Literacy Now

As a literacy educator, you may be familiar with your students’ typical reading responses. You might have assigned them a writing task of different types such as book reports, book reviews, or reading journals in order to check their understanding of books they read. Traditionally, these reading responses have been written on a paper, sometimes accompanying drawings. As digital technologies have developed, however, alternative reading responses using digital tools have been drawing more attention from classroom teachers and researchers, including digital multimodal reading responses (DMRR).

Why DMRR?

DMRR is a very engaging and creative task for K-12 students as reported in Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education (CITE Journal). Like traditional written reading responses, many researchers have found DMRR enables students to comprehend main ideas of the book, to express their aesthetic stances toward literature, and to evaluate information encountered in a book. In addition, DMRR facilitates students who struggle with written reading responses to actively engage in reading responses by using a wider range of modes afforded by digital tools such as written and oral language, static or moving images, and music and audio representations, as Hsiao-Chien Lee reported in Literacy Research and Instruction. In other words, DMRR and other multimodal compositions provide students with more diverse and engaging composition opportunities that help to broaden their semiotic toolkits, as found by Marjorie Siegel. Furthermore, teachers and students who participated in qualitative empirical studies reported that DMRR have improved not only students’ literacy skills but also their self-efficacies as learners. Therefore, using DMRR as one of your in-school writing or composing tasks can be beneficial to students.

Useful Digital Tools for DMRR

The availability of digital technologies may vary by schools across the United States. Some schools may have laptops or iPad carts for students in several classrooms whereas others may have only one or two computer labs for the entire school.  To work with this varied availability of digital devices, I will introduce several digital tools for DMRR.

If you use a desktop or laptop: For younger kids in an elementary school, you can teach them how to design Microsoft Power Point slides with written language and simple images and then let them create their own reading responses. To help students use images aligned with their written language or other modes, you can take pictures of the book’s illustrations or students’ drawings and import them onto the slides. Students can also embed their voices or other sounds onto each slide by clicking “Insert,” “Audio,” and “Audio From File” or “Record Audio.” An audio-embedded slide includes the speaker icon and the slideshow plays the embedded audio automatically. The image included here shows one example of a slide that includes a captured illustration from the book Matilda and recorded sound about the slide. As your students become more skillful composers of DMRR with Power Point, you might then let them upload their slides to VoiceThread and engage them in providing multimodal feedback on a classmate’s book review.

If your students are older or more tech-savvy, I recommend you explore the opportunities provided in a free digital video-making program such as Microsoft’s Photo Story or Apple’s iMovie. These are free and default programs on Windows or OX system computers unlike other fee-based online video making tools such as Animoto and GoAnimate. These video-making programs have more advanced functions to customize narration, transitions of scenes, zooms, pans, and sound effects and music. These programs also have multiple options to share video products with others.

If you use a smartphone or tablet: Mobile educational applications are essential to create DMRR using smartphones or tablets.  Many Web 2.0 tools have apps for computers, tablets, and iPhones. In my opinion, apps for tablets have simpler functions but can be ideal tools for students because these devices can be manipulated easily by touching their screen with fingers. For example, Apple’s iMovie can work on an Apple computer, iPhone and iPad. However, dragging and dropping images, recording voices and editing all modes in a video are much easier on iMovie app of the iPad than the same app of the Macbook.

ShowMe can be another useful tool to compose DMRR. This is a free interactive whiteboard app with which students can insert images, record voices, and draw shapes with different colors by fingers. If you want to keep your students’ products from non-classroom audiences, ShowMe is not a good option because it requires users to create an online account and share their final products on the “Learn” webpage before sharing through other Web 2.0 tools.

The more you know about the types of digital tools available to you, the better you can incorporate DMRR into your classroom instruction.

More digital tools you can explore:

• Adobe Voice (for the iPad)
• Glogster (for both computers and the iPad)
• Toontastic (for the iPad)
• Touch Cast (for both computers and tablets)
• Story Patch (for the iPad)

Sohee Park is a doctoral student specializing in Literacy Education in the School of Education at the University of Delaware, sohee@udel.edu.
This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association’s Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

Educators are always looking for a way to teach online safety to their students. Now there are four free apps to can download to the iPad for instructional purposes. They were developed by the Virginia Department of Education and the Professor Garfield Foundation. These free apps incorporate cyberbullying, fact or opinion, online safety, and diverse forms of media. Each interactive lesson is correlated to state standards in all 50 states.

Professor Garfield Cyberbullying

The objectives of this app are:

• Learn to recognize different forms of cyberbullying.
• Learn different strategies for dealing with a cyberbully.
• Learn the importance of enlisting the help of a trusted adult when cyberbullied.

Each app opens with a Garfield comic. My students love Garfield so it is easy to engage them. After Garfield receives an email message with someone using his identity, he learns all about cyberbullying. The second step is a drag and drop list to identify whether you are surfing smart or being harassed. This is interactive for the students. After four or five screens, the app concludes with another Garfield comic with a summary of the lesson. The interactive screens offer students great opportunities for problem solving and discussion.

Professor Garfield Online Safety

Objectives:

• Learn how to use the Internet safely and effectively.
• Understand that people online are not always who they say they are.
• Learn that they should never give out personal information without an adult’spermission, especially if it conveys where they can be found at a particular time.

Children are reminded to surf smart by using the acronym “YAPPY” to remind them about personal information they should not share online:

• Your name
• Address
• Phone number
• Passwords
• Your plans

Professor Garfield Fact and Opinion

Objectives:

• Learn the difference between a fact and an opinion on the internet.
• Understand that some websites contain facts, some contain opinions, and some contain both.
• Learn that a fact can be verified.

This app helps the character Nermal write a report distinguishing fact from opinion. Students can quickly decide which statements in the report are facts and which are opinions.

Professor Garfield Forms of Media

Objectives:

• Understand what forms of media we are exposed to.
• Become aware of the goals of media: authorship, format, audience, content, and purpose.

Kids are exposed to many commercials on television. This story explores advertising for a sugary cereal.
Commercials can be a powerful influence to buy. Children learn to consider the answers to important questions: Who created the message? What grabs your attention? Music? Bright colors? Special effects? The interactive questions help viewers decide what the ads are persuading them to buy. Students create their own healthy eating choices.

Together, these interactive cartoons can lead to in-depth discussions about media messages and digital safety in the classroom. Students become more aware of advertising and are more aware of how information is shared with others on the internet. Professor Garfield is a wonderful teacher!

Marjie Podzielinski is a member of the Advisory Committee of Teachers and a librarian at Coulson Tough School in The Woodlands, Texas. Follow her on Twitter at @marjiepodge.

This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association’s Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

About 10 years ago, I conducted my dissertation research on the digital divide, which I interpreted as the differences between those who had access to technology and those who did not have access to technology, and thus, seemed excluded from being able to fully participate in society. Early on in my work, however, I discovered that the real examination of the term ‘digital divide’ did not necessarily involve whether or not people had access to technology. Rather, I realized a study of the digital divide should focus on identifying differences in how people use technology to become more socially active and to become global citizens.

As part of my research, I administered a questionnaire to 147 sixth and seventh graders in Brazil for their opinions about what it meant to be a global citizen and how technology contributed to this 'identity'. Here are just a few of their answers:

• "A global citizen has a lot of knowledge about politics and different cultures and how to help others. (This person) is able to fight against inequality, a factor that creates most conflicts in the world. (A global citizen) fights for things he/she believes in and takes advantage of opportunities to make a difference in society."

• "A global citizen has a lot of knowledge about international facts. Because the world is changing and certain things influence our country, (global citizens) keep themselves updated through newspapers, TV news and the Internet, and they are careful not to be manipulated by misinformation."

•  “A global citizen is someone who has access to major changes in technology, has knowledge of linguistic differences, and knows about world history and geography. This person knows different cultures and studies them to understand and value differences in race, gender, and socio-economic status. [This person] is concerned with the environment, participates in rallies against guns, practices solidarity, and is a good citizen who tries to address the problems of his/her own country.”

• “I think that in order to be a global citizen, you have to believe that changes in the world can begin with you! Knowing how to use technology is also important for communicating and getting to know about other countries, which can help eliminate prejudice.”

One of the themes that emerged from student responses on this questionnaire suggested technology use fosters the development of global citizenship by enabling people to take a more active role in making informed decisions about issues that matter. From these findings, I realized students in my study were ready to act as global citizens who think critically, make informed decisions, and actively participate in their community. However, the use of technology for social purposes was not as prevalent in their responses.

However, a decade after, with the explosion of smart phones and mobile access worldwide, we are witnessing an important change in the behavior of our globally connected youth. It seems that now they have discovered the potential of new technologies to promote social change. For example, in his latest book titled Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age(2012), Manuel Castells described how movements such as the Arab Spring in 2011, that began on online social networks and spread like a virus through mobile media, have created a ‘space of autonomy’ for the exchange of information and the sharing of feelings of collective outrage and hope.

Castells’ beliefs that Internet networks support a new type of political participation reinforce a major finding from my dissertation; that global citizens not only consume materials made available through technology, but they also produce materials and resources and become valued and productive citizens of a global community.

As it could be noticed by the students’ opinions, being informed about what is happening in the world and its different cultures is one of the main traits of a global citizen. To get you thinking about the range of possibilities, I’ve pointed you to just a few examples of websites that might be useful for guiding students in finding information that promotes rich discussions about these topics in your classroom:

• Global Education First Initiative (GEFI) briefly introduces students to several interconnected global challenges that require innovative solutions. This project, initiated by the United Nations Secretary-General also points readers to the GEFI Youth Advocacy Group homepage that features links to an Advocacy Toolkit, Advocacy, Facilitator’s Guide, A Call to Action, and a host of online resources featuring efforts of the 18-member interactional youth group.

• Exploring Our Roles As Global Citizens: An Educators Guide for Grades 3-5, sponsored by TeachUnicef.org, provides a four lesson unit with extension activities and a student-led inquiry project designed to introduce the concept of global citizenship, educate students about universal human rights, foster skills in developing perspectives and decision-making, and empower students to make a positive difference in their local communities.

• Worldometers provides live world statistics on population, government and economics, society and media, environment, food, water, energy and health. Interesting statistics.

• Newsmap is an application that visually reflects the constantly changing landscape of the Google News news aggregator. It shows links to the news being published by countries all over the world in their original languages.

Clarisse Olivieri de Lima is an Educational Technology consultant in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association’s Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

Last month a mother told me her son “learned more about writing than ever before” from a recent assignment. “It was that audio message,” she said. “He listened to it over and over!” Josh was a quiet boy who never raised his hand. Writing was not his passion. However, this time my feedback came in an audio message sent directly to him. He heard my voice and found his own.

When to Give Feedback via Audio

Consistent with results of a recent study by Cavanaugh and Song, I find this method optimal in two situations:

• When I want students to think deeply about revision. I record feedback for formative assessment only, focusing on issues that can’t be addressed checklist-style.

• When I want to build personal connections. Audio is especially powerful with struggling or timid students, because I can offer constructive criticism in an encouraging, rather than critical, tone.

Tools to Try

• With the Google docs add-on Kaizena, I can attach written and audio comments to specific passages, providing students with links to those comments directly in Google docs. Kaizena supports tagging for reusing comments and allows students to request feedback. Below is an image of the grading sidebar one sees when using the Kaizena Mini add-on. (See this Kaizena blog for much more.)

• I often use my cell phone’s voice recorder, an idea suggested via Twitter by Jim Burke, author of The English Teacher’s Companion. In Google Docs’ preview mode I can quickly click through a set of papers, recording and sharing responses via student emails. Having added my school email account to my phone and synched the contacts, student emails come up automatically.

• I’m excited to try WriteAbout, a new social publishing site where students share their writing publicly or privately and join writing groups related to their interests. WriteAbout offers visual writing prompts and gives students the option to post a picture or audio with their writing. Of interest here is that teachers can privately annotate, record audio, and type long responses to their students’ work. WriteAbout is still in beta; the free version limits teachers to 40 students and three posts per student. Here is a brief overview of WriteAbout’s simple-to-use teacher feedback options.

Tips for Giving Recorded Feedback

• I reserve audio responses for issues that peer editing is unlikely to address, and I record one global comment per student. In Troy Hicks’s Edutopia post on formative assessment, teachers are advised to follow Emily Wray’s RISE Model for Meaningful Feedback: Reflect, Inquire, Suggest, Elevate. I first reflect on what I notice, then ask questions of the writer to encourage critical thinking about the piece, and finally make suggestions with the goal of elevating it to the “next level.”

• I try to limit discussion to three minutes and one or two revision priorities. I constantly ask myself: What one revision would most elevate this piece?

• I rarely provide audio feedback to all classes at once. Instead, I may record responses only for a special education inclusion class, for students who send requests by a specific date, or for a randomly selected group. My goal is to provide a recorded response to each student once a semester.

• To protect students’ privacy, I don’t share grades via audio.

As with most new things, recording audio responses takes practice to master. But isn’t this the time of year to try something new? Your students will most appreciate that you spoke directly to them—because your voice is more powerful than you think.

 

Angie Johnson is a doctoral student in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology at Michigan State University and teaches eighth grade language arts at Lakeshore Middle School, in Stevensville, MI.

In today’s world, the topic of using technology in the classroom can be intimidating. In this monthly column, join one teacher on a quest to discover the best way to meet the needs of her digital-age learners…moving beyond the technology tools to focusing on supporting each student’s learning. 

I love this time of year in the classroom. The students have learned routines, they’ve become more independent learners, and (hopefully) they have begun to take initiative. One idea that hits me this time each year is when the students return after the winter holidays, they want more—more of a challenge, more exposure to new ideas, and more options when publishing.

To be clear, my learners always have at least one publishing project going all the time. Not all of these projects are digital. Some students choose to share their writing through a one-person performance, a puppet show, or a handwritten, bound journal. Their options are only limited by their creativity. However, some students are so overwhelmed with all the options, they need some guidance in selecting the method or tool for amplifying their writing to an audience.

Although I do my best to keep up with a wide variety of new tools, both high-tech and low-tech, I’ve discovered my students’ favorite ones are usually the ones that they discover themselves and share with one another. In the vein of the holiday, I thought I would pay forward some of the digital tools my students are currently using. These are digital tools that they really enjoy using to share their writing with their global audience.

Using Tackk, students can create beautiful digital brochures, posters, or websites. Because of its organization, Tackk is simple for students to organize their writing and include other types of media, such as graphic, photos, video, audio or illustrations. One feature the students particularly enjoy is that everything is automatically saved, relieving students of the fear they are going to lose hours of work.

Students can log in using their Google or Edmodo account (other options like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are also available).  Using the intuitive tool bar, students publish their writing embedding the other media that supports their text. Then, with the click of a button, they can publish it on a wide range of social media outlets, embed it into their blog, email it, or print a hardcopy. However, the ease of publishing and sharing is not what appeals to my students most. The element they love is the robust commenting feature. Now their project is not just a static project. It welcomes ongoing dialogue and further learning through the ability of visitors to comment upon their Tackk. By not only having their writing easily read by their peers, but also encouraging an ongoing conversation lends the authenticity that today’s learner craves.

With PowToon for Education, students can turn their writing into animated presentations with cartoon style videos. Students simply drag and drop the elements that they need onto their work surface. With a large collection of background, themes, and props, students can easily bring their writing to life without getting bogged down or side-tracked in the nitty-gritty technology aspect of a tool, which can prove frustrating to many learners. Learners also have the ability to import their own images, if they prefer, including their own photographs or hand-drawn images. Additionally, they are further able to personalize and customize their PowToon by adding their own sound tracks and voice-overs. If a student (or you) gets stuck, this site has a great library of user-friendly, short video tutorials that break down each of the steps in creating a great visual. Once complete, students can share their final project in multiple ways. It can be uploaded to YouTube, shared through many different social media sites, or embedded in a blog, wiki, or website.

Smore is another site enabling a user to publish a digital flyer, newsletter, or website. With Smore, learners can publish their writing and embed a variety of different media from graphics and photos to videos. This tool also has a simple user interface with a drag and drop design. My learners love that it has many options to customize the look of their writing. I love that there aren’t so many “bells and whistles” that students lose focus on the point of this publishing…to amplify their writing for an authentic audience.

Once a student has completed his/her Smore, it can easily be shared through social media outlets or embedded directly into a blog, wiki, or website. Much like Tackk, once a piece is published on Smore, that’s not the end of the project. Smore also has a commenting feature so that students can continue to have a conversation with other members of their learning community. With all of the different tools that we use, I’ve observed that my students tend to lean towards those, which allows them to receive meaningful feedback on their writing from their peers both, local and global.

I hope these tools will provide you and your students something new to add to the publishing toolbox. If you have a favorite tool you would like to share with all of us, please leave a comment or email us at social@/. Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season and new year full of fun writing and publishing adventures!

Julie D. Ramsay is a Nationally Board Certified educator and the author of Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing?: Collaborating in Class & Online, Grades 3-8. She teaches ELA to sixth graders at Rock Quarry Middle School in Tuscaloosa, AL. She also travels the country to speak, present, and facilitate workshops in applying technology to support authentic learning. Read her blog at juliedramsay.blogspot.com.