Using blogs, wikis, and podcasts in literature methods courses

1. Using blogs, wikis, and podcasts in literature methods courses Rick Beach, Department of Curriculum & Instruction, University of Minnesota rbeach@umn.edu

2. Adolescents: Average daily media use • Ball State study: 15 teens • 7 hours a day vs. adults: 9 hours • 120 minutes: TV vs. adults: 240 minutes • Little reading of newspapers/magazines • 70 minutes: IMing vs. 10 minutes: email • 2 hours: computer: multitasking

3. Average total media time • Computer: 24% • TV: 24% • Print: 15% • Music: 13% • Video: 9% • Radio: 6%

4. Poll: Need for media literacy • Eighty-eight percent of voters say they believe that schools can and should incorporate 21st century skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving skills, computer and technology skills, and communication and self-direction skills into the curriculum. • Public Opinion Strategies and Peter D. Hart Research Associates on behalf of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills

5. Web 1.0 English Education • Provide Web-based information • Often static, teacher-created sites • Preservice teachers: acquiring information

6. Web 2.0 English Education • Interactive, collaborative digital tool use • Understanding tool use through production • Evaluate tool use: achieving goals • Engaging audiences • Promoting ideas

7. Using blogs and wikis in two courses for teachers • CI5472: Teaching Film, Television, and Media Studies • Teachingmedialiteracy.com • CI5410: Teaching Digital Writing • Importance of sharing/collaboration: • Class wikibooks: Pbwiki • Blogs; Blogger

8. Blogs: Individual expression of ideas/personal accounts Hyperlinking of texts Comments from peers Multimodal writing Wikis: Collaborative writing of reports/essays Shared revision Hyperlinking of texts Multimodal writing Complimentary Uses for Blogs and Wikis

9. Wikis: Information-sharing • Interactive clearing-house for sharing information • Schools • Organizations • Businesses • Group/organization projects • Sharing information leads to collective action • Conference on English Education 2007 Summit

10. Wikibooks • Wikibooks: open-source textbooks • Rhetoric and Composition Wikibook • Theory of Basic Writing course • Wookieepedia: Star Wars fans

11. Wikibooks: constructivist learning • Invite an activist versus passive stance • “I can add to or improve this text” • “I can participate in constructing knowledge about media” • Foster collaborative sharing of ideas • Requires negotiation of competing perspectives in constructing knowledge

12. Wikibooks: collaborative academic writing • Writing for audiences outside the class • Higher level of motivation • Future course sections add new material • Value of collective student work • Co-teaching: Peers learning from peers • Shared expertise within a group • Multimodal writing • Combine texts with images/video/sound

13. Digital media Film analysis Critical approaches Representations Ethnography Genres News/documentary Textbook/website: Teachingmedialiteracy.com Media literacy methods course

14. Class media literacy wikibook • Media literacy wikibook • Course syllabus/resources • Teaching activities • Final unit chapters • PBwiki features • WYSIWYG editing • Sidebar: organize links • Plug-ins: YouTube/YackPack

15. Student comment: Wikis • The wikis were a neat database to provide information to us as students and they also worked to form a good community of learners. I felt highly accountable for the final wiki project because it was not just MY wiki, but everyone’s wiki. I like being able to go to one place and get a wealth of information.

16. Wikibook assignments • Student ownership of topics • Students contribute material that interest or engage them • Scaffolding social collaboration • Value of “blog partners” • Use blogs as “prewriting” for wiki content • Sharing all material with peers and larger audiences • Cooperating teachers, their own students, others

17. Cumulative construction of knowledge across sections • Each new section adds new material • Sense of building on/extending ideas • Students perceive previous work as examples • Students know that they are writing for future student audiences

18. Value: Reflecting on knowledge construction • “History”: track changes over time • Study the revision process • Reflect on how and why changes were made • Use screencasts of wiki revisions • Paul Allison (formerly: East Side Community HS: Latino Pride: • http://ia300213.us.archive.org/1/items/PaulAllisonLatinoPrideAStoryofCollaboraiveWritingonaWiki/ • Jon Udell: Wikipedia revisions: Heavy Metal Umlaut • http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/gems/umlaut.html

19. Blog role-play and wiki writing: Montana 1948 • Montana 1948 • http://missboeser.googlepages.com/montana1948 • Blog: Roleplay: "Fighting Sioux" mascot • http://roleplaymascots.blogspot.com/ • Wiki site • http://jhscollegewritingmontana.pbwiki.com/

20. Dan Snidyr, owner of the Washington Redskins • I believe that we should not change it. The name the "Redskins" is not meant to affend anyone of any race. "It means wonderful things. It means success, it means pride, it means integrity, honor and winning tradition. All of those great things, plus many more, are what the Redskins are all about for Washington and all of the Washington Redkin fans throughout the nation." http://web.syr.edu/~ajhill/dan.html

21. Winona Yepa • As a Native American women, I am also very offended by the name "redskins". Perhaps your name should be changed to Washington ”Whitetrash" then perhaps you could see why I feel the way I do about the name. We are native American's, not redskins. I find it to be a very offensive name. At least NDSU has enough respect for Native Americans to address us properly as "Sioux" the fighting part is debatable but they don't refer to us as "redskins". we have names.

22. Challenges: Collaborative writing: • Contributors not sharing the load or knowing what to do • Need to determine who is responsible for what tasks/topics • Evaluation: group vs. individual work • Tensions between authors’ beliefs about a topic • Need to respect and negotiate differences in perspectives and beliefs • Include alternative interpretations

23. Jenkins: Information literacies involved in use of Wikipedia • Collective Intelligence -- the ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with others towards a common goal. • Judgment -- the ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different information source. • Networking -- the ability to search for, synthesize and disseminate information. • Negotiation -- the ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and respecting multiple perspectives, and grasping and following alternative sets of norms.

24. Analyzing and producing vlogs • Analysis of rhetorical strategies/genre aspects of vlogs • Minnesota Stories: a daily vlog • EDHD grant • Purchase 12 cameras with 2GB cards • Vlog tutorials (on wiki sites)

25. Vlog production resources • Secrets of Videoblogging • Videoblogging • Videoblogging for Dummies • iMovie/Windows Movie Maker

26. Place-based/ethnographic uses of vlogs • Inquiry-based focus • Issues/challenges facing a community • Street sociologists • Depicting Dinkytown • YouTube/Flickr images: representations • Create own vlog posts

27. Wiki sites: Sharing video • Wikis as collaborative clearing houses • Vlogs: individual expression of ideas • Wikis: collaborative sharing of ideas • Easy for students to post videos/images • Wikis: build material across courses • Students perceive/add to previous work • Rhetoric and Composition wikibook

28. Critical analysis of image/text rhetoric • Understanding rhetorical power of images: creating multimodal texts • Blogs and wikis: allow for easy embedding of images • Flickr, Google Images, YouTube • VoiceThread.com: audio commentary: images

30. http://ceeliteraturesites.pbwiki.com Password: Share • Groups (2-4): Create activities and links on Word or Google Docs • Add material to wiki at different times • (Everyone can’t be editing at same time) • Click Edit Page and then use icons • When you’re done, click on SAVE