Defining Purposes for Using Defining Purposes for Using Web 2.0 Digital ToolsWeb 2.0 Digital Tools

Presentation at the 2009 Minnesota Council of Teachers of English conference, Rochester, MN Richard BeachUniversity of Minnesota

Kathy Yancey: 21st Century Kathy Yancey: 21st Century WritingWritingThis 21st century writing marks the

beginning of a new era in literacy, a period we might call the Age of Composition, a period where composers become composers not through direct and formal instruction alone (if at all), but rather through what we might call an extracurricular social co-apprenticeship.

30,000 students: 30,000 students: Facebook site:Facebook site:Students write “THIS IS SPARTA” on

AP tests and cross it out Extra points: “THIS IS MADNESS”

◦ “As the country slid deeper into the Depression, it became clear that drastic change was needed in order to save the American banking system. Fortunately,Franklin Delano Roosevelt, after taking office, immediately declared THIS IS MADNESS and established a four-day banking holiday.”

Jeff Uteckt: Literacy Jeff Uteckt: Literacy Curriculum ModelsCurriculum Models

NCTE: Twenty-first century readers NCTE: Twenty-first century readers and writers need to:and writers need to:Develop proficiency with the tools of technology Build relationships with others to pose and solve

problems collaboratively and cross-culturally Design and share information for global

communities to meet a variety of purposes Manage, analyze, and synthesize multiple streams

of simultaneous information Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multimedia

texts Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by

these complex environments

NCTE Poll: 900 language arts NCTE Poll: 900 language arts teachers teachers Top three abilities for student

success◦seek information and make critical

judgments about the veracity of sources

◦read and interpret many different kinds of texts, both in print and online

◦innovate and apply knowledge creatively

NCTE Poll: 900 language arts NCTE Poll: 900 language arts teachers teachers 62% reject notion that basic

language, reading, and writing skills must be mastered before critical 21st century literacy abilities can be cultivated

Teachers: Student writingTeachers: Student writing3%: students spend at least an hour a

week in school writing in an online social network environment.

52 percent said that their students spend at least an hour a week outside of school writing in such environments.

17% of teens enjoyed school writing “a great deal.”

49% said that they enjoyed non-school writing

“a great deal.”

Teaching tools versus uses Teaching tools versus uses of tools to achieve purposes of tools to achieve purposes Typewriting HandwritingBloggingWikisPodcastingDigital video

Purposes for uses of toolsPurposes for uses of tools Tools

User Purpose/outcome

Students: OTX study: Social Students: OTX study: Social purposes purposes Most popular: hanging out with friends,

listening to music, and seeing boy/girlfriends48 digital communications a day“They are only interested in technology as a

means to an end. The traditional world remains the go-to destination for meeting their friends and entertainment and real, offline destinations and pastimes still rate higher than the online space.”

Only 16%: written on a blogOnly 21%: uploaded a clip to YouTube

Web 2.0 tools: Web 2.0 tools: Affordances Affordances Interactivity: both read and write

◦Students as consumers and producers

Multimodality ◦Combine images, video, music, text

Hyperlinked◦Connected texts

Purposes: teacher vs. Purposes: teacher vs. student initiatedstudent initiatedPhase I: Write an essay for the

teacher on a blogPhase II: Write an essay for

teacher and peers on a blogPhase III: Self-initiated writing

using classroom toolsPhase IV: Self-initiated writing

using tools outside of the classroom

Mega-academic purpose: Mega-academic purpose: Engaging students Engaging students What activities are most

engaging for your students?Display competence to peersImagine/create alternativesEnhance sense of agencyBuild social relationships

Fostering fluency: Just Fostering fluency: Just getting them to writegetting them to write

Writing for authentic audiencesSharing online writing:Destinations: Where do you want

to go? Why do you want to go there?

Acquiring/subscribing to Acquiring/subscribing to informationinformation

RSS feeds◦subscribing to Bloglines, Google Reader

Bookmarking and sharing links◦Diigo or Delicious

Information/search literacies

Accessing online literary Accessing online literary texts texts

Literary Archives Lit2GoPBS Online Video http://www.pbs.org/video/

Gathering information Gathering information online surveys/

◦SurveyMonkeydigital note-taking

◦Evernote

digital mind-mapping -->digital mind-mapping -->defining topics/connectionsdefining topics/connections Inspiration, Bubbl.us, Curio 2.4, VUE,

IHMC CmapTools, Spark-Space (3-D maps), Compendium, Gliffy, Visual Mind, Mind Genenius, Freemind, OpenMind, Kdissert, VYM (View Your Mind)

Purposes for using blogs and Purposes for using blogs and wikiswikisBlogs:

◦ Individual expression of ideas/personal accounts

◦ Hyperlinking of texts

◦ Comments from peers

◦ Multimodal writing

Wikis:◦ Collaborative

writing of reports/essays

◦ Shared revision ◦ Hyperlinking of

texts◦ Multimodal

writing

Blogs: Individual vs. Blogs: Individual vs. classroom?classroom?Individual: OwnershipClassroom: Community sharing

◦Rachel Tholen, Edina High School

Blogging: Paul Allison: Blogging: Paul Allison: questions to students:questions to students:What are you passionate about and how do

these interests fit with other students’ big questions?

What voices or sources of information do you think are important to include in your search for answers?

How do you become an effective online networker and get people with shared interests to value your voice online?

How can you use our social networks as personallearning sites that lead to social

action? (p. 110).

Google Docs --> Collaboration Google Docs --> Collaboration textstextsCompose texts offline—while not being

connected to the web—using Google Gears

Wikis --> collaborationWikis --> collaboration

PBwiki, WikiSpaces, JotSpot, wetpaintOrganize projects

◦Katie Bruhn: World literatureWikibooks: First year college students, St.

Cloud State University: Rhetoric and Composition Wikibook

Create/edit Wikipedia entries

Wikibooks: constructivist Wikibooks: constructivist learninglearningInvite an activist versus passive

stance◦“I can add to or improve this text”◦“I can participate in constructing

knowledge about media”Foster collaborative sharing of

ideas◦Requires negotiation of competing

perspectives in constructing knowledge

Texting Texting

Talk about code-switching◦Differences in audience and purpose

Translate texting text into proseLingo2WordHope that you are doing well

today. I will see you later.Hope dat ur doiN wel 2day. Ill CU

l8r.

Sharing OnlineSharing OnlineYouth Voices

◦Students from different schoolsMoodle/Ning

◦ Forums, sharing notes, posting links◦ My digital writing Ning (closed)

TwitterTwitterCreate a classroom twitter

◦Limited to students in the class◦Share notes ◦Project onto screen

Virtual Literacy WorldsVirtual Literacy WorldsLiterary Worlds

◦enter into and chat about novels such as Brave New World, Of Mice and Men, The Great Gatsby, and 1984

Create MySpace or Facebook profiles for literary characters and have them friend each other

Explore narrative development in Minnesota Stories daily videos

Multimodal Multimodal communication: visual communication: visual design and rhetoricdesign and rhetoricCopyright and fair use

◦ The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education

Remixing◦Adbusters, Remix America,

Photoshopping, music video, FanFiction. net

VoiceThreadVoiceThreadAudio and text commentaries of

slideshows Place-based writing

◦Images foster use of the descriptive details

John Wood: Roosevelt HS: Hale Neighborhood

Digital Digital Storytelling/literature/poetry Storytelling/literature/poetry

DUSTY (Digital Underground Storytelling For Youth)

Association Digital Literature

Digital comicsDigital comics

Comic Life/BitstripsBrent Eckoff, West Jr. High:

◦“I had students to a rough storyboard of what they planned to create. Some of the speech bubbles and text boxes they wrote were both surprising, and innovative. The students then exported the Comic Life presentations as quicktime files, uploaded them to YouTube, and then embedded them on the class wiki.”

Podcasting TutorialsPodcasting TutorialsFinding podcasts to use in

education◦iTunes, Podcast Alley, Juice◦Teachers Teaching Teachers◦Women of Web 2.0

Recording and editing podcasts◦Garageband◦Audacity◦Skype◦Audio Hyjack Pro

Conducting interviews using Conducting interviews using SkypeSkype

Creating an online Creating an online role-play: Students:role-play: Students:

•Select an issue•Formulate a primary argument

•Choose roles and conduct research

•Post arguments on a blog or online forum

•Step out of roles and reflect

Through online role-play, Through online role-play, students learn to:students learn to:

•construct a persona•employ rhetorical appeal •identify and refute counter-arguments

•revise or modify one’s own positions

Using a Class Blog: "Fighting Sioux" mascot Using a Class Blog: "Fighting Sioux" mascot debatedebate

Issue: Internet policiesIssue: Internet policiesBlocking of websites

◦NRA site blockedAdministrators accessing

Facebook◦Determining if students are drinking

◦Violation of the state’s athletic code

Read Cory Doctorow’s Read Cory Doctorow’s Little Little BrotherBrother

17-year-old Marcus, a computer hacker, takes on the Department of Homeland Security’s attempt to control society

Issues of Internet privacy/control

  

Ning: Blocking “educational” sites/administrator snooping

Ethos: EmoGirl: Critique Ethos: EmoGirl: Critique of school Internet policiesof school Internet policiesI think the internet

usage policies are ridiculous. The policies are almost impossible to find. I spent half an hour trying to find them and I'm a young, computer savvy person. 

““Strict Father” cultural Strict Father” cultural model: Charles model: Charles HammersteinHammerstein The issue with sites like

YouTube is that it is a helpful site when used correctly, but the ratio of students who would use it to the students who would abuse it would greatly favor the later of the two. R-rated sites are not ok because they usually contain information and content that may be considered offensive. The internet policies are very clear, if your grandmother would not appreciate it, then you probably shouldn't be doing those kind of things at school.

Bubbl.us mapping to identify roles and Bubbl.us mapping to identify roles and relationships between rolesrelationships between roles

Students reflect on:Students reflect on:

•Use of arguments•Comfort in role•Targeted audiences/alliances

•Who has power?o Reasons: strategies

•Sense of potential change

Students reflected on the role-Students reflected on the role-play:play:• I think it was a valuable learning

experience because we actually got to argue back and forth with other people.  If this had just been a writing assignment, it would have only been one-sided.  You can use persuasive arguments in a paper but you can’t have a back and forth conversation on it.  I really felt like it helped me get into someone else’s shoes and think like someone different from myself. 

Change-based assessment: Change-based assessment: Determining effectivenessDetermining effectivenessAssess students on their use

writing to attempt to affect change in actual audiences’ beliefs◦Framing of the status quo◦Their own and others’ beliefs◦Their sense of agency to make

changeNeed for objective criteria

◦Problem: teacher’s own preferred changes

Students wrote a paper from Students wrote a paper from their own point of viewtheir own point of viewAddressing status quo problems◦Reasons for problems

Proposing solutions◦Reasons solutions will work

Self-reflection: Achieving Self-reflection: Achieving purposespurposesLearning stories/artist statements:

video production◦To what extent does the completed work

fulfill your artistic intent?◦What are its strengths and weaknesses?◦How did feedback affect the

development of the work?◦Give at least two examples of technical

problems you encountered and explain how they were resolved in the creation of the piece.

Self-reflection: Purposes in Self-reflection: Purposes in video productionvideo productionAna: in a “stop-and-go” way: play,

pause, move, repeat. We also thought there could be a shot where the camera follows the lockers like a path. So the camera tilts a little to show there’s many lockers and she runs by all of them. But there is a moment where, there is a door in between the blockers, and we put Kenzie there to make it scary.

VideoAnt: feedback to VideoAnt: feedback to videos videos

Podcasts: Online Podcasts: Online professional developmentprofessional developmentTeachers Teaching TeachersEdTechWeeklyWomen of Web 2.0Digital CampusThe K12 Online Conference

Websites Websites Digital Writing:

digitalwriting.pbwiki.com Teaching media:

teachingmedialiteracy.com and teachingmedialiteracy.pbwiki.com

Teaching literature: www.teachingliterature.org

www.coe.uga.edu/~smago/VirtualLibrary/Unit_Outlines.htm

Teaching Writing Using Blogs, Wikis, and Teaching Writing Using Blogs, Wikis, and other Digital Toolsother Digital Tools, Richard Beach, Chris , Richard Beach, Chris Anson, Lee-Ann Kastman-Breuch, and Anson, Lee-Ann Kastman-Breuch, and Thom Swiss Thom Swiss