Week 7 e-learning-An analysis of a multimodal text

Take a look at the digital story created by Adam Chester who works in the Arts industry as /songwriter/arranger/conductor in Los Angeles. His digital story is based on real communication experience he has  with his mother.

This presentation   http://www.vidlit.com/sushi/         runs for 3.51 min and I will only focus on some aspects of the presentation accompanied with related screenshots. Some the aspects refered here are: 

(1) use of visuals  to explain the text or vice versa

(2) the font 

(3) transition from one frame to another

(4) voice charaterisation, to name a few.

I will also analyse briefly the impact of each aspect to viewers and readers.

The title sounds metaphorical. As we know, sushi is half-cooked food. So a mother's worry is natural as she fears that eating such food may harm her son. But that's not the point here... She's trying to imply the idea that her son is inexperience and may not be prepared to go to a new state, away from her.

I like the way the author introduces his topic. See below;

Frame 1          Frame 2      Frame 3        Frame 4

Frame 1 can be refered to as 'index' (refer to Hull and Nelson's article, 'Locating the semiotic power of multimodality) 'followed by a short text in Frame 2. Both frames carry similar message - not to eat sushi, presented in different modes. Frame 1 is presented as a symbol at first but it becomes indexical when the next frame is shown; the red colour used in the first resembles the colour of the text 'love mum' in the second frame. The author's voice comes in the third frame to introduce the focus of the presentation followed by an image of him and his mother. After few frames, however, the author creates a social distance between both of them, with Frame 9  directly adressing viewers with the 'author's gaze  and 'want something from the viewer' and Frame 10 positioning the viewer as an observer only and 'offer the represented particpants as 'information' to be taken in by the viewer.' (Kress and Leeuwen, 2006, p.250) The text in both frames are also intentionally presented in such manner (frame 9- in the form of certificate and frame 10- a set of rules/ instructions) (See below)

Frame 9                         Frame 10

Another interesting aspect is the use of font/orthography  in most of the frames. Although there are some inconsistencies in the use  text font on some of the visuals presented (could be intentional) especially when the content of the letters are recalled, the author ensures that 'mum's signature remains cursive and 'authentic  (just like most signature appears to be). However, I notice that the 'mom' signature is not cursive in Frame 2. I think the author is trying to present the authorative figure of mom in the latter. Interesting!

There is also wonderful juxtaposition of images in some of his presentation with the use of different modes: moving visuals, drawn pictures, photos and many more. Some have text on black/white background to foreground the message given.

  

 Some of the visuals presented (esp the letters) are accompanied with audio recorded sound of his mother's voice that gave a strong impact on the readers/ viewers. The text read by the 'mother'  represents the voice of an authoritative figure, but the images that illustrate the text serves a sort of mockery to all that are said. Examples:

The third frame is really trying to tell the viewer that he is still his mother's baby. And the fourth one probably trying to tell that all his mother's words are like music to him ( notice the music audio that accompanies this digital story!)

I love this masterpiece. The author has successfully use humour to present his mother's love for him. If I am given a chance to analyse this futher, I would like to use the framework below (taken from Terry D. Royce in his article, 'Synergy on the page: Exploring intersemiotic complementarity in page-based multimodal text.' )

Multiliteracies.. a window to critical learning

     The term 'literacy' is no longer restricted to reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. With influx of various kind of  media, both print and non-print, literacy now covers viewing and representing. Well, that's the least effort that our education authority tries to do... and I suppose the maximum effort that 'they' could try is to finance whatever is necessary to make 'their' 'dream' come true. Mmm ... Those six language areas mentioned are depicted rather too generally. But are they enough to prepare our learners to become multiliterate- digitally literate, visually literate and what not? 
    Let's recall the term 'multiliteracies' coined by the London Group as shared in our class. Based on what I have understood, it refers to an approach or 'pedagogy' (the Art/ Science of teaching) to  literacy. Correct me if I am wrong. Students need to be multiliterate in order to prepare for the changing lives ahead. We are no longer situated within a single community.. we belong to different communities. Let's look at the chat column in the net, for instance, people from different communities (diverse cultural background) communicate with one another anonymously. They share a common space but I believe, with a particular selfish interest. Those who are not critical enough may easily fall prey. They become powerless. 
    Dr Towndrow shared.. in the past,  the power to put meaning to something belonged to selected few. Those who have access to print control information and assign meaning to it. It's kind of linear. People are merely receptive. Now this power has dissipated to the lot. More people have access to print and with multimedia, especially, they get more powerful. They use the media to impose meaning onto others. So, it's necessary to be multiliterate now... to be able the understand the linguistic, audio, visual, spatial, gestural and multimodal meaning of a particular 'information' presented. Very challenging indeed! Are we ready?

Wiki for e- learning! Why?

Why use wiki for e-learning week? Why not use other e-learning platforms like blogs, discussion forum, podcast or...?  I suppose the choice of tool that one uses depends on one's content and purpose. Unlike blogs and those mentioned, wiki allows collaboration within the targetted comunity of learners. This idea is certainly great if it's used for a particular project/discussion that is to be done within a limited period of time (like the e-learning week) and learners just need to focus on one particular page and build on one another's idea. However the organisation of the content  and instruction that follows, is very important. Users need to know first the features of  a wiki to be able to utilise it confidently. Once they are confident, they will be able to understand the instructions given on the frontpage of the wiki used and intended objectives of the author of the wiki may be achieved.

Nowadays, quite a number of educators use wiki for e-learning purposes; for content enrichment in blended learning or for compiling learners' work saved in pages created in wiki itself. Authors/ administrators can lock these pages and ensure that only the assigned individual or group members can access it and make changes. For a group task, the members in the group can work on the page assigned to them wherever they are as long as they can access the internet. This feature would be very useful for formative assessment too.

I am one those going-to-be avid users of wiki because I'm working on on-line blended learning with wiki and i find that it's the best tool for my content and purpose. However, there are few areas that I am not comfortable with wiki-the layout. It is very rigid and lacks aesthetic. It's too functional and structured (yes.. I agree that's what wiki is intended to be)and ... linear. One has to scroll down the page to see the last word of the page..urgh!

Netizens of singapore

The idea of getting the red dot wired up does work for a purpose..  to really create one nation, one Singapore and this includes both locals and the new-comers. The latter has to embrace the local culture, where most is digitalised. With little  natural resources to depend on, we have to depend on ourselves and the machines.. oops.. technology! Reasons being: Efficiency! And to ensure efficiency, we need technology. The affordances that technology provide, helps Singapore to boost its economy generally. However, opportunity cost comes in... values and social behaviour  are negatively affected. (.. to be continued)

AVATAR-visual reality?

Before I start blogging this, I keep telling myself that this is not going to sound like a movie review... I can count with my five fingers the number of times I went to a cinema to watch movies within a fifth less than half a century of my life... Today I watch Avatar for a purpose.. I want to know what so great about it that it ranks second after Titanic  (forgive me if I'm wrong).. Well, that movie is FANTASTIC! For someone who had once struggled to create animation, I really and truly salute the creator of this fantasy. With the 3-D specs on, I watched the movie in awe... I know I am a technophile.. or maybe a cautious technophile now (after attending Digital Literacy..haha!)

For the digital natives, this show is nothing spectacular.. they are like the characters in the movie who flourished themselves with high technology like a cup of tea (I wonder if transferring image from one screen to another with the touch of a finger will happen in future... mmm) Creating an avatar of oneself is nothing new as they are used to all of these in video games, wii, x box, playstation and what not. They are always the hero in their own stories.( I have tried creating an avatar of myself and 'flew' into the SEcond Life... it's awesome! .. but it takes too much of my time. ) And they can identify themselves with the soldiers in robots especially the wii players. For these digital natives, the only message that they may feel strongly is 'saving the mother earth mission'.

For the digital immigrants, I was truly amazed by the animation and the visual reality that the movie creators have designed... and the message that they are trying to portray is not only about saving the earth.. but it's more than that. In the movie, the 'people' who are close to nature and refuse change are labeled as 'savages'. The latter's home is destroyed and 'the civilised people of the machines' enforce authority over them by driving them out of their homes with force and brutality.. (My tears nearly dropped when I saw this)...  This reminds me of how the internet creators have been successful in controlling the people's mentality... they do it subtly (not like that in the movie.. but it does seem similar) I also recalled some news lately about effort put in by the authority in America to extend ICt convenience to 25% of the American population and the Malaysian 's authority's effort to provide free wifi service to   the people living in the rural areas. To them, with ICT facilities, people can easily email forms (they don't have to take the hassle to travel far to submit a hardcopy) and distance learning can take place with ease.....REALLY????? Remember what our classmate said..'thing done remains undone'.

This movie is a fantasy.. no doubt... but there must be a reason why the 'hero' character' is disable and wheel bound, isn't it? Think of those who are stuck in front of the computer and immersed themselves in the virtual games on their chairs. Can they be represented  by this character 'Jake', a dreamwalker? There are many 'avatars' out there.. they need to wake up!

Use of ICT in schools-strategies and skills

I am one of those who look into teaching language pedagogies and there are many strategies that teachers can employ to make their leassons more engaging and effective ..like in the cooperative learning strategies, we have heads- together, round robin, round table and what not. And these strategies can be incorporated via different approaches like problem-based, inquiry based and so on.. The use of ICT is  one of the strategies that can be adopted in one of these approaches. The use of blogs, discusion forums, independent learning via webquest or even facebook  are very relevant in today's era. Students are very much into them.. so why not take advantage of their interest areas to deliver lessons? Most of them are 'multi-taskers', they can listen to music online, chat on messenger and do online searching/ learning  all at the same time. I remembered a professor sharing his worry about his daughter not 'studying' the 'right'way. She was doing all the 'ICT' stuff at the same time reading her book. To him or maybe to some us, she might not be able to digest everything that is in the book.  When she was asked to follow  the 'right' way, she complained about not being able to move on and remember what's in the book. Well, it can be difficult to understand how these digital natives study...

I agree with Dr T that schools need to draw a line between strategies and skills related to ICT lessons. Teachers generally are not clear about these two. When I ran ICt programmes in my school in the past, I myself was not aware of the differences. All I know ; I need to cover most if not, all programmes suggested by MOE in their ICT plan within 6 years of primary school. THe first four years are focussed on skills like touch typing, paint brush, inetrnet search/ security,Microsoft office and video editing and how students apply these skills in their ICT presentation.  There were of course some strategies employed to ensure that the skills are learnt effectively  with relevant worksheets  to assses and monitor students' usage. And IT ENDS there! Teachers left the 'duties' of teaching these skills to the IT trainers and there is no follow up in class. Teachers on the other hand , knowing that the students have been equipped with these skills , should follow up and plan lesson strategies that require students to apply the skills they have learnt.. BUT I believe.. teachers themselves, are not confident ICT users... their reason is- time constraint... OR they do not know  how to incorporate ICT in their lessons other than using Powerpt.  Teachers need to be trained .. not just the skills but the approach as well. ANd there's a need to monitor and follow-up on their practice so the class does not appear merely like a performing stage!