Final Projects

Students have completed their pecha kucha presentations and are getting ready to submit their final website projects. They’re building wikipages to share what’s they have learned. Take a look at some of the fascinating topics they are exploring:

4chan & Anonymous, Chloe Westman

Reddit and Popular Internet Memes – Rich Becker

Radio and Literacy – Luis Cruz

How the Digital World is Affecting Music in the 21st Century – Seth Phillips

How has Technology and the Internet Affected the General Attitude of College Students. Scott Stitzer

How Museums Are Using Digital Media -Dan Magerr

Digital Music & Culture – Corey Abramson

Twitter and Politics- Karen Fisher

Cyberbullying- Lorraine Childs

Use of Technology in Poor inner-city Neighborhoods- Keaton Nichols

Philly’s Digital Immigrants- Kevin Hopkins

Hip-Hop in the Classroom- Josh Widener

New Media-Based Language Learning-Haixia He

The Digital Divide in Gender and Education – Genevieve Gillespie

Twitter in Education-Robert Flores

Youtube in the Classroom-Jaleesa Jackson

Hip-Hop In Today’s Classroom -Ashley Blakeney

Social Networking Sites and Kid’s Privacy Bi-Hsuan Chien

Social Media and Parenting- Kaneisha Woods

Sample Midterm Question 2

Using the “They say, I say” structure of academic writing, summarize the key ideas that we learned from James Paul Gee in relation to the concept of literacy and the relationship between videogames and learning. Then offer your own response to the work, using both your life experience and some of the ideas we’ve been exploring this semester in class.

Sample Midterm Question

1. View the video, “Learning World Affairs Through Digital Media” in relation to digital and media literacy skills (access, analyze, compose, reflection and social action). Compose a chart to visually represent key ideas in the video and comment on what’s emphasized and what’s omitted in this approach to learning.

 

Screencasting as a Literacy Tool

We’re exploring the ways in which screencasting can be used to share meaning through the practice of critical analysis of YouTube videos.

You might want to watch and listen as the professor analyzes a beer commercial… check it out! Renee Analyzes the Corona Beer Ad

CLICK HERE to watch student screencasts

Hands-On, Minds On!

Students in my New Media Literacies class exceeded my expectations! They created 10 web pages in under 30 minutes. You can see my summary of the student projects here in the first in-class assignment. Here’s what they had to do: Working under deadline pressure, work with a partner to create an attractive and credible web page that offers key ideas about the intellectual heritage of new media literacies.

JOHN DEWEY

1. Review the video by Sir Ken Robinson to identify his ideas about the arts in education. Explain how the Robinson’s ideas reflect the values of John Dewey’s philosophy of education. Write a short summary of the video that uses paraphrasing and direct quotation. Embed the video on the page.
2. Use the Internet to learn more John Dewey’s ideas about art and education and select three direct quotes from a credible source to illustrate Dewey’s thinking. Compose a meaningful headline and include an appropriate visual image to accompany your writing.

MARSHALL MCLUHAN

1. Watch the CBC video about McLuhan and write a summary of the video that includes paraphrasing and direct quotation. Embed the video on the page.
2. Write a summary of the Urban article, compose a headline and select a photo to accompany it.
3. Select five quotes from the Urban article that capture key ideas, offering a short description of each idea to make a connection between these ideas and the new media environment of today. Embed 1 photo on your page.

JEROME BRUNER

1. Write a summary of the Bruner article, compose a headline and select a photo to accompany it.
2. Develop a list of at least 5 powerful quotes from the Bruner article, offering a short description of each idea to make a connection between these ideas and the new media environment of today. Embed 1 photo on your page.

HOWARD GARDNER AND HENRY JENKINS

1. Write a summary of the “How We Got Here” article, compose a headline and select 2 photos to accompany it.
2. Develop a list of at least 5 powerful quotes from the article, offering a short description of the ideas embedded in the quote to make a connection between these ideas and the your own experience of the new media environment today. Embed 1 photo or video and a link to the Our Space curriculum on your page.

Students were asked to create this webpage as a “page” not a blog entry and include an About the Author sentence at the bottom of the page to identify the partners by name.

Overview of the Course

This course examines the intersection of education and participatory culture, literacy and technology change, the knowledge gap, informal learning and knowledge communities, emerging social skills and cultural competencies across the lifespan.

The concept of literacy is undergoing a transformation as a result of changes in media, technology, education and society. It’s always been a slippery concept, actually. Five hundred years ago, it meant the ability to sign one’s name to a printed document. Reading comprehension became a component of literacy when printed books flourished during the Enlightenment. During the 20^th century, writing composition and literary analysis gained prominence under the literacy umbrella.

To be literate today, one needs to be both a skilled reader and a competent writer, able to use a variety of technology tools (the Internet, word processing, graphic design software, digital camera, editing) in different social contexts (including for work, leisure and citizenship activities). You need the ability to access, analyze and compose messages using symbol systems (language, image, music, sound) across different modes (informational, narrative and persuasive) and genres (memos, flyers, social media networks, email, web pages, etc). And because literacy is a form of social action, it involves actively navigating a set of power relationships as a member of a discourse community (as a family member, a music fan, part of a team, etc).

In this course we’ll look closely at the key concepts, assumptions and operating principles of some new media literacies, including visual literacy, information literacy, media literacy, critical literacy, and digital literacy. We’ll consider whether new media literacies exacerbate or ameliorate the digital divide, contributing to knowledge gaps and socio-economic and structural inequalities in the education system.