Group items tagged

Articles on media literacy -  an excerpt from their newsletter:  Here's how George Mason history professor Mills Kelly teaches media literacy. "'We will work together as a group to create an online historical hoax that we will then turn loose on the internet to see if we can actually fool anyone.'" His students have created stories that have fooled Wikipedia (but not Reddit) and provoked the ire of Jimmy Wales himself. We're delightedly amused at this intriguing piece from Brendan Fitzgerald, which examines the tradition of published hoaxes within the larger discussion over media transparency and credibility. While we agree that planting deliberate lies makes our job a little tougher, there's definitely value in its effort to challenge the largely assumed reliability of Wikipedia and other crowdsourcing efforts. It begs the question: are today's kids digital natives or "digital naives?"

Edmodo And Common Sense Media Partner (the authors of the 0-8 report some of us read for Joe Blatt's class this week) to offer free teaching tools based on Dr. Howard Gardner's work at HGSE. The partnership provides teachers with a set of student activities based on Common Sense Media's free K-12 curriculum, "Digital Literacy and Citizenship in a Connected Culture," for the Edmodo platform. The curriculum introduces the basics of using social networks and other digital technologies safely, responsibly and respectfully and is based on the work of Dr. Howard Gardner and the GoodPlay Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

The author points out some of the most important digital literacy standards from the common core, specifically discussing how to assess what digital mediums are appropriate and when. He finishes the article with a great example of the standards driving classroom instruction.

Article about a Chicago high school's new digital library that encourages kids to produce and remix media. Certainly an intriguing idea, but I am reminded of the attention we must pay to the latest 'fads' with new digital media - will this library be outdated by the time this district's elementary school children reach high school? Still, wicked cool stuff and definitely moving in the right direction in getting media literacy into schools!

I love these lines from the article: "Just as schools have always pushed teens to read critically and pick apart authors' arguments, she says, educators must now teach kids how to consume media critically and, ideally, to produce it. 'It's really a shift from thinking of a library as a repository to a community center, a place where things actually happen,' says Taylor Bayless, 27, a librarian and one of the center's mentors."

We mentioned transmedia navigation as a digital literacy in class today. Inanimate Alice is a really interesting example.

Website to teach kids the information literacy skills they need to approach the job search process--interesting concept

I made this wiki for a class I took last semester on Authorship and Learning in the Digital Age. It was designed as a resource for teachers who are interested in using the internet in the classroom, but want to make sure they are preparing their students for safe internet use. It deals with COPPA, privacy and safety concerns, and touches on media literacy and informs teachers what researchers have found about young kids' processing of online content. I'd love to hear your feedback on the site, and if you find it useful, please forward the link along!

Very interesting article. "iREAD (Impact on Reading of E-Readers And Digital content) Ghana Pilot Study" Another example showing us the traditional standardized test doesnt seem to be a suitable type of assessment here. But in addition to that there are many interesting findings related to IT literacy, benefits of the teachers and increased access to learning materials. (never really thought a simple hardware such as e-reader itself will be this 'transformational' to certain countries across the world) 

Before he publishes the actual 2012 review, is reflecting on what he wrote one year ago. (the ten things he highlighted last year was the ipad, social media, text-messaging, data, the digital library, khan academy, STEM, higher education bubble, "open", the business of ed-tech) Personally interested in programming literacy part that is expected to be mentioned. Also like the questions presented at the end. 

This article seems to follow with discussions from section today. 

"The notion of literacy has radically changed in the face of technologies that allow for different forms of expressions and levels of interaction, which is why teachers must adapt"

Principles of networked learning, constructivism, and connectivism inform the design of a test case through which secondary students construct personal learning environments for the purpose of independent inquiry. Emerging web applications and open educational resources are integrated to support a Networked Student Model that promotes inquiry-based learning and digital literacy, empowers the learner, and offers flexibility as new technologies emerge. The Networked Student Model and a test case are described in detail along with implications and considerations for additional research. The article is meant to facilitate further discussion about K-12 student construction of personal learning environments and offer the practitioner a foundation on which to facilitate a networked learning experience. It seeks to determine how a teacher can scaffold a networked learning approach while providing a foundation on which students take more control of the learning process.

Opinion by Edutopia's research analyst

Great site promoting online youth collaboration. Site includes tools for student game and digital asset development in addition to pre-built educational games.

Really interesting article about the perceived importance of Internet to the K-12 student and suggesting how other entities and organizations are supporting equal access in this way.

Jason Ohler writes about digital storytelling

Are we transliterate enough when we are learning and experimenting things.  Another example I can think of for transliteracy is the awareness of updating one's status messages in various places. For example, a status message on one's FB page is quite different from one's LinkedIn Profile to one's style of tweeting to one's IM status message.  Being aware of what kind of thoughts go where is an important transliterate skill to have. Thoughts?

Speaking of being wary of marketers pitching 'magical digital products'...this study found "no discernible effects" on high school students standardized test scores - of course, we must ask how the effects were measured (what the test actually tests) and measure in what ways software has a meaningful effect on student's learning...

I think Karen Cator makes a good point in the article when she talks about standardized tests being the sole gauge for assessing the effectiveness of the programs. While the programs may be used with the intent to improve test scores, I'd also argue it's important for digital literacy to be valued as a skill in its own right. Thus while test scores may not reflect the sought-after results, other important skills may still have been developed by using the programs.

Similar to MIT's Scratch, Globaloria positions itself as helping students develop STEM knowledge, digital literacy skills, and college readiness through game design. The program markets itself as a blended learning model.