Summary:
Developing an awareness within students regarding their global and local citizenship is a belief that flows throughout this article. The authors explore and provide a detailed example for using Wikispaces within the classroom for literacy development. It stems from information that was discussed in the article This We Believe: Keys to Educating Young Adolescents, National Middle School Association (2010) which recommended using digital tools to “explore communicate and collaborate with the world” (p.12). The notion of Collaborative literacy (Wood, Roser, & Martinez, 2001) is a strong aspect of the learning experiences that were explored. In Collaborative literacy students engage in group reading and writing activities to mull over the themes of working together and getting along. Lessons that were learned by the characters were then transplanted and discussed within the context of the students’ lives at home, school and in the community.
The principal research question is to investigate and discuss the possibilities for using online book clubs (via Wikispaces) to create an area for students to collaborate and share their literacy experiences. Wiki’s are an excellent tool to do this because within each wiki a multitude of information is accessible through links. This enables students to discover in a hands on approach globally connected information.
In order to create the “club” students were sorted into groups based on self-selection of particular books. (All books being based on the theme of cooperation) Each student created notes about the book and then met to discuss their comments with group members. Next the students published the thoughts of their group on a class wiki page that also contained information about the book and the group members.
After each group completed their posting, they surfed the wiki’s of their classmates. Students then made connections between different stories and real world occurrences through reading the comments made by their classmates and checking out the links. Finally, groups gathered again to discuss how their particular wiki connected to those of the other groups. This reinforced the cooperation theme and also provided insight as to how that theme relates to: the classroom, home, community, world and each individual. Provided in the article were various wiki screenshots to aid the readers in visualizing digital collaborative literacy.
This short article demonstrated the possibilities for educators to carry out traditional literacy development activities in the current digitized generation Y. Showing findings was not exactly the purpose of this article. Its purpose was to demonstrate how to combine collaborative literacy and technology while maintaining the theme of cooperation. This is an extremely relevant theme that is likely to expand in the world of education as technologies and global communication becomes more prevalent in our system.
The authors conclude by explaining that collaborative literacy is unique due to its strong emphasis on getting along and working together. Their article provided a detailed example of how to digitize the long-established book club model for literacy development. The focus on cooperation in collaborative literacy arms the students with a skill set appropriate for their generation of rapid global connectivity.
Critique:
As mentioned above the purpose of this article was to provide educators an example of how to implement the idea of collaborative literacy in modern times. Generation Y students experience great influences on their literary skills from their daily digital interactions. I believe the examples in the article to be reliable sources of information. However, this is likely due to the fact that this particular cooperative, globally aware mindset coincides with my teaching philosophy. I think this article would have stronger validity if it were to actually describe in detail a specific classroom with comprehensive data to support the idea and methods discussed.
In The next 25 years?: future scenarios and future directions for education and technology, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (2010) the impact education through technology could have on our future societies was discussed. The point was made that in the near future we must reevaluate our ultimate goal of education for society. Future economic, environmental and social inequalities around the world in combination with rapid expansion of information sharing and communication, call for an emphasis on global citizenship in our education system. This discussion on the future of education and technology provides support for the idea of digital collaborative literacy.
I finish this article feeling both motivated and inspired to attempt to create my own version of the wiki book club example. As already stated, fostering positive and strong global and local citizenship is an aspect of teaching that I hold in high regard. I’m nearing the end of a challenging year of teaching. Using a variety of team building methods to bring together students has been a large part of my daily teaching endeavours. Cooperation is surely the backbone of a productive learning environment in any K-12 school. I feel extremely enlightened at the notion of students cooperating to discuss cooperation. All the while, developing literacy skills in a collaborative environment that rings true to their tech savvy generation.
As soon as I can peel myself away from the endless Discussion Board threads, I plan to rack up a hearty Amazon order consisting of the books recommended in the article containing the theme of cooperation. As a northern teacher, in an isolated hamlet, I am aware of the importance of community as are other members of my environment. I see this collaborative literacy example very fitting to my classroom and plan to use this as my beginning unit for the coming school year.
References:
Facer, K. & Sanford, R. (2010). The next 25 years?: future scenarios and future directions for education and technology. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning , 26, 74-93.
Lounsbury, J. (2010). This We Believe: Keys to Educating Young Adolescents. Middle School Journal.
Wood, K., Hathaway, J., & Kissel, B. (2010). Digital Collaborative Literacy: Using Wikis to Promote Social Learning and Literacy Development. Middle School Journal. 41(5), 58-64.
