities were great, their motivation to attend school regularly lacked--until they began participating in the Minecraft class. (Tromba, 2013).

I don't think this relates to my case study, but I think it's interesting to note that giving students classes they are interested in and enjoy makes them want to come to school.

Sources:

Hayes, E. R., & Gee, J. P. (2010). No selling the genie lamp: a game literacy practice in the sims. E-Learning and Digital Media, 7(1), 67-78. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/elea.2010.7.1.67

Tromba, P. (2013, June-July). Build engagement and knowledge one block at a time with Minecraft. Learning & Leading with Technology, 40(8), 20+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.fairmontstate.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA333842372&v=2.1&u=fairmt&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w

EDUC 6816 - Weekly Reading #7

Master and Student by Christopher Walker

CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

This post is in response to the research paper: Engaging young learners: The multi-faceted and changeable nature of student engagement in technology-rich learning projects

A quote:

"The project reported here demonstrates that students may be behaviourally, cognitively and emotionally engaged when undertaking technology-rich projects, but that high levels of engagement aren’t necessarily guaranteed by simply infusing technology." (Adlington & Harvey, 2010)

This quote caught my eye because I think it pertains a lot to my situation. I work with adult students, many who don't have a lot of technology skills and frequently complain about using the computers - "I hate computers" is a semi-common refrain in my classroom! I definitely find that simply using technology is not enough to keep my student's engaged and learning. In some ways this is an important, everyday reminder to me that each student is unique and I must allow for multiple approaches to my lessons. But, this is where the diverse nature of technology is so, so helpful.

My challenge is keep students engaged in the project despite the computers. I think this is where having a non-computer technology (like audio recording or photography) is important.

Addtional Resource:

What journalists need to know about interviewing for video

This is some a link to some tips for interviewing on video. I think any teacher who wants to use video in their project should include a lesson plan on how to interview someone.... it is an art to itself. Taking the time and emphasizing good quality to students (especially older ones) is important because they need to feel the final product is going to be "good" in order to truly engage with the process.

The Questions:

1. How might your citizen journalism project resemble a technology rich project?
I plan to use audio interviews and editing an audio piece for local broadcast to infuse my citizen journalism project with technology. In addition, I plan to implement a blog in order to engage my students with a technology-influenced, self-reflective element while collecting the research.

2. What did you learn about sucessfull implementation of technology rich projects?
I found myself really surprised by this quote:

"The classroom teacher reflected at the end of the project that she anticipated that students would be most cognitively engaged during the planning process, and that the interviewing and filming process would prove less engaging." (Adlington & Harvey, 2010)

So, I think one thing I learned was how out of touch teachers can be with the power of non-traditional literacies. I wrote in my side notes when I read this - WOW! How out of touch this teacher is. Clearly she's never made a movie project herself.

I have a lot of experience with documentary video making. My favorite part is the editing. I am always most engaged in that process (even though I find it to be the most tedious). I go into any project with a written plan, but I know the process will affect the outcome of the piece. I often find the editing-stage to be when I truly craft the story (the emotional engagement). It is when I put all the pieces together in a logical plan (the cognitive engagement). It is also the most technologically-challenging part and this also leads to more cognitive engagement (and sometimes a lot of walk-away from the computer frustration!).

I'm not sure any of this research came as a surprise to me - but it was nice to see some hard numbers to back up what I already experienced to be true.

Resources:

Adlington, R., & Harvey, H. (2010). Engaging young learners: The multi - faceted and changeable nature of student engagement in technology - rich learning projects. acec2010: digital diversity conference, Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved from http://acec2010.acce.edu.au/sites/acec2010.info/files/proposal/172/acec2010engagingyounglearners.pdf