Okay. The readings for this week have basically reinforced for me that ya don’t just use technology in the classroom to tinker with some tools, but to encourage literacy–of all kinds. It seems from the first text to the last of our readings for this week, the idea of first understanding, next being critical, and then being producers of new media in the classroom is key. I think the idea of being a producer and not just a consumer of new media is important, but I am at a loss here. It is difficult enough, as the first author mentions, for some students to be critical without feeling as though they are being cynical. (But don’t we value cynicism in the academy? Har Har) Should we work with a familiar media (to most students, not all) like a social networking site or should we begin doing “more advanced” work with new media as Turnley and her students do?
I appreciated, especially, Turnley’s piece and her thinking about the rhetorical methods we ought to use in the approach to technological literacy. I also appreciated the idea of redesign and a thoughful, considered, and rhetorical approach to web design. I think this idea or redesign has interesting pedagogical implications for on and off the web. Errr.. I had never thought of navigability as a rhetorical concern, but it makes perfect sense and I am wondering what sort of project I might pursue next semester that deals with this principle.