"Digital Media Effects on Conventional Reading and Writing Practices"

Copy and paste a quote from each the readings that caused you to have a strong reaction (agreement, disagreement, confusion...) and explain your reaction.

According to “Lunsford, the writing we produce is not getting worse.  Instead, it is simply adapting to the modern world.”

There is so much social media going on today with the student culture that writing or how they write seems to be a matter of preference in my opinion. When students are texting it’s up to them how they want to convey their messages to each other or to their instructors. My personal preferences are I don’t really like abbreviation if at all possible. I would rather send you a message with correct spelling and correct grammar.

I understand that writing can be depicted as a plastic art but there still has to be a fine line where the language is understandable and the message makes sense. With so many different social media options we sometimes find ourselves with a limited amount of characters however, that does not mean that we cannot send out a well written sentence that can communicate our message. In our reading it was stated that “student writing provide the ability to marry text and other media in ways that can often help them provide greater depth and texture to what they are trying to communicate.” I totally agree with this statement after all words and pictures say a great deal together.

Then state where do you stand on the continuum between Web Evangelist (Digital media is changing the way people read and write in the Digital Age) and Traditionalist (digital media are destroying our children ability to read and write)? 

My stand is that yes digital media is changing the way kids are reading today, some may be reading comic books, novels, or fan fiction. The bottom line is they are reading and that is what is important. How can we expect students to keep up in the competitive world of digital media if they are not using it? Digital media in not going away if anything it is evolving all the time and as educators we must adapt at all cost or we will not be able to keep up with the demand to help the students.

As for the writing well, I remember when I was in school and I had to do penmanship everyday it was to help teach us cursive and make our writing neater. That no longer exist in our school no big deal was made about losing it. Back then all we had was simple pencil, paper and a dictionary to make sure your spelling was correct. Writing in the digital age has changed that, it has managed to put the way we read and write into a different form so that we can communicate efficiently and effectively. I do feel that both of the articles had good and valid points and opinions. We still have so much to learn and writing guide line are needed.

Professors, Researchers, and Society will always agree to disagree when it comes to what works and what doesn’t, it’s the nature of the beast. I disagree that digital media is destroying the ability to read and write.

Justify your stance using evidence from each of the readings.  If you can't find evidence in the readings to support your stance then find another online article to provide supporting evidence for your stance on the effects of digital media and young people's reading and writing abilities and link to the online article that supports your stance. 

Based on both articles I felt that they both had very good argument in stating their case. I can’t say that either one of them had concrete statistical evidence based on what I read.  I think that looking for evidence on the effects of digital media and young people's reading and writing abilities is still to premature. I did find this article online Literacy learning and technology I thought it had some interesting information and it actually had some data and statistics.

One of which was a polling of knowledge and the sharing of common goals and problem solving and how it will be at the core of classroom practices. The 2005 study conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life project (Lenhart & Madden, 2005) claim that 57% of the teens using the Internet could be considered media creators. Meaning that these students created a blog, webpage, posted original artwork, photography, stories or videos online or remixed online content into their own creations. Material that requires reading and writing.

However research contends that there is a partition between the technology that is used in everyday life and that is used in many classroom settings (Dede, 2005). The limited access to digital media, technologies and Internet filtering in schools can still constrain the possible links between students’ real worlds and classroom practices. This is why more research is needed in the field of the effects of digital media and young people's reading and writing abilities. We need to know the age categories of effects if any, are girls affect more than boys, and how as educators do we prepare students ethically to read and write in an appropriate internet language.

Create a Visual Metaphor that reflects your stance on the effects of digital media on young people's abilities to read and write. ​

http://quantumleapalchemy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/bigstock-working-women-hand-writing-39338677.jpg

http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/literacy/assets/pdf/packages/tech_lit_learn.pdf