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Voki

Double Entry 5

"Media literacy education can flourish only with a robust understanding of fair use."

This being quite the lengthy reading and much of it, I am not going to lie, tedious. However, I did enjoy somewhat trying to differentiate between what is an what is not and the other aspects of fair use.  I chose the quote above because, not only was it highlighted, it really stuck to me. It just clicked and along with the definition of media literacy, made total sense.


Fair Use

I actually linked the fair use guidelines, while I did not read all of them, mainly due to the fact that I was pretty burned out on reading. I did skim most of it and tried to notice some of the more significant ones.

The answer to the question that was proposed it rather easy for me to answer because all of the materials that I used in my digital story were all obtained from open sources. So yes, it does fall under fair use.

Double Entry 4

"If digital stories are going to survive in education, they need to be tied to the curriculum and used to strengthen students' critical thinking."

I could not agree more with this statement and the fact that while these can be very helpful and useful tools to help students learn and teachers more accurately relate to their students, the digital stories themselves need to be tied to something.  The ability for one to critically think on subjects and wrap their minds around thoughts is one of the most valuable abilities one can learn and can be used and applied to every facet of life.

Article

this article touches on sort of the same thing, it simply explains what digital storytelling is.  Again, just using digital storytelling just to use it seems monotonous and useless. I can not stress and agree more with the point made about it being tied directly to the curriculum.

Digital Story

Photo Story.

Recording Romeo

The strategy that I chose to read was Recording Romeo, in which the teacher, Jerri Raven, had her students read the S Shakespearean classic Romeo and Juliet while they played dramatic music in the background.  In this way she simulated an environment that immersed her students in the material and enhanced learning through the technology and application of the immersion technique.  This was mainly because she was basically having them do a performance and when you give a performance you need to know the plot and be able to critically think about that plot.

Double Entry 3

"Gradually, we have become less obsessed with correctness and more focused on tolerance and personal expression."


     The first article, "Are Digital Media Changing Language?", was great and I really enjoyed reading it.  The two mains points that were hit on were Whatever and Control. Both of which were very well expressed and I could not agree more with them.  The "Whatever approach simply stated that people just do not care enough anymore about language and as long as you are able to express yourself that is all that really matters.  The "Control" touched on the fact that we are more easily able to control our surroundings through technology, which is quite obvious, however we also see it as a way to control our communication. Another quote that was eye opening  from the "Control" section; "As the arsenal of control devices continues to grow, we increasingly come to see language not as an opportunity for interpersonal dialogue but as a system we can maneuver for individual gain."  This was just a brilliant observation.
    The second article was one that put "textisms" together in the same group and stated that they will soon die off because they were a novelty and that as we come up with more sophisticated phones with actual keypads these short hands will soon be less apparent.

     This short video just touches briefly on how digital media is all around the youth of today and how they and we are always learning. Even if it isn't what parents or adults want them to learn.  It also reinforces the whole expression through technology argument.


Ammon, S. (2010, Jan 22). The keypad solution. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/magazine/24FOB-onlanguage-t.html


Barron, N. (2009, Jan). Are digital media changing language?. 66(6), 42-46. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar09/vol66/num06/Are-Digital-Media-Changing-Language¢.aspx


Digital media's effect on kids & learning. (2008, Oct 10). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYcWq_GYEN0

Learning Styles

Do learning styles exist?

Are they useful for classroom instruction?

What is the best philosophy for using learning styles?

Learning styles do exist in some capacity, however the effect that they have on the classroom as a setting is small if at all.  As a classroom instructor these styles are not that useful because when teaching a group you need to adjust for content and the meaning of that content and how you are going to convey that knowledge.  The best philosophy for using learning styles is one that is on an individual basis.  A situation where you are able to specifically tailor a system in which a single or few people can target the learning.  Even then, however, it can still be said that the content of the teachings is far more important.