This is my video essay for my Education 403 Class on Pragmatics of Teaching,
10/17/2011
This World is Configurable: Knowing is Grasping
This is a video essay for my Education 401: Issues in Learning and Teaching class.
It's on our "Knowing" module.
It's on our "Knowing" module.
On “Teaching Ethical Know-How in New Literacy Spaces”; Jargon and Substance
EDUC 404 – Individual Group Reflection Paper
Philip Bird
Prepared for Dr. David Watt
Our inquiry group has decided to focus on the use of social networks within school, especially when pertaining to literacy. Due to the relatively new nature of the social network, both as blossoming idea and also as it has infiltrated and embedded itself into the culture of youth (and broader culture for that matter), our group has generally found that much of the literature that describes this phenomenon is simply trying to frame it in older, perhaps cultural, ideas about literacy.
The reading used in my inquiry focus on a paper by Luce-Kapler, Sumara, and Iftody, “Teaching Ethical Know-How in New Literacy Spaces” (2009). After reading this paper, I was initially struck by the defensiveness of the writers towards this new social vehicle. As I expressed in my powerpoint, they take an initial stance of “greatest concern... the propensity with which individual stories can be appropriated and disseminated without regard for the individuals who exist as subject of those stories.” To parse this language – they are concerned with individual stories become social gossip writ large, and available to all. This is a genuine, legitimate and valid concern, but it sets the tone of the paper as generally alarmist, without a substantial solution to a new media reality that new teachers, and their students deal with on a day to day basis. Our group also discussed the example in the paper of the “Star Wars Kid,” (See after this paragraph) as well as cutting analysis from Penny Arcade in the “John Gabriel's Greater Internet F*****d Theory” (Krahulik and Holkins, 2004). We finished up with a discussion on how this paper applies to to the story of Jamey Rodemeyer, a victim of cyberbullying, and his tragic death (Dangerous Minds, 2011).
Star Wars Kid:
Our discussion found that popular culture is moving at a pace that the educational system is struggling to keep up to. We found that the reading was inadequate in fully comprehending the nature of an “Ethical Know-How,” in social networks and new media – in fact it only address surface concerns similar to the emergence of any new media – such as concerns with televisions and children in the 60s. The discussion group suggested that a class exploration and discussion of online etiquette and a discussion on what is appropriate or not would fathoms deeper and furlongs further in addressing “Ethical Know-How,” especially in context to cyber-bullying or facebook-drama.
What I found valuable from the reading was the attempt to begin how to set up an ethical system for online behaviour. It asks valuable questions, such as how do we protect and guide our students in this new field of literacy and culture? It suggests an empathetic approach,
(Luce-Kapler, Sumara, & Iftody, 2009)
While this is start, I found that the paper did not go beyond simple empathy, and its relation to Buddhism. The authors later begin a discussion of close reading, which we felt completely sidestepped the original topic. However, they do highlight a serious concern facing students today. For example, in the aforementioned case of Jamey Rodemeyer, his suicide was prompted by cyber-bullying after he came out publicly about his homosexuality on YouTube, in the form of an “It gets better” video – part of an online campaign against GLBT bullying in high schools.
This reading provided great fodder for questions, such as: Why does the article only employ one kind of ethics (namely an Buddhist empathetic approach)? How do you articulate and apply such ethics to online behaviour? Further, how do you teach this to students? Can you give examples? How do you defuse online drama as it bleeds into the classroom? How separate should you as a teacher be to the students? Do you “friend” them on facebook? What are the other uses of social networks? What about the issues of anonymity, pseudonymity, and virtual selves? What about the discussion on privacy, and digital permanence. Or what about digital surveillance and the use of facebook to scout potential employees by employers? We found that the surface was barely scratched, and we were only left with jargon, and little substance on a question that will burn in the minds of teachers in today's digital literacy.
Reference List:
Luce-Kapler, R., Sumara, D. & Iftody, T. (2010). Teaching ethical know-how in new literary spaces. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(7), 536–541.
Star Wars Kid. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPPj6viIBmU
Krahulik, M., & Holkins J. (2004, March 19). Green Blackboards (And Other Anomalies). Penny Arcade. Retrieved from: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/3/19/
Dangerous Minds ( 2011, September 20). Another Heartbreaking Gay Teen Suicide. Dangerous Minds. Retrieved from: http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/another_heartbreaking_gay_teen_suicide/
Philip Bird
Prepared for Dr. David Watt
Our inquiry group has decided to focus on the use of social networks within school, especially when pertaining to literacy. Due to the relatively new nature of the social network, both as blossoming idea and also as it has infiltrated and embedded itself into the culture of youth (and broader culture for that matter), our group has generally found that much of the literature that describes this phenomenon is simply trying to frame it in older, perhaps cultural, ideas about literacy.
The reading used in my inquiry focus on a paper by Luce-Kapler, Sumara, and Iftody, “Teaching Ethical Know-How in New Literacy Spaces” (2009). After reading this paper, I was initially struck by the defensiveness of the writers towards this new social vehicle. As I expressed in my powerpoint, they take an initial stance of “greatest concern... the propensity with which individual stories can be appropriated and disseminated without regard for the individuals who exist as subject of those stories.” To parse this language – they are concerned with individual stories become social gossip writ large, and available to all. This is a genuine, legitimate and valid concern, but it sets the tone of the paper as generally alarmist, without a substantial solution to a new media reality that new teachers, and their students deal with on a day to day basis. Our group also discussed the example in the paper of the “Star Wars Kid,” (See after this paragraph) as well as cutting analysis from Penny Arcade in the “John Gabriel's Greater Internet F*****d Theory” (Krahulik and Holkins, 2004). We finished up with a discussion on how this paper applies to to the story of Jamey Rodemeyer, a victim of cyberbullying, and his tragic death (Dangerous Minds, 2011).
Star Wars Kid:
Our discussion found that popular culture is moving at a pace that the educational system is struggling to keep up to. We found that the reading was inadequate in fully comprehending the nature of an “Ethical Know-How,” in social networks and new media – in fact it only address surface concerns similar to the emergence of any new media – such as concerns with televisions and children in the 60s. The discussion group suggested that a class exploration and discussion of online etiquette and a discussion on what is appropriate or not would fathoms deeper and furlongs further in addressing “Ethical Know-How,” especially in context to cyber-bullying or facebook-drama.
What I found valuable from the reading was the attempt to begin how to set up an ethical system for online behaviour. It asks valuable questions, such as how do we protect and guide our students in this new field of literacy and culture? It suggests an empathetic approach,
“ethics emerge from our empathetic identification with others... a necessary condition for developing an adaptive and responsive (i.e., complicitous) sense of personal consciousness or identity. Deep empathizing requires a dissolving of one's own ego boundaries, understanding that to be more fully oneself, one needs to imagine the mind of another”
(Luce-Kapler, Sumara, & Iftody, 2009)
While this is start, I found that the paper did not go beyond simple empathy, and its relation to Buddhism. The authors later begin a discussion of close reading, which we felt completely sidestepped the original topic. However, they do highlight a serious concern facing students today. For example, in the aforementioned case of Jamey Rodemeyer, his suicide was prompted by cyber-bullying after he came out publicly about his homosexuality on YouTube, in the form of an “It gets better” video – part of an online campaign against GLBT bullying in high schools.
This reading provided great fodder for questions, such as: Why does the article only employ one kind of ethics (namely an Buddhist empathetic approach)? How do you articulate and apply such ethics to online behaviour? Further, how do you teach this to students? Can you give examples? How do you defuse online drama as it bleeds into the classroom? How separate should you as a teacher be to the students? Do you “friend” them on facebook? What are the other uses of social networks? What about the issues of anonymity, pseudonymity, and virtual selves? What about the discussion on privacy, and digital permanence. Or what about digital surveillance and the use of facebook to scout potential employees by employers? We found that the surface was barely scratched, and we were only left with jargon, and little substance on a question that will burn in the minds of teachers in today's digital literacy.
Reference List:
Luce-Kapler, R., Sumara, D. & Iftody, T. (2010). Teaching ethical know-how in new literary spaces. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(7), 536–541.
Star Wars Kid. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPPj6viIBmU
Krahulik, M., & Holkins J. (2004, March 19). Green Blackboards (And Other Anomalies). Penny Arcade. Retrieved from: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/3/19/
Dangerous Minds ( 2011, September 20). Another Heartbreaking Gay Teen Suicide. Dangerous Minds. Retrieved from: http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/another_heartbreaking_gay_teen_suicide/
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