Alicia's Adventures in Media

What is the relationship between Turkle and Wesch? Do you see them as allies, or opponents in this discussion of new media and technology? (post by Thurs, 6/29 @ midnight) I am not quite sure what the relationship is between them, but I am sure how I feel about each. In Turkles, The flight from conversation one paragraph stood out for me more than any other. WE expect more from technology and less from one another and seem increasingly drawn to technologies that provide the illusion of companionship without the demands of relationship. Always-on/always-on-you devices provide three powerful fantasies: that we will always be heard; that we can put our attention wherever we want it to be; and that we never have to be alone. Indeed our new devices have turned being alone into a problem that can be solved. Not being on any social media myself I often wonder how people meet the demands of all their face to face interactions and still have time for the opportunit...

My First Animoto I experienced many technical difficulties prior to being able to create this video, but with the help of Victoria I was able to finally log on the the sight and explore this tool While I was quite intimidated when I opened this tool it was fairly easy to use.  I started my trial with very limited time left before the assignment was do.  I began with the tutorial that walks you through each step of creating a video.  I let the tool choose videos for me so that I would not end up down the rabbit hole of perfect picture selection.  I did however change the song to appeal to my learners.  I used both methods of captioning available and quite honestly, only realized there were two through trial and error.  One method puts the words prior to the picture and one method captions directly underneath the picture.  I actually like using both to provide repeated practice.  Then I got really brave and choose my own photo. ...

I have to be completely honest.  When we received this assignment and were told we could choose any chapter we wanted, even a short one, I had ever intention of choosing the shortest chapter I could find.  As fate would have it, in my search for the absolute shortest chapter I found the chapter entitled, Why We Banned Legos.  As the mother of two small boys and an elementary teacher, Legos are a big part of my daily life.  In fact, My entire dining room table is covered with what we call Duplo Village.  Legos have provided hours of family enjoyment and activities and work very well as a break or a reward in my classroom. Reading the title of this chapter I could not imagine what could have transpired that lead to Legos being ban, but I needed to find out.  Before I read the chapter I thought surely this Lego banning people must be insane.  I was in the mindset of stereotyping and gender bias from our class discussion today and my mind whirled with id...

A I have always loved Disney. As a child I visited many times with family members. As an adult I have visited twice before my children and now twice with my children. My husband and I went to Disney World on our honeymoon. I was brought up watching Disney films and although I was never an extremely feminine girl I did enjoy a princess movie. I just never identified with a princess I identified more with Mowgli. As a parent I watch which ever Disney movies my children seem to be interested in when they see a trailer. Most recently we have watched Frozen and Muana. They have never seemed interested in watching the Disney films of my youth so I have never pursued them. Although my personal children (both boys) are not obsessed with Disney movies and princesses I have seen many little girls who are. Working in the Elementary school setting I have had plenty of opportunities to see little girls who are enthralled with their favorite princesses. ...

What do you make of the (divergent) positions of Boyd and Prensky (per our discussion in class and/or per the article above?)   Boyd's stance on "digital natives" The term "digital natives" implies that children will just teach themselves how to use technology. This has implications in widening the gap between children who have access to technology to explore and those who do not. Proper instruction allows everyone the same access to what is needed to be successful in the use of technology. Prensky's stance on "digital natives" The educational needs of children deemed "digital natives" are not being met by the outdated instructional methods that are used in schools. These children, who have been exposed to technology from an early age need to have technology integrated into their school day to learn to the best of their ability. Alicia's stance on 'digital natives" When the terms "digital native" an...

I am without a doubt a digital immigrant.  Being born in 1971 there was not devices in my house besides a television set.  I spent most of my time playing outdoors or reading. Then when I was about 8ish my father came home with an Atari .  I was amazed!  Video games in my own house.  Pacman and Mario Brothers.  Fabulous! Next, when I was 10ish my father bought me a Commodore 64 .  Looking back I felt like this was the most amazing thing.  I could play games or make pictures.  There were even games that were following directions instead of pictures. In high school I got the latest technology to write my papers with, a Brother Word Processor .  When typing you could only see about one sentence at a time.  I used this through college. Finally, when I was working on my masters I bought a home computer .  At the time I felt so thankful to see a whole page of print at a time.  It wasn't for some time that I actually bega...

My name is Alicia and I am an elementary reading specialist in South Kingstown, Rhode Island.  I am currently enrolled in a Digital Media Literacy course at Rhode Island College.  Through this coursework I am hoping to more about digital media and its uses in my classroom. I have been teaching for 17 years.  The first 12 years I spent teaching an intermediate self-contained special education classroom.  For the past 5 years I have been working as a Reading Specialist teaching small groups of students, many of whom are English Language Learners.  Through my work with these students I decided to begin work towards a Master's Degree in DLI/ELL.  This digital media class is the second to last class in that journey. Outside of teaching I am the mother of two young boys ages Teddy (7)  and  Harry (3). We enjoy spending tons of time outside in the summer months. I am looking forward to a great class and a great summer!