New Dimensions for New Media

In their article "New Media, New Learning", Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis (both from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), propose four "dimensions" to use as lenses with which to view learning in the digital era.  Many of these dimensions resonated for me, both personally and professionally.

Agency - Essentially, new media provides almost endless opportunities for choice.  My selection of the Marlboro College Graduate program is a perfect example. I chose this program for a number of reasons, many of which were made possible by new media. I can adapt the program to my own schedule and the variety of learning methods suits my eclectic learning style.  Most of all, I can embed this program deeply in my own professional practice, which was not an option I would have in many graduate programs.

Divergence - No, not a popular novel (now movie) for teenagers, but rather the way in which new media provides a variety of pathways for agency.  New media has provided me with a number of ways to access information about brain-based learning (particularly as it relates to learning styles) as well as new interactive methods to evaluate an individual learning style.  New media also provides me with a way to explore framing my work with a social justice lens, particularly within an educational environment.

Multimodality - New media presents a variety of opportunities to express ourselves multimodally.  This blog is a great example.  I can express myself in text form, I can link to videos, embed photographs, PDFs - all kind of blocks to use to build understanding.  LMSs have a similar multimodal functionality, with the addition of more ways to evaluate and assess learning and understanding.

Conceptionalism - This was initially a difficult transition point for me, and I see others continuing to struggle to get their head around the new social and technical architecture of new media.  It functions differently from traditional media and information.  I see some teachers struggling to understand the power of digital media that one accesses when they conquer their fear.  I see students struggling to find their balance in a world that is increasingly designed to trigger addictive responses.  I see parents who struggle to adapt their own learning styles and expectations (that developed in a "pre-digital" world) to a new world in which it is a struggle to balance digital media, technology and the physical and tangible connection between people.

These dimensions have given me a framework with which to understand my own understanding of our current world of new media.  I look forward to bringing forward these ideas in my own work with teachers.

Rainy Day Reflection

This feels like it has been a really big thinking week.  We have had some great discussions this week in our forums, and I feel like my thinking is really getting some traction.  I am particularly interested in how the work we have done so far is beginning to dovetail into my own work, especially the work that I do with teachers and technology.  One of my big areas of interest is how to use technology to collaborate asynchronously, and how that asynchronous collaboration supports face-to-face meetings.  I often find myself having conversations with colleagues, both classroom teachers and consultants, about using technology tools to create collaborations that are rich and meaningful, as well as convenient.

I really enjoyed the Google+ Hangout we did on Thursday.  I think the most interesting part for me was thinking about how we all interacted online, in the absence of a lengthy list of norms (something I often include in my trainings).  I thought we all did really well, although some of the long pauses (due I think to the absence of body language, which made it hard to tell when someone was finishing their thought) were just shy of awkward.  It did really help to have someone (in this case, Jane) keeping us all on the same path, with a few minor deviations.  It was a great way for us to have a chance to have a faster-paced, more organic conversation (as opposed to my typed and obsessively pondered forum posts).

I am looking forward to our next face-to-face, as, even with the Google+ Hangout, it feels like a long time between classes.