Week 7:

Assignment 1:

Summary of  Theories and Practices of Multimodal Education: The Instructional Dynamics of Picture Books and Primary Classrooms:

Using multimodal texts when teaching literacy to young students provides them with much more than just a regular reading experience. As educators, we want to provide students with the skills they need to be able to interpret and produce complex text/image/design relationships. In our digital age, it is important for teachers to expand literacy instruction by focusing not only on the text, but also on modalities like fonts, typesetting, interactive narration, multiple perspectives, and images.

Summary of Using the ADDIE Model to Design Second Life Activities for Online Learners:

Virtual learning is a part of the classroom and college experience today, and Second Life is a virtual environment that provides a great tool for teaching and learning. Offering virtual simulation in the form of avatars and places, SL gives students a real-life learning experience with lots of collaboration. Despite its drawbacks, like poor file management and delayed speed, SL is a great way to engage and motivate students when instructors design their curriculum effectively. It is most important to explore SL and how activities can relate to course topics and ideas before introducing it to students. 

Assignment 2:

Second Life offers so many features that can greatly enhance ELA instruction. In this digital world, students can visit places or jump to different time periods that they are exploring in literature units. This will give them a much deeper understanding of what they are learning and provide them with the real-life feel that they could never experience with traditional text. Additionally, Second Life can be used for students to collaborate with each other to reflect or analyze different readings, as well as for students to practice basic literacy skills with the chat features.

Week 6

Assignment 2-1:


New literacy skills are essential for students to be able to function in society today. As teachers, it is our responsiblity to infuse ICTs into the curriculum to prepare students for real life. By providing students with a broad set of literacy skills, we can help them comprehend and internalize multi-modal information. Teachers must be able to master advanced ICT skills to be able to effectively implement technology in the classroom. Teachers and students need access and support to the many technologies available today. Utilizing social networking sites is a great way to help students share information using multi-modal formats. Since students are exposed to technology on a daily basis outside the classroom, it is increasingly important for technology to be integrated in the classroom to keep them motivated while providing the literacy education they deserve.

Assignment 2-2:

Edmodo is an extremely useful tool for teachers, specifically in ELA instruction. It connects students and teachers, and allows teachers to easily track students. Additionally, students can collaborate and self-assess. Some great features of Edmodo:

Teacher can write notes to the class using the note feature.  Teacher can create quizzes or a poll to see if students enjoyed/understood the lesson. 
Students can add folders, members can join. 
For example in a literacy class, the teacher can create pre- reading quizzes, and take polls to see if students understood character development. It provides an easy and intuitive way to share, track, and assess information while integrating technology, and utilizing New Literacies.