” Media and Information Literacy. (2011) pp. 120 – 127.

This picture came from a blog called Spredfast, which is more about marketing, but I loved the image!

New and old media are growing together into one, technology has been the engine pushing the two together and there is no longer confrontation or controversy in that matter. 

Any serious communicators, no matter how traditionalist they may be, are using new media. Newspaper are being published in internet sites as well as on paper, communication has become a lot more efficient and fast, and regular people can express their opinions as effectively as professional writers and journalists. People make web sites and blogs and open them to the public, professionals are using and reproducing peoples's thoughts. Anyone, without age, nationality, or social status restriction has access to media producing  software, to experts advice and guidance, and to all the information on the web. 

Social media is also merging with traditional media at an unforeseen scale, and while old media is being modernized and keeps evolving, new media keeps taking valuable elements from the old.

Even if new technologies emerge that allow anyone to easily produce media, traditional media, dedicated journalists, writers, and all sorts of creative people will always be the ones leading the way.

Old media refers to Newspapers, magazines, radio, television, etc. New media includes social networks, blogs, digital TV, digital radio, mobile technologies, etc.

All this merging means great news for us as teachers, we get to participate by sharing ideas, lesson plans, videos, strategies, it is all right there for the advantage of the students. by joining different groups, we can always be in touch with what other teachers are doing around the world. Access to digital media is nearly fully available for everyone at all times, but I have to say it becomes really overwhelming, there is just too much out there, and only by having a well organized system of information filters and time organization skills, the whole exercise can turn against us. I think it is very important to consider that although the opportunities are great, teachers really have to make some time for socializing in real life, with colleagues and students. I consider that a teacher with no life experiences can't really communicate anything of value to his students.

ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education

Analyzing the Essential Skills for Visual Literacy

From Miss Indie's Blog

I consider myself a person who appreciates aesthetics, and up until not very long ago that would have been a characteristic that qualified me (at least according to my former boss) to participate in the creation of visual aids for students (a little more than setting up bulletin boards attractively). Nowadays that is faraway from being enough, after reading the ACRL Standards for Visual Literacy Competency, I think I have the equivalent level of a first grade child.

But not all hope is lost, because when judging my skills objectively, I always refer to visual aids when I try to communicate, and I am resourceful enough not to limit myself to one or two sources or types of images. Although I normally know what I want an image to project according to the context in which I want to use it, I don't have the skills to produce original visual products that have the required technical elements, so I am still quite limited to what is available, and that is hard work. It is easy to get lost in the overwhelming amount of available media and my critical skill is yet to be nurtured.

Even when it comes to using existing images, the different programs and applications available to transform these images in order to communicate ideas effectively are many and they all must be learned and practiced, which takes time and patience, both of which are precious resources I don't always have.

It is one thing to judge an image that someone else created, and a very different  one to critically aesthetic and technical characteristics before using it.

The most important skill that I hope to acquire in this course is the creation of original, efective, relevant, and meaningful visual material produced in a way that is ethical, legal and doesn't interfere with copyright issues.

I would like to have a varied participation with different kinds of teachers, I love diversity, and let's face it if I was to limit my choices to science teachers (like me) we would be losing the chance to become richer in experience, plus the outcome would be limited also. I think that as long as the interest is common and everyone is focused, the working group should be as diverse as can be.

Image from InfoTube http://edit302.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/visual-literacy/

Lemke, C. “Innovation Through Technology,” 21st Century Skills: Rethinking How Students Learn. (2011) pp. 243 – 269.

While I  am writing this post as an assignment for my third course on educational technologies using a laptop, I have an iPhone beside me to read the article, paper where I wrote some notes while reading, and an iPad, where I can check the assignment rubric. there is no question that technology has taken over our daily activities an duties.
As teachers this becomes ever more evident, we use these tools to be more efficient, we deal with smarty pants students who are digital natives and we are expected to acquire a certain degree of expertise in order to survive and keep our jobs. But beside all these we can only be thankful for the great benefits of being able to innovate in so many ways.
The fact that schools have to embrace visualization, democratization of knowledge and participatory culture of learning is an understatement considering the drastic influence of technology in all aspects of our lives. Statistics are very clear about this matter, this is the age of information.
In order to captivate students and keep them engaged there must be a clear balance between creativity and skill building. We can no longer expect students to be interested in visually poor material, and even less to learn anything of real relevance unless they go through a creative process.
Visualization has always been considered an aid in the teaching-learning process, but nowadays it has become a way of learning and it has increased students performance considerably.
Technology allows us not only to make contents more visually attractive, but also interactive. And the most attractive feature of the use of visualization is the fact that it allows students to create and communicate better and more efficiently.
We can run, but we can't hide, when it comes to learning and creating opportunities, they are everywhere, including the palm of our hand. Information and therefore educational experiences come to us fast, frequently and efficiently, and as educators the saddest thing that could happen would be wasting it. students have access everywhere to learning opportunities and it is our responsibility as teachers to guide them through safe and focused internet browsing, to be aware of the different available learning objects and resources and to get rid of the former limitations such as: not understanding the teachers explanation, since there are thousands of teachers with different styles available to them on the web. Knowledge has become a democracy.
My favorite out of the three innovations is the Participatory learning, to use social media and virtual communities to show students the advantages of working together to create better products is priceless, and it's also free of charge.

I try to embrace all of these innovations as much as my limited expertise allows me, and that is one more reason to keep ourselves awake, aware, and constantly updating ourselves.
We obviously have to be very much aware that all this benefits don't come without a price, it is not an easy task to engage students when there are so many distractions. when information comes to them so easily and when the media producers that are trying to get the young ones attention are a lot more heavily armed than educators.

Zhao, Y. “The Wrong Bet: Why Common Curriculum & Standards Won’t Help, World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Learners. Pp. 23 – 45

I have to say that when it comes to talking about the global aspect of education I take it personally, and I can't help my view being influenced by my personal situation. My family situation is one that is becoming the norm when it used to be the exception: two people from different countries get married and have children in yet another country, and then go and live in a fourth country, that happens more and more these days and we can't stop thinking about our own children's education and future.
"The world our children live in is global, not local as before... one's birthplace no longer determines his or her future living space or whom he or she may be working for or with... they require the knowledge and abilities to interact with people who are not born and raised in the same local community"
It is not right to believe that one country deserves better opportunities for their children than any other, the way technology is moving forward and considering how borders have become more permeable, common core education would be an obvious consequence, but the truth is that globalization doesn't necessarily follow a fair path. Developed countries are not ready to give up their advantages and developing countries are not prepared to embrace an unfamiliar sense of self esteem and pride.
A common core curriculum also tends to diminish the importance attributed to values we should be embracing dearly, values that define us as humans, give us personal and national identities. Like Zhao says "It is not the money, energy, or political and social capital that should be of most concern... The most important is the children's future"
In my opinion, education could be seen as the luggage we provide our children with to send them out into the world. It would be a big inconvenience if they didn't have all the right things with them, but it would be tragic if they were not prepared to acquire what they need along the way.
There is so much richness in individual talents, in family values in cultural traditions and in countries historic heritages, that it would be a terrible loss to standardize anything that could be enriched by any of them.
I would prefer to think that my children are four times richer because of their background than thinking that they can decide which country will give them the biggest economic reward for their work.
As educators we have a big responsibility to protect all things that make us individuals, and even if governments impose standardized core curriculums and tests, we are the ones spending time with children on an everyday basis and it's upto us to make the right bet, even a small group of children in a remote developing country can make a difference in the world's 7 billion people.

Zhao publishes an interesting blog with his views on education. You can follow him on http://zhaolearning.com/category/blog/