As an educator, I have known that change in literacy pedagogy is imminent, inevitable, and necessary. Like the ancient Greeks at the advent of writing, though, I have feared this change meant the end of civilization as we know it.
What I took from these assigned chapters is that change is all of the above, except the end of civilization as we know it. I now see the potential for empowerment of the student, teacher, and society in the changes proposed by Cope and Kalantzis. Two key concepts common throughout these chapters are design and, of course, multi-modality or multi-literacies. An example of multi-modality in action is that figure 1.1 on page 26 helped me understand the inter-related and dynamic nature of design elements more clearly than printed words did. The concept of multi-modal approaches to learning or designing makes absolute sense, whereas we use all of our senses to make meaning. As the authors say, "Literacy is just one aspect of linguistic meaning" (217).
What do you think of the authors' idea of technology as the "demise of spatiality"? I suppose I have known that on an intuitive level, but I found it intriguing to contemplate.
2 comments:
Judy-
Did you read the authors as arguing against the importance of space in our off-line worlds or as an element of arrangement? I can totally get on board with the idea that physical space is less of an issue than it once was (TV let me attend the Democratic National Convetion last week, travel to Greece with the Food Channel, etc.) but I am not sure how I feel about the debate over the shift from linear and temporal arrangement to spatial arrangements. I sort of agree with Wysocki's argument (from this week) that multiple media contain the possibility for many possible arrangements - spatial and temporal.
I do agree there is lots of change on the horizon for educators and students. One thing that is exciting - and frustrating - about new media and multimedia is the pace at which it changes. No time to get bored unfortunately means less time to get "up to speed".
Hi Judy,
In response to your question, well...I haven't decided what I think about it. It occurred to me as I was reading your post that multimodality doesn't always allow you to use all your senses. For example, there's no way to incorporate smell into a Flash video (yet), but smell is the most powerful trigger of human memories. I can see and hear my friend Amanda in Louisiana, but it's hard to feel "close" to someone when you can't give them a hug. I wonder what the implications of multimodality are for the body (and the mind/body division) when we say spatiality is dying out; aren't we really talking just talking about the space between eyes and ears?
That's my thought for the day. See you this afternoon.
Cheers,
Jen
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