New literacies in the classroom are being redefined and reimagined to new
dimensions. Students that are given the
liberty to use new media in the way they imagine it, can give meaning to a new
form of literacy. As Erstad (2013) says,
“The combination of media elements is not just a sum of different elements, but
creates something new; a new quality as text”(p. 44). This quote resonated with me after reading the
journalism case study in Chapter 1 and I believe this brings purpose to the use
of new media in the classroom. Students
have the ability to become these creators or “authors” of new literacy.
In this week’s readings, I
saw the focus on students learning with
the teacher. As educators, it goes a long way to first acknowledge what
information students bring to the table. If we can appreciate their
contribution to the classroom, we may gain their trust and form a stronger
teacher/student relationship. We can't just tell students what they need to
know, we ask them what they know first and go from there. As a student explained in “Multimodal
Pedagogies”, the teacher did not waste time re-teaching skills they already
knew, but rather pushed them to explore new ones (Vasudevan, Dejaynes, & Schmier, 2013, p. 26). This promoted
the student’s independence and led to the creation of great projects. When one student combined a podcast with a
video, she created a new text with
even more meaning then those two elements would’ve had on their own.
New media online such as blogs allow learning
to bridge the gap from school to the home. Students can continue to work on
their blogs from home for personal satisfaction and not just for academic
purposes. The key to being fluent in digital literacy is to explore the possibilities
afforded to you by new media and not be confined to a certain structure. If teachers can encourage students to see
beyond the school setting and incorporate learning through media outside of school, then students may
develop a deeper understanding of how new media may be used in their lives.
References
Erstad,
O. (2013). Trajectories of Remixing. In C. Lankshear, & M. Knobel (Eds.), A
New Literacies Reader: Educational Perspectives (pp. 38-56). New York:
Peter Lang Publishing.
Vasudevan,
L., Dejaynes, T., & Schmier, S. (2013). Multimodal Pedagogies. In C.
Lankshear, & M. Knobel (Eds.), A New Literacies Reader: Educational
Perspectives (pp. 23-37). New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
