Thoughts on digital media

New Media Exemplar Library
On this site, I watched the videos of ‘TAT’s cru’ from the newmedialiteracies.org web site and I saw a perspective on media and art that I had failed to appreciate in the past. Graphitti to me has always meant vandalism and therefore carried a negative connotation. The one man in the ‘crew’ said that others have seen them that way and he and the others he works with have had to explain that they don’t do this criminally, though that may be the nature of what they were doing when they were younger spraying their art on subway trains. Now, they are courted by businesses and other organizations both locally and internationally to paint big murals which surprised me and showed to me that many more others are viewing media expressions like this as true art. Proof that its true art to me although I admit I have a novice’s point-of-view, was the explanation the guys in the group gave regarding the quality and different types of spray paint cans which they use, how one from Germany is good in one situation and another from Spain is better in other ways. They also discussed the different types of nozzles on the spray cans and how that affected their work. Further evidence of this being a legitimate expression of art was the works themselves which were shown throughout the video clips and how each artist applied just enough paint and with a certain technique that you understood the control which was required. In other words, not just anyone I think could walk up off the street and produce the kind of quality these guys did with this media. They also talked about the various ways one could write letters and how each of these had its own label, such as hand style, throw-up (or at least that’s what I think the guy said), wild style, and simple. This was really a good insight into a world which I knew little about.

Literacy, ELL, and Digital Storytelling21st Century Learning in Action, Life Academy, Oakland
This video to me was a reaffirmation of the things we were learned in ‘teacher school’ about learning styles and multiple intelligences. It makes sense that you should give students opportunities for different forms of expression as they themselves may communicate and learn better in a certain way or ways. Also, it isn’t just a few students who have a particular learning style or intelligence as there are others like them and they appreciate material being presented in a variety of ways as well. The video stated at one point that digital storytelling was especially beneficial to ELL learners as it helped them with literacy skills in many ways. I imagine that is the case as people in that situation may have little or no verbal or written skills for the new language they’re learning and new media with their user-friendly nature make expression possible for these individuals. I wonder though, how are modern media technologies being used to teach traditional literacy skills such as reading and writing? These certainly shouldn’t be overlooked as they are essential skills for everyone. The students in the class from this video certainly seemed more engaged than those who sit through traditional lectures or who are filling out worksheets. Use of emerging technology should be encouraged since it does make the material covered seemingly come to life for many of the learners in a classroom. It’s no longer a static display or a bunch of spoken words which fail to cause one’s brain to conceptualize what’s being communicated instead it’s in front of your eyes or it’s dynamically introduced to your ears and you really learn it. I do have to agree with some of the critics at my school to the extent though that these things are fine and good but, you have to have the technology or the means to get the technology in the first place and with many states Illinois included, that isn’t as easy to do as it once was or will be in the future. There are free or cheap options and we could find alternative sources of funding such as grants too.

Digital Storytelling web site
This again confirms the usefulness of media in conveying the meaning of material one wants students to learn. The media presented here would also be powerful in their effect of producing confidence in those who use it and that would be an awesome additional benefit of using things like digital storytelling. Looking at this web site, I think how great it would be for the staff at my school to use for these for the above reasons. It has just about everything I think someone would want to and need to know about using these technologies. I have to admit though, I was a little intimidated by all the copyright information you have to consider first before making anything. I thought at one point that I might want to send out the link for this web site in an ‘all staff’ email at my school. I think a few would be bold enough to at least check it out and maybe a few of those would look into it further and possibly apply the ideas presented. However, I also hear those critics again saying it would be too difficult to teach the students some of these things and that they already don’t have enough time in the year to get their required material covered in the first place. To be honest, I understand what they’re saying to a point, but I think learning to utilize this kind of media is important enough that it merits the effort. It would be a step in preparing students for the world they will be encountering, not the one of our youth.