Chvonne's Reading and Thinking Notes 11/18
Acheson, Phoebe, Caroline Carson Barratt, and Ron Balthazor. “Kindle in the Writing Classroom.” Computers and Composition 20 (2013): 293-296. Print.
In this article, the authors assessed students thoughts and experiences with using Kindles in a writing class. They conducted 3 surveys and a focus group to gather information about students experiences with reading, writing, and class discussion using the Kindles. The researchers found that most of the students were comfortable with the technology. In regards to how the access online texts, the researchers found that students use a variety of different devices. They are not tied to one device. However, mod tot them access online texts with laptops. A great number of the students preferred reading in print over reading online. However, where they liked to read varied based on what type of text they were reading. Students did not enjoy reading and writing on the Kindle. The reasons varied from sense of nostalgia/romance to concerns about reading comprehension. Some students enjoyed the convenience of the e-reader. However, students also pointed out the difficulty in creating texts on Kindle, bookmarking, highlighting, and annotating. The author’s conclusion and most significant aspect of the article states, “Our study revealed that while our students are using digital texts, they are not completely ready to leave printed books aside. Instead, they prefer access to materials in multiple formats, choosing e-readers for some cases where its portability is an important attribute and printed texts where the ability to make notes on paper is the aspect of the format that is most important. Perhaps in this result lies a hint of the next age of text in the classroom, the emergence of an ecology of reading devices for various needs at various times.” Prior to this sentence, which is the last sentence in the article, the article seemed to repeat and rehash observations that have already been made about the use of e-readers. I would be interested to see what an ecology of reading would look like and how that can be fostered to better students reading comprehension and communication effectiveness.
Lacasa, Pilar, Laura Mendez, Rut Martinez. “Bringing Commercial Games into the Classroom.” Computers and Composition 25 (2008): 341-358. Print.
I want to begin by saying that I did not enjoy this article. The authors are working towards expanding digital literacies through commercial video games. Using formal and informal learning, The SIMS video game, and other technologies, the authors concluded: “(a) Children
playing commercial games inside and outside classrooms produce different writing texts depending of the context in which they are generated; (b) using video games combined with other digital technologies seems to be an effective way of introducing children to the content and structure of games considered as dynamic systems; (c) using and reflecting on video games in and outside the school, via discussions in digital media such as blogs or pictures, can contribute to the development of digital literacies as a way of using multimodal discourse. The authors begin their study with a discussion of the issues surrounding digital video games. The authors use Bakhtin’s Rabelais and his world and Jenkins’ conceptualization of participatory culture as the framework for their study. They argue In Bakhtin’s work he discusses the role that the carnival places in social and cultural context. He presents the concepts of embodiment, time, and the mask. The authors argue that each of these concepts are applicable to video games and are extended through the concept of participatory culture. Bakhtin’s perspective on game spaces and Jenkins’ participatory culture, as a place that encourages expression, engagement, and collaboration show that virtual reality and games are a prime environment for teaching citizenship education. The authors created video game workshops and set up formal and informal learning activities for students. I understood what they were trying to achieve, but I had trouble making the connections. The students created a digital world and connected this world though pictures and discussions to the real world. The idea behind this was to get them to generate questions and recreate and reconstruct elements of their reality. The students also wrote reflections. From this the researchers made connections between the games and the benefits that could be provide in regards to critical and creative thinking. I felt these connections were tenuous. Mostly because the researchers emphasized commercial games, but these types of connections can be accomplished with any well planned game (even an instructor created one).
In this article, the authors assessed students thoughts and experiences with using Kindles in a writing class. They conducted 3 surveys and a focus group to gather information about students experiences with reading, writing, and class discussion using the Kindles. The researchers found that most of the students were comfortable with the technology. In regards to how the access online texts, the researchers found that students use a variety of different devices. They are not tied to one device. However, mod tot them access online texts with laptops. A great number of the students preferred reading in print over reading online. However, where they liked to read varied based on what type of text they were reading. Students did not enjoy reading and writing on the Kindle. The reasons varied from sense of nostalgia/romance to concerns about reading comprehension. Some students enjoyed the convenience of the e-reader. However, students also pointed out the difficulty in creating texts on Kindle, bookmarking, highlighting, and annotating. The author’s conclusion and most significant aspect of the article states, “Our study revealed that while our students are using digital texts, they are not completely ready to leave printed books aside. Instead, they prefer access to materials in multiple formats, choosing e-readers for some cases where its portability is an important attribute and printed texts where the ability to make notes on paper is the aspect of the format that is most important. Perhaps in this result lies a hint of the next age of text in the classroom, the emergence of an ecology of reading devices for various needs at various times.” Prior to this sentence, which is the last sentence in the article, the article seemed to repeat and rehash observations that have already been made about the use of e-readers. I would be interested to see what an ecology of reading would look like and how that can be fostered to better students reading comprehension and communication effectiveness.
Lacasa, Pilar, Laura Mendez, Rut Martinez. “Bringing Commercial Games into the Classroom.” Computers and Composition 25 (2008): 341-358. Print.
I want to begin by saying that I did not enjoy this article. The authors are working towards expanding digital literacies through commercial video games. Using formal and informal learning, The SIMS video game, and other technologies, the authors concluded: “(a) Children
playing commercial games inside and outside classrooms produce different writing texts depending of the context in which they are generated; (b) using video games combined with other digital technologies seems to be an effective way of introducing children to the content and structure of games considered as dynamic systems; (c) using and reflecting on video games in and outside the school, via discussions in digital media such as blogs or pictures, can contribute to the development of digital literacies as a way of using multimodal discourse. The authors begin their study with a discussion of the issues surrounding digital video games. The authors use Bakhtin’s Rabelais and his world and Jenkins’ conceptualization of participatory culture as the framework for their study. They argue In Bakhtin’s work he discusses the role that the carnival places in social and cultural context. He presents the concepts of embodiment, time, and the mask. The authors argue that each of these concepts are applicable to video games and are extended through the concept of participatory culture. Bakhtin’s perspective on game spaces and Jenkins’ participatory culture, as a place that encourages expression, engagement, and collaboration show that virtual reality and games are a prime environment for teaching citizenship education. The authors created video game workshops and set up formal and informal learning activities for students. I understood what they were trying to achieve, but I had trouble making the connections. The students created a digital world and connected this world though pictures and discussions to the real world. The idea behind this was to get them to generate questions and recreate and reconstruct elements of their reality. The students also wrote reflections. From this the researchers made connections between the games and the benefits that could be provide in regards to critical and creative thinking. I felt these connections were tenuous. Mostly because the researchers emphasized commercial games, but these types of connections can be accomplished with any well planned game (even an instructor created one).
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