Melissa and I had fun with Skype, but it did feel a bit awkward also being on camera. A bit like watching yourself in the mirror? Anyway, we also found an IM Chat function with different emoticons to liven up the conversation. In relation to the readings, we discussed issues from "What is New About the New Literacies of Online Reading Comprehension" by Leu, Zawilinski, Castek, Banerjee, Housand, Yinjie, and O'Neil. Few of the 'new literacies' have found their way into the classroom environment other than the original intended use of technology. According to Leu et. al (2007), new literacies are multiple, multimodal, and multifaceted which increases the complexity to understand them (p. 7). Online reading comprehension is being labeled as a new literacy because it requires strategies and skills that allow students to locate information, analyze usefulness of information, and synthesize and communicate the answers to others(Leu et. al, 2007, p. 9, 21). Melissa and I discussed the change from traditional to online reading and the need to teach students the necessary skills and strategies prior to letting them loose on the Internet. Model, model, model! In this same light, traditional methods of reading comprehension will not be sufficient to adequately prepare students for the new literacies required online (Leu et. al, 2007, p. 24). Melissa and I discussed the importance of changing the approach to reading to include a focus on online reading so our students are able to successfully participate in the global community. Melissa and I agree that change is occurring regarding reading, be it online or off, but a lack of research regarding the pedagogical implications of online reading comprehension make it difficult for us to fully accept the idea. Teachers need to be trained and informed of the changes to successfully prepare our students.
Yeah you don't look all that thrilled haha. That's why you guys should have posed like Jenna and I did because we weren't feeling all that great about our picture being posted either haha.
ReplyDeleteAnd so what did you talk about?
ReplyDeleteYou mention at the end that it is difficult for teachers to implement new literacies because of the lack of research. This is true, without doubt. Cady and I reminisced about our school days during our Skype session. We recalled writing research reports and being told that only two of our sources could be found on the Internet and the rest had to be books. And then we had to use the card catalogue to find the books. So think about the changes that have already occurred! It's crazy how different it is.
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