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Virtual Horizons: Using Online Applications to Enrich New Literacies

Learn how to establish a community of learners beyond the classroom, engage students in literacy conversations, and provide critical literacy skills through blogs, wikis, and virtual libraries. Discover the benefits of integrating online applications into your teaching.

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Virtual Horizons: Using Online Applications to Enrich New Literacies

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  1. Virtual Horizons: Using Online Applications toEnrich New Literacies Tasha A. Thomas, SWP Director, USC Upstate tthomas@uscupstate.edu Dawn Mitchell, SWP Partnership Coordinator gregmitchell@bellsouth.net

  2. Essential Questions • How do we establish a community of learners that extends beyond the classroom? • How do we engage students in ongoing literacy conversations outside of class? • How can we provide students with the necessary critical literacy skills to navigate and manage today’s world of digital media?

  3. Think, Pair, Share • What do you already know about blogs, wikis and virtual libraries? • Do you currently use any of these technologies in the classroom? If so, how?

  4. Why are we sometimes reluctantto integrate technology? • Experience level of teacher with technology • Student accountability • Teacher control • Questions of assessment • Return on time and investment • Safety concerns • Availability of resources

  5. Why integrate online applications? • Technology is ever-present and increasingly invasive. • Wikis, blogs and virtual libraries encourage group social interaction and collaboration. • Students find that their learning is most effective when they are actively involved in the construction of their knowledge.

  6. Why integrate online applications? • Participation in online learning communities promotes critical thinking skills and causes students to explore topics in a more in-depth manner. • They facilitate communication between teachers and parents and guardians. • They increase student engagement and participation.

  7. What are blogs? • Weblog: a shared on-line journal where people can post “diary” entries about their personal experiences and reflections. • Blogs provide authentic audience • Blogs build community • Blogs can extend and connect classroom activities with real-world applications

  8. What do Blogs look like? • Blogical Minds Classpage • Sarah Plain and Tall Book Blog • Wrestling with Writing • SWP Summer Institute Course Blog

  9. How can I use blogs? • To ensure that every student has a voice • To teach the importance of audience awareness • To build community and share new ideas • To extend classroom conversations • To keep parents up-to-date on classroom happenings, upcoming assignments, etc. • As an alternative to book reports: online book reviews • As a whole class reader response journal

  10. Definition of Virtual Libraries • Traditionally, a collection of digital texts, stored online and available for public access • For our purposes, a virtual library is a shared collection of book titles with descriptions, reviews and classroom application

  11. Our Virtual Libraries • “Envisioning Units of Study” SWP Professional Development Course • http://swpunitsofstudy.pbworks.com/ • “SWP Summer Institute” • http://teachersteachingwriting.pbworks.com/SWP-2009-Summer-Institute-Virtual-Library

  12. How can I integrate virtual libraries? • As part of your class wiki to recommend books for reading and share writing that was influenced by those texts • To create a bank of text sets related to various content areas and umbrella topics • To allow students to collaborate and share research sources as well as their own ideas for the use and implementation of those sources

  13. What are wikis? • “Wiki” is Hawaiian for “quick” W hat I K now I s • Thus a wiki is a web site that can be quickly edited by its visitors with simple formatting rules which means that the content can be edited by anyone who has access to it and the content is therefore the result of a collaborative, community effort.

  14. What do Wikis look like? • “The Right College for You” Created by High School Juniors • “Wild Wiki Writers” Created by English 102 Students • “Introduction to Teaching” course wiki from Dawn’s SMC course • “Teachers Teaching Writing” SWP Summer Institute to which you will post resources from this course

  15. How can I use Wikis? • To promote collaboration (group research, literature circles, etc.) • To promote critical evaluation of sources • To teach responsible dissemination of information • To promote sharing of resources • As an authentic alternative to traditional research reports • To publish student writing • To provide a forum for students to demonstrate and record knowledge

  16. Brainstorm Time! • With a partner, think of the various ways in which you might incorporate the applications discussed today within your existing curriculum: • Blogs • Wikis • Virtual Libraries

  17. Additional Resources • K12 Lesson Plans: Free Teacher Websites: http://www.k12lessonplans.com/ • Free Educator Blogs: www.edublogs.org • Free Educator Wiki/Website Builder: www.pbworks.com • eLearners: http://www.elearners.com/resources/virtual-libraries.asp

  18. Questions?

  19. “We have a much larger and more complicated obligation to fulfill—that of trying to understand and make sense of, to pay attention to, how technology is inextricably linked to literacy and literacy education in this country.” -Cynthia Self CCCC

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