Literacy Now

Much of what we know about the powerful literacy experiences youths can have when participating in online fan communities comes from studies of exceptional cases—highly engaged youths with passion, access to technology, and specialized interests that lead them to “geek out” in digital spaces. From this work we know about Jack, a 13-year-old Australian boy, who developed technical and literacy design skills as he participated in Hunger Games fan sites, and about how Heather, a teenager in the United States, who rallied her global network of fan writers to defeat Warner Bros. studios as it threatened legal action against Harry Potter fans. My own research has relied on exceptional youths making recommendations for how teachers might support their students in writing for and with online audiences.  

But what about a more typical young writer? What else might we learn by digging into the experiences of a less exceptional case? Answering these questions motivated my analysis of one teenager’s participation in The Sims Writers’ Hangout, published in Research in the Teaching of English in February.

Though The Hangout has since shut down, for more than 18 months, Angela, who at the time was in 9th and 10th grades, was a regular participant on this site for fans who used The Sims videogames to write stories. In its online discussion forums, Hangout members shared their Sims fanfiction—multimodal, digital texts that pair images taken in the game with narratives that authors write (see an example of Sims fanfiction created with The Sims 4)—and readers posted feedback. I observed and interviewed Angela as she joined The Hangout, started sharing her Sims fanfiction, received critical responses, and then shaped her stories to meet the expectations of this online fan community.

Unlike past fanfiction research findings that illustrate how participating in an online community connects writers with a passionate audience or gives them access to identities as writers, one unique insight from my research was that Angela needed the other members of The Hangout to even be a Sims fanfiction writer. She leveraged her participation in this fan space to access people who helped her design Sims fanfiction in a variety of ways. Here, I share how Angela outsourced part of her Sims fanfiction design work as one illustrative example.   

Although she came to The Hangout with an affinity for The Sims and for writing, Angela ran into challenges meeting this community’s expectations for high-quality digital images because of her technology limitations. She did not have Adobe Photoshop and acknowledged that using freely available software made “image editing…really tedious.” Angela’s solution was to outsource this aspect of designing Sims fanfiction; she posted messages in the forum asking other Hangout members to provide her with pictures for her stories. In one such message, she shared a blurry image, saying “I'm going to need some help.” Two Hangout members volunteered, and Angela had a clearer, more stylized cover image when she finally shared the completed story.

What relevance do Angela’s experiences have for literacy teachers? As the standards governing many literacy classrooms now integrate digital literacies into curriculum expectations, it has become more important for teachers to consider how to support students’ writing for online audiences. I continue to advocate for educators to find ways to connect youth writers with online audiences who can shape their work. Although many already share students’ writing on a classroom website or blog, those audiences rarely extend beyond readers already connected to that class (i.e., other students, teachers, parents). Instead, I argue that teachers design digital writing tasks to ask students to share with existing, authentic online audiences, such as those in online writing communities. Doing so will connect young writers to collaborators who may shape their writing in meaningful ways.

Jayne C. Lammers is an assistant professor and director of the secondary English teacher preparation program at the University of Rochester. She can also be reached on Twitter.

This article is part of a series from the Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

During my 12 years as a classroom teacher, I received many gifts from my students. One of the greatest gifts came from a brother of a student I had. He gave me a silver bookmark that said, “Mrs. Glazer. You know more than Google.”

Because I am an instructional technology coach for the largest high school district in the state of California, I have the pleasure of working with many teachers and school personnel at over 25 different school sites and programs. While I espouse the virtue of using Google Apps for Education (GAFE) with their students or the next and greatest instructional technology tools, many of my colleagues often ask me how I see the future of technology in schools. I always answer, “Unless a machine can raise our children by giving better hugs and kisses, this society will always need teachers.”

It is true that many people learn new things from YouTube. For instance, I taught myself how to use Google for my class by—ironically—Googling and watching YouTube videos. I didn’t need to take a single course from Google Training Center. I also subscribe to BetterCloud Monitor, formerly “Dylan the Gooru,” to learn how to leverage the newest updates from Google.

However, what many who believe that machines can replace teachers forget is that learning has never really been about simple information acquisition. Learning is identity development that happens as we learn more facts. I firmly believe that understanding that fact and fully embracing it are critical in building the better schools. If anyone can learn how to use GAFE, why does my district employee me?

Because I do know more than Google. Yes, I said it. How, you ask? Because I can synthesize facts Google provides to tell a story that makes sense to my students. I can also interpret and respond to students’ questions to scaffold their learning beyond delivering facts quicker. Finally, I can point out what’s missing in their factual understanding to help them find patterns not so apparent in the sea of information so my students won’t get lost. For example, during my technology training, I first describe what a tool can do.

Let’s take my Google Drive training, for example. I typically begin my training with how to leverage Google Drive and all the functionalities native to it. I talk about the differences between extensions and add-ons. I explain why and how to share documents within our GAFE domain and outside. I help my staff understand how to look for things under Waffle (), Pancakes (), Wheel, also known as the gear (), Traffic Light (), and the Shark Tooth (). I also explain what the information icon () does. After my students understand where to find the necessary information, I quickly move to how it can be used for a subject a teacher teaches or a job task that school personnel does. For teachers using Google Classroom, I explain the reason to link a Google Drive folder using the “About” tab in Google Classroom to manage all documents efficiently. Whenever I can, I talk about how a combination of tools can improve productivity in a specific school ecosystem, which is as diverse as any ecosystem in existence! I have set up a Google Site dedicated to managing a school’s facilities process, which uses Google Calendar, Google Forms, Google Sheets, Google Drive, and Google Docs. I used Autocrat to streamline the process for a school because I took the time to listen to the staff members’ concerns about an inefficient facility request process.

You might ask, “Are you telling me to use Google apps for everything?” To that, I would answer, “Absolutely not!” What I am saying is that teachers can help our students learn the most important skill in the knowledge economy: Learning to use a right tool for the right job regardless of what that is. Because I know this, I let tools like Google take care of all the “whats” while I focus on how and why.

Before jumping into the Voice typing function in Google Doc, I often explain how to leverage Google Scholar to search for the content to include in the document that my students are creating. Before introducing Slides Carnival as a place for getting cool Google Slides templates or showing Prezi to create different types of presentation, I encouraged my students to create visual presentations that include more pictures and less text.

Yes. I do know more than Google when it comes to teaching my students. I’d better!

Kip Glazer is a native of Seoul, South Korea, and immigrated to the United States in 1993 as a college student. She holds California Single Subject Teaching Credentials in Social Studies, English, Health, Foundational Mathematics, and School Administration. In 2014, she was named the Kern County Teacher of the Year. She earned her doctorate of education in learning technologies at Pepperdine University in October 2015. She has presented and keynoted at many state and national conferences on game-based learning and educational technologies. She has also consulted for Center for Innovative Research in Cyberlearning and the Kennedy Center ArtsEdge Program.

Glazer will present “Games as the New Literacy Texts” at the Age of Literacy Lounge at ILA Central 1:30 PM–2:00 PM Saturday, July 9 at the ILA 2016 Conference & Exhibits in Boston. Visit ilaconference.org for more information or to register.

Although not a new phenomenon, 3-D printing is revolutionizing science, health, manufacturing, and education. These printers apply material (plastic, metal, titanium, etc.) in successive layers to make an object from a digital file. Currently, 3-D printing is at an exciting phase in its development, and as costs have dropped, the technologies have become more accessible to students and teachers who are working in an environment of innovation with increased focus on STEM and 21st-century skills.

This fall, I received a generous grant from the Petit Family Foundation to purchase two Robo R1 Plus 3-D printers for my classroom. My fifth- and sixth-grade students could not contain their excitement for this incredible opportunity. We used Tinkercad and Project Ignite to learn how to model and design using free online 3-D software, practiced tutorials together, and created works that ranged from iPod stands and keychains to abstract alien artwork and a scale model of our school.

Note that 3-D modeling, design, and printing do not occur in a vacuum. One of the goals of bringing this technology to my students was to create an awareness of how 3-D printing can impact and is impacting people all over the world. Compassion and problem solving go hand in hand, and we looked deeper at these essential questions:

How is 3-D printing changing the world?
How is 3-D printing making people's lives better?

Over time, each student researched a current event pertaining to 3-D printing and how it has an effect on the world and people's lives. Students then added a marker to the group Google Map and added a brief summary, an image, and a link to the article. Click on this final product to check out what is happening in the world!

Seeing the connection between students’ simple, local design and a larger, global 3-D printing presence was mind-blowing for some of them. The objects they modeled, designed, and were now holding in their hands had incredible potential. And they knew that one day they, too, could be a part of something larger and greater than themselves.

Tina Hurlbert is a grade 5 and 6 technology teacher in Regional School District 13 in Connecticut. Her work includes teaching students the digital and media literacy skills they need to navigate the ever-changing technologies they are faced with every day and providing them with opportunities to try a variety of technologies and software.

This article is part of a series from the Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

For two years, I’ve had the privilege of researching a K–12 school system thoughtfully integrating one-to-one technology for a decade. The most intriguing aspect of this work has been listening to more than 200 administrators, teachers, students, and parents speak about their experiences, hopes, concerns, and advice. A resonating theme emerging from the voices of veteran educators is the reality that we must do more to prepare students (and educators themselves) to critically examine how technology shapes human behavior and embrace practices that promote responsible and healthy technology use, a goal commonly aligned with digital citizenship standards (e.g., Common Sense Media and ISTE Student Standards).

These veteran educators echo insights about technology from a field known as media ecology, founded in work by scholars such as Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman. The field advanced the idea that technology is not neutral. As we use technology, it is in turn shaping our practices and ultimately our cultures. This understanding moves us beyond thinking about technology as just a tool; rather, technology transforms us whether we are conscious of it, an idea explored in a thoughtful post by George Couros. To prepare students to participate responsibly in a digital world, we must also prepare them to consider how technology shapes human experience and encourage responsive action.

Critical examination and action promoting digital citizenship will look different in every school and classroom because it requires members of the community to reflect on the unique contexts of their own collective and individual values and practices. As the veteran teachers reminded us often, there are no right answers but, rather, intentional questions and paths of action and practice that flow from reflection. It was in this process that these teachers felt they were truly preparing students for participation in a digital world. Here are three examples from these veteran teachers in hopes of stirring your imagination.

Media fast

One teacher wanted students to reflect on personal technology use by assigning a media fast. He encouraged students to cut out self-selected media (with the exception of that needed for school work) for three days. During this time, students maintained a journal reflecting on their experiences. He also encouraged critical thinking about practices and in class fueled conversations about the ways digital technologies shape human behaviors. He challenged students to embrace new or revised technology practices for the entire semester.  

Community change

A group of teachers wanted their students to research online the unique challenges within their own community and establish relationships that led to student action. Teachers required students to extensively research community challenges and identify community agencies that were working with community members toward solutions. Next, they facilitated students’ transition from developing awareness and knowledge to participation. Students committed to volunteering with one of the community agencies for one semester. The assignment reminded students that the Internet was a bridge to the local community, an idea sometimes overshadowed by attention to the Internet connecting them to the global world. In turn, this opened up opportunities to become active citizens in their own communities.

Questioning cell phone practices

Another teacher wanted to promote discussions with her students about the use of cell phones within and beyond school. This was relevant given the widespread use of phones within some classrooms and the confusing mixed messages about appropriate cell phone use. In her classes, she encouraged students to keep their cell phones visible, inviting the class to collectively and continuously discuss the use of cell phones. She wanted students to develop “a sense of integrity,” determining when it may or may not be appropriate to use cell phones. She believed if students were hiding cell phones in laps, under desks, and in sweatshirt pockets, then she was “reinforcing students’ lying.” She wanted students to make informed decisions. She reminded all teachers, “The cell phone is not just a school tool…[we must] help students learn to manage [it] in all their spaces.”

Each veteran teacher recognized that educators and students are just beginning to ask the most crucial questions about living in a digital world, an endeavor they all believe should have been a focus earlier in their experiences of teaching with technology. So their advice to all educators and students is to move beyond viewing technology as just a tool. Recognize the ways in which technology shapes human experience, and be explicit about the pursuit of digitally responsible citizenship grounded in critical questioning and intentional action. For further ideas, see resources like Common Sense Media and The Media Education Lab. 

Kara Sevensma is an assistant professor of education at Calvin College. She is currently a co-investigator on a research project examining educational technology and human flourishing in a Christian school. The research is supported by the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning.

This article is part of a series from the Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

In higher education, textual materials are the most used forms for meaning making. However, as pointed out by Gunther Kress, being literate involves understanding not only words and texts but also multiple modes of representation. Meaning making happens through various modes, such as texts, images, graphs and moving images, and the interplay between the different modes. Multimodality already has an integral role in the Finnish National Core Curriculum and should also be given more emphasis in programs designed to educate future teachers and educational professionals at universities.

Some of us have had positive experiences using digital video composition, but are open to broadening our repertoire of multimodal practices to use infographics more effectively.

At the beginning  are a lot of unanswered questions: What are infographics? What kinds of tools might be helpful to create or interpret them?  What kinds of skills might be involved? How should I model processes of creating infographics?

As a social being, I (Carita Kiili) was not all that confident in thinking through these questions alone, so I partnered with Eliza Brinkman who is from Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands and is doing a three-month internship at the University of Jyväskylä in Finalnd.

We started our inquiry project by searching for a definition. Mark Smiciklas defines infographics “as a visualization of data or ideas that tries to convey complex information to an audience in a manner that can be quickly consumed and easily understood.” To understand what this would mean in practice, we explored the website Information is beautiful by David McCandless. In one of his infographics, he describes the components of a good visualization as that which consists of a useful goal, integrity of information, a meaningful story, and a beautiful visual form.

At this point, we were pretty convinced that in order to reach a deeper understanding of the art of visualization, we needed to design an infographic by ourselves, using the aforementioned components.

• Our goal was to create something that could be used in a digital literacy course. To that end, we came up with an idea to help us visualize literacy concepts in an infographic using Google Scholar as our data source.
• We constructed a search for particular terms that would align with aspects of the digital literacy course (so, the graph is far from representing all literacy concepts).
• To create an interesting story, we looked at some trends in time related to the frequency with which different literacy concepts appeared in the research literature. In addition, we were interested in how different research communities use a singular and plural form of literacy.
• To create a visual form for our infographic, we used a digital tool easel.ly.  Along the way, many skills were needed including ICT skills, designing skills, and even mathematical literacy skills.

Here is our first infographic—showing that anybody can be a designer. During this journey with Eliza, I have built the needed self-confidence to design a course using infographics.

Because visuals are increasingly important in many areas of life, ranging from business to teaching, we are convinced that learning more about these types of practices will put us both on the right track for developing multimodal literacy practices that can be applied in higher education. We encourage you to join us in exploring how infographics can be useful in your own classrooms. 

Carita Kiili is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Eliza Brinkman is a master’s student at Radboud University, in Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

This article is part of a series from the Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).