Week 3

Week 3 Reflection

OMG – the 2 Gems were amazing.  What a delightful sight to see these young children interacting via Skype.  Their blog is amazing and provides endless opportunities for student, teacher and parent interaction.  What a fantastic way of seeing progress in a child’s learning.  This is most definitely something I would love to encourage and implement. 

Google – I don’t think I will ever stop uncovering its many hidden features.  First I just used it as a search engine, next I found Google Sites, which was a lot easier than other software programs.  Now, the benefits of Google Reader, Google Groups and Google Documents – thanks Google.  If only I had known about these applications when I first started Uni, it would have made collaborative group work so much easier.  If schools don’t have their own online system, then I think this would be great a great tool for students to use for their group work.

While reflecting upon these new ways of teaching and learning it is becoming more evident that new forms of literacy need to be included.  I find myself gradually learning the language of SMS and micro blogging.  This then reminds me that the high concentration of social networking that occurs in a students’ world, will be greatly immersed in the SMS language.  According to research conducted by Dr. Nanagh Kemp of University of Tasmania, the evolution of “SMS” or ‘textese’ is inherently coupled to a strong grasp of phonetics and grammar.  SMS language does not always obey or follow standard grammar.  Additionally, language academies do not recognise it and the words used are not usually found in common dictionaries.  Therefore genre and multi-literacy styles certainly need addressing.  Students will need to be able to apply the correct genre style and delivery method to suit the specific application. 

References

Google  (n.d.)  Retrieved April 18, 2011 from http://www.google.com.au/intl/en/about.html

Kemp, N.  (n.d.)  Retrieved April 18, 2011 from  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_language