Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Beyond Technology for Technology's Sake: Advancing Multiliteracies in the Twenty-First Century

Borsheim, C., Merritt, K., & Reed, D. (2008). Beyond Technology for Technology's sake: Advancing Multiliteracies in the Twenty-First Century. The Clearing House , 87-90.

The point of this article is to demonstrate that teachers must go beyond implementing technology for technology's sake and consider the evolving nature of texts and the literacy skills associated with consuming and producing those texts.The authors share examples for adapting teaching to the impact of technology, rather than adapting technology to teaching.(Borsheim, Merritt, & Reed, 2008, p.87)They contend that teachers who use a variety of media and technologies in their teaching do more than familiarize students with specific technologies. They are preparing their students for the multiliteracies of the 21st century.
This article applies to all ages and levels of teaching. It is an important concept that we embrace that technology is here to stay. It is not a toy to play with in the classroom to meet a standard, but an important tool to learn how to utilize for learning.
Each writer demonstrated the use of a different technology. Carlin Borsheim project was the traditional research paper unit in which she utilized the internet, wikis, film-editing software and Word.
Dawn Reed utilized podcasting to with her class. After listening to essays, the students wrote their own and then recorded and edited their podcasts, and posted them on a blog.
Kelly Merritt used wikis in her classroom to communicate, share documents, fet feedback, build collective experiences and integrate additional forms of technology into the classroom experience. (Borsheim, Merritt, & Reed, 2008, p. 90)

The Power of Podcasting

Lum, L. (2006). The Power of Podcasting. Diverse Issues of Higher Education , 32-35.

The focus of this article was how a new technology is revolutionizing the way faculty and administrators interact with students. It has been determined that 80 percent of college students own at least one device that can download and play recordings. Given this information, it falls to reason that pod casts would be an excellent medium for enhancing instruction. In an effort to promote podcasting Duke University handed out about 1600 iPods preloaded with orientation material to its entire incoming 2004 class.(Lum, L. (2006). These iPods were used for class lectures, as well as general information about courses. At Mansfield University the administrators did an ongoing series of podcasts exploring student life, especially for freshman. These podcasts explored everything from their favorite Saturday night pastimes to what the seniors believe their most important lessons have been, educationally and personally. This has produced an 11 percent spike in student applications for the fall semester compared to last year's numbers.(Lum, L. 2006)It appears that podcasts are finding more and more uses and won't be going away for quite a while if ever.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

After the Bells, Beyond the Walls

Langhorst, E. (2007). After the Bell, Beyond the Walls. Edcuational Leadership , 74-77.

This article discusses the efficacy of the use of podcasts at South Valley Junior High School in Liberty Missouri. Experiments were made podcasting for test reviews which were called StudyCasts.The special education teachers found that the StudyCasts benefit students with reading disabilities. Students can repeat portions of the recorded review or listen to the entire session as many times as they wish. This also helped the teachers use their time more efficiently.(Languorous,2007)
The school also established a Virtual Book Club where the students all accessed a blog where they could discuss the book and listen to interviews by the author of the book. The use of podcasts also added another dimension to the special education population. Their teacher recorded the book which allowed these students to be active participants too.
The author feels that the use of podcasts is an excellent way to address the different learning styles of students. He says that,"blogs and podcasts can more flexibly meet the needs of individual students both in and out of school."(Langhorst,2007)
I appreciated this article because it demonstrated varying uses for podcasts and the effectiveness as well as the benefits that it afforded the special education population.