Journal post #3

I found this weeks readings very informative and thought provoking. I was struck by several things but was most struck by the passage that read, reading and writing have always been multimodal because it requires the interpretation and design of visual marks, space, color, font, style and other modes of representation and communication ( Jewitt pg. 315). I remember reading as a child and how I was able to interpret the words and form visuals. I was also impressed with the passage that read, a multimodal approach allows educators and researchers to attend to all of the resources involved in composing which educators, caregivers, and policy makers must take seriously the ways in which “new media forms have altered how youth socialize and learn” (Ho et al 2008 pg.2).This to me would be an example of the operational dimension of Green's approach to literacy.

The readings defined Digital Literacy as the the extent to which citizens have necessary competence to take advantage of the possibilities given by new technologies in different settings, yet Livingstone writes of a study conducted that shows youth gain most of their competence in using digital technologies outside of the formal institutions of learning (Livingstone 2002, Buckingham 2003). Yes, this study was cited in 2002 and 2003, but if it holds any validity today, it would be very disheartening because it would infer that there needs to be a shift in the educational paradigm that would include competency in the current digital landscape. Educational spaces must become spaces that readily accommodate and encourage literacy experimentation, exploration and discovery (Vasdevan 2009).

The readings about remixing was at first confusing to me, but after reading it over again, with special attention to Case #2, Challenging Prejudices, it became clearer. I found an article written by Lankshear and Knobel entitled Remix: the Art and Craft of Endless Hybridization where it stated that digital remix provides an educatonally useful lens on culture and cultural production as well as on literacy and literacy education. I believe that Case #2 is a prime illustration of a cultural example of Greens approach to literacy. The fact that students from different cultural backgrounds interpreted and shared information from different perspectives was very interesting.  I agree wholeheartedly that education today must make use of the new digital media and incorporate this into the curriculum because to do otherwise would not, in my opinion, teach to a strength already possessed by our youth, that is the ability to utilize, and navigate the ever emerging technological advances of today...