EDUC 463 Digital Portfolios

Hey all,

Great digital portfolios today by all! Would it be possible for everyone to post the link of your portfolio here?

On "Object Lessons..."

media and identity

Before writing my take on the Buckingham reading, I want to say that I enjoyed reading your comments on the topic of the gap between young people’s worlds outside the school and their experiences in the classroom, and also using technology to have fun and being kids.

OK. I am going to look at Buckingham’s article from the perspective of “media and identity”, as I am passionate about the notion of self/identity! As Buckingham says media production provides a space for young people to explore their identities and take on new positions. This is exactly what I like about media productions. I see media productions as a “mirror” that reflects different images to people of who they already are. This is the “reflective” aspect of media productions as a mirror. In addition, they can give young people information and images of who they can ‘become’. This is the “constitutive” aspect of media productions as mirrors.

While I know the identities that people try and can take on through media are not deep—whether it is an online environment trying different persona via having different avatars, or it is a space exploring and voicing unspeakable needs and desires via blogging, youtubing, etc.—they are definitely useful in helping people understand different aspects of their self, and see themselves in different roles and dispositions, especially the positions that are restricted or unpopular because of the norms of the society or school, … . Such taking new roles can be useful when the mirroring is positive, I must say. However, reflecting negative or oppressive images to people can be harmful. Therefore, as Buckingham says “a form of critical discourse in which to describe and analyze what is taking place” is needed. I do believe so, too. “Mirroring” and identity exploration in media productions are important to examine and question, and as teachers, we need to educate our students on that.

Media Educator:Let's have fun again with the kids

I think Buckingham has set a higher standard for myself as a teacher after reading this article. I have been subjected to too many teachers who believe that technology does not have a place in the classroom and that students should fit into a traditional model of a student. It is hard to go against the grain sometimes, but as the teacher would had the students working with horror stories proves that we have access to learn differently because of media.  It is like when a child has his first ice cream; the taste is something he wants to continue to enjoy.   When I have had a taste of a new genre of multimedia or software, it is hard to go back to an old way of thinking.   And why do I enjoy it so much? Because it is FUN! That is what we should be teaching our children: to be kids.  In western society it is a shame that kids can no longer play outside by themselves, or have to come home to an empty house after school.   If school is the only place I can let them be kids, then forget the class management and let us have fun learning. Let us use technology to achieve being kids because when they step outside that classroom they face a tough and challenging world .

Not to say we should completely disregard some fundamental educational practices, but if pioneers could easily identify the school system, then I believe that this has a lot of problems because it is evident that education is not changing.  If everything else around us has changed, then why is education so slow to transform?  One of the toughest things we must overcome in order to move forward is financial and economic difficult situation. Its funny that education, in my opinion, is the fundamental to a society, yet there is never enough money.  

I do agree that it is hard to have students working with websites when they, at home, do not have access to computers.  This would be discrimination if I asked the class to only hand in assignments typed.  Although, stats Canada come out with saying most Canadian students have one access to computers either a neighbour, at school, home, library ect.  So, I think it is safe to say that I can use technology as a means for education students. 

So, how do we move forward with technology?  Do we have to do it alone or can we find support?

Media Education Article Question

Reading the Media Education article byBuckingham, I am struck by one of the statements made. Buckingham discusses the changes in society in which children are growing up in; specifically a transformation in the social and cultural experiences of young people. With this shift in youth Buckingham expresses the fact that education has not changed greatly over this period of time; "classroom od today would be easily recognizable to the pioneers of public education of the mid-nineteenth century."

Due to this stability of education and the transformation of the environment youth encounter, Buckingham argues that there is a "widening gap between young people's worlds outside school and their experiences in the classroom."

Do you agree with this statement? Is it becoming more difficult to connect the classroom experiences to the real world?

Another Great Use of Wiki

Hey all,

Just read on the newspaper that there's this guy who defrauded quite a few people on eBay, and to track the seller down, they used pbWiki to encourage any victims to provide information, and then send that pbWiki page to the police. Here's the news article on ZDNet:

http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/soa/Sydney-man-arrested-for-eBay-fraud/0,139023166,339290454,00.htm?omnRef=http://www.google.ca/search?q=australian%20ebay%20fraud%20wiki

Object lessons...

... yes, as teachers, we do need to look at the software and technology we use in our classrooms critically. Technology has the potential to be used for constructing knowledge and global collaboration (Karon), rather than just passing a test, for example (Simon) or drill (Charlene). As you all said we do also need to educate our students in terms of what they are using and how they are using. They need to be educated to choose the websites, for example, they want to use critically, and be able to ‘question’ the content. As Bryon, Ian, Adam, and others said, our business is to educate minds, and we need to consider the human factor required in education, and capture and inspire the students’ hearts and minds. Technology, like many other things in our life, is there. But we need to see its power as well as the social practices and customs it can produce. Technology should be used for production, exploration, and invention in a way that “nurtures” the students’ minds and supports their subjectivity and agency.

To me, the most important thing in using technology is to know why I am using it, and always giving the recognition or misrecognition for using that to the ‘person’ who is using that technology and the mind behind it (both the user and the creator)- rather than giving the recognition or misrecognition to the technology. An online space can be used for the purpose of collaboration and learning, though, the same online environment can be used for bullying, for example. Or as Jodi said, it can make people/students less interactive with other human beings and more individualized. Yes, technology has the potential to bring “individuation” (again, Foucault’s term!). Such social issues around technology- digital bullying, individuation, etc.- is a result of misusing technology and its power to misrecognize ourselves or others and take away or decrease one’s agency. We need to educate our students in our classrooms to how to use technology, discuss the social issues around misusing technology, as well as the effective ways these powerful tools can help their learning and subjectivity. And as teachers, we need to practice what we believe in, and be perfect examples of what we speak about by using technology towards ‘recognition’—recognizing students’ minds, humanity, and their potential to innovate, learn, and produce.

(Charlene, I am glad the problem is fixed and you can now post your comments).