Ethan Smith - Non-Print Media Fall 22

Blogging and podcasting are two prevalent forms of media consumption amongst all ages. This includes those in secondary schools. Though many students indulge in these things regularly, I do not believe that blogging and podcasting are being properly integrated into most curriculums. Why is this? I believe that when paired with the correct assignments as well as a safe classroom environment, blogging and podcasting can act as a productive outlet for students to share their personal opinions and engage in intellectual debates with each other in a low-stress fashion.  In the article Can we blog about this?: Amplifying Student Voice in Secondary Language Arts,  the author talks about students establishing "their own preferences about writing," and I believe that allowing students to write to their strengths is something that needs to happen much more in American public schools. Allowing students to write to their strengths will allow a more efficient production of high-quality wo...

 While videos are now commonly used and accepted within the classroom, video games and virtual reality as learning tools are still very new to the scene. In unit five of this course, my peers and I dove into the use of these new learning tools and how they can be integrated into a learning environment. In the article Fostering Multimodal Analyses of Videogames: Reflective Writing in the Middle School, we saw how literacy and learning practices are represented within video games. For example, when playing a video game the player will be presented with many decisions that they will need to make. These decisions will often need to be made quickly, and each decision made impacts the game in a different way. This requires the player to always be thinking about the future and what path they want to take in their game. Multimodality holds a great presence within video games as well. Aside from dialog between other players or characters in the game, players receive stimuli in the form of v...

 During unit four, my peers and I explored the relationship between non-print media and research. Research was always something that intimidated me in school for I was never truly taught how to conduct it. I do not believe that this unit alongside its readings strengthened my research abilities by much, however, I do believe that they hold some valuable information and ideas.  In the article Through a New Lens: Students as Primary Researchers, we are given a hypothetical of two students writing a report on fad diets. In the hypothetical, one student uses secondary sources, and the second student utilizes primary sources. Through the use of DV (digital video) the second student is able to record and rewatch meetings and interviews that they take part in. These recordings allow the student to absorb much more information from their sources than they would by just taking notes. I believe that students acting as the primary researchers is something that I believe should be encoura...

While social media is a very familiar subject to most students in the United States, integrating it into the classroom is still a very new idea that older educators especially are not yet too comfortable with. I agree with the fact that social media has the ability to be a powerful tool in the education space due to its relatability within the student body, however, I believe that the bad will outweigh the good when integrating social media resulting in an inflated amount of distraction.  During class, we talked about memes and how they could be used as a way to visualize students' thoughts. We compared the content of the article about memes being used to study literature called Memes as Means: Using Popular Culture to Enhance the Study of Literature  and in my opinion, the article discussed the creation of visual aids or representations rather than memes. In my personal experiences, memes have always been humor focused often on the context of the included text within the pict...

Multimodal composition involves compiling a variety of texts in order to communicate an idea to a specific audience. Throughout our unit in class, my peers and I were exposed to a number of strategies to aid us with multimodal composition, however, what stood out to me was the use of drama and stageplay to aid students in learning.  When I watched the documentary  A Touch of Greatness, I saw how well young minds were able to grasp complex topics when presented to them in a way that allowed them to interact and engage in exploration with their peers. Seeing how a class of grade school students was able to portray Julius Ceasar so elegantly proved to me that having the right mindset and attitude will allow any teacher effectively teach their subjects to anyone. Instructional drama is also portrayed in the article A Dramatic Approach to Learning: Teaching in Role. Similar to A Touch of Greatness, this article begins by walking us through an improvised scene consisting of a  ...

 Visual Literacy, if you are not familiar with the term, is defined as the ability to evaluate, apply, or create conceptual visual representations.  This link  will lead you to a video that I thought was very insightful in familiarizing the topic.  During our last meeting, my classmates and I wrapped up our first unit of the semester with Dr. TO. The unit mentioned was comprised of lessons and readings with regard to visual literacy, and I feel as though it was a great unit to start the semester with. When I enrolled in the course Writing for Nonprint Media , I had assumed that just meant that we would be learning how to effectively write for an online audience. I had no idea that the focus of the class would be diving into texts that by my previous definition of texts were not texts at all, but song, dance, art, and speech. Learning about visual literacy solidified my understanding of the course, and has exposed me to new learning strategies that I will not only be ...