Reading Across Media- Collaborative Project
We know that new technologies are quickly becoming the norm for people of all ages in the Information Age. They are used in schools to teach reading (e.g., Starfall.com) or they are used by young adults to create personal space (e.g., myspace.com) to express themselves and interact with others.
There is an increasing trend in schools to incorporate technological resources within the curricula. These resources include websites, software programs, and intra-networks which are used for pedagogical purposes across content areas. One such program is Starfall.com used by teachers to teach and supplement beginning reading skills.
Websites, like Myspace, allow individuals to communicate creatively using newer literacies which mesh language, symbols through the use of multimedia. A growing number of young adults are taking advantage of the affordances of such websites to express their unique individuality.
We want to know how individuals use the multimedia resources to express their individuality to others as in Myspace.com and how educational resources like Starfall.com are using multimedia to teach reading.
To do this, we will conduct content analyses on the websites, noting the symbols, graphics, texts, video clips, audio clips, and their intended interaction to create meaning for the users.
We will draw from our class readings as well as outside resources. Mayer’s article about the effect of multimedia on cognitive learning, Miller and Borowicz article on digital authoring project, and O’Donnell’s reading on blogging as a pedagogic practice have contributed to our thinking throughout the project.
We will also solicit commentary from three experts in the field; for example, some of the authors that we are utilizing.
We will use a variety of media from these websites in our presentation to the class.
