Writing in a Digital AgeComposing with Media in the Classroom

Joe Bellino, Maryland Writing Project

Betty Collum, Mississippi State University Writing/Thinking Project

Kevin Hodgson, Western Massachusetts Writing Project

Peter Kittle, Northern California Writing Project

Today’s Presentation• Introductions by Kevin• Writing into the Workshop – What story would you tell?• Case Study One: Collaboration with Audio I (Connecting with ELL

students) -- Joe• Case Study Two: Collaboration with Audio II (Using Voice for

Publication) – Betty• Implications for classroom and Writing Project site and quick

share at tables• Break• Case Study Three: Student Research with Video (Multimodal

Composition at the College Level) -- Peter• Case Study Four: Fostering Professional Learning Communities

with Video (Web 2.0 Storytelling) -- Kevin• Implications for classroom and Writing Project site• Final Reflections – What are you doing at your site to integrate

technology/media into offerings for teachers?

Writing in a Digital Age

According to a recent study from the Pew Internet & American Life project (Lenhardt & Madden, 2005), more than one-half of all teens have created media content, and roughly one third of teens who use the Internet have shared content they produced.

Content Creation by Teens•57% of online teens have created some kind of content online, which includes

PhotosVideoWriting, storiesArtworkSongs, music

•19% have a blog•38% read the blogs of others•76% of social network-using teens leave comments on the blogs of friends•Self-expression and feedback

From Pew Internet and American Life Project -- http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/105/presentation_display.asp

What Do We Mean By “Media”?

• Writing• Photos• Video• Audio• Maps• Chat• Twitter• Games• ?

And now … the “mash up” of various media is creating new platforms of expression.

For example:

Mashing up Google Maps with narrative stories of place and then embedding the writing and photographs right into the map itself.

Remixing Video content – adding layers of text and audio to video.

Piecing together bits of audio from various sources to create a hybrid of voices, sounds and music.

Media-rich Culture

From: Kaiser Family Foundation, Generation M, March 2005

Making Media Their Own

19% of all online teens say they remix content they find online into their own artistic creations

35% of teen bloggers remix content

From Pew Internet and American Life Project -- http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/105/presentation_display.asp

Some Aspects of the New “Participatory Media” Culture

• Play — the capacity to experiment with one’s surroundings• Appropriation — the ability to sample and remix media content• Multi-tasking — the ability to scan one’s environment and shift

focus as needed• Collective Intelligence — the ability to pool knowledge with others

toward a common goal• Transmedia Navigation — the ability to follow the flow of stories

and information across multiple modalities• Networking — the ability to search for, synthesize, and disseminate

information• Negotiation — the ability to travel across diverse communities,

discerning and respecting multiple perspectives, and grasping and following alternative norms.

--From Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century -- by Henry Jenkins, etc.http://www.digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF

A media literate individual is able to produce, create and successfully communicate information in all its forms, not just print.

-- David Considinehttp://www.ced.appstate.edu/departments/ci/programs/edmedia/medialit/article.html#What%20is%20Media%20Literacy

Writing into the Workshop