21st Century Literacies

Minds of Their Own: Traditional and New Literacy in Students and Schools

by Marc Mancinelli

Shifting conceptualisations of knowledge and learning in the integration of the New Zealand Curriculum in teacher education: Project summary

by Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti

PI and co-investigators: Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti, University of Oulu, Finland; Jane Abbiss, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand; Kathleen Quinlivan, University of Canterbury, Christchurch,
New Zealand

This research project tracked the engagement of eight teacher educators with theoretical discussions related to... more This research project tracked the engagement of eight teacher educators with theoretical discussions related to knowledge societies and post-modernity and traced the effect of this exercise on their conceptualisations of knowledge and learning in the incorporation of the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) document (2007) in initial and in-service teacher education during 2009 and 2010. As part of the project, teacher educators undertook pedagogical initiatives with students in initial teacher education (ite) and teachers from schools who were engaged in teacher professional learning, and they researched their own practice. the project sought to contribute to the understanding of how to best support teacher educators, teachers and student teachers to explore and critically engage with twenty-first century conceptualisations of knowledge and learning, and how they affected pedagogical practices.

Krpic, T. 2007. Libraries: Creating Public Service and Public Space for the Future. Javnost – The Public 14 (4): 73-86.

by Tomaž Krpič

...if we were cavemen we'd be fine

by Owen Barden

This is a draft. The final, definitive version is forthcoming via Blackwell Synergy and the UKLA in Literacy: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291741-4369

This article is derived from a study of the use of Facebook as an educational resource by five dyslexic students at a... more This article is derived from a study of the use of Facebook as an educational resource by five dyslexic students at a Sixth Form College in north-west England. Through a project in which teacher-researcher and student-participants co-constructed a group Facebook page about the students’ scaffolded research into dyslexia, the study examined the educational affordances of a digitally-mediated social network. An innovative, flexible, experiential methodology combining action research and case study with an ethnographic approach was devised. This enabled the use of multiple mixed methods, capturing much of the rich complexity of the students’ online and offline interactions with each other and with digital media as they contributed to the group and co-constructed their group Facebook page. Social perspectives on dyslexia (Cooper, 2006; Herrington & Hunter-Carsch, 2001) and multiliteracies (Cope & Kalantzis, 2000; Gee, 1996; Street 1984 & 2003) were used to help interpret the students’ engagement with the social network and thereby deduce its educational potential. The research concludes that as a digitally mediated social network, Facebook engages the students in active, critical learning about and through literacies in a rich and complex semiotic domain (Gee, 2004, 2005 & 2007). Offline dialogue plays a crucial role. This learning is reciprocally shaped by the students' developing identities as both dyslexic students and able learners. The findings suggest that social media can have advantageous applications for literacy learning in the classroom. In prompting learning yet remaining unchanged by it, Facebook can be likened to a catalyst.

Who Do They Think They’re Talking To? Framings of the Audience by Social Media Users

by David Brake

International Journal of Communication, Vol 6 (2012) http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/932

This article examines the understandings and meanings of personal information sharing online using a predominantly... more This article examines the understandings and meanings of personal information sharing online using a predominantly symbolic interactionist analytic perspective and focusing on writers’ conceptions of their relationships with their audiences. It draws on an analysis of in-depth interviews with 23 personal bloggers. They were found to have limited interest in gathering information about their audiences, appearing to assume that readers are sympathetic. A comprehensive and grounded typology of imagined relationships with audiences was devised. Although their blogs were all public, some interviewees appeared to frame their blogging practice as primarily self-directed, with their potential audiences playing a marginal role. These factors provide one explanation for some forms of potentially risky self-exposure observed among social media users.

Preparing Junior Officers for Roles in FORCEnet & Network Centric Operations

by Mark Tempestilli

Implementing 21st-century Literacies in First-Year Composition

by Maggie Gordon Froehlich

Co-authored with Peter Alan Froehlich, Pennsylvania State University

Based on the NCTE’s statement on 21st-century literacies and the WPA’s Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition,... more Based on the NCTE’s statement on 21st-century literacies and the WPA’s Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition, in 2008, we transformed our cultural-studies approach to first-year writing (at a sister/partner campus) to incorporate writing for the web and digital media. In this essay, we discuss the course redesign and changes we have made to the syllabus in subsequent semesters, ending with some food for thought for faculty considering making such changes in their own teaching of FYC.

Touching Mercury in Community Media: Identifying Multiple Literacy Learning Through Digital Arts

by Angela E. Arndt

This is my doctoral dissertation completed May 2011.

Educational paradigm shifts call for 21st century learners to possess the knowledge, skills, abilities, values, and... more Educational paradigm shifts call for 21st century learners to possess the knowledge, skills, abilities, values, and experiences associated with multiple forms of literacy in a participatory learning culture. Contemporary educational systems are slow to adapt. Outside of school, people have to be self-motivated and have access to resources in order to gain media production experiences. Community-based media centers join arts and culture with technology and computing while addressing issues of social justice, access equity, and public policy. These agencies function as community technology centers and can be complex organizations, existing in many forms, each with unique characteristics as well as fundamental commonalities.

The goal of this study was to learn if and how community technology centers foster learning in multiple forms of literacy. Three forms of literacy were identified: technological, media, and critical. To move beyond the phenomenological approach to understanding teaching and learning practices, the objective was to develop an evaluation protocol to capture the rich ecological context of the organization with qualitative indicators of the unique aspects of each center, as well as objective, measurable factors common to all community technology centers.

This study was conducted in two phases. Phase One was the creation of the protocol including indicators of multiple literacies, a site selection matrix, and a data collection guide. Phase Two was piloting of the evaluation protocol to develop a foundational case for future comparisons.

In Phase One, indicators of multiple literacy learning were devised relevant for 21st century learners. These indicators were aligned specifically with organizational, programmatic, and production activities within a community media arts center. The site selection instrument was developed as a means to pre-screen sites for the likelihood of multiple literacy learning experiences. The data collection guide was aligned with the ecological context taking a broad view of the organization, moving in closer to learn about various programs, then focusing on one production experience.

In Phase Two, a case study was created of Media Bridges, Cincinnati, Inc. through analysis of public data and internal reports, interviews with staff and youth participants, and observation of a weeklong production camp. Findings from the case study showed indications of multiple forms of literacy learning at the organizational, program, and production levels within the ecological context.

The protocol captured an organization that demonstrated its mercurial nature as they pro-actively and purposefully shifted methods of operation during a time of crisis while striving to retain their commitment to the mission of providing the education, equipment, and environment for the public to express themselves effectively through media.

Implications of this research include: an understanding of ecological contexts that foster multiple literacy learning and participatory culture; an exploration of learning systems designs outside of traditional educational structures; development of an evaluation protocol to systematically research community technology centers and media arts organizations as alternative educational venues; research-based knowledge to strengthen the voice of community media organizations as they contribute to educational and media policy; and movement toward access equity in education and the public discourse.

Moving On/Keeping Pace: Youth's Literate Identities and Multimodal Digital Texts

by Donna Alvermann

Alvermann, D. E. ( 2011).  Moving on, keeping pace: Youth’s literate identities and multimodal digital texts. In S. Abrams & J. Rowsell (Eds.), Rethinking identity and literacy education in the 21st century. National Society for the Study of Education Yearbook, 110(1), 109-128.

Although research on young people's online literate identities has implications for classroom practice, this... more Although research on young people's online literate identities has implications for classroom practice, this information remains largely untapped by teachers, school library/media specialists, and literacy teacher educators. Why is this so? Just as importantly, what does this literature have to offer? To address these two questions, I engaged in an interpretive analysis of recent research that suggests the following: (a) the work of students who self-identify as users and producers of multimodal digital texts is rarely visible to their teachers; (b) institutional contexts for secondary schooling and literacy teacher education may wittingly or unwittingly contribute to this invisibility; and (c) in spite of this invisibility, classroom teachers, school library/media specialists, and teacher educators are increasingly becoming aware of the instructional implications of young people's uses of multimodal digital texts to construct their online literate identities.

Literacies and identities for all

by margaret hagood

HOT Blogging: A Framework for Blogging to Promote Higher Order Thinking

by Lisa Zawilinski

Towards a theory of practice: Critical transdisciplianry Multiliteracies

by Christopher Walsh

With James Albright and Kiran Purohit

In this book chapter we offer an alternative way of looking at the failure and dismissal of interdisciplinary... more In this book chapter we offer an alternative way of looking at the failure and dismissal of interdisciplinary curricula at school and propose a shift towards transdisciplinarity...

Service-learning 2.0 for the 21st century: Towards a holistic model for global social positive change

by Fahri Karakas

Karakas, Fahri and Kavas, Mustafa (2009). Service-learning 2.0 for the 21st century: Towards a holistic model for global social positive change. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 17(1), pp. 40–59.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce service-learning 2.0 model based on four new paradigms in the... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce service-learning 2.0 model based on four new paradigms in the global business landscape: connectivity, creativity, community, and complexity.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews four paradigm shifts and their effects on service-learning practices and methodology: wikinomics and mass collaboration, collective intelligence and open innovation, appreciative inquiry and positive organizational scholarship (POS), and self-organizing systems and the new sciences.

Findings – Service-learning 2.0 can be used to develop our students' twenty-first century thinking skills through applied community engagement projects, namely: interactivity and interconnectedness, innovation and insight, and inspiration and intuition, integrative and interdisciplinary thinking.

Practical implications – Service-learning 2.0 principles and pedagogy can help students appreciate and prepare for increasing complexity and paradox of management and organizations in the light of global, social and organizational changes of the twenty-first century.

Originality/value – Service-learning 2.0 model represents the pedagogy, principles, and processes that are better suited to the global, technological, and social changes and challenges of the 21st century.

The Power & Promise of Web 2.0

by G Andrew Page

Co-authored with Dr. Radwan Ali, Kennesaw State University

The key idea that sets constructivism apart from other theories was launched about 60 years ago by Jean Piaget. It was... more The key idea that sets constructivism apart from other theories was launched about 60 years ago by Jean Piaget. It was the idea that what is called knowledge does not and cannot have the purpose of producing representations of an independent reality, but instead has an adaptive function (Von Glasersfeld, 1996, p.3). In this chapter, a variety of Web 2.0 applications and their affordances are presented and discussed in relation to constructivism in higher education. The aim is to explain how these applications can be used in higher education to promote interactive and engaging learning environments. Recommendations for harnessing the potential of these tools along with practical examples will assist facilitators of higher education with creative means to design their courses and thus promote Learning 2.0. 

You Gotta See It to Believe It: Teaching Visual Literacy in the English Classroom

by Shelbie Witte

Co-authored with Robyn Seglem, Ph.D., Illinois State University

A brief narrative description of the journal article, document, or resource. Expanding the definition of literacy and... more A brief narrative description of the journal article, document, or resource. Expanding the definition of literacy and using visual strategies comprehensively can strongly affect student learning. Educators can contribute to the growth and understanding of the world of nonprint text by helping students learn to read and create visual products critically. When educators bridge popular culture and traditional texts, students become authentically motivated and engaged in their learning. This article highlights vignettes of visual literacy at work through successful classroom practices.

'That's online writing, not boring school writing': Writing with blogs and the Talkback Project

by Shelbie Witte

published in the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 2007

The Talkback Project used blog software to involve eighth-grade language arts students, preservice teachers, and... more The Talkback Project used blog software to involve eighth-grade language arts students, preservice teachers, and parents in online discussion of young adult novels and their personal connections with them. The author shares the challenges associated with the project—including the implications of Internet safety and legal concerns associated with technology integration—but argues that classroom blogging provides positive opportunities for students to
* Develop their digital fluency
*Strengthen traditional literacy skills
*Apply real-life 21st-century skills in a safe and monitored environment

Twitterdee, Twitterdumb: Teaching in the Time of Technology, Tweets, and Tresspassing

by Shelbie Witte

published in California English, 2009

Through "many trials and even more errors," Shelbie Witte, director of research for the Florida State... more Through "many trials and even more errors," Shelbie Witte, director of research for the Florida State University Writing Project, has found ways to help students make connections between their classroom writing and recreational writing off campus.

Objects in Play: Virtual Environments and Tactile Learning

by Lillian Spina-Caza, PhD

When creating technology environments for children,
consideration needs to be given to how touch, gesture, andmore When creating technology environments for children,
consideration needs to be given to how touch, gesture, and
physical interactions impact on play and learning. This is
particularly important for video games or educational
software appealing to young people with different learning
styles. Children who are tactile learners are frequently left
out of the design equation. New approaches to tangible
design can address this imbalance. Animal Wrangler, a
prototype of a PC-platform videogame the author codesigned
for an Experimental Game Design course,
demonstrates objects children encounter in the physical
world – everyday playthings – can also be used to enrich
virtual play. The next step is to develop the game prototype
for dissertation research and gather data to help identify
potential benefits of mixed reality play for learning,
development, and children’s overall well-being.

Exploring Ways to Measure How Children Engage with Virtual Pets and Avatars at Commercially-Popular Websites: A Pilot Study

by Lillian Spina-Caza, PhD

The popularity of pet-adoption websites designed for
children, such as Neopets, Horseland, and Webkinz, is amore The popularity of pet-adoption websites designed for
children, such as Neopets, Horseland, and Webkinz, is a
phenomenon worth examining to gain a better
understanding of the features that make these sites so
attractive to children. Equally popular with young
people are sites with customizable human avatars, like
Zwinky, I-Dress Up, and Millsberry. This pilot study
measures play at two commercially-produced websites,
and offers insights into what types of activities children
engage in when playing on the Internet.

“This Guy's Dead”: Seeking The Origins of the Dystopian Narrative of the American High School in the Popular Culture

by Shelbie Witte

Co-authored with Dr. F. Todd Goodson, Kansas State University. Published in High School Journal, 2010