Kitchin,+Joshua+R -+Closing+Reflections

1. Now that you’ve had this professional development experience, how are you defining “new literacies?” How do you think your definition has changed or evolved this week? I think New Literacies are the ability to read and comprehend new technologies and create a product using these new technologies. I didn't know what New Literacies were before this conference. So I went from knowing nothing about it to what I think is a good understanding of what they are.

2. Describe some new literacies that you learned about this week? What did you know about these topics before the week began and how has your experience this week contributed to your understanding of these new literacies? Some new literacies that I learned about and saw applied to an activity was Diigo and Ning. I sat in on the Cool Tools session dealing with organic foods being sold in grocery stores. The Ning was used as a forum to discuss various viewpoints of organic foods and how grocery stores should or should not sell more organic foods. There was also a live chat available through Ning that allowed for a real time discussion. Diigo was used to store multiple articles about organic foods and similar topics. People that were part of the group could view any of the articles and post their own. I knew about Diigo before this conference but I did not know about Ning. I think Ning gives you more bang for your buck because you can have forum discussions and real time discussions on the same site.

3. In what ways are the new literacies prompted by technology? How do they affect one another? New literacies are prompted by technology through the need for an easier way of finding and using information. It used to be the norm to go to the library to find your information in a written format. It could take hours to find what you needed. The Internet, and in-turn search engines, have allowed people to access information almost instantly. But, with this new ability to find information, comes a new ability to comprehend how to sift through this information. It is paramount to be able to acknowledge credible information versus false information.

4. How do new literacies affect the way we think about academic content? Describe an example of how some specific academic content is affected by changes in the ways we reading write and thinking (i.e. new literacies). I think new literacies affect the way we think about academic content by making the lesser known or obscure parts of academia more accessible and important. We can now access more and more primary sources online, and from a history standpoint, gives us greater insight into the particular area you are studying. We can also store this information in accessible places for further viewing.

5. How do new literacies affect the way we think about our teaching practices? How do they affect the development of new teaching practices or approaches to teaching? New literacies affect the way we think about our teaching practices by making us think about how to deliver information and assess student work. It also makes us try new practices to see what works for our students. New literacies also allows us to use different technology for different students.

6. During the week, you learning about several conceptual / theoretical frameworks for understanding the new literacies including, project-based inquiry, TPACK, Bloom’s revised cognitive theory, online identity, and global literacies (i.e. cultural competence, cultural awareness, cosmopolitanism). Describe your personal perspective on new literacies as it is informed by these conceptual and theoretical ideas. I think collaboration and online research is going to be a big part of the future. Even more so, collaboration with students from other countries. Collaboration to create a product directly relates to PBI.

7. How does the design process you learned about in your design studio work and the video digging deeper session support your understanding of the creative process? I think the design studio worked well because every day we asked ourselves the end of day questions to monitor and assess our progress. The questions were helpful because we adjusted our creative process to fulfill the requirements of the project.

8. You learned this week about how to manage, and in some cases create, your online identity. What action steps will you take (are you taking) to manage and further extend your online identity? From an educational perspective, I would like to extend my online identity to my district and throughout the state. I would like to share all the projects I create in the future with a larger community.

9. If you had one more day in the Institute, what would you like to learn more about and why? I would like to learn about Intel Engage. It seemed the best tool for global connections and I would have liked to see an activity where Intel Engage was the centerpiece.