***********************************************************

Interdisciplinary Online Learning Center

for a Multiliteracy Approach

***********************************************************

This project was created for the EPS 415 class, Technology and Educational Reform, at the University of Illinois. Urbana-Champaign. Professor Nicholas C. Burbules.

Contents:

Multiliteracy Home: Introduction EPS 415

Part 1: Educational Opportunities and Challenges

Part 2: Problems Relating to Other Areas of Life

Part 3: Where Technological and Social Trends will take the Field of Education

Interdisciplinary Skills

CHART: Online Learning Center for Multiliteracy

Conclusion

References

Introduction

Our project, an Interdisciplinary Online Learning Center for a Multiliteracy Approach, seeks to address the growing need for various approaches to education that are easily accessible to the world’s increasingly mobile and globalized population. The problem that we are addressing is that of globalized Multiliteracy and the frequent lack of acknowledgement of multifarious ways of learning and teaching. Multiliteracy is a term coined by the New London Group to address the shift of the usage of the English language within different cultures. It is used to acknowledge that people need a common language to communicate yet have their own ways of using it. The rise of technological advances is also changing the way in which people learn and communicate and this is addressed in our project. They propose the “teaching of all representations of meaning including, linguistic, visual, audio, spacial, gestural, and multimodal through a balanced classroom design of Situated Practice, Overt Instruction, Critical Framing and Transformed Practice” (The New London Group-Harvard Educational Review, 1996). Our group has created a tangible representation of what this article recommends as a learning tool for educators and students alike.

Below is a list of useful articles to peruse if you desire further information on this topic.

1. The Harvard Educational Review on issues of pedagogy of Multiliteracy

http://wwwstatic.kern.org/filer/blogWrite44ManilaWebsite/paul/articles/A_Pedagogy_of_Multiliteracies_Designing_Social_Futures.htm

2. Teaching Multiliteracies Across the Curriculum by Len Unsworth

 http://www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/openup/chapters/0335206042.pdf

3. Multiliteracies for a Digital Age by Stuart Selber

http://prelimsandbeyond.wordpress.com/2009/01/31/selber/

To assist with how our approach is intended to improve the problem outlined above, it is important to first explain our definition of Online/Ubiquitous Learning. We view it as learning that can be accessed from anywhere, taught from anywhere and received from anywhere with the aid of Internet connectivity. This creates a more ubiquitous learning environment because, as the article “A Better Pencil- Writing it Down” mentions, “Computers are everywhere these days” (Baron, 2009). In the past, typewriters, traditional classrooms, rock tablets, paper scrolls, blackboards and the pencil were just some of the tools used for learning. In contemporary times, we are able to access advanced technological tools such as Google, YouTube, Moodle, Facebook, Wikipedia, and Blackboard etc. as online learning tools for Multiliteracy. Ubiquitous learning happens in many places and in many different ways at the same time.

Our plan to make people aware of the resources that we created is to post them online, send e-mails with the link and explanations to educators and students, link key words to search engines such as Google, Wikipedia etc, post links in social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and try to guide any interested people to our website. We hope that word of mouth will also assist us in distributing this resource for ubiquitous learning.

Our team produced and compiled original media for skills in five subject areas to coincide with the experience and expertise of each of our group members. As a result of our respective years of various experience in the education industry- we thought it best to share the skills each of us individually honed in our careers thus far.  Our respective areas of expertise are listed below and include Language Arts, English as a Second Language (ESL), History, Special Education and Study Abroad. We then published them in chart format with appropriate links online for convenient ubiquitous access. We divided the disciplines into five pages, one page per discipline, and listed five skills per page with links to share helpful skills for learners and educators. We also included links at the end of each page to blog sites where educators can add to our list of skills or ask questions to share with the education community. In addition, we compiled an easy to use CHART: Online Learning Center for Multiliteracy after the five individual pages to make it easier for the user to pick out which resource they would like to use just by the links. The intended purpose of this website is to increase communication in the education community, help students learn and assist teachers with educating effectively using Multiliteracy concepts in five different disciplines:

Jason Murdock– English/Language Arts (Secondary)

Sasha Harrison- ESL (English as a Second Language)

Amisha Shah- History (High School)

Michelle Junod- Special Education

Michelle Rainey- Study Abroad

We each created 5 skills that we believe are essential to help teachers and students find success in each discipline. We used multiple ways of sharing these skills to demonstrate different types of teaching styles that could be compatible to multiple types of literacy found among current global students. The types of tools we created address Auditory, Media, Visual, Functional Reading and Global literacy.

5 Skills Presented for Multiliteracy Learning

Skill 1- Audio file to tell the web user how to do the skill for Auditory Literacy

Skill 2- Video on how to do the skill for New Media Literacy

Skill 3- Photograph example of the skill for Visual Literacy

Skill 4- Written representation of skill for Functional Reading Literacy

Skill 5- Discussion link to the written skill so global citizen/netizens 
can discuss different interpretations and experiences for Global Literacy

We also analyzed Part 1: Educational Opportunities and Challenges that arise from online learning developments; Part 2: How these Problems Relate to Other Areas of Life and Part 3: Where Technological and Social Trends will take the Field of Education.

Enjoy our project!

About the Authors

JASON MURDOCK: I am originally from Nova Scotia, on the east coast of Canada. I graduated from the University College of Cape Breton in 2002 with a BA in Celtic Studies. I spent two years as a professional guitar player before moving to Halifax, NS in 2004. In 2006 I moved to Laramie, Wyoming. I graduated in 2009 with a BA in Secondary Education and English. I currently live in Casper, Wyoming teaching 9th grade English.jdmurdo2@illinois.edu

SASHA HARRISON:I was born in Virginia, raised in Blacksburg, attended the University of Virginia to attain my BA in History/Environmental Science, lived in NYC as an actress for 3 years and finally ended up in Seoul, South Korea teaching English. I am currently working on my M.Ed. in Global Studies in the Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership at UIUC. scharri2@illinois.edu

AMISHA SHAH: I was born in India and grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, where I still reside. I come from a big family and have many nieces and nephews that I love! I majored in History and Education and I love to travel. I teach history at the high school level in Deerfield,IL. ampatel6@illinois.edu

MICHELLE JUNOD:I was born and raised in Iowa and attended Iowa State University. I participated as a student-athlete, and later a softball coach at ISU. It was at ISU where I received a degree in Elementary/Special Education. Currently, I live in Chicago and teach Special Education at a Middle School. junod2@illinois.edu

MICHELLE RAINEY: I was born in Washington and grew up in Iowa. I attended Iowa State University and earned a degree in Liberal Studies. Currently, I live in Omaha, NE and work for Metropolitan Community College as an academic advisor. mrainey2@illinois.edu

Next: Part 1: Educational Opportunities and Challenges