Technology, e-Books, & Writing - Oh My!

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Even before we are ready to decode and read words upon a page, we are navigating our world through images and pictures. Images play a major role in understanding our world. Living in the 21^st century, we are bombarded on a daily basis with images and media.  It is because of this information overload that we need to be able to adequately interpret what we are seeing. In the last decade, with numerous ways to access the digital world via the internet, iPads, and smart phones, most students have been exposed to thousands of images and media throughout their lives. They are entering into a school setting having previous technological experiences and some expertise (Chandler-Olcott & Mahar, 2003). Even though students have experience and some expertise with technology and devices, many need to develop literacy (reading and writing) and digital skills in a meaningful way. Just because they have had access to technology does not mean that they have the skills or knowledge to make sense of the information that they come into contact with on a daily basis.  Therefore, it is essential for children to develop the ability to access, analyze, and evaluate information.

To successfully connect and navigate cyberspace one must be literate. Reading and writing are then to be considered as essential skills needed to obtain literacy. Moreover, reading and writing are also valuable life skills which lead to one becoming literate and successful. Children use writing activities to learn and to apply what has been taught in the classroom setting. The purpose of writing instruction is to enhance students’ awareness of strategic writing so that they can plan, evaluate, and regulate their own thinking. With all the different features offered by today’s technologies, alternative formats for challenging materials and experiences in the classroom can be made possible for students. According to Hicks, “clearly integrating visual literacy and alphabetic literacy is important, and creating e-books allows students to combine these two skills” (Hicks, 2013, p. 83). E-books are forms of electronic text created by students and containing many features and images. By facilitating the creation of e-books, students are provided an authentic context for writing practice as well as a tool for making and publishing books. This creative process requires students to acquire or use their ability to access, analyze, and communicate in a format that engages the cognitive processing of text and images. This is a change for students as they must think critically and process information differently. Links made between their e-book presentation of text and images and what has been previously read and seen results in cognitive processing of the texts and images. Ultimately, this allows new concepts to be formed and expanded. The digital writing process is the same process as the traditional writing process (Hicks, 2013, p. 38). Throughout the e-books creation and writing process, students assess themselves as they select text and images to add to their e-books allowing them to take ownership in their own learning. In combining writing and technology in meaningful ways, children gain understanding, organize information, and learn. 

             
         Digital technology and its uses influence how students perceive, analyze, and learn information. It is because of this, children should be considered as consumers of all of the information that they come into contact with and access. The children and youth of today must be taught how to deal with and sort through digital and online content. They must become intelligent consumers of the tremendous amounts of information that they encounter daily. Moreover, they must be knowledgeable and wise about how they use the information and make decisions based upon it. The technological advances, specifically digital technology, has prompted swift and radical changes in the world we know.  With such changes, students think and process information differently. Although it is not the technology itself, but the way it is used that is important, technology should be integrated into the curriculum and classroom thoughtfully, carefully, meaningfully, and selectively. Like other educational tools, technology should provide authentic opportunities and experiences where students think flexibly, construct knowledge, develop understanding, and use information from varying resources.

References

Hicks, T. (2013). Crafting web texts. In T. Antao (Ed.), Crafting digital writing: Composing texts across media and genre, (pp. 61-86). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Chandler-Olcott, K. (2003). Tech savviness meets multiliteracies: Exploring adolescent girls’ technology-mediated literacy practices. Reading Research Quarterly, 38(3), 356-385. doi: 10.1598/RRQ.38.3.3

Students love technology image retrieved from
www.usnews.com/education/technology-in-the-classroom

 

Presentation Technology, e-Books, & Writing - Oh My!