Over the past few decades, there has been a marked shift away from conceptualizing
literacy as a... more Over the past few decades, there has been a marked shift away from conceptualizing
literacy as a functional skill set toward its recognition, particularly for children and
youth, as a social achievement that is buttressed, in part, by access to digital tools
and new media. Yet, beyond the mere consumption of multimedia and the mundane
assemblage of words, images, and other resources, we ask, “What does a successful
multimedia literacy performance look like and how might ‘designful’ multimedia
thinking and composition be taught, learned, and assessed?” In addressing these
issues, we present a fine-grained description and analysis of the work of a 13-year-old
Singaporean named “Jeremy,” who produced a personal digital story of considerable
theoretical and practical interest to us as researchers and new literacy scholars.
Building on prior research in the field of multiliteracies, we argue that educators (and
students) must cultivate their own senses of “semiotic awareness” before meaningful
assessment of children’s multimodal design work can be conceived or implemented.
We also sketch a preliminary approach to assessing multimodal literacies and explicate
a range of interconnected representational possibilities that we expect will prompt
a timely and urgent reconsideration of multimodal meaning design in school settings.
Using data collected through two focus group interviews with 14- to 16-year-olds involved in a on... more Using data collected through two focus group interviews with 14- to 16-year-olds involved in a one-to-one laptop academic programme in a Singapore secondary school, this paper shows some student disengagement and dissatisfaction in class, and this poses questions about the relevance of the school's laptop programme. Our findings illustrate low productivity in the students' use of their computers as they respond to their teachers' instructional agendas. Our work indicates research into one-to-one laptop learning needs to pay greater attention to the minds, motivations and hands of students as they embark on learning they do not fully understand or can control for themselves. We determine that educators and policy-makers need to know a lot more about how growth in students' digital maturity operates. In the final analysis, we understand and explain the students' views about how their learning experiences might be improved, and their behaviour (as a digital wisdom journey centred on learning) to be digitally mature.
Many consider one-to-one laptop computing empowering and exciting but this type of educational eq... more Many consider one-to-one laptop computing empowering and exciting but this type of educational equipping also raises questions about how teachers can develop and learn professionally to meet challenging and changing classroom conditions, in situ. In this paper we draw illustrative findings from a study of high school English teachers during the implementation of an ubiquitous mobile learning innovation. Using multiple profiles generated from the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) we exemplify how we identified and supported teachers’ diminishing and increasing operational and pedagogical issues through an iterative co-generated action-planning programme that supplemented generic departmental and school-wide workshops and seminars. We end with a discussion of the practical implications for teachers in moving towards student-centred learning and the limited utility of one-size-fits-all technical training. We also mention the limitations of focusing on individual competence in digital tool use in teacher professional learning contexts.
Web 2.0 is a buzzword not only in the technological world, but also in the educational industry. ... more Web 2.0 is a buzzword not only in the technological world, but also in the educational industry. The plethora of Web 2.0 tools presents affordances that have great potentials to be effectively used in the educational settings. While the options are abundant, appropriating Web 2.0 applications in learning and teaching requires informed decision for meaningful experiences. In order to achieve this, it is imperative that a thorough affordances analysis of the tool is performed so as to determine its potential for purposeful utilisation. This paper expounds the possible recruitment of an online audioblog tool, Podomatic, in oral lessons. It discusses three aspects of the affordances namely (i) pedagogy, (ii) social, and (iii) technology. Following that, it offers suggestions for (i) tackling issues that teachers and students faced, and (ii) for enhanced learning opportunities.
Providing a laptop with wireless connectivity for every English language student opens up whole n... more Providing a laptop with wireless connectivity for every English language student opens up whole new spectrum of possibilities for teachers in designing instructions and activities in their classrooms. In the same vein, this innovation also has the propensity to perturb the already established teaching and learning strategies. Predictably, a consequence of this is the development of concerns within teachers in meeting with the expectations of the innovation. This study reports on teachers‟ concerns in terms of Concern- Based Adoption Model's (CBAM) instrument, namely Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ) in leveraging a one-to-one laptop initiative. The recruitment of SoCQ elicited concerns such as management, personal and informational related issues, that individual teacher faced as they embarked and progressed through the innovation. Results from this study provided baseline information for further inquiries on the causes of teachers‟ concerns in using laptops that would aid to guide the strategising of appropriate and personalised professional development.
Over the past few decades, there has been a marked shift away from conceptualizing
literacy as a... more Over the past few decades, there has been a marked shift away from conceptualizing
literacy as a functional skill set toward its recognition, particularly for children and
youth, as a social achievement that is buttressed, in part, by access to digital tools
and new media. Yet, beyond the mere consumption of multimedia and the mundane
assemblage of words, images, and other resources, we ask, “What does a successful
multimedia literacy performance look like and how might ‘designful’ multimedia
thinking and composition be taught, learned, and assessed?” In addressing these
issues, we present a fine-grained description and analysis of the work of a 13-year-old
Singaporean named “Jeremy,” who produced a personal digital story of considerable
theoretical and practical interest to us as researchers and new literacy scholars.
Building on prior research in the field of multiliteracies, we argue that educators (and
students) must cultivate their own senses of “semiotic awareness” before meaningful
assessment of children’s multimodal design work can be conceived or implemented.
We also sketch a preliminary approach to assessing multimodal literacies and explicate
a range of interconnected representational possibilities that we expect will prompt
a timely and urgent reconsideration of multimodal meaning design in school settings.
Using data collected through two focus group interviews with 14- to 16-year-olds involved in a on... more Using data collected through two focus group interviews with 14- to 16-year-olds involved in a one-to-one laptop academic programme in a Singapore secondary school, this paper shows some student disengagement and dissatisfaction in class, and this poses questions about the relevance of the school's laptop programme. Our findings illustrate low productivity in the students' use of their computers as they respond to their teachers' instructional agendas. Our work indicates research into one-to-one laptop learning needs to pay greater attention to the minds, motivations and hands of students as they embark on learning they do not fully understand or can control for themselves. We determine that educators and policy-makers need to know a lot more about how growth in students' digital maturity operates. In the final analysis, we understand and explain the students' views about how their learning experiences might be improved, and their behaviour (as a digital wisdom journey centred on learning) to be digitally mature.
Many consider one-to-one laptop computing empowering and exciting but this type of educational eq... more Many consider one-to-one laptop computing empowering and exciting but this type of educational equipping also raises questions about how teachers can develop and learn professionally to meet challenging and changing classroom conditions, in situ. In this paper we draw illustrative findings from a study of high school English teachers during the implementation of an ubiquitous mobile learning innovation. Using multiple profiles generated from the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) we exemplify how we identified and supported teachers’ diminishing and increasing operational and pedagogical issues through an iterative co-generated action-planning programme that supplemented generic departmental and school-wide workshops and seminars. We end with a discussion of the practical implications for teachers in moving towards student-centred learning and the limited utility of one-size-fits-all technical training. We also mention the limitations of focusing on individual competence in digital tool use in teacher professional learning contexts.
Web 2.0 is a buzzword not only in the technological world, but also in the educational industry. ... more Web 2.0 is a buzzword not only in the technological world, but also in the educational industry. The plethora of Web 2.0 tools presents affordances that have great potentials to be effectively used in the educational settings. While the options are abundant, appropriating Web 2.0 applications in learning and teaching requires informed decision for meaningful experiences. In order to achieve this, it is imperative that a thorough affordances analysis of the tool is performed so as to determine its potential for purposeful utilisation. This paper expounds the possible recruitment of an online audioblog tool, Podomatic, in oral lessons. It discusses three aspects of the affordances namely (i) pedagogy, (ii) social, and (iii) technology. Following that, it offers suggestions for (i) tackling issues that teachers and students faced, and (ii) for enhanced learning opportunities.
Providing a laptop with wireless connectivity for every English language student opens up whole n... more Providing a laptop with wireless connectivity for every English language student opens up whole new spectrum of possibilities for teachers in designing instructions and activities in their classrooms. In the same vein, this innovation also has the propensity to perturb the already established teaching and learning strategies. Predictably, a consequence of this is the development of concerns within teachers in meeting with the expectations of the innovation. This study reports on teachers‟ concerns in terms of Concern- Based Adoption Model's (CBAM) instrument, namely Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ) in leveraging a one-to-one laptop initiative. The recruitment of SoCQ elicited concerns such as management, personal and informational related issues, that individual teacher faced as they embarked and progressed through the innovation. Results from this study provided baseline information for further inquiries on the causes of teachers‟ concerns in using laptops that would aid to guide the strategising of appropriate and personalised professional development.
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Papers by Wan Fareed
literacy as a functional skill set toward its recognition, particularly for children and
youth, as a social achievement that is buttressed, in part, by access to digital tools
and new media. Yet, beyond the mere consumption of multimedia and the mundane
assemblage of words, images, and other resources, we ask, “What does a successful
multimedia literacy performance look like and how might ‘designful’ multimedia
thinking and composition be taught, learned, and assessed?” In addressing these
issues, we present a fine-grained description and analysis of the work of a 13-year-old
Singaporean named “Jeremy,” who produced a personal digital story of considerable
theoretical and practical interest to us as researchers and new literacy scholars.
Building on prior research in the field of multiliteracies, we argue that educators (and
students) must cultivate their own senses of “semiotic awareness” before meaningful
assessment of children’s multimodal design work can be conceived or implemented.
We also sketch a preliminary approach to assessing multimodal literacies and explicate
a range of interconnected representational possibilities that we expect will prompt
a timely and urgent reconsideration of multimodal meaning design in school settings.
literacy as a functional skill set toward its recognition, particularly for children and
youth, as a social achievement that is buttressed, in part, by access to digital tools
and new media. Yet, beyond the mere consumption of multimedia and the mundane
assemblage of words, images, and other resources, we ask, “What does a successful
multimedia literacy performance look like and how might ‘designful’ multimedia
thinking and composition be taught, learned, and assessed?” In addressing these
issues, we present a fine-grained description and analysis of the work of a 13-year-old
Singaporean named “Jeremy,” who produced a personal digital story of considerable
theoretical and practical interest to us as researchers and new literacy scholars.
Building on prior research in the field of multiliteracies, we argue that educators (and
students) must cultivate their own senses of “semiotic awareness” before meaningful
assessment of children’s multimodal design work can be conceived or implemented.
We also sketch a preliminary approach to assessing multimodal literacies and explicate
a range of interconnected representational possibilities that we expect will prompt
a timely and urgent reconsideration of multimodal meaning design in school settings.