1. Why do educators need to be careful about terms like "Digital
Native"?
It may "lead to an understanding of a whole generation as a homogeneous
group." which may end up not being a good thing.
2. What outcome occurs when young people are encourage to transform their
understanding of particular topics by designing a multimodal text?
It's a good thing "supports the notion that digital transformations and
designing can enhance the learning process."
3. You may skip the section titled "Context for the Project".
4. What was the goal of the project in terms of product?
"The goal in terms of product was to track the development of the
participants’ multimodal literacies over a two-year period by comparing two
multimodal products created at the beginning and end of the period ."
5. What was the goal of the project in terms of process?
"The goal in terms of process was to gain a deeper understanding of how
multimodal texts were created, especially when the students were working in
pairs at the computer."
6. How were the participants for the study selected?
"Initially chose to focus on a small group represented by one school.
Then, from this group, we selected the students who fulfilled the following
three criteria: they had worked collaboratively in pairs, they had fully
completed the task, and the video screen data recordings were intact and
complete.
7. Describe the task students engage is for the purpose of this
study?
"The 2004 task required students to evaluate possible solutions in
response to the environmental threats posed by plastic bags; the 2006 task
followed a similar pattern, but with global warming as the topic. Each task was
carefully structured and divided into three phases of development: researching,
designing, and reflecting. Part of the research process required the student to
complete two templates: first, a concept map to organize information acquired
from web sources; and second, a decision-making matrix to facilitate
transformation of the ideas in their concept map into a preferred solution, as
required for their multimodal text."
8. Explain how the researchers compared the student created multimodal
texts?
• the first slide/page in the set (title slide/page)
• the choice and shape or wording in the headings of individual
slides/pages throughout the set (headings)
• the quality of knowledge revealed in each slide/page and the complete set
(knowledge representation)
9. What differences in Jenny's PowerPoint presentation do you find the most
interesting?
Her position on the topic went from directness to
neutral.
10. How is working together on a computer unlike working together using a
pencil and paper?
There is no messy writing to look for techers to grade. Plus this allows use to think less on few things.
11. What was interesting about student's behavior as they collaborated on a
task at the computer?
"and the computer response acts as a cueing device for the users to resume
their onscreen work."
12. What can teachers learn about designing learning activities that
involve the creation of multimodal texts from this study?
"beneficial to develop in students’ time
management skills and a sense of priorities in relation to the task at hand."
Also, that the technology needs to work effectively and efficiently and in a
timely manner" because the temptation to become off-task increases while having
to wait for results or the technology to work properly.
13. According the the conclusion of this study, what do student need to
learn in order to successful complete a multimodal text construction?
It "should
include a range of skills that are required for task completion and include ICT
skills; cognitive skills such as analysis, synthesis, summation, and logical
organization of ideas; and focus and time management skills."
14. Are you surprised by the conclusions drawn in this study?
"Students
still require traditional skills for successful task completion."
It's not
so much that I am surprised by this actual statement, but more surprised that
people didn't believe or assume that traditional skills are not
necessary.
Source:
Thomas, Michael
(2011-04-29). Deconstructing Digital Natives: Young People, Technology and the
New Literacies (p.83-95). Taylor & Francis. Kindle Edition.
