Week 7 post – Participatory Learning

  •    What types of trends do you see in the ways audio and still/video media are being used to support learning?

The shifts that Wiley described as happening because of web and mobile technologies illustrate the trends in how multimedia is being used to support learning. We are moving from analog to digital, we are no longer tethered and free to be mobile, we can come out of isolation and connect with others, things are becoming more personal, we are making more of our own stuff and we are doing it openly. One thing remains the same though, learning both online and offline is still social. Utilizing multimedia to learn and to teach just keeps the process alive, agile and more interactive.

  • Specifically, how do you see these media enhancing participatory learning within the Web 2.0 context beyond that possible by text media?

Students are changing from consumers only to also being creators and need an outlet to reflect and react to the information being presented to them. As a teaching tool, a collection of videos allow us to create our own global classroom with many teachers. This makes for a much more “customized” learning experience. Learning is no longer an event and instead a ongoing process and the ability to learn how to learn is becoming more and more important every day.

  • Richardson & Mancabelli describe six new literacies for 21st century learning environments. Which of the six measure of literacy do you see as the most challenging? Why? Are there any you would add?

The literacy that Richardson & Mancabelli list that I find to be most challenging would have to be “Attending tot he ethical responsibilities requested by these complex environments.” I’m thinking mostly about the accessibility of these tools and online environments. I’ve spent the last couple of months researching and identifying a web-based video editing platform that my students could potentially use for group class projects. The challenge comes in when I try to think about how a student with a disability could have the same learning experience as the other students in the class. These tools, while they are really good at bringing students together, can also make it harder for students to connect at the same time.
The one thing that I see missing assessing the tools themselves in an educational context. To me this is a whole new level of understanding the needs of the students, the capabilities of the tool and whether or not that tool directly addressing those identified needs. I think this is an incredibly important literacy to have considering the frequency of new tools coming on the market. Becoming more efficient in assessing the tools usefulness will allow us to move on the next solution or problem more quickly.

3 thoughts on “Week 7 post – Participatory Learning

  1. Karen Yarbrough

    “Learning is no longer an event and instead a ongoing process and the ability to learn how to learn is becoming more and more important every day.”
    This is a real great statement. Learning how to learn is a problem for students who aren’t used to having to try that much. There are a lot of students who coast at such a high level that no one realizes that they are coasting, but if we encourage them to think more critically about the process of learning, then we might be given them more of a chance to push themselves.

  2. Cheryl Burris

    You stated: I’ve spent the last couple of months researching and identifying a web-based video editing platform that my students could potentially use for group class projects. The challenge comes in when I try to think about how a student with a disability could have the same learning experience as the other students in the class. These tools, while they are really good at bringing students together, can also make it harder for students to connect at the same time.

    I have seen accessibility as a real challenge for some of the wounded warriors (WW) I have met. In my attempt to flush out accessibility for WW for my masters paper, I was surprised by the lack of information available in the education arena for where and how WW could gain accessibility for they are frequently told it is a medical responsibility, not an education responsibility. Often, technology that may be required by distance education (which may address problems that WW have) is not accessible for WW and thereby eliminates them as potential candidates.

  3. Justin Montgomery

    As you stated, textbook learning is hardly individualized, and technology allows for “customized” learning. Decentralization of knowledge plays a key role. Richardson and Mancabelli agree: “content and knowledge are much more decentralized and distributed… and are also much more individualized” (p. 22). Learning is a tremendously personal experience, and it needs to be tailored to individual students. This individualization partially occurs at the learning-style level. “Instead of a generic textbook, students cultivate a text filled with resources that fit their learning style” (p. 28). However students learn – visually, audibly, socially, etc. – they can select what they need in order to learn their best.

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