BLOG #1 - Sept. 25/14
Is 'play' an important part of the educational experience? Why?
I have always been an advocate for promoting more ‘play’ in schools as I strongly believe that playing is an essential part of early childhood development. Heck, depending on how you define ‘play’, I might even extend that point and argue that: play is an essential part of any sort of development.
Take the development of my technological skills, for instance. I've never been an overly tech-savvy individual and so, not surprisingly, virtually everything that David & Helen have presented to the class thus far has been new to me. But, largely thanks to play, I've been able to explore/interact with new concepts and absorb new information in a way that is genuinely fun.
This, of course, is one of the most compelling reasons why I think integrating more play in school is worthwhile – play makes learning fun – and the literature seems to concur. A distinction between the two, however, is made clear as it is stressed that “Not all play is learning and not all learning is play” (Hewes, 5).
Realistically, students cannot learn everything they need to know by playing; some things have to be learned the boring way so to speak. But whenever play can be appropriately incorporated into whatever it is students are required to learn, why not let them play?
The “Holy trinity style” video we watched in class is a prime example. Rather than simply reading through a textbook or listening to lectures, the students who created the video were given the opportunity to play. My guess is, those kids got a lot more out of producing a music video than they would have from any textbook or lecture.
Why is this important to me? Why is it important for my students?
As we continue to make sense of what Helen appropriately refers to as the “nebulous blob of an idea” that is media/digital literacy, its grave importance (for both myself, and my students) is becoming more and more clear. We are living in a digital age – literally immersed in it – and so not equipping today’s generation with the skills they need to appropriately use such technologies, leaves them at a direct disadvantage. Similarly, we live in a world that is heavily saturated with media, and so not equipping today’s generation with the critical thinking and analysis skills they need in order to make informed decisions, is irresponsible.
There is little arguing that the need for media literacy is growing - it is quickly becoming a necessary skill needed to succeed in the 21st century - and that schools have to do their part in ensuring a media literate generation of students. How to best implement such change, however, remains a mystery, as illustrated by the following quote: “As policymakers grapple over how to deploy technology in classrooms, they should beware of producing generations of students drowning in digital devices without enough good ideas about what to do with them” (Ashley, 2013).
References
Ashley, s. (2013). The need for media literacy in the digital age. The Blue Review. Retrieved from: https://thebluereview.org
Baker, F. (2012). Media Literacy in the K-12 Classroom. International Society for Technology in Education, USA [Print]
Hewes, J. (n.d.) Let the Children Play: Nature’s Answer to Early Learning. Canadian Council of Learning. Retrieved from: www.ccl-cca.ca/earlychildhoodlearning
BLOG #2 - Oct. 18/14
The term ‘visual literacy’ has gained buzzword worthy status in recent decades, particularly in the realm of education. And for good reason – those of us living in the 21st century (much more so than any other preceding century) get barraged by visual messages just about everywhere we go, and during just about everything we do, making the skill of being able to accurately interpret the meaning that these messages convey more relevant than ever before. As such, policy makers, teachers, and parents alike have recognized the need to incorporate visual literacy into the curriculum, and have ultimately embraced the notion that, in this day and age, being visually literate is a skill that all young people need to acquire. But what exactly is ‘visual literacy’? And perhaps more importantly, can teaching it in schools truly be justified?
Well, for starters, visual literacy (as previously alluded to) can be defined as “the ability to understand, interpret and evaluate visual messages” (Baker, 42). In other words, visual literacy is the ability to read pictures (both still and moving images). And while many are likely to consider themselves to be experts when it comes to the art of reading pictures, the reality is, “we are a visually illiterate society” (Baker, 41). What I think Baker is trying to imply is that, although – through the advent of things like the disposable cameras and cell phones equipped with video cameras – the majority of us are familiar with taking and viewing pictures, very few are familiar with the techniques and strategies (e.g. angle, framing, lighting, etc.) that professional photographers and cinematographers use, and more importantly, why they use them. (For information on some of these techniques, click here)
But so what? Being visually literate is not nearly as important as being literate in the traditional sense, is it? As long as students are fluent in their reading, writing, and arithmetic abilities, what difference does it make whether or not one can understand, interpret, and evaluate the meaning of pictures, right? Undoubtedly, there are some who believe this to be true; I however, am certainly not one of them. On the contrary, I tend to agree with Baker in his view that “The three Rs are no longer enough” (pg. 41).
Images are incredibly powerful and extremely prolific in today’s society. As such, I consider teaching young people how to deconstruct and think critically about the images they encounter equally as important as teaching them how to read and write. Thibault & Walbert sum things up nicely by stating that “Images are all around us, and the ability to interpret them meaningfully is a vital skill for students to learn”. We should be teaching students at a young age that if something looks too good to be true, then it probably is (i.e. to question things rather than simply accepting them at face value). Surely, having such knowledge will pay off in the future.
References
Baker, F. (2012). Media Literacy in the K-12 Classroom. International Society for Technology in Education, USA [Print]
Eductopia. (2006). Martin Scorsese on the Importance of Visual Literacy. Retrieved from:
http://www.edutopia.org/martin-scorsese-teaching-visual-literacy-video [Video
Thibault, M & Walbert, D. (n.d.). Reading images: an introduction to visual literacy. Learn NC. Retrieved from: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/675
Is 'play' an important part of the educational experience? Why?
I have always been an advocate for promoting more ‘play’ in schools as I strongly believe that playing is an essential part of early childhood development. Heck, depending on how you define ‘play’, I might even extend that point and argue that: play is an essential part of any sort of development.
Take the development of my technological skills, for instance. I've never been an overly tech-savvy individual and so, not surprisingly, virtually everything that David & Helen have presented to the class thus far has been new to me. But, largely thanks to play, I've been able to explore/interact with new concepts and absorb new information in a way that is genuinely fun.
This, of course, is one of the most compelling reasons why I think integrating more play in school is worthwhile – play makes learning fun – and the literature seems to concur. A distinction between the two, however, is made clear as it is stressed that “Not all play is learning and not all learning is play” (Hewes, 5).
Realistically, students cannot learn everything they need to know by playing; some things have to be learned the boring way so to speak. But whenever play can be appropriately incorporated into whatever it is students are required to learn, why not let them play?
The “Holy trinity style” video we watched in class is a prime example. Rather than simply reading through a textbook or listening to lectures, the students who created the video were given the opportunity to play. My guess is, those kids got a lot more out of producing a music video than they would have from any textbook or lecture.
Why is this important to me? Why is it important for my students?
As we continue to make sense of what Helen appropriately refers to as the “nebulous blob of an idea” that is media/digital literacy, its grave importance (for both myself, and my students) is becoming more and more clear. We are living in a digital age – literally immersed in it – and so not equipping today’s generation with the skills they need to appropriately use such technologies, leaves them at a direct disadvantage. Similarly, we live in a world that is heavily saturated with media, and so not equipping today’s generation with the critical thinking and analysis skills they need in order to make informed decisions, is irresponsible.
There is little arguing that the need for media literacy is growing - it is quickly becoming a necessary skill needed to succeed in the 21st century - and that schools have to do their part in ensuring a media literate generation of students. How to best implement such change, however, remains a mystery, as illustrated by the following quote: “As policymakers grapple over how to deploy technology in classrooms, they should beware of producing generations of students drowning in digital devices without enough good ideas about what to do with them” (Ashley, 2013).
References
Ashley, s. (2013). The need for media literacy in the digital age. The Blue Review. Retrieved from: https://thebluereview.org
Baker, F. (2012). Media Literacy in the K-12 Classroom. International Society for Technology in Education, USA [Print]
Hewes, J. (n.d.) Let the Children Play: Nature’s Answer to Early Learning. Canadian Council of Learning. Retrieved from: www.ccl-cca.ca/earlychildhoodlearning
BLOG #2 - Oct. 18/14
The term ‘visual literacy’ has gained buzzword worthy status in recent decades, particularly in the realm of education. And for good reason – those of us living in the 21st century (much more so than any other preceding century) get barraged by visual messages just about everywhere we go, and during just about everything we do, making the skill of being able to accurately interpret the meaning that these messages convey more relevant than ever before. As such, policy makers, teachers, and parents alike have recognized the need to incorporate visual literacy into the curriculum, and have ultimately embraced the notion that, in this day and age, being visually literate is a skill that all young people need to acquire. But what exactly is ‘visual literacy’? And perhaps more importantly, can teaching it in schools truly be justified?
Well, for starters, visual literacy (as previously alluded to) can be defined as “the ability to understand, interpret and evaluate visual messages” (Baker, 42). In other words, visual literacy is the ability to read pictures (both still and moving images). And while many are likely to consider themselves to be experts when it comes to the art of reading pictures, the reality is, “we are a visually illiterate society” (Baker, 41). What I think Baker is trying to imply is that, although – through the advent of things like the disposable cameras and cell phones equipped with video cameras – the majority of us are familiar with taking and viewing pictures, very few are familiar with the techniques and strategies (e.g. angle, framing, lighting, etc.) that professional photographers and cinematographers use, and more importantly, why they use them. (For information on some of these techniques, click here)
But so what? Being visually literate is not nearly as important as being literate in the traditional sense, is it? As long as students are fluent in their reading, writing, and arithmetic abilities, what difference does it make whether or not one can understand, interpret, and evaluate the meaning of pictures, right? Undoubtedly, there are some who believe this to be true; I however, am certainly not one of them. On the contrary, I tend to agree with Baker in his view that “The three Rs are no longer enough” (pg. 41).
Images are incredibly powerful and extremely prolific in today’s society. As such, I consider teaching young people how to deconstruct and think critically about the images they encounter equally as important as teaching them how to read and write. Thibault & Walbert sum things up nicely by stating that “Images are all around us, and the ability to interpret them meaningfully is a vital skill for students to learn”. We should be teaching students at a young age that if something looks too good to be true, then it probably is (i.e. to question things rather than simply accepting them at face value). Surely, having such knowledge will pay off in the future.
References
Baker, F. (2012). Media Literacy in the K-12 Classroom. International Society for Technology in Education, USA [Print]
Eductopia. (2006). Martin Scorsese on the Importance of Visual Literacy. Retrieved from:
http://www.edutopia.org/martin-scorsese-teaching-visual-literacy-video [Video
Thibault, M & Walbert, D. (n.d.). Reading images: an introduction to visual literacy. Learn NC. Retrieved from: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/675