A13.5: Week 13 Reflection

Aims and Objectives:

My goals for this week were:

• To review my previous work and make improvements.
• To organize my multigenre research project.
• To create my reference page for my project.

Declarative Knowledge:

This week I learned a new way to revise papers.  It is called the SCAR method.  I think that it is very interesting and it really helped me improve upon my work.  I worked on my reference page and learned more about APA format.  I think that this is really helpful.  I also learned how to organize a table of contents for my page.

Procedural Knowledge:

To create the table of contents I logged on to my wordpress account.  I went to my dashboard and clicked write.  I then clicked write page.  I wrote the page and added the links by clicking the chain after highlighting the words that would contain the link.  I also made the table of contents the parent page for all of my MRP.  I did this by clicking on my previous work in manage and selecting the table of contents as the parent page.  I then went to the class website and clicked on Crissa’s link.  I reviewed her podcast by answering the questions that were posed by the instructor.  I then went back to the class website and clicked on Meredith’s link and reviewed her PowerPoint Presentation. I returned to wordpress and logged in.  I created my reference page by using the APA manual and sources that I have found while doing this assignment.  To complete the revision I printed a copy of my guest editorial.  I then went through the piece and edited it using the SCAR method.  I asked myself if words could be substituted, should I cut anything, does anything need added, and if I needed to rearrange anything.  This method really helped me improve my work.

Conditional Knowledge:

I think that learning the SCAR method will help me revise future work.  I found this method to be very effective.  It helped me make my work more cohesive and understandable.  The table of contents helped me with organization.  Learning to organize will help in school work and in my future professional life.  Learning about APA is continuous and will help me throughout my life.

Question:

I really don’t have a question about the work but since Thursday was Thanksgiving, which do you prefer turkey or ham?

A12.7: Week 12 Reflection

Aims and Objectives:

My goals for this week were:

• To complete my PowerPoint presentation.
• To go back and review my previous work.
• To learn more about digital literacy

 Declarative Knowledge:

This week I learned how to put a PowerPoint presentation on my weblog.  It wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be.  I integrated my work on the types of digital literacy and learned that this literacy is very important and will continue to impact our society.  I also learned what a preface and the acknowledgements of a piece of work should contain.  Now I might just read those two sections of books.

Procedural Knowledge:

To begin my assignments I wrote the About the Author section of my work.  To do this I went back to my previous introduction and revised it a little.  I then went to wordpress and published my work.  I added this work to the Multi-genre research project page that I have developed.  I then went to the class webpage and read what a preface and acknowledgements section should contain.  I thought about why I did my project and who I would want to thank.  I posted these on wordpress.  I then responded to my groupmates sixth genre by going to their websites and reading their project.  I analyzed the project and I thought about how the project could be improved.  I posted my thoughts by using the comment feature.  I then reviewed what I had previously learned about the types of digital literacies and combined what I had learned into a comprehensive piece of work.  Throughout the week I developed my PowerPoint by using the program.  I selected the layouts and backgrounds that I wanted.  I used pictures that I had taken of devices available at Marshall and some from websites.  Once this was completed I went to wordpress and uploaded the file.  When it was uploaded I sent it to my page.  I then completed my weekly reflection.

Conditional Knowledge:

Learning about digital literacy has been very helpful to me.  It has helped me sharpen my skills and be a better student.  The PowerPoint presentation is very useful because you can use them for so many things.  I like how professional they make your work look. 

Question:

When is our final work due on the MRP?

A12.3: Digital Literacy

     Before beginning this class I had no clue that there was a such a thing as digital literacy.  I never knew that I possessed these skills and I never realized how important these skills were.  Digital literacy skills help a person navigate through the digital world safely and efficiently.  Digital literacy is composed of five different literacies.  They are:

• Photo-visual Literacy which is the ability to look at a picture and understand the meaning of that picture.  There are several areas of cognition involved in understanding an image, which include but are not limited to: questioning, personal associations, categorizing, analyzing, speculating, and fact finding.  The complexity of the picture will vary so the cognitive skills involved in interpreting the meaning of the picture will change.  These skills continue to emerge as people grow and learn.  The more you know the better you will be at this.
• Information Literacy is the ability to recognize when information is needed and is able to retrieve the needed information.  The person has to know when there is a need for information.  They have to know how to obtain the information and then organize it.  These skills are needed to be a good researcher and an information literate person.
• Branching literacy involves understanding complex topics involved in technology.  It also involves using a digital device.  Branching literacy is used when you surf the internet and check databases.  It is the ability to navigate the system without getting lost in hyperspace.  This literacy emerged as technology has improved and is becoming more important as the days go by.  To be an efficient user of this skill you must be able to mentally model the space in your head.  You need to be able to use concept maps and other forms of representation to convey the idea of the world-wide web.
• Reproduction literacy is a type of digital literacy in which a person uses existing texts, images, or audio and creates a new interpretation.    This literacy is relevant in writing and art.  It enables individuals to put a new spin on an old work.  This type of literacy is important because it allows a person’s creativity and ideas to develop.  I think one thing that may come into question is when is this considered reproduction and when is it considered copyright infringement.  The skills that an individual must have to be reproduction literate are being able to think in a multidimensional ways and think outside of the box in order to create a new take on an old piece of work.  I think that the skills required are significant because a lot of individuals do not know how to do this.  I think that this is an important skill to learn because it will help in many ways.
• Socio-economic literacy is a type of digital literacy that deals with the social interactions that occur within the digital realm.  It deals with protecting yourself within the digital world.  This literacy teaches a person wrong from right and teaches a person how to discrimintate good people from bad people within the online community.

     Of course there are certain skills needed to possess digital literacy.  An individual must learn these skills in order to be an effective user of today’s technology.  As technology continues to improve the demands will increase.  These skills will help a person protect themselves while using the community.  They will become an effective researcher.  These skills are very important.

     I think that digital literacy has already changed the education system.  I hope that it continues to change so that children our more prepared to live in that society that we live in.  I hope that teachers continue to add these skills to their curriculum.  I also think that classes pertaining to these skills should be offered and maybe even required.  I know that the education system will continue to evolve with these skills.

A11.4: Week 11 Reflection

Aims and Objectives:

My goals for this week were:

• To take pictures of some augmentative devices that our clinic has available.  I want to do this to prepare my Power Point presentation.
• To complete my assignments.  I wanted to complete my assignments and learn from the experience.  I just didn’t want to do them, I wanted to really learn.  So my main goal was to not just do the assignment but to pay attention to what I was doing and what I was learning.
• To give my groupmates helpful suggestions about their projects.  I want to help my groupmates improve and I hope that they feel the same way.

Declarative Knowledge:

     This week I learned about the final type of digital literacy, socio-economic literacy.  I now know that this literacy helps individuals safely navigate the internet.  It includes knowing proper net-etiquette and being able to protect yourself from predators.  I also was able to learn from my groupmates suggestions.  These suggestions are helping me prepare for revisions to my project and improve upon my work.

Procedural Knowledge:

      This week I began my assignments by going to the class website.  I then responded to my groupmates fifth genre by going to their websites and reading their project.  I analyzed the project and I thought about how the project could be improved.  I posted my thoughts by using the comment feature.  I then researched socio-economic literacy by going to yahoo and typing in the words socio-economic literacy.    I know that I use Yahoo a lot but that is the search engine that I am most comfortable with so I tend to use it instead of other search engines.  I read some articles and gathered my thoughts on this literacy.  I then went to wordpress and posted this assignment.   I then did my journal entries.  My journal entries are my integrating genre so I thought of how I wanted to lead my audience to the answer to my question.  I structured this genre so that it would do this.  I wrote it out on wordpress and added in the links to my pages by highlighting the keywords and clicking on the chainlink.  I then typed in the address of the page and clicked save.  Next week I will add the link to my Power Point presentation.  This is how I completed my assignments this week.

Conditional Knowledge:

     Learning about the digital literacies has been very useful.  The one that I learned about this week will help me protect myself while I am surfing the net.  I think knowing about this will help me keep my kids safe in the future, if I have kids.  The integrating genre has taught me how I can integrate my work so that it becomes a comprehensive piece that answers and important question, which will be helpful to me as a student and professional.  Being able to grow and improve from suggestions will also help me as a future professional.   This is how I can use what I learned.

Question:

Should the integrating genre contain additional information or should it just make your project cohesive?

A11.3: Socio-economic Literacy

   

What is socio-economic literacy?  Socio-economic literacy is a type of digital literacy that deals with the social interactions that occur within the digital realm.  It deals with protecting yourself with in the digital world.  This literacy teaches a person wrong from right and teaches a person how to discriminate good people from bad people in the online community.  I think that this skill is very important especially for children because of all of the predators that are out there. 

 

I definitely agree that there are skills out there needed to be an effective user of this literacy.  You have to be a good judge of character in order to chat in a safe environment.  I also like the rule of thumb to just add people who you know.  I think you have to know what you should do or should not do in order to be safe on the web.  These skills definitely need to be taught.

 

I do not remember ever being taught this type of literacy through school.  I think that my parents tried to teach me this skill when we got a computer.  I look back on when I was a teenager and I use to go to chat rooms and talk to people.  Looking back on it I would not do what I did back then.  Later on when I was in high school I would get on ICQ and chat with people from school.  All of the people on that list were people that I knew.  I would never let an individual that I did not know add me to their list.  I also didn’t publish my address or phone number because my older brother told me not too.  I think that this literacy is very important for children now.  If you watch Dateline or even just pass by NBC when it is on you will see the “To Catch a Predator” specials.  It is amazing how many individuals are out there that solicit underage children for sex.   In my opinion I think that this should be taught in a class.  After reviewing all of the different types of digital literacy I think that these literacies should be taught throughout an individual’s academic career.  I think that a class should be offered in high school or even in college so that people can obtain these skills and use them in their life.  These are my opinions on socio-economic literacy.