The fun of learning

During the Thanksgiving break I fled the cold winter weather for a bit of sun in a warmer state. I found myself in a magical place and while in awe at the use of technology for entertainment purposes, I also visited an interactive educational/entertainment museum called Wonderworks. It was amazing how much one learns while having fun and I came to again understand what Guthrie et al. (2006) mean when they argue that to raise students' motivation and engagement levels in especially a reading class, educators need to capitalize on situational interests (p. 232). In other words, teachers need to present tasks and activities in environments (situations) which students find engaging and interesting (p.233).

I was thinking back on the past semester and all the new technologies we were introduced to. As an educator I can easily envisage using several of them in my reading and writing class and have no doubt that my class will have a strong technological presence. I was still wondering though... if we as educators aim to address 21st century students' language needs by presenting tasks and activities in an environment that is considered to be interesting and engaging and we select texts that we think students might find interesting, does the responsibility of motivating students to actively engage in the learning process still lie with the educator or is there a point after which we have done what we can and students are responsible for their own motivation and engagement levels? In other words, do you think that if students are not motivated that the primary motivating responsibility lies with the educator even if above mentioned aspects have been addressed?


Reference
Guthrie, J.T., Wigfield, A., Humenick, N.M., Perencevich, K.C., Taboada, A., & Barbosa, P. (2006). Influences of Stimulating Tasks on Reading Motivation and Comprehension. The Journal of Educational Research, 99(4), 232-245.

Long live the art of telling stories!

What a hectic few weeks! And to top it all, the bunch of Southerners in my life (and I'm talking continents here), are all gearing up for their summer break, which starts within the next two weeks....not cool I say, not cool (but you guys deserve it, have fun at the beach!).


Now that I have at least some people in the Northern hemisphere on my side in disapproval of winter, let me turn attention to the purpose of this blog. For class this week, we have to submit our digital story projects. It was only when I actually started working with making the 'movie' myself that the endless possibilities of implementing this in the tertiary education reading and writing classroom became clear...and now, I cannot believe that we have never used it before.

Several key issues need to be addressed in the creation process (and yes, I know that you most probably know them). They are:

1. A point of view
2. A dramatic question
3. Emotional content
4. Economy
5. Pacing
6. The gift of voice
7. An accompanying soundtrack

For an academic reading class, whether the focus is on developing reading skills or a mainstream university level literature class, the reading of stories are always a central part of the program. Students regularly have to submit reports about the stories (novels/short stories, etc.) they read, addressing specific issues (I know we all went through it), but digital storytelling speaks more effectively to the 21st century learner. To be a good storyteller is to develop the skill of story telling, which means that issues related to logos, ethos and pathos (typically associated with argumentative or persuasive writing), need to be addressed.

Although digital storytelling is typically seen as the (re-)telling of personal accounts, it is an effective way to allow learners to voice experience (whether their own or another character/person's) through first and third person, to gain a deeper understanding of character development, how stories unfold and how text organization plays out in both theory and practice. Digital storytelling can be used for fiction and non-fiction, poetry (where the use of still images can assist comprehension), and other collaborative exercises within a specific class, city, country and even across continents.

A specific outcome of a reading and writing class is that students become critical thinkers that can effectively and accurately convey their ideas (discover their voice). The use of digital storytelling projects (no matter how small or complex the tasks are) allow learners to be critical and reflective thinkers and it creates an opportunity for students to discover their voice. This is definitely something that can be implemented for all grade levels, and beyond.

I hope that you all have a great week!

Motivation and online environments

I recently read an article by Payne and Ross (2005) that discusses how computer-mediated communication (CMC) has several advantages for language learning. A few (and I mean literally a few) of these online environments that allow for CMC include social network sites (Facebook, Twitter), Skype, SecondLife, and other collaborative environments such as Google docs, Google wave, wikis and even blogs. According to Payne and Ross (2005), the advantages that these environments hold is that:

• students often produce more language than in face-to-face settings


• students tend to use more complex language when chatting, including more accurate usage of past-tense morphological markers


• there is greater equity in participation among students in a classroom


• students exhibit improved attitudes towards foreign language learning as a result of chatting (p. 36)

While I was reading these advantages, I realized that these are the issues are those typically associated with learner motivation and engagement levels in a reading and writing class. As reading and writing instructors, we want to present our students with opportunities where they can actively engage with the reading texts and writing tasks. We want students to become critical thinkers that can effectively and accurately convey ideas and discover their voice. Online environments create a platform where this discovery process can be facilitated and monitored. One of the major challenges for a reading and writing instructor is to increase learner's motivation levels (well, this is especially true in an ESL setting). If presenting reading and writing tasks in these environments allow for increased motivation and engagement levels, then as educators, can we really afford not to be integrating these into our lessons?

Another CMC environment that I think has plenty of potential for all grade levels is Voicethread. Although Voicethread is not free, for K-12 educators (for a single educator), subscription is $10 a month or $60 a year. If you visit the website and see all that this CMC environment has to offer, I believe that you would agree that $60 could be paid with a smile. Not only can students comment on presentations, documents through posting written comments, but they can also leave voice or video comments too.

I hope that you all are having a good week.

Reference

Payne, J.S. & Ross, B.M. (2005). Synchronous CMC, working memory, and L2 oral proficiency development. Language Learning & Technology, 9(3), 35-54.

Play break

What a crazy week it has been. However, on the one rare occasion that my television was on, I saw that Microsoft is launching its new Xbox Kinect console. Basically, as far as I could see, this is Microsoft's reply to Nintendo's Wii. With the Xbox Kinect, "you are the controller", how you move your body is how the character or object on the screen moves.



I am seriously excited by this. And I know that this is a blog about technology in the language arts classroom, but with graphics becoming better everyday and new developments occurring as we speak, it is not long before we can use these kinds of technologies for language arts classes. Taking virtual field trips within the Midsummer's Night Garden or within the Willy Wonka chocolate factory, meeting the characters, dancing with Mr. Darcy or fighting the dragon that protects the entrance to the tower where the princess has been locked away for years. Okay, I know you get my drift.

Aren't you just as excited as I am to be living in this technological age. Over the weekend I read that the (considered) top 10 jobs in the world did not even exist in 2004, and that it is suspected that we will see over 20 000 years worth of development (as measured with the development rate of the past centuries), in terms of technology still in this century. This is how fast things change and new inventions and developments occur.

Well until new ways are developed to incorporate the Xbox Kinect into the classroom, I better go write my thesis proposal so that when I play with the Xbox Kinect (which I do not have, but want!), that I won't feel too guilty. Have a good week!