New Literacies: Final Reflection

 

So much goes into educating children. They need to feel engaged, comfortable, and confident if learning is to take place. Although different elements change throughout time, these three fundamentals remain the same. Technology has changed so much in such a short amount of time, that many components of it are quickly being adopted as new literacies—several of which are proving to be profoundly successful. It takes effort, diligence, and vigilance on an educator’s part to determine what will work and what will not.

This course has really opened my eyes to how many ways students can be reached through technology and media just as effectively—if not more so—than textbooks and standardized curriculum.  Peppler & Glosson (2013) state “that the tools we use and make available play a formidable role in shaping our conceptual understandings and moreover that new tools can bring clarity to concepts that are often challenging” (pg. 148). The new media we have reviewed offers interesting literary opportunities which incorporate components and practices that children are familiar with and proficient in their social and recreational lives, presenting a bigger chance for kids to take more interest in their learning. This encourages me to look for new programs and methods to use in my own classroom.

I thoroughly enjoyed the examples of new media as new literacies in the course texts, and I used them as inspiration to come up with my own ideas. Developing my video scavenger hunt as a possible class project was fun! I would love to implement this exercise eventually to help students become more aware of the issues in their neighborhoods by documenting them on video and then sharing them with the whole class as well as the community.  The playlist project will also be greatly enjoyable to assign, as music is one of my favorite joys in life, and I see much of my curriculum revolving around it.

Of course, there are downsides to using technology as an educational resource.  There is a fairly large scholarly group out there who “imagine the Internet as a space of stalkers, of uncontrolled behavior, [and] of unknown dangers” (Leander, 2013, pg. 60). While there is definitely malicious misinformation and other dangers online—including predators on social media—if educators remain careful and constantly on the watch, the internet offers valuable learning resources that can be of great benefit to students. It is a place that certainly deserves giving a chance to, as long as trusted colleagues and sources are used when filtering such resources.

James Paul Gee (2013) argues that "real learning is always associated with pleasure, is ultimately a form of play" (pg. 316). I always strive to engage my audience as much as I can while I have them. My plan is to be diligent and careful when finding appropriate and useful ways to introduce engaging new media in my career, as well as in my graduate studies. I feel that there will be multiple future opportunities to use digital and alternate media in interesting ways to complete secular work and my coursework, and I look forward to searching for these opportunities. Overall, I enjoyed this course greatly, and I genuinely feel as if it will aid me as both a teacher and as I work towards my masters degree. Thank you.

References:

Lankshear & Knobel (2013). A New Literacies Reader: Educational Perspectives. Peter Lang Publishing, Inc: New York.