January 21

ETL402 – Illuminating Literary Learning

qimono / Pixabay

Before undertaking Literature Across the Curriculum, as a Secondary English teacher and almost through my Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship), I thought my knowledge of literature and literary learning was rigorous. Although never conceited enough to consider my knowledge complete, I baulked at the subject trying to assess whether it would be worthwhile – already having taught literature for the past fourteen years. However, since undertaking the subject, my breadth of knowledge of texts has proliferated, especially of digital texts. For example, in Module 2A.2b, I discovered Simonetta’s discussion forum response which offered an inspiring digital story of K’gari interactive documentary (2021, November 17) (n.d.). My learning continued to grow from the inception of the course throughout.

From my first blog entry which delved into the definition of children’s literature, I was captivated by the evolution of history, previously society treating children as adults and how that impacts on the appropriateness, interests and benefits for children and young adults now (Travassaros, 2021a). I knew that every student has individual learning needs but the importance of choosing appropriate literature that students can identify and connect with, their culture and their situation was emphasised, as evidenced in Assessment 1 which expounded the inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander realistic fiction (Travassaros, 2021b). Furthermore, not only is it beneficial for the individual represented but also for the class to learn cultural awareness (Travassaros, 2021b). Additionally, by introducing the texts written by or in collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors, it provides an authenticity and credibility to the text  which, when studying perspectives, encourages students to empathise with protagonists which encourages social cohesion (Travassaros, 2021b).  In future, I will use this knowledge when undertaking collection development, in creating book displays, creating book boxes and collaborating with teachers to deliver literature across the curriculum.

The pedagogical benefits of literary learning through various genres and forms was explicitly taught, not only with diversity and perspectives but I also learnt that through the genre.  For example fantasy uses metaphor to diminish the severity of unpleasant or hard issues (Flanagan as cited in Travassaros, 2022, January 21). I learnt that literature response strategies are important for further cultivation, developing and shaping the learning of students experienced through the literature read. A book trailer, with its kinesthetic approach, can encourage interest, and act as a relaxant for those who are challenged by the activity (Festa as cited in Travassaros, 2022). Not only was I reminded of some learning strategies such as think pair share, but my eyes were opened to strategies I was unfamiliar with and wished to try, such as literature circles.

This subject has provided me with valuable information a teacher librarian can use across the curriculum.  My teacher librarian journey has only just begun and my learning path will continue. Professional development and connections within the teacher librarian industry will assist this process, as well as undertaking my own research and readings. The future is bright!

References

Festa, K. (2017). The book trailer project: Media production within an integrated classroom. Journal of Media Literacy Education. 9(2). 105-113. https://doi.org/10.23860/JMLE-2019-09-02-08.

Flanagan, V. (2014, March 3). Children’s fantasy literature: Why escaping reality is good for kids. The conversation. https://theconversation.com/childrens-fantasy-literature-why-escaping-reality-is-good-for-kids-22307.

Gimono. (n.d.). Light bulb idea lit. [Image]. Pixabay. (https://pixabay.com/illustrations/light-bulb-idea-lit-inspiration-4514505/. Used pursuant to Pixabay Creative Commons licence.

SBS. (n.d.). K’gari interactive documentary. http://www.sbs.com.au/kgari/.

Simonetta, J. (2021, November 17). RE: 2A.2b Literary non-fiction. [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_58477_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_115076_1&forum_id=_259136_1&message_id=_3848830_1

Travassaros, E. (2021a, November 12). ETL402: Literature Across the Curriculum. Charles Sturt University ThinkSpace: Ellene’s reflective journal. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/ellene/2021/11/12/elt402-literature-across-the-curriculum/.

Travassaros, E. (2021b, December 17). Assessment item 1 – Rationale for fiction, journal article. Charles Sturt University EASTS. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/csu-serviceslink-BB5c1c4db3261aa/link?type=easts&course_id=_58477_1&mode=view.

Travassaros, E. (2022, January 21). Assessment item 2 – Literary resource kit. Charles Sturt University EASTS. 

 

 

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November 12

ETL402: Literature Across the Curriculum

With reference to 7 trends in children’s and YA publishing  some of these will remain constant but others will continue to evolve. I disagree that the graphic novel market has been “flat”. In fact, it is the graphic novels that students borrow most (Australian Writers’ Centre Team, 2020).  More complex issues for younger ages will continue. This is ironic when, historically, children have been treated as miniature adults and now they are not.

Vision for the Future of Children’s Literature

It is the fears of today and the worries of tomorrow that continue to set imaginations on fire. Environmental sustainability will continue to be a popular subject in children’s literature. Co-vid has realised some sci-fi narratives. Sci-fi medical pandemics and dystopian novels will continue to be popular as the world’s population grows and the threats to humanity are squirming in the background.

Diversity and mental wellbeing is another issue that is trending and will continue. Discrimination, bullying and the wrongs of history will keep bubbling away in society and in novels. Novels  will continue to deal with growing up and identity issues in an increasingly futuristic world.

Unfortunately, graphic novels and manga will continue to be heavily consumed due to the images and words working in synthesis and the lowering value and patience it takes to stick with a book and be rewarded with the satisfaction and pleasure of finishing. It may also be the violence that some students love that is another incentive for graphic novel audiences.

The drivers of change

The drivers of change can be numerous. It can be political, environmental, health, socio-economic status and technology that impacts on children’s literature. Another drawcard of children’s literature will always be the problems of growing up and finding out where you fit into the world.

Reference List

Australian Writers’ Centre Team. (2020, July 17). 7 trends in children’s and YA publishing. AWC: Australian Writers’ Centre. https://www.writerscentre.com.au/blog/7-trends-in-childrens-and-ya-publishing/

Category: ETL402, Literature, Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 24

Doors opening … mind the gap

ETL504 – Assessment 2 – Part B

All aboard the leadership train! All stops to Leadership Town. Mind the gap.

Like bouncing tennis balls flung at force we intermittently sprung to grab our leadership experiences. Far from being just passengers, we travelled straight into Leadership Town … and we will never be the same again!

My understanding of leadership has flourished over the last semester. The reality of leadership is that it is hard work but can be rewarding. It is about having a shared vision, mission and empowering others. As I teacher librarian, it is beneficial to acquire effective leadership traits such as being respectful, treating everyone as an individual and making people feel valued (Travassaros, 2020, 1 March). Collaboration is a key 21st century skill and readily apparent in a teacher librarian position. From my own experiences with the case studies, if encouraged in a positive manner, the outcomes is likely to be better, the participant views the activity more positively and more likely to want to collaborate again.

Improving leadership, comes from authentic learning experience as well as applying the theories. The case studies were an excellent way to become immersed in teacher librarian experiences. Individually, we began being led (Travassaros, 2020, March 3) through a case study and only contributing my part. This was a valuable part of the learning process as it enabled students to observe how the process of collaboration can work. After Case Study 3, my blog entry (Travassaros, 2020, 4 April) reflects that  my anxiety had dissipated and, after reflective questioning from Bales (2020, April, 9) about leadership styles demonstrated in the activity, I focussed on seizing the opportunity to lead from the middle and adopt more of a leadership role my focussing on my strength – organisation. It was more challenging than I expected. I facilitated volunteers for roles, applied deadlines and made my contributions (Travassaros, May 10). Although I found it beneficial, initially it was time consuming to set up the activity. Endeavouring to keep to the timeframe, I jigsaw puzzled relevant bits transferring information, from discussion forum to wiki to facilitate the process. Each time we participated, the process and our submission became better (Travassaros, May 10). Through demonstrating a combination of leadership styles (instructional, distributive, transformative and servant), by providing organisation, other group members were empowered to excel in their ‘expert’ roles. Our group, (Group 8) established a positive culture in which everyone felt supported and could thrive. This is evidenced in the lecturer’s comments (Bale, 2020, May 9) to Case Study 4’s submission.

In case study 4, we experienced unexpected change. Having already started the first activity, it was fatiguing to have the activity abruptly changed. I learned from this experience that it is imperative to communicate with the leader (and vice versa) so that circumstances can be resolved (Travassaros, May 10). With permission, we continued with our original activity – unaffected by the changes.

Learning better ways to lead from a teacher librarian’s role stems from the synthesis of combining experience leading and researching. Effective leadership is about seizing opportunities, empowering and motivating others, building and sustaining a shared vision, effective communication, positive interactions with others including managing change fatigue and facilitating the process by ‘minding the gap’. Hence, student outcomes staff morale and output improved. A more enjoyable ride had by all.

References:

aitoff. (2016, October 24). Railway platform. Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/railway-platform-mind-gap-1758208/. This image is pursuant to Pixabay Creative Commons Licence.

Bale, J. (2020, May 9). Case Study 4 (original, not co-vid) Group 8. Charles Sturt Discussion Forum. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_44236_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_88817_1&forum_id=_180720_1&message_id=_2918458_1

 

Category: Collaboration, leadership, Organisation theory, Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 10

ETL504 – Progress and Appreciation – Case Study 4

johnhain / Pixabay

Much has changed since Case Study 3. At the beginning of this case study, organisation was key to achieve the best product, streamline the process and limit wasted time. I was slightly more comfortable with expectation of the process. Additionally, with the passing of our first assignment and our mid-semester break due, I had the luxury of a bit more time to jump in and organise potential roles and interim deadlines. Time to set up the activity was extremely beneficial for me to feel organised and so the group had some direction. The idea was that it allowed others more time for better input. Another group member and I made our initial brainstorming contributions. This took quite some time.

It is well known that education is riddled with frequent change. Due to co-vid19 our case study changed. I felt unmotivated at the thought that the time was lost and unvalued. My passion and enthusiasm had been squashed – a consequence and penalty of being too organised. This seemed almost like a test out of Clement’s article (2014, p. 48) about the result of mandatory change, lack of ownership and damage to morale. However, this was recognised by the lecturer after a technology problem arose with a group member. We were given the option of which case study we wanted to do. This was extremely beneficial to our group. On reflection communication could by our group to the lecturer of the issue would have solved the problem.

Via the formal allocation of roles, distributed leadership was initiated. Group members chose roles and issues after brainstorming sessions. All benefited from the brainstorming , feedback and reflections. I appreciate that Linda (McHugh, 2020, May 8), a group member, continued the reflective process from Case Study 3. It is a benefit that we all contributed and ideas in the activity proliferated which would not have been possible when functioning as an individual in isolation. More indepth input was achieved.

Our group displayed various types of leadership. McHugh (2020, May 8) conveyed three different types: transformational, distributed and instructional. Transformational leadership occurred as by providing role allocations, initiating conversations and scheduling interim deadlines, collating ideas and information when transferring them from the discussion forum to the wiki, I satisfied the first of Balyer’s (as cited in Smith) three basic functions being serving the needs of the group, inspiring with ideas and motivating others with positivity and proactivity.

Linda inspired me, in a transformational sense, in her reflection after Case Study 4 when she asked whether the leadership style of allocation of the groups were ‘self-distributed’ or instructional (McHugh 2020, May 8). This inspired me to research a bit more thoroughly, leading me to respond that it could be elements of both (Travassaros, 2020, May 10). Distributed leadership focuses on the group leadership (Harris as cited by Bush & Glover, 2014, p. 566)  Each member contributed ideas, some chose a role and voiced preferences for issues, everyone had input into the task. However, our concern with the activity was focussed on the teaching and how to improving student outcomes from a teaching perspective. Robinson (as cited in Smith, 2016, p. 68) confirmed that this is also a characteristic of instructional leadership as attributing outcomes to the budget is student-centered leadership as it focuses on student learning.

I have progressed in my journey to collaboration and I can now appreciate the benefits of it. However, there is still a way to go in terms of having experienced different ways to collaborate. I also feel that collaborating with the same people in the group can be advantageous as the members can learn each other’s strengths, preferences and these can be key to successful collaboration. Additionally, the leader providing opportunities to free individuals up to focus on the task and communication is also key features that contribute to success.

References

Bush, T, & Glover, D. (2014). School leadership models: What do we know? School Leadership and Management, 34(5), 553-571. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2014.928680

Clement, J. (2014). Managing mandated educational change. School Leadership & Management. 34 (1). https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2013.813460

McHugh, L. (2020, May 8). Reflection on case study 4 [discussion forum]. Charles Sturt University.

Hain, J. (2020, May 10). Pixabay. This image was acquired under Creative Commons Pixabay Licence.

Smith, B. (2016). The role of leadership style in creating a great school. SELU Research Review Journal, 1(1), 65-78. https://selu.usask.ca/documents/research-and-publications/srrj/SRRJ-1-1-Smith.pdf

 

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April 4

ETL504 – Suitcase of Experiences – Case Study 3

When our Subject Coordinator broached the topic of group work for our case studies, I confess that I had nothing but apprehension and dread. Not that I dislike working with people but my lack of experience collaborating combined with the anxiety I already feel about submitting things on time really did nothing to excite me. So, in the online meeting when she asked how we feel about participating in the case studies, I could have responded in the default position of sounding positive and optimistic. But I took too long thinking about it, the moment passed and I just didn’t respond. However, I know it is a skill I need to obtain experience in and be able to do it well.

At the beginning of the case study, one major consideration I had was that the task would blow out, become a mammoth task and, I just don’t have the time to become bogged down trying to wade through oceans of information. One group member, jumped in with quite a bit of information – preliminary thoughts and then in another posted another one with some issues listed. Her entry had some excellent insights. I began to type my addition but it took me some time and by the time I had finished and posted a few more posts had already come in. I stressed about this too. However, after a while I calmed down about the volume of work coming in and I realized that this was a productive part of the process. Nevertheless, we did need structure.

Next, we started to group headings in the wiki from the information we had already come up with. We allocated pairs to the groups. A group member took the initiative to divide up all the input under headings and groups allocated which was extremely helpful. Then each of the pairs began the process of refining.

I feel that even though we had not explicitly talked about roles, a couple were naturally defined:

  1. One member instigated the process.
  2. Another member facilitated with the technology side of the case study.
  3. A couple of members were organisers.
  4. All were valuable contributors.

I have been finding it difficult to pinpoint a leadership style. We all worked as a team, acted as professionals working together to achieve a shared goal. The process was diplomatic. It could be argued that the process was a combination of transformative and servant. Our team experienced many of the traits that Holmes, Clement and Albright (2013) have asserted consist of the six features of effective principals. In particular, all of us were focused on the same goal and driven to action; additionally – all of us stood on the same level rather than anyone positioning themselves as leader. One participant excelled at the research and it seemed to me that she had the team’s concerns in her best interests – which lead to the team being motivated to complete better output thus displaying servant and transformational leadership attributes. I initiated and encouraged reflection so that our next collaboration might be streamlined. Hence, took on a more of an opportunity for the group to grow from experience, taking on transformational leadership.

At the beginning of this process, I had packed my suitcase with all that I possessed – H2O and set off at a frantic pace up a long road that had numerous obscure and dangerous bends in it. We are nearing the end of the process now and I am realizing that the long road was a mirage and I was delirious with expectation. My perception is that we worked well together and that I will be happy with the quality and the outcome. I still hold onto the hope that it is not a rush at the end. As part of the reflective process, we can streamline our path. A suggestion will be made for our next case study, that the first thing we do is to brainstorm the issues so that we can develop headings and we all can contribute to those headings. Additionally, more communication on my behalf will enable me to experience less apprehension. Progress has been made and we are getting there.

Reference:

Borodinova, V. (2017, 17 October). Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/suitcase-rain-street-wet-weather-2861491/. The image has been acquired pursuant to Pixabay Licence.

Holmes, K., Clement, J. & Albright, J. (2012). The complex task of leading educational change in schools. School Leadership & Management, 33(3), 270- 283. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2013.800477

 

 

 

Category: Collaboration, ETL504, Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 7

INF533 Assessment 3 Topic Proposal

WikiImages / Pixabay

Proposal topic:

The proposed topics are The Water Cycle and Recycling Water in the Geography unit, Water in the World.

Proposed digital tools and/or spaces to be used:

The proposed digital tools and/or spaces to be used are: Book Creator [software application]. Attached will be videos (including simple animation/s), hyperlinks and voice recordings. There will be spaces for students to complete learning activities. Additionally, Book Creator will be connected to Google Classroom so students can submit their work.

Rationale for topic focus for the digital storytelling project:

This activity is designed for a Special Education combined IM and IO class. The students are in Years 7 and 8. However, the work is Life Skills (or approximately Stage 2) and has adjustments for varying ability within the class. Links to the NSW Geography syllabus K-10 are Life Skills outcomes:

  • GELS-3: explores interactions and connections between people places and environments
  • GELS-5: explores management of places and environments.

The topics, The Water Cycle and Recycling Water, relate to futures in the faculty’s scope and sequence. The project will explore topics via the lifecycle of a drop of water. It will go through the process of collection, evaporation, condensation and precipitation with various options (like a choose your own adventure) to choose what happens to the droplet of water. However, students must eventually go through all options, ending in recycling of the water.

It is proposed that I will create an original informative and (hopefully) fun narrative. A script and storyboards are to be created from information obtained from credible websites. These websites will be credited at the end of the text.

Students are to participate in and create multimodal learning activities as the story progresses. Hyperlinks to activities, the facility to annotate documents (such as drawing circles on the page and inserting text), perhaps include voice recordings (not video as, a couple of students do not have permission to publish photos) and generally completing activities including a Kahoot quiz and an activity that relates to a (TEEEC) paragraphing. Structured into the lesson sequence will be assessment for learning, assessment as learning and assessment of learning. These activities will also prepare students for their final assessment.

Category: e-literature, INF533, Technology, Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT
August 31

Out of the Cave and Into …. the Enhanced Digital Literature Review

 

‘Into the Cave’ ABC News Story Screenshot – ABC News

INF533 Literature in Digital Environments

Assignment 2 – Part A

‘Into the Cave’ Enhanced Digital Literature Review

‘Into the Cave’ ABC News Report  is a story based on interviews with divers and reports by various ABC news journalists which was published on 13 July 2018. The digital news story which recounts the rescue of twelve soccer playing boys and an assistant coach who became stranded in 10 kilometres worth of labyrinth-like caves after a deluge of rain.  The outside world does not know where they were in the caves and a search that extends international boundaries begins. Due to this text’s well-crafted narrative, it draws heavily on the empathy of the viewer.

The webpage’s simple layout and basic interactivity enhances the simplicity and effectiveness of the text. As the reader scrolls down the page, the narrative progresses. The setting of the caves and the context of the narrative is developed through a screen that divides the screen in two. The right half allows the viewer to read the article by scrolling while the other half displays a map of where the caves and the boys’ progression. Once the reader reaches a certain place on the right-hand side, the map on the left ‘intuitively’ progresses through the caves finally ending in the location of where they boys were found. This interactivity enhances the flow of the story and the multimodal features of the text.

Additionally, the narrative is advanced with photographs, illustrations and video content. The video content enhances the movement and pace of the report. It develops the reality of the situation which is one where the tone is urgent. Highly emotive words were coupled with the text such as “neck-deep”, “alarm bells”, and “adrenaline-rushes” are teamed with video footage of the divers following a rope down into dark caves where they are neck-deep in water and all the viewers can observe is a flashlight in the distance. Unfortunately, sound is not available. However, the viewer could argue that the clichéd expression “the silence is deafening” is pertinent. That is, the cliché compounds the empathy the reader feels for the victims and the rescuers – the isolation and frustration involved.

There are many literacy features students can benefit from in the article. Visual literacy can be studied along with the text types of recount and news article. The evolution of the newspaper can be explored from an English perspective. The layout of the text with its short paragraphs, quotes and plain font which is possible to enlarge is beneficial for struggling readers. Literacy, Creative and Critical Thinking and a few Information Communications and Technology elements can be addressed with this article with the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (2016). Along with English, in History the concept of primary and secondary sources could be explored and in terms of Geography perhaps a case study of the caves may be applicable. Information Communication and Technology features and development of a website along with activities involved in all levels of Blooms Taxonomy from lower to higher order tasks could also be attempted. Additionally, information literacy features could be addressed such as credibility of sources and authority. In addition, there is potential to explore more news articles with the hyperlinks at the bottom of the page. This would be beneficial if exploring a multitude of non-fiction texts or developing a newspaper unit of work or exploring layouts of web pages if developing that. The beauty of the enhanced book is that it is extremely versatile.

This enhanced book does not try to complete with a printed book. It has qualities that are separate from the codex. It has many deviations and its multimodality has increased so that it can benefit the learning of a broader range of students.   I feel this is a memorable story that has the power to withstand time. However, with the volume of news stories and its stored location on a news website, it is possible that this text will not escape the danger of extinction but drown in archives or superseded technology. Unfortunately, there is no real way to save it on a device for future use. There exists no Google Books library to save this type of text from disappearing [Darnton arguing that Google Books may not have this ability anyway (2009, p.34)]

Reference List

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, (2016). Critical and Creative Thinking: General Capabilities. Retrieved from: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/media/1072/general-capabilities-creative-and-critical-thinking-learning-continuum.pdf

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, (2016). Information, Communication and Technology: General Capabilities. Retrieved from: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/media/1074/general-capabilities-information-and-communication-ict-capability-learning-continuum.pdf

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, (2016). : Literacy: General Capabilities. Retrieved from: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/media/3596/general-capabilities-literacy-learning-continuum.pdf

Darnton, R., (2009). The Case for Books: Past, present, and future. New York: PublicAffairs. Retrieved from: https://primo.csu.edu.au/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma990019537390402357&context=L&vid=61CSU_INST:61CSU&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&tab=Everything&lang=en

Motherwell, S. (Journalist), Spraggon, B (Designer and Co-Illustrator), Hoad, N. (Developer), Madden, T/Reuters (Co-Illustrator), Cross, N. (Video Production), Leslie, T. (Producer), 13 July 2018, Into the Cave ABC News Report. Retrieved from: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-13/thai-cave-rescue-tham-luang-extreme-challenges/9985286

NSW Education Standards Authority, (2012). English K-10 Syllabus (2012). Retrieved from https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning-areas/english-year-10/english-k-10

 

Category: Curriculum and Learning, e-literature, INF533, Technology, Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT
August 31

Interactive Digital Literature Review

INF533 Literature in Digital Environments

Assignment 2 – Part A

‘The Incredible Tales of Weirdwood Manor’ Interactive Digital Literature Review

The Incredible Tales of Weirdwood Manor (WM) (All Work No Play Inc, 2019) is a multi-award-winning interactive application developed initially produced only in digital form. It is a multimodal text jam-packed with many engaging features, including: three dimensional characters, music, sound effects, a reader with words on the screen, limited animation, 360 degree navigation in some screens and interactive hidden elements to collect. The elements are consistent with the atmosphere, setting, character and plot development in this mixed genre digital narrative. Variable scores corresponding to puzzles, games and riddles solved and the objects collected are linked with the narrative achieve challenging games for students to use their participatory skills (Walker, Jameson & Ryan, 2010, p. 212) rather than just view or read. The objects, ghosts and creatures collected are linked to Oliver’s sketch journal. Highlighted words guide the advancing reader, an option to have a reader or self-recorded reader enhance traditional literacy components achieving the potential for technological features and a narrative that enhance each other in an educational and entertainment sense. The first two books are the basis of this review. They are the free teasers with subsequent volumes 3-6 costing a special bulk deal of $13.99 with 25% off (regularly $17.96). With so many features, how can there be anything missing?

In Book 1, this fantasy-mystery children’s narrative begins with the protagonist, Oliver Gryffon, riding in a quirky and eerie limousine to Arthur Weirdwood’s manor. The setting in the limousine foreshadows the dark and supernatural mystery that develops. Monsters, creatures and ghosts are revealed in the interactive features of the application and develops the spooky atmosphere. Flashbacks assist in creating Oliver’s character, who is an unwanted orphan, gifted artist with a special ability which allows his drawings to move on the page. The viewer also establishes that, although Oliver seems to be an innocent and well-meaning boy but there is something strange about him that has scared previous foster families he lived with.

As the tale progresses in Book 2, the participant meets Weirdwood (a reclusive, inventor, artist and writer), Eugene Donald (sci-fi nerd) and Celia Mei (writer) – two gifted children and an educator, Ms Mathilda Brimley. The artistry involved with the characters and settings are beautifully animated. A complex plot with supernatural occurrences and well-crafted omission of select details creates suspense. More than one mystery begs to be solved, such as the location of a missing ghost, Weirdwood’s hints at a dangerous and life-threatening challenge ahead for the three young children after he recites a riddle and the participant’s suspicions are pricked about Celia.

As glowing as this application seems, it does have some limitations. The characterisation of Celia as a type of beautiful Greek mythological siren seems gender stereotyped. Celia presents as a gifted writer who has written an award-winning romance novella called “Song of the Black Moth”. She seems to have the ability to hypnotically bewitch people like the siren song. Even though the female character is somewhat stereotyped, there is scope to provide for higher level Blooms taxonomy skills such as applying intertextuality.

The developers have included well thought-out multimodal features that includes beautiful unobtrusive original music and sound effects that compliments the narrative. However, at it can become repetitive. There is an option to have the story read to the listener with highlighted rectangles that follow the words as they are read.

Developers of the application have explicitly recommended that the digital narrative is targeted to students 6-12. I suggest that the vocabulary, difficulty of the puzzles and darkness of images combined with some sharp toothed monsters it would be appropriate for more 9-12 year old students or Stage 3-4 classes. This text is applicable to various General Capabilities in the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (2016) including the entire Literacy element, Information Communication and Technology, Critical and Creative Thinking, and it is applicable to almost all of the English K-10 Syllabus (2012), depending on which outcomes need satisfying, and the learning activities created from the outcomes and content.

It took persistence with the interactive features in the narrative, for the participant to begin to achieve a sense of purpose. It began to seem that finding the hidden features were a bit elusive, distracting and time-consuming (Yokota & Teale, 2014, p. 581). The animations are limited, so that the participant can take their time to locate the hidden items. Many with frozen images with the only animated feature consisting of just blinking eyes or hovering people. While this is understandable, it disturbed the progression of the story. However, as the narrative progresses, it is obvious that as all the items found contribute to the protagonist’s drawing journal, they have will probably contribute to future Books. The books are quite long and, if studied at school, would take quite some time to get through. It may be pertinent to study part of the narrative.

WM is a narrative that became more engaging as I read. However, the interactive hidden objects and frozen screen provided significant disruption to the flow of the narrative. I would reserve judgment on this text until I have read more.

Reference List

All Work, No Play Inc. 2019, The Incredible Tales of Weirdwood Manor, [version 1.6.1] [software application]. Retrieved from: http://weirdwood.com/

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, (2016). Critical and Creative Thinking: General Capabilities. Retrieved from: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/media/1072/general-capabilities-creative-and-critical-thinking-learning-continuum.pdf

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, (2016). Information Technology and Communication: General Capabilities. Retrieved from: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/media/1074/general-capabilities-information-and-communication-ict-capability-learning-continuum.pdf

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, (2016). Literacy element: General Capabilities. Retrieved from: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/media/3596/general-capabilities-literacy-learning-continuum.pdf

NSW Education Standards Authority, (2012). English K-10 Syllabus (2012). Retrieved from: https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning-areas/english-year-10/english-k-10

Yokota, J. & Teale, W. H. (2014). Picture books and the digital world: educators making informed choices. The Reading Teacher, 34(6). Retrieved from: http://www.academia.edu/3886534/Picture_Books_and_the_Digital_World_Educators_ Making_Informed_Choices

Walker, S., Jameson, J., & Ryan, M. (2010). Skills and strategies for e-learning in a participatory culture (Ch. 15). In R. Sharpe, H. Beetham, & S. Freitas (Eds.), Rethinking learning for a digital age: How learners are shaping their own experiences (pp. 212-224). New York, NY: Routledge.

Category: Curriculum and Learning, e-book, e-literature, INF533, Technology, Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT
August 31

Critical Reflection of Digital Literature Experience

INF533 Literature in Digital Environments

Assignment 2 – Part B

What makes a good digital text? What counts as a digital text? What purpose do digital texts serve?

From a teacher librarian/educator’s perspective, a good digital text is a text that is enhanced by the multimodality, it is completed with quality literature and quality features including technological inclusions that add layers of meaning to the text rather than provide simply distractions (Yokota & Teale, 2014, p. 581). With digital texts, Simpson and Walsh (2014, p. 30) assert that what changes is the “interdependent semiotic modes” that impact on the combination of multimodal features (Kress, 2010, p. 157) such as the option to have the text read aloud to the reader and other variable elements such as modifications to the visual display. Simpson and Walsh (2014, p. 31) caution that the multimodal texts can be more demanding in terms of students needing to deal with layers of texts and modes which can have an impact on meaning. Additionally, as the interactive features compound, more participatory skills (Walker, Jameson & Ryan, 2010, p. 212) are needed rather than just being able to focus on the skill of reading alone.

Digital texts serve numerous purposes. From the perspective of the educator, they can serve to educate their students. Though from the perspective of the author and the host of creators involved, their purpose can be to educate with the highlighted text that the reader/participant can follow but also to entertain. Into the Cave ABC News Report in addition also is informative but unlocks opportunities to teach students about information literacy.

 Compare your experience of reading digital texts with reading print.

The e-book focuses on the traditional reading experience, it lacks many of the technological and multimodal features and is the closest to the print experience. In my own experience, I prefer the print text to the simple e-book experience. I prefer the texture, it is less strain on the eye and just a more pleasant experience – one that is relaxing. However, I feel that with increasing my experience of reading e-books, this opinion might change. As the digital texts develop, the multimodal features generally add another dimension to the reading experience to both the enhanced and interactive texts. The danger with this type of text is that the reader, when the text is read to the listener, can become lazy or scroll too fast through the text – missing reading parts of it. In relation to the interactive text, it becomes more of a participatory experience that can incorporate a game. It takes the focus away from the narrative and more attention is given to the technological components. The characters are animated so limits the reader creating their own creative visualisations as the images are fed to the reader. However, the games can have value by promoting problem solving and creative thinking skills. Digital texts should offer different benefits so that digital books should not be interpreted as superseding but instead providing variance to codex.

Chose the digital text you most enjoyed. How might you incorporate it into a program at your institution?

Into the Cave ABC News Report appears to be such a versatile text for teaching purposes. I envisage that a collaborative three-way cross-curricular unit could be introduced. For English, there is the possibility this text could be incorporated into a collaborative non-fiction or newspaper unit. The unit could be organised through the teacher librarian. It could be structured to incorporate an information literacy model such as the Big 6 and teach features such as features the CRAAP (currency, reliability, authority, accuracy and purpose) acronym could be taught by the teacher librarian along with other concepts such as fake news. It may study a number of newspaper texts leading up to a group assessment of designing your own newspaper that reports on events within the school and wider community. The Information Software and Technology teacher’s role could be to facilitate teaching webpage design including the ability to animate parts of the webpage and incorporation of any sound features. However, these are quite large plans and would have to be supported by the school and relevant faculties.

I enjoyed the e-book, Peter Pan but I preferred reading Into the Cave ABC News Report, due the visual elements and creativity of the enhanced text. The interactivity of The Incredible Tales of Weirdwood Manor slow and time consuming. This interfered with the flow of the narrative. Admittedly, the extras grew on me after I could see that they would contribute to the story and this encouraged me to read on. However, it wasn’t until the end of the Book 2 and, for teaching, this was too late. Even though the digital texts can be applied more readily to Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Capability in the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority General Capabilities, realistically, how each applies to the curriculum is, to an extent, limited to the imagination and purpose.

Reference List

All Work, No Play Inc. 2019, The Incredible Tales of Weirdwood Manor, [version 1.6.1] [software application]. Retrieved from: http://weirdwood.com/

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, (2016). Critical and Creative Thinking: General Capabilities. Retrieved from: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/media/1072/general-capabilities-creative-and-critical-thinking-learning-continuum.pdf

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, (2016). Critical and Creative Thinking: General Capabilities. Retrieved from: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/ethical-understanding/

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, (2016). Information, Communication and Technology: General Capabilities. Retrieved from: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/media/1074/general-capabilities-information-and-communication-ict-capability-learning-continuum.pdf

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, (2016). Literacy: General Capabilities. Retrieved from: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/media/3596/general-capabilities-literacy-learning-continuum.pdf

Barrie, J.M., (2008). Peter Pan. Retrieved from: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16

Evaluating Web Resources, 2019, F. D. Bluford Library, North Carolina State University. Retrieved from: http://libguides.library.ncat.edu/c.php?g=778558&p=5584082

Free e-books Project Gutenburg, 2019, Project Gutenburg. Retrieved from: https://www.gutenberg.org/

Kress, G. R., 2010. Multimodality: a social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. Retrieved from : https://primo.csu.edu.au/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma990019477460402357&context=L&vid=61CSU_INST:61CSU&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&tab=Everything&lang=en

NSW, Education Standards Authority, (2012). English K-10 Syllabus (2012). Retrieved from https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning-areas/english-year-10/english-k-10

Pixabay – the image used on this blog page is used pursuant to Creative Commons Licence

Simpson, A., Walsh, M., 2014, Children’s literature in the digital world: How does multimodality support affective, aesthetic and critical response to narrative?, English Teaching: Practice & Critique, 14(1), p. 28-43 Retrieved from https://www-emerald-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-12-2014-0005/full/pdf?title=childrens-literature-in-the-digital-world DOI: https://doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.1108/ETPC-12-2014-0005

The Big6 – Information & Technology Skills for Student Success, (n.d.), Retrieved from https://thebig6.org/

Walker, S., Jameson, J., & Ryan, M. (2010). Skills and strategies for e-learning in a participatory culture (Ch. 15). In R. Sharpe, H. Beetham, & S. Freitas (Eds.), Rethinking learning for a digital age: How learners are shaping their own experiences, (pp. 212-224). New York, NY: Routledge.

Yokota, J. & Teale, W. H., (2014). Picture books and the digital world: educators making informed choices. The Reading Teacher, 34(6). Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/3886534/Picture_Books_and_the_Digital_World_Educators_ Making_Informed_Choices

 

 

Category: Curriculum and Learning, e-book, e-literature, INF533, Information literacy, Technology, Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT