ETEC 540: Text Technologies - Changing the Spaces of Reading and Writing
A Wealth of Knowledge at the British Library
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If there was an elective course that I could convert to a core course, ETEC 540: Text Technologies - The Changing Spaces of Reading and Writing would be that course. It’s not often on the first day of classes that I am challenged to pay homage to my prior knowledge and experiences with new information (Bolter, 2001). The new information shared by my peers in their introductions in many circumstances imitated the old allowing me to solidify the information; yet, also led to an opportunity to improve on my knowledge. Such as the introduction by Pamela Jones, when she shared an image of a street sign from Shanghai (Jones, 2014). This is when I began to recognize and appreciate how language had evolved from characters (images) to print we are familiar with today in the English language. I immediately began to recall all of the evolutionary pieces of text that I had encountered on my travels: pictographs along the base of Uluru, pictographs in a series of caves throughout Southern France, scrolls of papyrus, tablets, and the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum. Connections were being made immediately and I was captivated.
I had enrolled in this course because I was interested in learning about the various technologies and how they had changed the ways in which we communicate. From the moment I began making connections and began further researching and googling new ideas being created by my peers introduction I knew I was in the right course. It is this sense of passion and desire to learn that I want my students to experience. Marc Prensky (2001) speaks about the ways in which our students have drastically changed; today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach. Within our educational system we are faced with a large problem; it was designed for a time when there was no need to be digitally literate. Furthermore, a large portion of today’s youth appear to be disengaged and to be reluctant to learn. Perhaps they lack intrinsic motivation; or perhaps they are simply not motivated by an archaic system? The New London Group (NLG) (1996) believes that education community needs to reflect on philosophies of literacy and the desire of the social outcomes of learning. As a part of these literary philosophies, is the concept of multiliteracy; a term created by the NLG to illustrate various “communication channels and media, and the increasing saliency of cultural and linguistic diversity” (New London Group, 1996, p. 4). Suggesting that by editing the methods in which we teach our students and providing them the opportunity to create and to share content using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. Just as a photographer examines the histogram of the image to determine if there is a good balance of tones, an educator needs to examine if there is a good balance of text technologies. Online tools and software are influencing literary pedagogy with “powerful implications for education, from storytelling to classroom teaching to individual learning” (Alexander, 2006, p. 42). It is time to adjust the focal point of the lessons, to ensure the correct light exposure and tonal range. |
Video Documentary: The Invention of the Stereoscope
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The discussions that were sparked by our on-going discussions and responses to one another in the margins of the social book provided the opportunity to reflect on remediation of text technologies and the changing spaces of orality. These conversations offered a solid base to the creation of our video documentaries, which highlighted the evolution of various technologies throughout time. For this project I examined The Invention of the Stereograph. It was not my original documentary of choice; however, after realizing that a peer had chosen to cover the history of photography, the stereograph was suggested to me by our instructor Ernesto Peña. “Up until the start of this assignment I did not know what a stereoscope was; or so I thought. It turns out; I had seen some stereoscopic painting by Dali last spring. I wound up being so fascinated with the stereoscope, and its connection to photography, that I have already been to a couple of antique stores looking at views to start collecting” (Marsh, 2014d). As reluctant photographers began to adopt new digital editing techniques to improve their images, I had to adopt a new documentary topic. If I had not been willing to edit, to adopt and to embrace a new topic, I would have missed out on learning about this little bit of history of photography!
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Rip.Mix.Feed: Twitter as Professional Development
Twitter for Education Pinterest Board
“I believe I have always been a connected educator, although not always connected through technology” (Marsh, 2014e). Previous to starting the MET program in September 2013, I had considered myself a lurker on Twitter. After much practice, I began to learn how to crop out the unwanted tweets, to change the focal point, and to sharpen the details which were useful for me, similarly to the way in which a photographer edits a photograph. I used Twitter as a technological tool to curate ideas and content that I could implement in my teaching practices. I created very little original content, original Tweets. By the end of my first term in the MET program I had begun to find Twitter as an indispensable tool! I began to embrace the use of Twitter for my professional development by participating in conversations and by authoring my own texts.
As Twitter has been such a powerful tool for my growth as an educator, I was motivated to share it with my peers in ETEC 540 and in my Personal Learning Network (PLN). I thought by creating a UBCMET Twitter list, a list of past and current MET students, It would encourage others to examine the potential of using it for themselves. Additionally I wanted to provide new Twitter users with a variety of tools that could benefit them in the learning process; and to provide them with ideas for using Twitter as a means of literacy with their students in the classroom. In order to curate the resources in a single location, I had used a social bookmarking tool, Pinterest.
By creating a list of UBCMET Twitter users and a collection of resources, I feel that I was able to demonstrate and to reaffirm my belief in the strength of Twitter as an engaging multiliteracy tool. Thru the use of Twitter I am able to continue my growth as a connected educator, that models the value of being a connected global citizen.
“Twitter helps you create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers” (Twitter, 2014).
As Twitter has been such a powerful tool for my growth as an educator, I was motivated to share it with my peers in ETEC 540 and in my Personal Learning Network (PLN). I thought by creating a UBCMET Twitter list, a list of past and current MET students, It would encourage others to examine the potential of using it for themselves. Additionally I wanted to provide new Twitter users with a variety of tools that could benefit them in the learning process; and to provide them with ideas for using Twitter as a means of literacy with their students in the classroom. In order to curate the resources in a single location, I had used a social bookmarking tool, Pinterest.
By creating a list of UBCMET Twitter users and a collection of resources, I feel that I was able to demonstrate and to reaffirm my belief in the strength of Twitter as an engaging multiliteracy tool. Thru the use of Twitter I am able to continue my growth as a connected educator, that models the value of being a connected global citizen.
“Twitter helps you create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers” (Twitter, 2014).
Position Piece: Can It Ever Be "Just" A Book?
Homepage for "Can it Ever be: 'Just' a Book?"
Please note, this image does not contain a hyperlink.
This is project was perhaps by far my most memorable project. The very same peer, Pamela Jones, that had inspired me with her street sign of Shanghai partnered with me for the completion of this assignment. The witty, thought-provoking and fascinating illustrated children’s book It’s a Book by Lane Smith, had inspired us to analyze the events and the evolutions of thought that could have led to the creation of this book (Marsh, 2014f).
Throughout the process of completing this project Pamela and myself held countless conversations through the use of Google Hangouts. These were pivotal in the initial organization and in the final editing process. They allowed us to accomplish far more in a brief conversations that could be accomplished in multiple emails or conversations through commentary made in shared Google Documents. Not to say that emails and shared Google Documents did not have a role in the completion of this project; as did direct messages through Twitter.
We wanted to draw connections between the beautiful illustrations of Smith’s and of the theory that underlies the text, technology, and literacy. In order to accomplish this we wished to create a blog to share the images from the book and our thoughts. In respecting Lane Smith’s work and copyright laws we reached out to him through email. We had explained our intentions and our desires for using his illustrations. “Lane Smith was gracious enough to provide us permission to use any and all images we wished ‘[a]s long as they are not for publication and only on your UBC blog then that all sounds cricket’ (Smith, personal communication, July 22, 2014)” (Marsh, 2014f). For this reason, out of respect for Lane Smith’s generosity, I will not be providing a link to the blog site we created for the assignment. Instead, I will only provide you with an image of the site’s homepage as a teaser.
Throughout the process of completing this project Pamela and myself held countless conversations through the use of Google Hangouts. These were pivotal in the initial organization and in the final editing process. They allowed us to accomplish far more in a brief conversations that could be accomplished in multiple emails or conversations through commentary made in shared Google Documents. Not to say that emails and shared Google Documents did not have a role in the completion of this project; as did direct messages through Twitter.
We wanted to draw connections between the beautiful illustrations of Smith’s and of the theory that underlies the text, technology, and literacy. In order to accomplish this we wished to create a blog to share the images from the book and our thoughts. In respecting Lane Smith’s work and copyright laws we reached out to him through email. We had explained our intentions and our desires for using his illustrations. “Lane Smith was gracious enough to provide us permission to use any and all images we wished ‘[a]s long as they are not for publication and only on your UBC blog then that all sounds cricket’ (Smith, personal communication, July 22, 2014)” (Marsh, 2014f). For this reason, out of respect for Lane Smith’s generosity, I will not be providing a link to the blog site we created for the assignment. Instead, I will only provide you with an image of the site’s homepage as a teaser.
