Multiliteracies Meet Methods - CMU

Multiliteracies Meet Methods The Case for Digital Writing in English Education Troy Hicks January 12, 2007 Central Michigan University

The State of English Education
Implications of CEE Summit - May 2005
Today, new technologies are changing the types of texts we and our students create and interpret even as they are influencing the social, political, and cultural contexts in which our texts are composed and shared. Since these technologies are influencing the development of individuals, institutions, and communities (and since individuals, institutions, and communities are shaping these technologies and their uses), it is essential for English educators to turn a critical eye toward the benefits and affordances; the limitations and liabilities of integrating these newer technologies into our teaching.
- Swenson et al. (2005)

The State of English Education
Networks are classrooms. Digital writing is socially situated in a collaborative, recursive and responsive space in which teachers must participate with their students.
- Grabill and Hicks (2005)

Overview of Today’s Talk
Who I am
What I research
How I teach
How this connects to English teacher education at Central Michigan University

A Little Bit About hickstro
Teacher of English
Formally and informally, with students all ages from elementary to graduate school
Teacher Researcher and Educator
Outreach coordinator and technology liaison for the Red Cedar Writing Project at MSU
Member of the English Education Community
Responsibilities within local, state, national, and international professional organizations

The Pedagogy of Multiliteracies
The New London Group (2000) argues for a model of literacy teaching and learning in which participants engage in four recursive processes:
Situated Practice
Overt Instruction
Critical Framing
Transformed Practice
What does this look like in a methods course?

Research Interests
Teacher professional development
Social networking through blogs, images, videos, podcasts, and other forms of digital composition
Collaborative writing with wikis and online word processors
Free and open source applications

Dissertation Research
Digital and visual rhetoric as topics worthy of study in K-12 ELA settings
Technical and ethical aspects of representing teacher research online through a digital portfolio
Collegial support and individual mentoring related to technology learning for in-service teachers

Digital and Visual Rhetoric

Digital Portfolios
Creating a portfolio could be more than just the sum of its parts
Current research shows that teachers often sense a lack of purpose and cohesion as they develop portfolios throughout their coursework.
Moreover, creating a digital portfolio often occurs as learning a set of decontextualized technical skills instead of as an act of composing hypertext and/or multimedia.

Audience Future Employers Administration Community Colleagues Students Parents Self Situation Online, 24/7 Accessible Updatable Digital Public Purpose Personal Interest College Course Certification Project

Collegial Technology Learning
Research and experience shows that:
Teachers need time and support, both technical and collegial, in order to make substantive changes in their practice as it relates to integrating technology.
The technology/literacy relationship continually changes and our teaching should, ideally, adapt to those changes.

In other words,
literacy learning is not about the technology,
it is about relationships.

Teaching Interests at CMU
Writing Methods Courses
Reading/Writing Across the Curriculum
Technology and Literacy
Professional Development
National Writing Project

My Vision for an Elementary Writing Methods Course
Connecting the new to the known while examining our local, state, and (inter)national contexts
Genre study
Multiple writing purposes and audiences
Strategic teaching of author’s craft
Student choice
Peer response and collaboration
Technology as transparent

What Might This Be Like?
Along with traditional models and genres of writing, we might also explore:
Blogs or Other Social Networks
Wikis and Collaborative Writing
Podcasts and Digital Storytelling
Online Research and Social Bookmarking

Rethinking English Education
A common scenario today is a classroom filled with digitally literate students being led by linear-thinking, technologically stymied instructors. Although funds may be plentiful to purchase new equipment, wire classrooms, and order current software, few educational organizations have developed comprehensive technology plans that specify technical learning objectives or ensure successful integration of technology to enhance students’ digital and visual literacy. We have found a common void in professional development for faculty—training needed to gain the requisite computer skills to integrate technology into the curriculum effectively.
- Jones-Kavalier and Flannigan (2006)

Links
Room 115’s Starbooks Café: http://room115.thedigitalpaperchase.net/
Youth Voices: http://youthvoices.net/elgg/
Terry the Tennis Ball: http://terrythetennisball.wikispaces.com/
Collaborative Writing: http://docs.google.com/View?docID=ah8t3hjrj46t_20fb93h4
Podcasts Produced by Pre-service Teachers: http://secondaryworlds.com/?page_id=144
Digital Storytelling: http://www.digitalartsalliance.org
Online Research Tool: http://www.zotero.org/
Social Bookmarking: http://www.furl.net/members/hickstro

Photo Credits
In the Middle from http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/9870000/9878306.jpg
Warriner’s from http://www.setonbooks.com/viewone.php?ToView=P-EN10-11
Logos from Wikipedia, Blogger, del.icio.us, YouTube, and MySpace are screenshots from the respective sites and copyrighted by those sites.
All other images: Troy Hicks or Red Cedar Writing Project, Michigan State University

References
Cope, B., Kalantzis, M., & New London Group. (2000). Multiliteracies: literacy learning and the design of social futures . London; New York: Routledge.
Grabill, J., & Hicks, T. (2005). Multiliteracies Meet Methods: The Case for Digital Writing in English Education. English Education, 37 (4), 301-311.
Jones-Kavalier, B. R., & Flannigan, S. L. (2006). Connecting the Digital Dots: Literacy of the 21st Century. Retrieved September 24, 2006, from http://www.educause.edu/apps/eq/eqm06/eqm0621.asp
Swenson, J., Rozema, R., Young, C. A., McGrail, E., & Whitin, P. (2005). Beliefs about technology and the preparation of English teachers: Beginning the conversation. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education [Online serial] Available: http://www.citejournal.org/vol5/iss3/languagearts/article1.cfm, 5 (3/4).

Multiliteracies Meet Methods - CMU

by hickstro on Jan 13, 2007

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