Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices. By Victoria Carrington and Muriel...
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Review Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices Victoria Carring- ton and Muriel Robinson (Eds.) (2009) London: SAGE Publications Ltd. ISBN: 978-1-84787-038-4; d20.99; 174 pp. This book is a welcome and timely addition to the field. The theorising of the editors and contributors is based firmly on research conducted both in- side and outside classrooms, which makes it distinctive amongst digital literacy texts. Furthermore, the book considers, and theorises about, teacher preparation for teachers who must negotiate old and new literacies in parallel. Carrington and Robinson offer in- sight into their own thinking about digital literacies in the first and final chapters with their commentaries on the textual landscapes of Hong Kong. This is an intriguing look at how the world outside the classroom presents a joined-up version of multimodal texts while the classroom often presents a divide between traditional and multi- modal texts. This is the theme for each of the three sections that make up the contributed chapters to the book. The three chapters in Part A: digital texts in and out of school include research into children’s outside-school use of: video production; photo-sharing with Web 2.0, and social networking sites such as Facebook, Bebo and MySpace. Drawing on theories of situated learn- ing and affinity groups the authors argue that literacy is not just about making or decoding marks on a page but about performing social acts of meaning (Barton and Hamilton, 1998; Street, 1997) and that creating digital texts is both a social and literate act. According to Merchant these activities in the classroom provide an environ- ment for collaborative thinking and problem solving, where meanings and values can be negotiated. Part B: changing literacies relates find- ings from classroom-based research on learners who are engaged in produc- ing and using classroom wikis, blogs and working with teachers in virtual worlds. Theories of literacy as social practice and learning within a textually mediated social world (Barton, 2001) are foremost in each of the digital literacies in this section. These three chapters also provide practitioners who might be considering bringing wikis, blogs or virtual worlds into their own classrooms with some indicators of how to begin. There is an assumption, based partly on Prensky’s (2001) ‘‘digital native, digital immigrant’’ divide, that under- graduate students are fully engaged in digital and multimodal literacies when they enter teacher education pro- grammes and that this equips them to incorporate multimodal literacies in their classrooms. The three chapters that make up Part C: changing literacies, changing pedagogies provide a strong call to action, asking teacher educators to think more deeply about the nature of the pedagogical knowledge required by novice teachers if they are to produc- tively engage their students in chan- ging literacies. Kerin’s analysis of undergraduate students’ ‘digital por- traits’ reveals a range of confidence levels and some strong resistance to the digital learning task. Leander’s chapter takes us a little further and examines the dilemmas facing teachers as they negotiate the complex relationships between traditional and digital litera- cies. Leander questions whether these are competing or complementary and outlines a composition course in which students use a common language for talking about text. He strives for a parallel pedagogy, which will prepare teachers for the demands of the literacy classrooms of today and tomorrow. Burnett’s research with pre-service tea- chers prompts us to reflect more closely on just how ‘digitally native’ our students are and how this might impact on the way that they structure class- room learning. A strong feature of the book is the interestingly termed ‘downloads’. These provide key points, examples of class- room practice and further reading to encourage all to take up Carrington and Robinson’s challenge to: ‘‘continue the exploration of this territory through your own observation, teaching practice and reflection on outcomes’’ (p. 169). It is clear that teachers and teacher educators need to break the continuing divide between out-of-school multiliteracies and in-school literacies if they are to get to the powerful, socially mediated vision of learning that this book pre- sents. References BARTON, D. (2001) Directions for literacy research: analysing language and social practices in a textually mediated world. Language and Education, 15.2/3, pp. 92–104. BARTON, D. and HAMILTON, M. (1998) Local Literacies: Reading and Writing in one Community . London: Routledge. PRENSKY, M. (2001) Digital Game-Based Learning. New York: McGraw Hill. STREET, B. (1997) The implications of new literacy studies for education. English in Education, 31.3, pp. 45–59. Robyn Cox University of Worcester Literacy 2010 1 r UKLA 2010. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. Literacy
Transcript of Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices. By Victoria Carrington and Muriel...
Review
Digital Literacies: Social Learning andClassroom Practices Victoria Carring-ton and Muriel Robinson (Eds.) (2009)London: SAGE Publications Ltd. ISBN:978-1-84787-038-4; d20.99; 174 pp.
This book is a welcome and timelyaddition to the field. The theorising ofthe editors and contributors is basedfirmly on research conducted both in-side and outside classrooms, whichmakes it distinctive amongst digitalliteracy texts. Furthermore, the bookconsiders, and theorises about, teacherpreparation for teachers who mustnegotiate old and new literacies inparallel.
Carrington and Robinson offer in-sight into their own thinking aboutdigital literacies in the first and finalchapters with their commentaries onthe textual landscapes of Hong Kong.This is an intriguing look at how theworld outside the classroom presents ajoined-up version of multimodal textswhile the classroom often presents adivide between traditional and multi-modal texts. This is the theme for eachof the three sections that make up thecontributed chapters to the book.
The three chapters in Part A: digitaltexts in and out of school include researchinto children’s outside-school use of:video production; photo-sharing withWeb 2.0, and social networking sitessuch as Facebook, Bebo and MySpace.Drawing on theories of situated learn-ing and affinity groups the authorsargue that literacy is not just aboutmaking or decoding marks on a pagebut about performing social acts ofmeaning (Barton and Hamilton, 1998;Street, 1997) and that creating digitaltexts is both a social and literate act.
According to Merchant these activitiesin the classroom provide an environ-ment for collaborative thinking andproblem solving, where meanings andvalues can be negotiated.
Part B: changing literacies relates find-ings from classroom-based research onlearners who are engaged in produc-ing and using classroom wikis, blogsand working with teachers in virtualworlds. Theories of literacy as socialpractice and learning within a textuallymediated social world (Barton, 2001)are foremost in each of the digitalliteracies in this section. These threechapters also provide practitioners whomight be considering bringing wikis,blogs or virtual worlds into their ownclassrooms with some indicators ofhow to begin.
There is an assumption, based partlyon Prensky’s (2001) ‘‘digital native,digital immigrant’’ divide, that under-graduate students are fully engaged indigital and multimodal literacies whenthey enter teacher education pro-grammes and that this equips them toincorporate multimodal literacies intheir classrooms. The three chaptersthat make up Part C: changing literacies,changing pedagogies provide a strong callto action, asking teacher educators tothink more deeply about the nature ofthe pedagogical knowledge required bynovice teachers if they are to produc-tively engage their students in chan-ging literacies. Kerin’s analysis ofundergraduate students’ ‘digital por-traits’ reveals a range of confidencelevels and some strong resistance to thedigital learning task. Leander’s chaptertakes us a little further and examinesthe dilemmas facing teachers as theynegotiate the complex relationshipsbetween traditional and digital litera-cies. Leander questions whether theseare competing or complementary and
outlines a composition course in whichstudents use a common language fortalking about text. He strives for aparallel pedagogy, which will prepareteachers for the demands of the literacyclassrooms of today and tomorrow.Burnett’s research with pre-service tea-chers prompts us to reflect more closelyon just how ‘digitally native’ ourstudents are and how this might impacton the way that they structure class-room learning.
A strong feature of the book is theinterestingly termed ‘downloads’. Theseprovide key points, examples of class-room practice and further reading toencourage all to take up Carrington andRobinson’s challenge to: ‘‘continue theexploration of this territory throughyour own observation, teaching practiceand reflection on outcomes’’ (p. 169). It isclear that teachers and teacher educatorsneed to break the continuing dividebetween out-of-school multiliteraciesand in-school literacies if they are toget to the powerful, socially mediatedvision of learning that this book pre-sents.
References
BARTON, D. (2001) Directions for literacyresearch: analysing language and socialpractices in a textually mediated world.Language and Education, 15.2/3, pp. 92–104.
BARTON, D. and HAMILTON, M. (1998)Local Literacies: Reading and Writing in oneCommunity. London: Routledge.
PRENSKY, M. (2001) Digital Game-BasedLearning. New York: McGraw Hill.
STREET, B. (1997) The implications of newliteracy studies for education. English inEducation, 31.3, pp. 45–59.
Robyn CoxUniversity of Worcester
Literacy 2010 1
r UKLA 2010. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
Literacy
