Conceptualizing participatory literacy:approaches to building and sustaining

blended learning communities

Mirjam Hauck, Sylvia Warnecke, The Open University, UK

H. Müge Satar, Sumru Akcan, Boğaziçi University, Turkey

“shift happens”

We are preparing students for jobs that do not exist yet, that will use technologies that have not been invented yet, in order to solve problems that are not even problems yet.

http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com

what's the challenge?

• need for comprehensive pedagogical approaches (in teacher education) which make best possible use of online tools and applications for (language) learning and teaching purposes

• But:- hierarchical and prescriptive use of technology is still

prevailing- tendency to reproduce power structures known from traditional classroom settings

what’s the impact on us?

… teachers need to appreciate the value of socialconstructivism and related approaches in preparing their students to participate, as employees and citizens, in digitally mediated societies.

In a world of multi-directional communication, it’s crucial to develop digital communicative literacy, which provides a foundation for online interactions, [...] and which facilitates the collaborative processes at the core of participatory literacy.

Pegrum (2009)

what's the task at hand?

A massively increased focus on teacher training […]to equip educators with a state-of-the-art underpinningtheoretical framework so that they are better placed toguide teaching and learning efforts, to convert hunchesand intuition into demonstrable student gains and,genuinely, to innovate (Pegg et al. 2007)

It’s imperative that teacher training covers far morethan technology and pedagogy. Educators need a clear sense of the social, sociopolitical and ecologicalembeddedness of technology. (Pegrum 2009)

social presence

the ability of the individual to demonstrate his/her

availability for and willingness to participate in

interaction

(Kehrwald 2008)

awareness dilemma

the assumption that users are “actively reflecting

on their media ... experiences and can thus

articulate what they learn from their participation”

(Jenkins et al. 2006)

whatsthepont.wordrpess.com

what’s the task at hand?

… ensure that every … young person has access to the

skills and experiences needed to … articulate their

understanding of how media shapes perception, and

has been socialized into the emerging ethical

standards that should shape their practices as media

makers and participants in online communities.

(Jenkins et al. 2006)

participatory culture

Blogs and moblogs (mobile blogs) can help students shape and

share their thoughts while learning from feedback ... They can build

a ‘sim’ (virtual location) in Second Life … Finally, any individual

student’s creations and contributions can be linked together

through a PLE and can even form the basis for an e-portfolio, with

blogs, wiki entries, Flickr photos, YouTube videos and Second Life

constructions shaped into a digital CV. (Pegrum 2009)

http://blog.mypeoplebiz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/CV.png

cultural competencies

and social skills

understanding how media

shapes perceptions

prerequisite for involvement in ‘participatory

cultures’

online collaboration

and networkingnew media

literacy

drawing on many modes

learners who are able

“to choose, not merely with full competence within one

mode […] but with full awareness of the affordances of

many modes and of the media and their sites of

appearance” (Kress 2003)

will get more out of online encounters than those who are

less aware

coming full circle

learners who are in Kress’s (2003) words fully aware of

the affordances of many modes and of the media and

their sites of appearance are those who are likely to be

able to “articulate their understanding of how media

shapes perception” (Jenkins et al. 2006) and can reflect

on “their practices as media makers and participants in

online communities”

awareness dilemma (almost) solved

the assumption that users are “actively reflecting on

their media ... experiences and can thus articulate

what they learn from their participation” (Jenkins et al. 2006)

“more shift needs to happen”

• learner and tutor training as well as task design for

online environments should be fundamentally

reconsidered

• raise trainees’ awareness of available communication

modes and of their respective affordances

(Hampel & Hauck 2006)

→ “multimodal pedagogies” (Stein 2000)

project design

• a combination of pedagogical and technical training (Hubbard & Levy 2006; Hampel 2009)

• online tutoring skills focusing on participatory literacy and social presence (Hauck & Warnecke 2012)

• experiential modelling (Hoven 2006)

• exploratory practice (Allwright & Hanks 2009)

in a nutshell

blended learning teacher education programme task-based online learning format pre-service English language teachers from Turkey four tutors (2 from UK, 2 from Turkey) objectives:

> awareness raising of meaning making, communicating and “teaching” online

> new media literacy skills development

we’ve looked for awareness of ...

• meaning making (modes and impact)• participatory literacy skills

week1, task 1Introduce yourself either in writing or by recording an a/v

contribution.

Listen to or watch the intros of other participants and comment on the different types of intros.

an example Nov 5, 2012- week 1

I like video introductions best, because, you can see and hear the person, it is more

sincere than writing. However, recording a video is demanding and problematic. If

you write something, you can read and correct it; but, you cannot correct the video,

you have to record a new one. You may have trouble in uploading and watching

the video due to its size or slow internet connection, etc as I have in my dormitory right

now. I chose to write my introduction, because it takes less time. I would present them

the ways they can do their introductions and leave the choice to them so that they can

feel secure and feel free about which one to use.

what’s the take away?

• it is not sufficient to equip learners with … online

resources … we have to promote the kind of literacy

required to use the new learning spaces to their best

effect (Hampel & Hauck 2006)

• invest more time into collaborative tasks informed by

multimodal pedagogy

what’s the task at hand?

make learners more systematically aware of the affordances of

many modes to ensure that they have “access to the skills and

experiences needed to […] articulate their understanding of

how media shapes perception, and have been socialized into the

emerging ethical standards that should shape their practices as

media makers and participants in online communities”

(Jenkins et. al 2006)

ready for the shift to happen?

training for social presence

subjective projections of self … into technology mediated environments, subjective assessments of others’ presence and assessments of the subject’s relations with others

through seeing and experiencing how others project themselves into the environment, how others interact with one another and how others react to their personal efforts to cultivate a social presence

(Kehrwald 2010)

cultivating a social presence …

cultivating a social presence …

Nov 5, 2012 - week 1

Hello everyone,

I am Aylin. 3 Web 2.0 tools I use a lot are Facebook, Twitter and Youtube apart from

Email. Here is what I do everday as my ritual: … Finally I go online on Facebook

and Twitter after reading and answering my emails. I use Facebook to follow my

friends; where they are, what they do, what they are up to. It … gives me the

chance to post something and discuss it with my friends. …

I use Youtube and SlidesShare most as learning contexts. ..

I love İstanbul very much. ... There are lots of social activies like seminars,

conferences, concerts, festivals, matchs in this city. It is always lively.

cultivating a social presence … Nov 18, 2012 - week 2

This is really a good idea, but finding a noun or adjective for each of the letter in our

names could be hard as you say. Therefore, we may find an adjective or noun starting

with the first letter of our names. For example, I can introduce myself Adventurous

Aylin and it would be easier both to find a word and to remember that person with

only one word.

cultivating a social presence … Adventurous Aylin in action!

Nov 18, 2012 - week 2 (Aylin)

To increase motivation, moderator could start with shorter discussions related to

students’ interest. ... If discussions start with shorter ones and continue with longer

ones step by step, I believe student motivation won’t decrease.  Also, the

discussion topic should be carefully chosen so that all students could

participate. … Therefore, moderators should pay attention to students’ interests

and load of discussion.

cultivating a social presence … Nov 18, 2012 - week 2 (Tutor 1)

Point taken, Aylin! "If discussions seem long and heavily loaded to the students, they

may be confused which questions to answer or which topics to comment on or

frustrated due to lots of expected discussion."

… I do believe in scaffolding activities - including online discussions - and am happy

for any suggestion for improvement.

To a certain degree we are making this module on "social presence" up as we

go along together.

So any suggestions are really very, very welcome. We can and should all learn from

each other.

cultivating a social presence … Nov 25, 2012 (Aylin)

You work on this platform, and I think you are doing a very good job, thank you

for that :)

This platform is excellent in that it is a different way of interacting with students. It

attracts their attention towards use of technology in a controlled and safe way. It will

be a good tool for me in the future. Therefore, I am happy to be a part of it.

You know it takes some time for people to get used to different things and Canvas is

one of these different things in people’s lives. Naturally, I am getting used to visit

Canvas regularly day by day. I would be very happy if there were fewer tasks.

cultivating a social presence … Nov 25, 2012 (Aylin - continued)

This is because it is really hard to catch up with it. I want to read all of the

comments, make new comments on what my friends think; because … . I also know

you have time limitations, because you have a schedule. So, I am not sure

whether what I suggest is applicable or not.

I am not sure whether what I recommend is improvement or adaptation. I think it is

more like an adaptation. I don’t think the instructions should be re-arranged, they are

very clear and understandable, no problem with them. The thing is there are 3 tasks

every week. Even two tasks would be very helpful so that we can spend less

time in our busy school lives. If it is possible?

taskWeek 3 Activity 1: Patterns of participation: forum

Dear all,

This week we will consider two key issues with regard to the tutor role inasynchronous communication: motivation and participation. [...]

Think about your own patterns of participation (as a moderator or as a student).

Then have a look at the attached document which is a collation of common patterns of online participation by Salmon (2002).

Which one applies to yourself? Is there anything you have learned that you want to practise in order to help your learners stay motivate and engaged?

patterns of participation: forum

shifting roles and identities Nov 18, 2012 - Aylin

… But the important thing here is whether I participate in forums for educational

or personal reasons. If I am expected to be involved in the discussion seriously

as we do in Canvas for educational reasons, I will share my ideas about the topic

regularly as much as possible. However, if I participate in forums for personal

reasons, I participate whenever I have free time.

I may be the mouse or the wolf as I still don't get used to using Canvas platform.

I still explore what I can do and how I can do those things in Canvas.

Aylin's data from 4 journal entries

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5

Questions

1-5

Scale Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

"Learn, Comment, Produce & Share."

what’s the task at hand?

task design

stimulated and on-going reflection on motivation, online participation and the

relevance of social presence

new form of collaborative online educator training

teacher ethnographies as models of the collaborative processes that underpin

participation and social presence

Teşekkürler! - Danke! - Thank you!

Sylvia Warnecke Mirjam Hauck

Sumru Akcan Müge Satar

https://canvas.