Original Post:

Blog #2: History and Context of Distributed and Open Learning

As I read through the readings this week, I found the journal article Teaching Online-A Guide to Theory, Research and Practice by C.H. Major, to be quite interesting. I enjoyed learning about the open and distributed courses that universities have been offering online and finding out how they were established and administered. It was fascinating to find out just how many different courses and different topics were able to be taught online. 

I noticed the overarching theme with all of the online courses that were described in the reading was that they all contained the use of multimodal materials like visual, audio, blogging, or text. During a previous course that I took this summer, called Literacy in the Digital Age, we discussed that to be literate in the 21st century, you need more than the basic literacy skills of reading, writing, and memorizing. Teachers need to be using teaching methods that enhance the students’ 21st century skills of innovation, critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, and communication in order for students to be literate in the digital age. The opportunity for students to critically engage with multimodal materials, evaluate choices, problem solve, and make informed decisions is crucial for students’ literacy in the 21st century, and teachers can facilitate these skills through the use of multimodal technologies and materials. The online courses described in the reading fully facilitate 21st century skills by using multimodal technologies like video, blogging, and audio in all aspects of the course. I also noticed that a majority of the courses mentioned in the reading were largely based on both online communication and creating an online community, which facilitate the 21st century skill of communication.

As a future teacher, I really appreciated this reading because it showed me that by using various open and distributed learning methods and environments, I could teach my students to be 21st century learners and thinkers. The most interesting course that I read about was Open Course and Community in Digital Storytelling. In the course’s synopsis, the professor mentions using “the web as a genre of storytelling”, and that throughout the course they “explore concepts of storytelling via visual, design, audio, web and video” (Major, 2015). I would love to use both of these methods in my own classroom to teach storytelling and facilitate 21st century literacy skills.

 

I found this great book by Mark Gura, Teaching Literacy in the Digital Age : Inspiration for All Levels and Literacies, that supports teaching literacy and storytelling in the 21st century. The chapter Reinforcing Reading and Writing with Video and Audio specifically presents many suggestions on how to utilize multimodal technology to teach English.

Gura, M. (2014). Teaching literacy in the digital age : Inspiration         

       for all levels and literacies. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca

Visual, Design, Audio, Web and Video

In the journal article Teaching Online-A Guide to Theory, Research and Practice by C.H. Major, there is a synopsis for a course taught by Alan Levine called Open Course and Community in Digital Storytelling. In this synopsis, Levine mentions that throughout the course they “explore concepts of storytelling via visual, design, audio, web and video”. Earlier in my blog post, I mentioned that I would love to use these methods to teach storytelling in my classroom and facilitate 21st century literacy skills in my students. Many activities and assignments can be created that can utilize all of these technologies simultaneously to promote 21st century thinking. As a teacher, it is important to create projects and assignments that are multimodal, and include various different ways of thinking, in order to provide students with ample opportunities to succeed. Creating open assignments that allow students to be creative, embrace technology, and think critically will produce students with 21st century skills (Gura, 2014). 

Some of my favourite recommendations for teaching literacy through the use of visuals, design, audio, web and video taken from the book Teaching literacy in the digital age : Inspiration for all levels and literacies are:

1. Creating Student Book Trailers

After having the class read a book or short-story, have students film their own book trailers using iMovie, Moviemaker, or Animoto. These trailers can range from 30 seconds to 2 minutes, and students can use storyboards to design the beginning, middle, and end of their trailers. This assignment teaches storytelling in a creative way that allows students to learn how to tell a story in under 2 minutes. Creating a book trailer video uses visual elements in filming and editing the video, design elements in designing the trailer, audio elements with the use of music, sound effects, or voice overs, and web elements in researching what is needed to make a trailer. 

2. 20-Shot Short Stories 

After the class read a short story, have them construct a short video adaptation of the short story. The video has to be done in 20 shots and be between 2 and 5 minutes long. Prior to filming the video, present the students with storyboards with 20 empty spaces for them to plan and fill in what will happen in each film shot. Assignments like this are innovative and creative ways for students to look at text and writing in a different way, giving them a creative outlet to express themselves in storytelling in ways other than writing. This assignment also involves visual, design, audio, web, and video, working simultaneously to create 21st century thinkers. 

3. Do-It-Yourself 3D Storytelling

Have students create original short stories and then produce Powerpoint animations that represent their short stories. Each animation will be 3 minutes, 5 frames, and use 50 words to caption the photos on each Powerpoint frame. This project uses the elements of visuals and design to create the animation, and the web to look up photos to use in the Powerpoint animation. 

All three of these assignments develop speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills as well as planning, storyboarding, and scripting skills, all of which are very important literacy skills that students need to learn. However, in these scenarios, students are learning these skills in a creative and innovative way, utilizing different technologies that promote 21st century skills. 

Teaching and learning in online, distributed, and open environments allows the potential for teachers to use the type of assignments that utilize visual, design, audio, web and video technological elements to not only teach literacy and storytelling, but also a vast array of other subjects. It is important for teachers in online, distributed, and open learning environments to remember the 21st century skills of innovation, critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, and communication when creating courses and assignments for their students because these types of learning environments allow so much opportunity for students to thrive and grow in the 21st century. Having students create artifacts in the form of videos, especially ones that teach a topic or ones about a book, can be a great educational tool as they can be shown to other students to get them excited about reading and learning. These video projects could also be posted online in order to inspire other students to create and remix artifacts. This method is a great way for teachers to use OER-enabled pedagogy in their classrooms, or online learning environments, to inspire future students and other online learners. It makes learning more meaningful to students because they are creating something for someone else (Wiley D. & Hilton J, 2018).

References:

Gura, M. (2014). Teaching literacy in the digital age : Inspiration for all levels and literacies. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca

Major, C. H. (2015). Teaching online: A guide to theory, research, and practice. Johns Hopkins University Press.

Wiley, D. & Hilton, J. (2018). Defining OER-enabled Pedagogy. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 19(4).