Week 10

    One of the articles I read that I found interesting is about the virtual field trips that classes can take.  I think this is a good idea for primary and secondary schools.  Because of budgets and money issues, some schools can’t afford for students to go off campus for a field trip.  This is a good way for students to experience fieldtrips to places beyond their reach, places that are out of state or even the country.  The reasoning against virtual fieldtrips make sense, but are too mild not to have the fieldtrips.  The complaint is that students would not be getting the whole experience compared to them physically being there because you cannot virtually use some of yoiur senses such as touch, smell, and taste.  But I believe that a virtual fieldtrip will give the students at least some knowledge and experience verus not letting them have the the virtual field trip.  Plus, it’s more affordable for the schools.

    Another artilce talks about the technology taking over the place of textbooks in class.  Is this happening?  The other day I observed a teacher telling students to look up a certain author in an encyclopedia.  Many students didn’t know what an encyclopedia was.  I think this is because students now have technology to look up any other they want by browsing the internet.  This a a good source, but at the same time I don’t think computers are technically taking over textbooks in the classroom.  A lot of students, as the article states, don’t even have computers at home.  I think both technology and textbooks are in today’s day and age, used in the classroom.  I don’t believe technology is replacing textbooks but instead working alongside them. 

Week Nine

    I enjoyed reading the article about the virtual classroom.  I thought it was very interesting.  I’m not sure that it would prepare a new teacher only because I personally would have a hard time taking it seriously since it isn’t real.  I also don’t see how making it five times worse then a realistic classroom and not having the option to remove a student from a classroom would benefit the teacher.  I think the only real way to learn classroom management is to teach with real students.

     When it comes to the article about electronic report cards I thought it would be a good idea if it is a better way of updating student informaion, grades and test scores. 

     When it comes to the article on rape in cyberspace, I have to admit I found it disturbing but I guess it’s not really surprising since cyberspace gives the user anonymity.  I guess one has to choose carefully who their true cyber friends are.

Week Eight

This week’s readings fromVRDW were about the rhetoric of design.  The introduction explains how like words, visuals set a certain tone.  They can be designed to work in many different ways.  Design is important in composition because it is being used so often to accompany writing.  The question of whether design can be seen as having a common discipline is question by Buchanan since design is so broad.  Some theorists see it as a science which, to me, means that it is straight answers and can be proven as are most things in science.  The idea is also thrown that design is instead created or invented through discovery.  Design is always evolving and expanding.  The chapter also writes about the origin of design.  There are four different theories about the origin that are discussed or explained in the chapter:  the industrial revolution, the early twentieth century, the prehistoric period, and the creation of the universe.  The most interesting one to me is that design started with the creation of the universe with God being the first designer, and everyone else just trying to mimic or imitate his creations.  I think this theory makes a lot of sense.  It reminds me of another chapter in this book about icons and how we, as humans, see ourselves in everything.  Everything seems to have a human face, even though it doesn’t really resemble a real human face.  This same idea can be used to say that designers see nature and God’s work in everything, and therefore, try to imitate in their designs.  At least that’s what I got out of it.

Week 7

          A phrase is mentioned in this weeks reading that caught my eye, “life is long, college is short.”  So I wondered, should I teach my students to life or college.  I’ve always thought that the whole point of secondary school is to teach the students to be prepared for college.  When I was in high school I always wondered why teachers would give us lectures on things that had nothing to do with preparing the students for college.  I also remember a teacher who would give students advice on their personal lives and always compliment them on their personalities if they were funny or quiet.  I wondered what this had to do with school because I was brought up to mind my own business and such.  Looking back, I see that those teachers who cared about the students’ personal lives were teaching to life not college.  I think I will probably do a little of both, with the former being priority.  Also, the question of whether or not our lesson plans and teaching in the classroom should include more technology was asked in the reading.  I think that since technology is advancing, then yes it should be used more in the classroom.  Especially if it’s something as valuable is any other part of literacy.  If it will help the students advance in their literacy skills, then I think I will hav to include it as best as I can in my teaching. I can say that I have learned so much that I can use as a teacher already- just from the visual literacy project I had to do for this class.   So I guess a question for the class would be- what do you teach to, life, or college, or both?

Week 6

             The readings this week basically gave an in-depth definition and explanation of what a symbol is and how it is related to literacy.  Arnheim writes that images are “fulfilled” by three functions: the picture, symbol, and sign.  Letters and words are examples of signs because they work as references to things that they stand for.  Pictures are not replicas of the real objects but instead depict similarities in color, shape and movement.   The symbol is the opposite of the picture in that it exhibits a higher portrayal of abstractness than the symbol.  Abstractness is not incompleteness.  Instead this is intentional so that the person observing the abstraction can make their own interpretation of what it means or what it symbolizes.  He uses music as an example of this.  A test was done to see if everyone who listened to a specific classical song had the same opinion of the emotion it was meant to express.   Of course people had different opinions because of the abstractness of music.  Good trademarks “interpret character of its wearer”.  An abstract image shouldn’t be too remote or limit itself to “relevant structural properties.”

 

 Barthes reading starts off by describing a advertisement for an Italian cuisine.  He thoroughly analyzes the advertisement in order to explain the underlying message within it that can be broken down into different parts.  Three parts total are shown: the linguistic message, the coded ionic message, and a non-coded iconic message.  He explains that the symbolic image is connoted and that the literal image is denoted.  The literal message is relational to the symbolic message of the advertisement.  The literal image “naturalizes” the symbolic image.    I agree that an image or advertisement can be read many ways and have many symbols within it.  I thought it was interesting that so many symbols were found in the advertisement described in the pictures.  When the advertisement was first described to me a lot of the same symbols popped into my head such as the italian theme, but it didn’t occur to me that the colors of the advertisement are symbolic.  I guess it makes sense that colors give you different moods and that they are abstract in the sense that they can give represent different emtions to different people just like the classical music explain in the last chapter.  One question I had about this reading is: what is the difference between the last two of the three parts of the message of the advertisement?

Week 5

 

Selfe writes about how most teachers are more book literate than computer literate.  Usually, teachers feel that they are not qualified to teach new media texts, and so most of the things they assign and work on for their classroom are not new media oriented.  Without a basic knowledge of new media, we cannot know how literacy and communication is changing.  That’s an important thing I learned in this class.  I came into this class thinking I might learn a thing or two that I can teach secondary school students in the classroom because it might be interesting, but it’s a lot more than that. 

One thing I thought was interesting that was brought up in this text is that not using and teaching new media in the classroom will cost students because they need to know how to use new media since it is becoming a big part of literacy.  According to Selfe focusing on visual literacy, “the ability to read, understand, value, and learn from visual materials is the first step- one I plan to take.  In last week’s class discussion, the class discussed whether or not it would bother them if students knew more about literacy and could teach the teacher.  I don’t think it would bother me, and I would be thankful that if I can absorb any of it from the students.

 

          In Birdsell and Groarke’s article, the question comes up of whether or not one can form an argument in a visual.  It goes on to talk about how visual images are vague therefore less precise than an oral or written argument.  The article then goes on to say that although some might view visuals in this way, written text can be just as vague.  The article doesn’t really take a side, but instead proves the point that both can be vague, and both can give the reader a straightforward, answer or argument.  I agree that visuals can give a point of view or argue a point.  According to the article, there are three prerequisites for a “satisfactory account of visual argument: accept the possibility of visual meaning, make an effort to consider images in context, and recognize the argumentative aspects of the representation”(VRDW 318). I think this quote sums up the chapter well.

 

Week 4

      In Selfe’s essay, the writer starts off by giving his or her definition of the term “new media texts” and how it places an emphasis or strongly includes visual elements including photography and images, etc. Selfe then goes on to write about how a lot of teachers want to include new media in their lesson plans because of a few different reasons. One reason is that teachers are seeing more and more of technology being used.  Another reason is that they may catch our eye because of the colorful visuals.  The main reason, according to Selfe, is that teachers see their students gain interest in it.  I agree that all of these reasons are apart of why I want to use new media in the classroom.  If it will interest the kids and can be used as a tool to help them learn, then why not?  The chapter goes on to talk about a student named David who was expelled from a university because he couldn’t write a traditional formal essay with structure and correct grammar, but he could work with new media such as designing creative web sites for fraternities.  So I guess the question is, should he have been kicked out for not knowing how to write a traditional essay when he is knowledgeable of so many modern forms of literacy?  I think you need to have a basic knowledge of both.  The chapter then goes on to talk about how David would have probably improved his writing skills if the teacher would have blended the two forms of writing in some way, and somehow incorporated new media into the classroom.  This sounds like a good idea.

Week 3, in class discussions/ nline audio lecture

  I thought what everyone had to say about listening to the lectures of the Berkeley professors was interesting.  I, myself, thought I would be annoyed without a video to go along with the lecture.  I am a visual person, and I have a hard time listening to things I can’t see.  For example, my sister is always wanting to read her poems and essays to me, and I always insist on reading  them myself because I know that I will otherwise drown at least half of it out.  With the lecture, I decided to close my eyes so that they don’t start wandering and observing every little thing on the walls.  With my eyes closed, I used my imagination and could picture how I thought the class was arranged, what the professors looked like, and I could even see everyone holding hands.  When it comes to the parts of the lecture where the professor goes off on tangents, and there is trouble with the microphone, etc. some people said that they thought that this was unprofessional.  I disagree and actually, i think it made the lecture even more real and interesting to me.  I thought it was a little funny and normal.

Week #3

       I read the journal about “free social tools for educators” such as SchoolTube, and I think that it sounds like it could be a good thing.  The students would learn more about technology and how to use it.  It sounds like blackboard for secondary education, which is good because the students can discuss, learn, and go over the things they didn’t have time for  in class.  It could also be a good tool for the students who are absent and can ask other students or the teacher about assignments so that they don’t get behind on classwork and learning.  I understand that this is more of a focus on education than digital media, but I think it still requires a knowledge of computers.  I think it is important that on the site the students couldn’t watch just anything they wanted.  certain kinds of videos would be blocked so that the students are monitored and stay focused when on this site.

Audio Lectures

  I found these lectures from the UC Berkeley to be interesting.  The professors talked about how technology and society influence each other.  New Media literacy expands communication.  Media means middle, as in- the middle of things and Cyber means control.  The professor explains how  cyberculture controls your social security, shopping, etc.  He also talks about how genetic evolution has been outstripped by cultural evolution.  This, I thought, was strange.  Can we evolve so much culturally that it puts a halt or slows down how we evolve genetically?  Do these two really effect each other? Cultre effects use more than anything else based on out needs.  This sounds about right. I see how society is effected by culture tremendously in our every day lives.