Week 5: Chapter 9 Discussion Questions and Answers

Many educators believe that with the growth of media and information technology, media literacy is just as important as – or even more important than – print literacy (that is, learning to read and write).

What is your position on the relative importance of the two “literacies”?

Although I do believe that media literacy is a very important attribute to have whether you are young or old, the basis to actually learn media literacy correctly at this point of time or in the near future still comes down to first learning print literacy. Without first learning the basics of reading and writing, there is no logical way to develop and actually learn media literacy skills. Granted, there are some media literacy skills that don’t require reading and writing skills but depend on visual cues instead (just like many safety visual cues that exist in society for individuals who don’t know how to read), but for the vast majority of media literacy skills, the ability to be able to read is still a required skill. The same goes for writing skills. Learning to write is still a vital skill to have in order to be able to make it through life. Maybe 1000 years from now it might be different as far as how important writing will be in order to make through life’s daily activities, but for now and in the near future, writing is still a vital skill to have. Media literacy is very important to know because of the way technology is progressing, but reading and writing skills are still more important skills to have.

What information from this chapter helps support your position?

The information that helps support my position on this issue is when Robyler states in this chapter that definition of literacy has evolved dramatically over time and that new definitions of what goes into to modern day literacy skills will have to implemented.

Week 3 Discussion Questions and Answers

1. Why do you think the teachers did not see the relative advantage of this technology?

I believe that the teachers did not see the relative advantage of this technology for a couple of possible reasons. One of the possible reasons that teachers did not see the relative advantage of this technology was the way the technology was implemented for the teachers to use. I don't think the implementation of the technology was properly handled. The individuals who were in charge of actually implementing the technology for the teachers to use obviously could have done better job making sure that the technology was implemented in a manner in where the teachers could use the technology properly in a classroom setting. If only 25% of the teachers were using the internet with students and most of those uses were for "casual surfing," then I feel the implementation of the technology wasn't properly done from the beginning. The other reason could be maybe not enough time was allowed for the teachers to actually learn how to use the technology properly.

2. If you were made responsible for integrating this technology into instructional activities, how would you translate the superintendent's rationale into problems and solutions for which the relative advantage would be clear to teachers?

If I was responsible for integrating this technology into instructional activities, I would translate the superintendent's rationale into problems and solutions for which the relative advantage would be clear to teachers several ways. Obviously, the first main point I would address is making sure that the teachers had every possible way of getting any help or more guidance of using and implementing the technology effectively in their classroom. Whether that means having some sort of 24/7 hotline, more hands on workshops using the technology, instructional DVD's, etc will help the teachers better implement the technology in their classrooms. Having individuals readily available for troubleshooting or any other help teachers may have about the technology that they are using would result in more teachers figuring out or finding solutions to problems that they might have in implementing the technology effectively in a classroom environment.