1. What am I learning about the new literacy I am researching?
I am expanding my definition of what it means to be literate throughout this class. Just exploring the different areas of literacy, such as political and visual, pushed me to think beyond just being able to read and write. I also never thought of math as a component of literacy. I choose to resource numeracy literacy because I like math and was interested in what it entailed to be numeracy literate. From my investigation and research into this topic I learned that numeracy literacy does not just involve numbers. Instead it involves the understanding of and the ability to reason with mathematical concepts and numbers. I also learned that there are two types of numeracy literacy, colloquial and literate. Colloquial is everyday numeracy literacy that people develop to solve problems. This type of literacy is often situation and doesn’t transition to problems other than the one they were developed for. Although this type is not transitional it is more efficient when solving the problem they were designed for. Literate is school numeracy literacy the students learn in school. This type of literacy is universally applicable, meaning one mathematical concept can be used for a wide variety of problems. But this type of literacy can be inefficient compared to some of the colloquial methods people may develop.
I also learned that there are many people who can help the student develop their numeracy literacy. Students need mathematical, contextual, and strategic know how to become numerate. Students need background knowledge, contextual knowledge, and knowledge about which strategy to use and how to use to successfully solve a problem. There are strategies students can use to help them develop their numeracy literacy and solve math problems. The five steps help students to have a strategy that they can apply to every problem to help them solve it correctly. In addition, teachers can help students develop their numeracy literacy. Teacher should integrate math into other subjects, incorporate technology into their math teaching, build on students’ background knowledge, and include context with the math problems they give students. The last two of these suggestions overlap with the skills students must have to be able to successfully solve a problem. Parents can also help their children become numerate. Parents should not feel unqualified or be afraid of helping their children with their math homework. There are many positive factors that parents have; they know their children better than any teacher, they have already had experience teaching their children many important things, and they can offer a one on one interaction. When assisting their children parents should keep in mind that attitude matters and to stay positive about their and their child’s ability, there are many different ways to solve a problem, wrong answers can be helpful, and it’s okay to use a calculators.
I also learned that numeracy can impact many different areas of your life. Poor numeracy literacy can make someone feel embarrassed, effecting their self-esteem and confidence. Furthermore, those with poor numeracy are more likely to be unemployed and truancy. Finally, they have a high rate of school exclusion. For these reasons and many more it is important that my student develop their numeracy literacy. Much of what they are learning in school currently is literate or school math. The problems involve predominantly symbolic tools. Although my mentor teacher may be able to incorporate more colloquial numeracy by including more real world problems, colloquial numeracy literacy develops mostly spontaneously so teachers do not need to focus on this type as much. The combined work of teachers, parents, and the students themselves will help my students to develop their numeracy literacy.
2. What am I learning about how my digital literacy is developing as I use a new technology to create my product?
I sometimes struggle with learning how to use a new piece of technology and for that reason was a little nervous about using a new technology to create my project. But after diving into Prezi I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I caught on to the different features of the program. It is kind of like a PowerPoint presentation in that information is grouped into different sections, or circles in our format, much like different slide. In addition text could be incorporated with different features such as pictures, links, and videos. Although these are all possible with PowerPoint I actually found it easier to include these features into the Prezi. You just had to copy the link into a tab on the page and the feature would appear in the middle of your screen. You could then move it to any area of the Prezi. The easy of adding these features was a huge plus because today presentations include so many additional features to the flat text of the project. It was also very easy to move the features and text between bubbles to switch the order of the information around, which we found ourselves doing multiple times.
Another feature that I liked about using Prezi was the ability to not only share a Prezi with friends but multiple people could edit the same Prezi at one time. Allison, Holly, and myself were able to work together while not being in the same room. With everything everyone has to do in college it is nice that everyone can meet at the same time without having to meet in the same location. Everyone was able to see what the others were doing, edit, and add at the same time. In addition, everyone who was working on the Prezi had an avatar on the project that showed where the person was working on the presentation where they were moving around to and when they entered and left the project.
In addition, I think this technology would be interesting and fun for all age groups. Younger students would enjoy the movement of the project and this may keep them more interested in watching a Prezi. Older students would appreciate the move from PowerPoint and the ease of incorporating features and using features once they are incorporated into the presentation. If professors used this format their lecture may be more dynamic and students who were not in class would be able to see videos and links that would expand their learning beyond the text. Before using this technology with younger students it is important that teachers spend a lot of time helping them learn how to navigate the different features. In addition, they may need support during the creation of their project with formatting issues. But with continued support younger students could use this new technology.
Although I liked this new technology for the most part there were a couple of challenges. First there were many different features that I saw in the demo videos that I was not able to find when I was creating my project, such as text written around pictures. Although I am not sure, I think part of this problem comes from me downloading the free version instead of paying for a more complex form of Prezi. I am a poor college student and did not feel the need to pay for Prezi, but if I found myself using this technology a lot as a teacher I would invest in one of its many upgrades. Second, some of the boxes were rather small and I was not able to include as much information into each bubble as I had originally intended. The boxes were formatted to fit into the bubbles without overlapping the outer rings but I found with the right colors you could still see the text if it was over the bubble rings. There is still a lot that I do not know about Prezi but I am enjoying exploring this new technology and like everything I have been able to do so far.
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