Furthering My Learning - Texts and New Media

A look at the Quote…

Having been asked to respond to the following quote: "The distinctive contribution of the approach to literacy as social practice lies in the ways in which it involves careful and sensitive attention to what people do with texts, how they make sense of them and use them to further their own purposes in their own learning lives" (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p. 9). Throughout the readings of chapters 1, 5, and 10 in Literacies Social, Cultural and Historical Perspectives by Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel, it is discussed what Functional Literacy is and the social constraints of only being functional is. It is further discussed what "New Literacies" are. I will discuss what I do with different texts, how I process them, and how I use them to further my own learning.

Always Question Everything…

Do to the publishing process of academic textbooks, when I read a textbook I tend to give weight to the expertise of the author(s) and the validity of the subject matter. With this said, I still verify anything that I find subjective or questionable to gain a deeper understanding. I will look at the referenced materials, search online, or find any other collaborating materials.

In contrast, when I read digital content such as websites, Blogs, wikis, forums, or videos that have been posted I tend to be very careful and critical. David Huffaker brings to light the following about the age group of bloggers:

Adolescents make up a large part of the community of bloggers, often referred to as the blogosphere. Perseus Development Corporation, for instance, finds 51.5% of all blogs are being developed and maintained by ages 13–19 (Henning, 2003). A similar study finds that 40.4% of blog authors are under age 20 (Herring, Scheidt, Bonus, & Wright, 2004). A visit to the statistics page of Livejournal.com, one of the most popular bloghosted web sites, discloses the largest distribution of blog authors also falls below age 201. (Huffaker, 2005, p. 92)

 

Blogs and wikis are a great jumping off point to the journey of learning about a particular topic, but we need to question the validity of the information being provided as anyone with limited technological know-how can post a blog or add to a wiki. I always examine their sources and look for credentials. I will also search for other resources that support the information that is provided. We need to remember that it is important to consider any bias or slant of the information provided.

Participate…

In the courses that I teach, I always discuss the way we learn. I compare it to how a computer operates, first we need input, we then process the data, then it is stored (remembered), and then we need to output the information to complete the learning process.

I utilize this process when I am learning as well. I will read Blogs and Forums often. I will take in the content, I will process it with researching for other sources to collaborate what I just took in, I will remember the materials through my notes and other media to enhance my experience, and then I will leave comments or participate in online discussions within forums and such. Participating allows us to complete the learning process by applying what we are learning. This also will help build a sense of community.

Build a PLN…

After I have found creditable websites, blogs, and/or forums I will add them to my Personal Learning Network or PLN. I save them to refer back to, follow with social media such as twitter for future informative topics, and to share with other colleagues. This enhances my learning as well as others.

Works Cited

Huffaker, D. (2005). The educated blogger: Using weblogs to promote literacy in the classroom. Association for the Advancement of Computing In Education Journal, 13(2), 91-98.

Referenced

Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2011). Literacies Social, Cultural and Historical Perspectives. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.