I thoroughly enjoyed reading the range of blogs this week –
some took a more theoretical/analytical approach to Mills’ piece, and for some,
the piece allowed them to reflect on their own technological practices and
attitudes. I extracted three main
themes:
1) As educators, we can use technology as a resource to maximize student learning/interest/potential, as newer digital literacy practices can enable collaboration that occurs outside of school. By integrating technology into our teaching units (not just as an “add-on”), we are also expanding our conventional sense of literacy, that is, print-based reading and writing.
2) Technology can enable a redistribution of classroom authority because digital tools create more opportunities for student-directed learning, but a challenge is “the limiting effect that power within the classroom context may have on student participation (Sean).” If the classroom is postulated as a space of constraint, that limits collaboration opportunities that technology can offer.
3) There’s a reluctance and hesitance we have about technology. While technology can enable collaboration and sound teaching units, there hasn’t been much statistical evidence to prove so.
Other themes/tensions I found interesting:
-Time-saving technology v. strictly aesthetically motivated technology
-Quality of student access (compare a disadvantaged family who has a shared computer v. a family that can afford individual laptops and the difference in technological usage)
-Text orthography existed before text – it’s a way for youth to affirm group membership
-How to tap into the “interest-driven” networks of students
-Dismantling traditional notion of essay writing – we can consider using Google Drive to watch the composition process unfold together
-Issue with teaching technoliteracy is that many students lack access to computers/internet in the home
-What are the protocols of our blog for this class? A blog is casual but what does that mean in the context of a graduate course?
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