R. Pye: New Media & New Literacies

Case Study: Google Classroom   Overview:  Google classroom is a cloud-based learning platform that is designed to help facilitate digital learning through a variety of different tools. The platform is mainly used by students, teachers and parents, and allows teachers to create, distribute and grade assignments while integrating other important Google tools such as Google Docs, Google Slides and Google Drive. It offers remote learning options and allows students and educators to interact and access different materials, and track grades/progress. It provides metrics of student progression, and allows teachers to analyze when students visit their Google Classroom. User Engagement:  Teachers - Teachers use Google Classroom in a variety of ways. Teachers use the platform to create assignments, and are able to incorporate additional materials via Google Docs or Google Slides. Teachers are also capable of tracking student progress by grading and returning assignments digitally. ...

  M5B4: Annotated Bibliography As I begin to think about a potential topic for my final research paper, I began to evaluate different problems that I feel exist within the landscape of our society and thought about issues that can have serious potential risk factors on our students. This is what led me to begin exploring research into the use of digital media to promote propaganda, specifically in the current digital age. This issue is something that I feel is becoming increasingly relevant, as the development of social media continues to grow and more people begin to explore the online landscape. This leaves room and could encourage the spread of fictitious media in order to achieve a goal.  I believe that this topic is heavily relevant to my teaching practice and my work as an educator, as being able to evaluate propaganda and how propaganda can be used to persuade people is a topic that comes up within the global history curriculum. Further expanding my knowledge into t...

     As a global history teacher, I often find myself using a variety of non-digitized sources to enhance the overall message and meaning of the lesson. However, with the massive increase in technology and social media, attempting to just use print-based media and literacies has become challenging. It is imperative that we, as educators, find a way to balance the usage of technology and print based media and literacies. In the article The Importance of Still Teaching the iGeneration: New Technologies and the Centrality of Pedagogy, Thomas Philip and Antero Garcia bring up incredible points about the misconceptions that come along with digital literacies and introducing technology into the classroom. Philip and Garcia state “The context, not the tool, is what is important when making decisions about utilizing new technology within learning environments. Simply making a mobile device available to students or using these devices to study issues important to them does not bri...