What we did Thrusday, and what to do for Monday, February 2

**The correct address for Rebecca's blog is on this page under the CLASS links. Be sure to add her to your list.**

So everything is starting to come together - the literacy narrative, the google.doc, your blog, and the readings for the course - and you are doing a GREAT job.

Literacy Narrative:
In class on Thursday, you wrote to the prompts for the literacy narrative and we did some talking to reflect on patterns or repeated references that came up in your writing. I wish we'd had about an hour for that discussion as there were some intriguing insights - from Joe's & Rishi's (and other's) observation about how the internet "ruined" reading, to Dan's and Celia's (and other's) feeling about how internet writing wasn't as "good" or reliable as print writing, and Alison's (and other's) observation that a lot of what she learned and wanted to learn about digital literacies was driven by her peers. And there was lots more. What is important here is that your experiences are both YOUR particular experiences - and a reflection of the assumptions, values and beliefs of your family, your peers, and the culture at large. SO keep working on writing into that material. The better your brainstorming material - the easier your essay will be to write. Maybe do some more writing (fill out some of the details that you couldn't get down in class) about your experiences, and then do some writing for the reflecting questions. These should be a good read for me - and I am looking forward to them.

Google.doc Timeline
I prodded you some more to put up some more "stuff" on the History of the Internet timeline. You have done the good student thing - and I give you credit for that - but now how about really filling out some of the details of what happened with the internet in terms of YOUR history with it? I volunteered information about my first email account and my first laptop. Do any of you remember DOS? Netscape? Linux? What were your experiences? And keep filling in the "facts" to give name and context to your experiences. (Maybe I should have added some info about when PINE came into being and the fact that it has been replaced by Alpine?) This will be an important resource for you as you begin to work on your literacy and technology narratives. It will give you both the history of the internet, and some feeling about what your classmates were doing, compared to what you were doing.

Blogs. Again - I am very excited about what you are doing with this as a class. Some of you have AWESOME posts up. Some of you have put in a lot of work on the design and customization. And some of you have stepped into a new technology for the first time. Really great work, I am so pleased with what I am seeing.

I was going to give you "feedback" on your first post this weekend - so you could get a feel for what I was looking for (ie so you know how I grade) before you put up too many posts, but I see that a number of you have not yet put up your first post. If you are having "technical difficulties" ask a friend, classmate or ME (CAS 324 or by email). YOu don't have to write a grammatically correct, formal essay - just get your ideas up there. The blog is about being in touch - so we can share ideas, brainstorm together, and figure out what we think. Check out what your classmates are doing (if you don't have your link list up - use the links here on my blog).

So - for Monday - FOR SURE - post Blogs 1 & 2.

Blog 1: what was it like using google.docs? What features of the google.docs made it easier to collaborate with your classmates? Describe any difficulties or problems presented by using this software to collaborate. What kind of features might you add to google.docs to make it easier to use for class projects?

Blog 2: Discuss the course readings. Which issues raised by the readings are of particular interest for you and why? Describe any concepts/theories that you have practical experience with?

Also - finish putting in the links to your classmates & me. Be sure to edit the blog names so you know who your are linking to. Again - if you get stuck - ask. If this is a new program for you, there is no shame in getting some help.


Readings for the course
Finally, I talked through the readings for the course - gave a little bit of an overview of what each reading is about - and set you up to think about which reading you might to take on as your area of expertise for class discussion. We will talk about this more - I just wanted you to have some time to think things over.

HOMEWORK:
Blog 2: Discuss the course readings. Which issues raised by the readings are of particular interest for you and why? Describe any concepts/theories that you have practical experience with.
Read: "Sampling "the New" in New Literacies," Lankshear and Knobel. I sent this as an email attachment. It might take a minute to open, be patient. You will need acrobat reader and a decent connection to get it open.

See you Monday!