Week 7; Assignment 1

The article “Theories and Practices of Multimodal Education”, analyzed the implication of using multimodal texts in early literacy instruction. It specified how multimodal texts opens up new roles for the reader/writer and the teacher as well. It introduced three new roles of a teacher, a resource manager- the teacher has to navigate a range of texts to endure that thestudents have the skills to and abilities to read new texts. Second, the teacher as a co-constructor of knowledge. The teacher and the students learn together since sometimes the students know more about certain things. Last, the teacher as the design consultant- the teacher provides feedback and advice with the curriculum in mind. The roles were apparent in the studies of the article. The teachers initiated open ended activities in response to multi-modal texts. When teacher use multi-modal resources, students acquire the conceptual bases to interpret and produce complex text/image/design relationships.

The article “Using the ADDIE Model to Design Second Life Activities” was very enlightening. It presented an objective view of how teacher can incorporate technology in their classrooms so that they are providing their students with an enriched experience as opposed to overwhelming them. The ADDIE approach allows teachers to design a systematic method that creates learning tasks that makes Second Life something that will assist teaching and learning. After reading this article, I realized that although technology is fascinating and we are eager to give the experience to our students, we must be careful not to throw them into the environment and to ensure that we weigh the pros and cons of incorporating it into the curriculum. Students need tasks that are meaningful and specific.