Final final thought!

During the online presentation four people visited our typewith.me space. I visited two classmates pages. I felt a little overwhelmed- trying to chat with the authors and maintain our page. But, I thoroughly enjoyed scanning through my peers' pages. Even though it seemed overwhelming- I definitely participated in some valuable conversations. I think it could have gone just as well if we meet in class.

Final Thoughts

The new literacies perspectives cannot be easily defined. The most important characteristics, society and technology, associated with new literacies perspective are regularly evolving (Leu, 2004). While researchers and authors offer a plethora of varied definitions, the majority incorporates similar components. New digital literacies demand a new skill set from both teachers and students. The roles of both are now changing in the classroom. The teacher is no longer the only expert and the print text is no longer the only resource. With digital technologies students have "greater access to larger amounts of information" outside the classroom and print text (Leu, 1575, 2004). Therefore, "the student no longer just consumes the content provided by the teacher" (Richardson, 150, 2010). The students begin to construct their own learning experience, while the teacher acts a "connector", "content creator", "collaborator", and "change agents." Teachers must provide the tools and guide students as they learn how to gather, synthesize, and interact within the vast expanse of digital literacies.

New literacies demand that students communicate with a larger audience and interact with the text. Students must be writers as well as readers able "to manipulate identity as well as the norms of conversations" within an electronic space (Leu, 1571, 2004). Collaboration is large component of digital literacies. Also, the genre of writing evolves as technologies change the ways we communicate. Students can use multimodal forms of communication to interact with text, such as podcasts and/or digital stories. These new genres of writing challenge traditional constructs; therefore, educators must serve as "change agents" moving toward the implementation of new literacies (Richardson, 155, 2010).

While new literacies perspectives is multi-faceted and ever changing the definition hinges on societies expectations of "literate individuals" (Leu, 1583, 2004).

In my future practice I hope to model the concept of a "change agent" and vigorously fight for the implementation of new literacies techniques. I think it is extremely important that educators do not view technology and literacy as two separate entities. Instead we understand that two compliment each other. We cannot divide them. As educators we must act as the guides while our students explore and develop the digital literacy techniques they need to be literate individuals in today's society. Through the implementation of Internet inquiries, visual literacy activities, WebQuests, etc, I hope to challenge and motivate students as they independently work through digital literacies.

Skype

I Skyped with Sarah this week, my second ever using Skype. I think this is a great collaboration tool for students to use with each other- or for a teacher to use with students. During student teaching my teacher told me she used Skype the year before with her class- the students discussed a text with a class from another school. Everyone loved the experience, the students especially enjoyed the authentic audience it provided.

The most important point, to me, that we discussed was New Literacies no longer places the teacher as the center of learning. Instead, the collective knowledge of the students has higher value in classroom (Leu). New Literacies positions students as the experts, publishing and communicating in an online format. Most importantly, New Literacies provides- almost requires- opportunity for collaboration.