Final Reflection

I searched for a class like this throughout CUNY, and I'm so glad I found it. I wanted to gain an understanding of what people need to know to become digitally literate. I consider myself a pretty quick learner, but I wanted to know:

1) The tools available online
2) How digital literacy is different from traditional literacy
3) The skills someone needs to master to become digitally literate

This picture would be more accurate
of my feelings if the student was smiling.

I feel successful in this class because I gained some understanding of the concepts above. I say "some" because, like all learning, I feel that my mastery of digital literacy has just begun. And with the recent developments and rapid change in technology, I do not think it is possible for anyone to become an expert in everything that web applications can offer (with the exception of our fearless leader, Professor Peele, of course). On a serious note, however, I think that we are only at the beginning of Web 2.0 and that user generated content, from Ipod Apps to Firefox plugins, offer ever increasing possibilities. Since more and more people are becoming literate, more and more people are developing tools and technologies. I know this will lead to exponential growth in available online applications and tools. In an attempt to stay current, I subscribed to "Engadget" through my google reader. As always, I will rely on my younger students to notify me of up and coming tools. I also feel that this is the type of class I would have to take every few years. I can imagine that the syllabus changes every year, and probably even throughout the year.

Knowledge of Available Online Tools

I really liked the smaller projects we completed as part of this class. I have never used a wiki page before, so I enjoyed being part of the process. I can see how a wiki can be an incredible tool to create an online community for my classes. Photostory was so simple (and free!) so I can easily see myself assigning projects for my students. Jing was fun to use and an awesome tool. I will probably use it for personal and in my classroom. It is a great way to ensure that "I couldn't use the website" excuse is legitimate. If the website did not work, I'm going to ask my students to send in a Jing of them trying to use it. As for twitter, I have personal reservations, but I did like to hear how professions use it to communicate and take notes during conferences. Prezi is a tool I have been meaning to use for quite some time so this was a great opportunity to finalize my skills. I was completely unaware of Wordle and I loved it. It's a visual way to get students involved in looking at their language and word choice. StumbleUpon was too much fun and wasted a bit too much of my time. But I didn't know about Firefox AddOn so it was incredibly useful in that sense. Also, I never knew that it was so easy to create websites or blogs with these free online programs. Now that I know how easy it is, I'm not going to shy away from creating online communities through blogs or wikis. If I can figure it out, my students surely can.

The Difference Between Digital and Traditional Literacy

By this title, I mostly mean that I wanted to know the difference in the way that people read online texts and the way that they read traditional texts. While I feel that screen settings can greatly affect endurance and attention, I think people will continue to do more and more of their reading online. And since I've had students write complete papers on their Iphones and other nontraditional devices, I wanted to know how the device affects the brain. Peterson, Wysocki, Stroupe, Manovich, Carr, and Weinberger all helped to to learn about online reading. While I was less than excited to hear that we all skim online and that our memories and attention span are decreasing, I would much rather be informed than to be in denial. I want to finish Weinberger so I can understand a little more. But these theories and research are extremely helpful in trying to plan lessons and projects. We are using different parts of our brain than we used to when we read and I need to take this into account when I plan lessons using digital resources. A remix requires creative thinking, but not exactly the same type of creative thinking that literary analysis does. Both have a place in the classroom, but I'm glad I know a little more about where each one belongs.

The Skills Required to Become Digitally Literate

As I explained above, I feel that this is an ever evolving field. Clearly, most people have to be able to type and navigate a computer and the web, but these are evolving all the time. The skills required to use a computer in 1993 are vastly different from using an Ipad in 2011. Typing is different, the homepage is organized in a different way, and the web looks and feels different. Technology will continue to evolve and we will have to adapt if we want to stay current. However, I do think that we need to be creative, become willing to try new things, open to strange ideas, critical in our analysis of new tools, and reflective in the way that we use these technologies. The final project also helped me understand that just when you think you've figured everything out, then you realize how far you still have to go.

Overall, I am very glad I signed up for this course. I learned a lot about the theories behind digital literacy. They have helped me become more reflective in the way I am going to use these programs and tools in the future. I feel that this course left me in a position to engage these technologies to "keep the conversation going" outside the classroom. Also, I'm glad this course was so collaborative. Through everyone's posts and class discussions, I gained a new understanding of the tools available online. Thank you for making this a great class!