9 TOOLS TO CREATE E-MAGAZINES AND NEWSPAPERS FOR YOUR CLASS

Med Kharbach: “So you want to create a digital magazine for your students but still did not find the right web tools to do so. Well now you can .  we have just finished reviewing some great web services that you can use with your students to create and publish highly customizable magazines and newspapers  for  your class.

I am pretty sure as you introduce the idea to your students everyone will want to have a say in their next e-magazine. There is nothing much more rewarding to students then to have a proof of their hard work recognized in a publication of some sort. Educational Technology and Mobile Learning has already published 7 Must Have Tools to Publish Students Work but today we are updating this list to include  new tools.

Most of the tools cited here are easy to use and have user friendly interface and they will let you create your own e-magazine or newspaper in few simple steps. Yet I would recommend your discretion as you use them with your students.”

Please click here to find the tools mentioned.

Reference:

Kharbach, M. (2012). Eduactional Technology and Mobile Learning. Retrieved on December 2, 2012 from http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/11/9-tools-to-create-e-magazines-and.html

Glossary of Multimodal Terms

MODE:

“This term refers to a set of socially and culturally shaped resources for making meaning. Mode classifies a ‘channel’ of representation or communication for which previously no overarching name had been proposed (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2001). Examples of modes include writing and image on the page, extending to moving image and sound on the screen, and speech, gesture, gaze and posture in embodied interaction. It is not that other modes of communication had not been formerly recognized and studied; for example, extensive research and theorization has been undertaken into gesture (e.g. McNeill, 1992). Embracing a variety of communicational means as worthy of investigation constitutes a challenge to the prior predominance of spoken and written ‘language’ in academic work, and opens up possibilities for recognizing, analyzing and theorizing the variety of ways in which people make meaning, and how those meanings are multimodally interrelated. Modes are not autonomous and fixed, but, created through social processes, are fluid and subject to change. For example, the words ‘wicked’ and ‘cool’ have recently taken on fresh meaning. Nor are modes universal, but are particular to a community where there is a shared understanding of their semiotic characteristics. Making marks in the sand as they recounted stories was a mode for the Walbiri women of central Australia (Munn, 1973) that is not available in other communities.”

Reference:

Mavers, D. & Gibson, W. (2012). National Centre for Research Methods. Retrieved on November 26, 2012 from http://multimodalityglossary.wordpress.com/mode-2/

Jewitt, C. (2009). The Routledge handbook of multimodal analysis. London: Routledge

Kress, G. (2010). Multimodality: A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. London: Routledge

Please refer to the LINK for all terms of multimodality.

Digital Writing Month: A Code-Poem Experiment

A MUST HAVE POSTER ABOUT 21ST CENTURY LEARNING SKILLS

Reference:

Kharbach, M. (2012). A must have poster about 21st century skills. Retrieved November, 23, 2012 from http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/11/a-must-have-poster-about-21st-century.html

Hull, G., & Nelson, M. (2005). Locating the semiotic power of multimodality

‘Locating the Semiotic Power of Multimodality’ by G. Hull & M. Nelson

As a result of the Change in Semiotic System landscape , their goal is:

To offer framework for analyzing multimodal texts

To specify the qualities and characteristics of multimodal text design

To answer: How to account for or where to locate the power of the multimodal text?

Analyzing digital storytelling:

• Hull and Nelson set out to analyze an exemplar digital story to achieve their goal of accounting for and locating  the power of multimodal texts
• Digital story-telling is a form of multimedia composition that includes combining images, video segments, background music, and voice-voice over narrative to create digitized movies
• DUSTY (Digital Underground Storytelling for You(th)

Why digital storytelling?

• Besides being multimodal, digital storytelling is:
• Popular
• Personal
• Provocative (rigorous, sophisticated entities working on many different semiotic levels)
• Data-collection/ Archival
• Broad range of Genres

Life-N-Rhyme’ by Randy

• An exemplar in the genre of digital storytelling accessible at http:// www.oaklanddusty.org/videos.php.  (The site is temporarily down.  
• Please watch the video here:

• Economical design
• Orchestration
• Braiding (blending of language, images, and music)
• Hull and Nelson focused primarily on the images and words. They developed a transcription format to analyze the digital story.

Transcription Format

Hull and Nelson examined to see whether an image, when paired with music , functioned as an icon, index or symbol (Hull & Nelson, 2005)

Narrative Theory Used for Analysis

Labov offered much in the field of narrative theory

Hull and Nelson used Labov’s notion of the semantic  and structural roles of orientation, abstract, and coda in narratives to analyze the digital story ‘Life-N-Rhyme’(Hull and Nelson 2005)

Sections of ‘Life-N-Rhyme’

•  Title
• Startling introduction
• Builds expectations
• Intro – The first 13 seconds
• Serve purpose of orientation section
• Presentation of possible thesis
• Abstract in regards to the piece as a whole

Conclusions:

• Digital stories create a different meaning when all the modes are experienced together, transcending what could be accomplished if only one mode was used separately
• Multimodal composing should be included as a form of ‘writing’ that is as formidable as an essay is.
• There are technological, economic, and pedagogic challenges  that limit the incorporation of digital multimodality in the classroom

Discussion Questions

• Do you agree that multimodal forms, such as digital storytelling, should be taken as seriously as writing an essay? Why or why not?
• Have you used multimodal forms in your classrooms to present information?  What was the response and/or the effect from your students?
• Do you think allowing ELL students to create a multimodal presentations would benefit their L2 acquisition?
• What would the challenges be to incorporating digital multimodal forms in your classrooms? What are some possible solutions to the challenges that you might face in trying to use multimodal forms?

Reference

Hull, G., & Nelson, M. (2005). Locating the semiotic power of multimodality. Written Communication, 22(2), 224-261.

Classroom Newspaper Google Docs Style

Jeff Utecht says: “3rd Grade Teacher, Laura Chesebro here at ISB continues to impress me with her innovative use of technology with kids. First there is her class website/blog where she engages both parents and students. Then there is the fact all her students are blogging themselves. Another example of her innovation was the weather unit they did earlier this year where she used her Facebook and Twitter Network to gather temperatures around the world for the kids to analyze and use”

Click here for details.

Reference:

Utecht, J. (2012). The thinking stick. Retrieved November 13, 2012 from http://www.thethinkingstick.com/the-classroom-newspaper-google-docs-style/

 Please also check the website for: 

81 WAYS TEACHERS CAN USE GOOGLE FORMS WITH THEIR STUDENTS  (Click HERE)

Multimodal Literacies in the Secondary Classroom

“Sewell and Denton (2011) decided to incorporate multimodal instruction on a regular basis in their 6th and 7th grade English classrooms in Kansas.” Please read the details here

A Podcast Project

Smythe and Neufeld (2010), in an effort to investigate potential digital literacy interventions, conducted a podcast project with thier ELL students in the Dalare Community School in Canada. The podcast project was  “part of a larger three-year study concerned with ELLs uneven academic progress, especially in the areas of reading and writing” (Smythe & Neufeld, 2010, p. 489).

Please click here for the details.

Guiding Questions from Multimodality, Literacy, and Technology in a Refugee Youth Center:

How to assess multimodal composing?

Our friend, Jin, reminded us of an important concern about multimodal practices in schools: How can teachers assess multimodal writing or composing? This is also a big concern in multimodal research. Here are some solutions for the issue:

MODE is a node of the National Centre for Research Methods and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. Based at the Institute of Education, University of London, they deliver an innovative programme of research and training on multimodality and digital data and environments.

Please click here to learn about their training, research, and resources on how to assess multimodal data. Their page will be useful not only for classroom teachers but also for researchers who are interested in multiliteracies or multimodality.

For example, click here for “multimodal approaches to researching social media” 

“Placing a historic text at the centre of the curriculum through blogging…” by Martin Waller

“I have always been fascinated by the story of ‘From the Earth to the Moon’ by Jules Verne as it was so ahead of its time. Members of an elite club building a projectile which will help them to travel to the moon – in the 19th Century.

In Class 5, we have been learning about ‘Earth and beyond…’ in science and I have been thinking about ways in which I can use this text with my Year 5s. It was with great delight that I found out today that the book is in the public domain and can be reproduced online. I also like the idea of combining a historic piece of literature with a new literacy platform… blogging. I was originally going to link this through the class blog but instead have decided to create a seperate blog at:

http://earthtothemoon.htrblogs.net

The site is very sparce at the moment but this is so I can keep aspects of the plot (and project) secret. I’ve also renamed the Baltimore Gun Club to the Explorers Club to suit the age range of the class I teach.

The first blog post is the invitation at the start of the book given by Impey Barbicane which I think is an excellent stimulus for the start of the project. The children are now invited to discuss the invitation through the comments section. The actual address will be posted in a couple of days and the children can also create their own blog posts linked to our work across the curriculum, as well as their own independent learning linked to space.

I think it’s going to be an exciting ‘extra’ project that the children can take part in, which ties both traditional and new literacies together in an engaging way.

I would be thrilled to hear your thoughs about this project and how you think it could develop.”

Reference: Changing horizons: Reflecting on literacy, teaching, technology and life…(2012). Retrieved from http://changinghorizons.net/

Note:  Also click here to see the”Class 5 Blog” by Martin Waller

“Critical Digital Literacies as Social Practice” edited by JuliAnna Avila and Jessica Zacher Pandya

“The contributors to this book:
examine the simultaneous implementation of critical and digital literacies and explore ramifications for the development and assessment of critical digital literacies (CDL) curricula across educational contexts. [Authors] ask: How has the increasing ubiquity of digital literacies in and out of school affected our definitions of critical literacies? And how have our ever-changing perceptions of critical literacies affected how we define, teach, and engage in digital literacies? We believe that there is crucial work to be done at these intersections, work that builds upon the extensive bodies of critical and digital literacies research.

Some issues and questions that chapters address are:
1. What is negotiated, gained, or lost in the process of combining the critical and the digital?
2. Where is the power located and who is silenced, and how in CDL approaches?
3. Can CDL practices disrupt classroom routines in constructive and engaging ways?
4. How has the divide between audience and participant, and the notion of collective intelligence, been challenged and redefined by CDL?
5. How do CDL practices impact youths identity constructions? The essays in this volume present a balance between current issues and promising future opportunities and directions. (from the back cover blurb).”

Reference: Colin & Michele. (October, 27, 2012). Everyday Literacies. Retrieved from http://everydayliteracies.blogspot.com/2012/10/new-book-in-our-series-critical-digital.html