As I started to navigate the website, a box popped up asking me for a password, and I thought, is that a password for the website, or is that my user password for my computer. So instead, I used my impressive technology reasoning and clicked cancel. Then, I started to take the digital natives quiz and the first question was "modding" and I thought, "Oh my gosh, I actually know that one. It means wearing "Mod" fashion that Twiggy made popular. Good thing I just watched the ANTM Supermodelthon." Little did I know, I was showing my Digital Immigrant status. I continued to take the quiz, I got only two out of the six phrases correct! This is definitely in line with my course goal, which was to learn more about technology. Clearly I need to become more literate if my students know what all of those phrases mean. Also, each of the tools seemed like something that could be used to teach lessons, and be effective in the classroom. Furtermore, if my students are proficient at these things, and they are interactive and provide enough stimulation, as the article later discusses, I think it would be great to utilize these in my lessons!
Due to this poor showing, I definitely think that my literacy level for technology, or at least the technology this website says all kids now are comfortable with, is emergent, if that. I was unable to recognize many of the words, including the multiplayer game, the smart mobs, and I had heard the word wiki, but my guess was that it was short for “Wikipedia.” I had seen and used some of these phrases, and as Tompkins points out, I understood the communicative intent of these media, but could not use them myself. Additionally, I would definitely need a lot of teacher modeling, partner work, and scaffolding. Even in class when the IVAN program had completely laid out what we had to do, and Kate completely explained it, I still could not have completed the activity if I had not been in a group with others who were more proficient than I was. Another important point in Tompkins is that parents are responsible for a lot of the exposure children in the emergent literacy stage have, and in the case of technology, most often it is the other way around. For teachers, I think it is scary to us to incorporate technology because we don’t have the background knowledge and we would have to learn something new, that we had no experience with, from our students. There would be a complete role reversal, which could actually be fun and beneficial to students, but frightens most teachers!
Overall, I loved this site. It is true that the students we teache now are part of the digital generation. In TE301 we had a woman who was getting her PhD in technology integration come show us some of the things that kids as young as ten know how to do, which included create videos out of frozen video game images and add music and words. This type of technological understanding far surpasses anything that I have, and probably will achieve because I do not have someone to teach me. However, because I am still in the emergent stage, I am hoping that I am not a lost cause, and that somewhere along the way a student, teacher, or friend will be able to show me unique and fun ways that I can integrate technology into my curriculum. Especially because students have access to and experience with technology, and for them, this means of learning is more fun because they are used to fast paced, high-energy interactions! Also, the payoff for the attempts seems like something I want to figure out how to do in my classroom!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
JoAnne,
I really enjoyed reading your post, especially your reactions to some of the technology you encountered along the way to complete the quiz. I found myself laughing out loud but nodding as well because I know what you mean about thinking that some technological things are completely different from what they really are. It makes me feel kind of bad about giving my parents and other adults a hard time about not knowing how to do things (like my dad not being able to figure out how to turn on our computer) but looking at it in terms of what I don't know compared to kids younger than me, I understand where they're coming from a little better. It's definitely scary to try new things that we're unfamiliar with, especially if we feel like we're in that boat alone. However, I really respect your desire to want to figure out new technologies and how to incoporate them into your future classroom. It would be a lot easier to just accept our status as emergent digital literates, but it will be so much better for us and our students if we keep progressing through Tompkin's stages to eventually (and hopefully) reach fluent digital literacy! Keep up the good work!
Glad you brough up IVAN and working in groups. Technically, that would be scaffolding. Also, to make you feel better, I had to go through it in a group with two other instructors before I understood how to do it and could teach you all. Group learning at it's finest (talking, listening, and viewing- very important parts of our LA curriculum!)
Do not give up JoAnne!! You can still be very knowledgable in digital media. Just because there is no teacher does not mean that you can't still learn and teach yourself. I totally understand your frustration and I know that you will never stop learning and you will always strive to keep progressing. I do understand what Kristin was saying about our relationship to the younger and older generation. Do you think we, meaning our generation, will hit a wall like our parents did? It seems to me like they reached a certain point and will not be able to ever get past that wall. I don't think we will ever reach fully fluent digital literacy, because there will always be that " next new thing" that we will have to learn, so it will make us continual learners. It is true that you learn something new everyday! Great job.
Post a Comment