Go Virtual!

Thanks to the wonderful Jokay, I was invited to be a keynote speaker at the NSW LearnscopeGo Virtual” conference today. There were about 20 participants actually in Wollongong, where the conference was held physically, and another 30 or so participants attending from inside Second Life. Apart from a few technical issues (and these seem to be surprisingly minimal really – just tricky getting voice working and in synch with no delay or feedback) it went very well.

My talk was titled Play and Identity in Digital Spaces, and I combined the material from about three of my previous talks and four or five different papers. I want to especially thank Jazzydee and Achariya for dropping in and contributing stories about their avatars!

Later in the day, I was also involved in a panel discussion about leverages the affordances of Second Life for education. Panelists included:

  • Jo Kay, Freelance Design, Facilitation and Virtual Worlds Consultant
  • Sean FitzGerald, Independent Researcher, Consultant, Trainer and Presenter
  • Angela Thomas, University of Sydney
  • Alan Levine, Vice President, NMC Community and CTO, NMC: The New Media Consortium
  • Nick Noakes, Director, Center for Enhanced Learning & Teaching, Hong Kong

Here’s a nice shot of CDB and I after the panel discussion. CDB is coming to Australia next month!!! He’ll be doing a lecture tour and meeting up with people interested in using Second Life for education, so if anybody wants to meet up with him (and me!) in Sydney let me know :)

(Thanks to Jokay and Alan for images)

PS: I’ve been writing a paper the last couple of weeks, and preparing this conference talk, and doing a hundred other tasks, including some extra and unexpected teaching, so the blog has suffered!

My Digital Fiction Presentation for Futures in Literacy Conference

I’m Heading Off for June to Speak, Research, Speak, Plan more Research etc etc…

The major speaking event I have is the featured session at the NMC Summer Conference. I was specifically invited to speak about a “bit of everything” related to my research, so here’s the slides that accompany the talk. I hope I can arrange an audio stream to support the slides for the near future.

And here is the line-up for our panel session at the ECAR conference:

ecar.jpg

Youth Online – almost there!

cover

Yay! Here is my final book cover!!!

And here is one of the endorsements:

insidecover

How lovely of Len Unsworth to write such kind words.

Tasks for May

Here’s a litte list, just so readers will realise why I am blogging infrequently or even not at all these past few months:

1) Finish writing a book chapter for the book “Multimodal Semiotics” – now we have the contract all signed, sealed and delivered this one should be quickly and painlessly written over the next few days.

2) This leads to 2) the conference paper Julia and I are sharing to produce a “teacher-focussed” paper for the New Literacies strand of the September Future of Literacy conference.

3) Following these I have a big chapter of Second Life Education to write for the edited volume I will be editing with my colleaguess, see info:

Identity, Learning and Support in Virtual Worlds

A Proposal for an Edited Volume
Co-editors: Sharon Tettegah, Craig A. Cunningham & Angela Thomas.

This book explores the educational use and implications of various virtual environments. We focus on the use of chat spaces, Web 2.0, 3D Web or object oriented web (Web 3.0), and virtual environment applications.

Introduction

The World Wide Web, Internet and other technologies continue to evolve. Emerging most recently are so-called “multi-user virtual environments” (MUVEs) such as virtual worlds, which transcend the static Web pages of Web 1.0 as well as the predetermined applications of Web 2.0 to provide e-ecologies with the capacity to immerse the user in a “place” that cuts across time and space and affords opportunities for communication, exploration, collaboration, shared inquiry, and both formal and informal learning. Through its chapters and tightly integrated Introduction and Conclusion, this book introduces the reader to these spaces, and the myriad possibilities they represent for the further evolution of education at the prek-12, post-secondary, and lifelong learning levels.

Our approach to this book involves reflecting on, “what does it mean to teach and learn within and with virtual environments? It means that we as learners are no longer engaged in one way interactions. Virtual environments have enabled us to be highly immersed in spaces that yield high social presence, constructivist learning, interactive problem solving, and surprisingly are still enjoyable. This book will be divided into three sections: Section 1 on identity, section 2 on learning and section 3 on community development and support.

4) An article for E-Learning I promised Sharon, who is editing this special edition with a focus on SL.

5) Preparation for the two key conference talks I’m delivering in May, and prep for numerous meetings with colleagues (some planned, some hoped for) with a view to consider possiple future joint project work with colleagues from the NMC and beyond.

New Literacies Sampler Online

New Literacies Sampler

Peter Lang Publishers are incredibly forward thinking – they have provided the full manuscript of this book online here!  This book has chapters from all of my favourite new literacies authors – see the table of contents below:

Contents

Chapter 1: Sampling “the New” in New Literacies
Colin Lankshear & Michele Knobel

Chapter 2: “You Won’t Be Needing Your Laptops Today”: Wired Bodies in the Wireless Classroom
Kevin M. Leander

Chapter 3: Popular Websites in Adolescents’ Out-of-School Lives: Critical Lessons on Literacy
Jennifer C. Stone

Chapter 4: Agency and Authority in Role-Playing “Texts”
Jessica Hammer

Chapter 5: Pleasure, Learning, Video Games, and Life: The Projective Stance
James Paul Gee

Chapter 6: Digital Design: English Language Learners and Reader Reviews in Online Fiction
Rebecca W. Black

Chapter 7: Blurring and Breaking through the Boundaries of Narrative, Literacy, and
Identity in Adolescent Fan Fiction
Angela Thomas

Chapter 8: Looking from the Inside Out: Academic Blogging as New Literacy
Julia Davies and Guy Merchant

Chapter 9: Online Memes, Affinities, and Cultural Production
Michele Knobel & Colin Lankshear

Chapter 10: New Literacies
Cynthia Lewis

Handbook of Research into New Literacies

Goodness! Don Leu just sent me the massive outline of chapters for a handbook I contributed to about research in New Literacies, and its going to be an amazing collection of chapters. Look!!!!! Its an honour to be in such great company. The Handbook is due out in June or July, and it promises to be substantial in more ways than one.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE HANDBOOK OF RESEARCH IN NEW LITERACIES

Editors:

Julie Coiro, University of Connecticut
Michele Knobel, Montclair State University
Colin Lankshear, James Cook University
Donald J. Leu, University of Connecticut


INTRODUCTION

Central Issues In New Literacies And New Literacies Research

Julie Coiro, University of Connecticut
Michele Knobel, Montclair State University
Colin Lankshear, James Cook University
Donald J. Leu, University of Connecticut

SECTION I. METHODOLOGIES

An Introduction To Methodologies

Toward A Connective Ethnography Of Online/Offline Literacy Networks
Kevin M. Leander, Vanderbilt University, USA

Large-Scale Quantitative Survey Research On New Technology Uses
Ron Anderson, University of Minnesota, USA

Converging Traditions Of Research On Media And Information Literacies: Disciplinary, Critical, And Methodological Issues
Sonia Livingstone, Elizabeth Van Couvering, and Nancy Thumim, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

The Conduct Of Qualitative Interviews: Research Questions, Methodological Issues, And Researching Online
Lori Kendall, University of Illinois, USA

The Case Of Rebellion: Researching Multimodal Texts
Andrew Burn, Institute of Education, University of London, UK

Experimental And Quasi-Experimental Approaches To The Study Of New Literacies
Jonna Kulikowich, The Pennsylvania State University, USA

SECTION II. KNOWLEDGE AND INQUIRY

An Introduction To Knowledge And Inquiry

Learning, Change, And Power: Competing Frames Of Technology And Literacy
Mark Warschauer, University of California, Irvine, USA
Paige Ware, Southern Methodist University, USA

The Web As A Source Of Information For Students In K-12 Education
Els Kuiper and Monique Volman, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Where Do We Go Now? Understanding Research On Navigation In Complex Digital Environments
Kim Lawless, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
P.G. Schrader, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA

The Changing Landscape Of Text And Comprehension In The Age Of New Literacies
Bridget Dalton, Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), USA
C. Patrick Proctor, Boston College, USA

Exploring Culture In The Design Of New Technologies Of Literacy
Patricia Young, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA

Multimedia Literacy
Richard Mayer, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

Multiliteracies And Metalanguage: Describing Image/Text Relations As A Resource For Negotiating Multimodal Texts
Len Unsworth, University of New England, Australia

SECTION III. COMMUNICATION

An Introduction To Communication

Mediating Technologies And Second Language Learning
Steven Thorne, The Pennsylvania State University, USA

Of A Divided Mind: Weblog Literacy
Torill Elvira Mortensen, Volda University College, Norway

People, Purposes, And Practices: Insights From Cross-Disciplinary Research Into Instant Messaging
Gloria E. Jacobs, St. John Fisher College, USA

Gender In Online Communications
Jonathan Paul Marshall, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

SECTION IV. POPULAR CULTURE, COMMUNITY, AND CITIZENSHIP: EVERYDAY LITERACIES

An Introduction To Popular Culture, Community, And Citizenship: Everyday Literacies

Intersections of Popular Culture, Identities, And New Literacies Research
Margaret C. Hagood, College of Charleston, USACollege Students And New Literacy Practices
Dana J. Wilber, Montclair State University, USA

Just Don’t Call Them Cartoons: The New Literacy Spaces Of Animé, Manga, And Fanfiction
Rebecca Ward Black, University of California, Irvine, USA

Cognition And Literacy In Massively Multiplayer Online Games
Constance A. Steinkuehler, University of Wisconsin—Madison, USA

Video Game Literacy: A Literacy Of Expertise
Kurt D. Squire, University of Wisconsin—Madison, USA

Community, Culture And Citizenship In Cyberspace
Angela Thomas, University of Sydney, Australia

New Literacies And Community Inquiry
Bertram C. Bruce and Ann P. Bishop, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

SECTION V. INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES AND ASSESSMENT

An Introduction To Instructional Practices And Assessment

Digital Writing In The Early Years
Guy Merchant, Sheffield Hallam University, UK

Teaching Popular Culture Texts In The Classroom
Richard Beach and David O’Brien, University of Minnesota, USA

Using New Media In The Secondary English Classroom
Ilana Snyder and Scott Bulfin, Monash University

The Price Of Information: Critical Literacy, Education, And Today’s Internet
Bettina Fabos, Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, USA

Researching Multimodal Literacy
Pippa Stein, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa

Multimodal Reading And Comprehension In Online Environments
Claire-Wyatt Smith and John Elkins, Griffith University, Australia

New Literacies In Math And Science
Edys Quellmalz and Geneva Haertel, Center for Technology in Learning, SRI International, USA

Virtual Learning Environments: A Higher Education Focus
Colin Baskin and Neil Anderson, James Cook University, Australia

SECTION VI. MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES ON NEW LITERACIES RESEARCH

An Introduction To Multiple Perspectives On New Literacies

Savannah: Mobile Gaming And Learning? by K. Facer, R. Joiner, D. Stanton, J. Reid, R. Hull, & D. Kirk

Being a Lion And Being A Soldier: Learning And Games
James Paul Gee, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

Savannah: Mobile Gaming and Learning: A Review Commentary
Susan Goldman and Jim Pellegrino, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA

The Nature Of Middle School Learners? Science Content Understandings With The Use Of On-Line Resources by J.L Hoffman., H.-K Wu, J.S. Krajcik, & E. Soloway

Intertextuality and the Study of New Literacies: Research Critique and Recommendations
Peggy N. Van Meter and Carla Firetto, The Pennsylvania State University, USA

Internet Pedagogy: Using the Internet to Achieve Student Learning Outcomes
Bob Bleicher, California State University Channel Islands, USA

Instant Messaging, Literacies, and Social Identities by C. Lewis & B. Fabos

An Essay Review Of The Lewis & Fabos Article On Instant Messaging
Donna Alvermann, University of Georgia, USA

Thoughts On The Lewis & Fabos Article On Instant Messaging
David Reinking, Clemson University, USA

L2 literacy and the design of the self: A case study of a teenager writing on the Internet by W.S.E. Lam

Critical Review: “L2 Literacy and the Design of the Self: A Case study of a Teenager Writing on the Internet”
Catherine Beavis, Deakin University, Burwood, Australia

A Commentary On “L2 Literacy, Electronic Representation of Self, and Social Networking”
Richard Duran, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

The journey ahead: Thirteen teachers report how the Internet influences literacy and literacy instruction in their K–12 classrooms by R.A. Karchmer

Researching Technology And Literacy: Thirteen Ways Of Looking At A Blackboard
Colin Harrison, University of Nottingham, UK

Internet Literacy Influences: A Review of Karchmer (2001).
Jackie Marsh, The University of Sheffield, UK

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