What we did in class Monday, February 2

**If you cannot open the .pdf for the Phone Novels article, it is in the Dec 22 issue of the New Yorker, Issue 84, volume 42. Also - I have left several hard copies of the article in my Mailbox in CAS 301E. **

We began class by going through the main concepts in the Lankshear & Knobel article: socio-cultural approaches to the study of literacy, definitions of literacy and Discourse; differences between primary and secondary Discourses; mindsets, and paradigms. As I pointed out throughout the discussion - these are concepts are foundations for the ideas and examples related to literacies and technology that you will be working on this term. Make sure you understand the difference between thinking of literacy as a "skill" and thinking of it as a social-interactive process.

Next you picked out the topic you wanted to do your presentation on (choices listed in the previous post). Most of you got your first choice, and those of you who were absent got stuck with what was left. As noted on the title to the post - these choices are still under negotiation - so those of you who got assigned - if you can't live with your "choice" let me know and we will do some negotiating.

We did not get to the commenting period for the blogs - but I think at this point most of you have gotten your posts up, have your links set up to classmates' blogs, and are ready. So go for it. I will be giving you feedback on your first three posts over the weekend. I was going to give "grades" this weekend - but there were a few of you still struggling with the technology - so this weekend it will be. Hopefully my feedback will give you a clear idea of the expectations for posts.

For Wednesday:
1. Read the essay on Phone novels. (It will be sent to you shortly, in two parts, in your email. If you don't receive a copy - let me know, it means you are not on the email list and that is BAD.)

2. Blog 3: Post a response to Lankshear and Knobel. Do you agree with their characterization of print versus digital mindsets? Or you might write about how or whether you see the history of the internet as shaping the mindsets of users - or about where you see the internet going in the future (check out Joe's blog); or you might have an issue or idea we didn't get to in class discussion.

3. Also - since you didn't get a chance to comment to your classmates' blogs in class - do some looking around. Leave some comments.

In class we will spend some time talking about the literacy & technology narrative - so if you have questions - bring them to class.

Good discussion today, and see you in class Wednesday.