Implementing a Problem-Based Technology Learning Environment to Foster Cultural Literacy and Responsiveness Instructional Skills

Technology is part of our daily lives; we can observe the use of technology in our cell phones and portable computers and, most notably, within classrooms. If used within the proper pedagogical context, computer-aided technology can be quite advantageous to teacher educators whose pedagogical belief is also centered on teaching and learning that is responsive to students’ needs and cultures. When technology is combined with Problem-Based Learning (PBL), it can be a powerful aid to help pre-service teachers build cultural literacy and the skills needed to be responsive to students’ needs. This chapter presents a single case study of the highly successful academic outcomes through the wedding of PBL and technology.

Digital Media Literacy Practices for 5th Year Pre-Service Teachers in a PDS Model

To examine digital media literacy practices in a teacher education program, this chapter first elaborates on a broader definition of literacy than reading and writing, suggesting media literacy as a more relevant teacher education curricular focus than technology integration. A five-year, dual-degree teacher education program, which uses a Professional Development School model, provides the context for digital media literacy practices. Three elective courses demonstrate how digital media can be used by pre-service teachers to engage students and model media practices in their public school placement. The courses, which were offered to pre-service teachers in their fifth year in the teacher education program, included Book Writing and Online Publishing, Project-Based Learning, and Teaching with Visuals. The chapter provides recommendations on implementing digital media practices within teacher education courses for pre-service teachers and professional development for teachers in public schools.

21st Century New Literacies and Digital Tools as Empowering Pedagogies for Urban Youth of Color

Increasingly, more youth of color are gaining access to multiple forms of digital and popular media, yet 21st Century Literacies are virtually absent from the curriculum in most schools that serve them. By contrast, their increased knowledge of digital tools is usually met with restrictive access. For example, in many urban public high schools, cell phones are seen as contraband and students are required to “check” them at the door. Additionally, access to the Internet and social media platforms are blocked on most computers to which students have access while in school. More research is needed on how race, gender, ethnicity, and language intersect with access to digital tools in schools. This chapter presents a dialogue about the positive impact of using 21st Century New Literacies and digital tools with Black male middle and high school students. The authors highlight ways that teachers can effectively use digital tools in their classrooms.

Expanding the Definitions of Text and Literacy in the Secondary Content Areas

Content area teachers are often prepared to instruct with texts that are heavily grounded in written language despite research that demonstrates that literacy and text expand beyond these parameters. Traditional content literacy/reading courses maintain preservice teachers’ traditional understandings of text and of literacy as reading and writing, and they do not take into account broader definitions of text and literacy. This chapter describes how the authors, faculty in a medium-sized university teacher education program, redesigned their secondary content literacy course. The intention was to help preservice teachers better understand the nature of literacy in their particular disciplines and to demonstrate how to incorporate a variety of texts to effectively teach their content material. Sample lessons and assignments are described and student responses are discussed in terms of their larger implications for teacher education.

Reframing Conceptions of Contemporary Literacy Capabilities in Pre-Service Primary Teacher Education

This chapter describes the challenges of integrating new technologies with literacy education in pre-service primary teacher education in Australia. The authors describe the policy context and regulatory mechanisms controlling pre-service education, including a national set of professional standards for graduate teachers, a new national curriculum for school students, the introduction of high stakes national assessment for school students, and the looming threat of decontextualized back-to-the-basics professional entry tests for aspiring teachers. The chapter includes three case studies of the authors’ pedagogical practices that attempt to reframe conceptions of the literacy capabilities of pre-service teachers to reflect the complex and sophisticated requirements of teachers in contemporary schooling. The authors conclude the chapter with a discussion of the implications of these case studies as they illustrate the ways that pre-service teachers can be scaffolded and supported to develop creative capacity and critical awareness of the kinds of literacies required in the digital age despite restrictive regimes.

“Y’all Laggin’!”

This chapter details a collaborative project between a class of preservice teachers and a class of tenth grade high school students. Separated by thousands of miles, the two classes engaged through online communication including the use of chatrooms, Youtube videos, and video conferencing. Addressing issues of power within the urban high school, this study encouraged youth voice to dictate and advocate for the needs of students. At the same time, the online relationships fostered in this study allowed preservice teachers to help mentor and support students learning. Various challenges including structural inequities in the public high school and relational miscommunications between both groups illustrated ways researchers must work to address the context of digital technology for literacy-based learning. This study highlights how digital technology can help support youth voice and guide teacher education models.

Fostering Global Literacies among Pre-Service Teachers through Innovative Transdisciplinary Projects

This chapter investigates the role of global literacy skills in teacher education while integrating multiple literacies as a means of further developing pre-service teachers’ global competencies and 21st century skills1 while designing innovative transdisciplinary curriculum projects with limited resources and equipment in the global education context. The goal is to: a) introduce the role of multiple literacies (e.g., information, technology, geography, media literacy) in developing global competencies and 21st century skills among pre-services teachers; b) showcase pre-service teachers’ Universal Design of Learning (UDL)2 model lessons across content areas (e.g., math, geography, cultural studies, physical education) in P-12 curriculum; and c) demonstrate creative strategies and possibilities for engaging pre-service teachers in project-based global literacy activities integrating new technologies.

Building Urban Pre-Service Teachers’ Pedagogical Knowledge and Skills through Digital Poetry Collaborations

Educational reform theorists argue that schools of education and their neighboring public schools must enhance collaborative efforts so as to attain “simultaneous renewal” wherein elementary and secondary students and pre-service teachers are served in authentic ways that deepen all students’ learning (Goodlad, 1994). One way to accomplish this is through use of sustainable, innovative projects that connect pre-service teachers’ early learning experiences directly to public classrooms. The purpose of this chapter is to offer a model for successful collaborations between pre-service teachers and urban high school students. The authors provide an overview of the digital poetry project and subsequent analysis of the reciprocal impact this project had on both the pre-service teachers and adolescents, including increased engagement with instructional objectives, enhanced literacy and technological competencies, and fostering of intellectual transitions.

Media-Enhanced Writing Instruction and Assessment

Media-Enhanced Writing is defined as a visual and technological literacy and contains the research-based rationale for the instructional methodology, descriptions, and scenarios, as well as focused teaching and learning examples of media-rich software environments. Educational methods inherently supporting multiculturalism and globalism for facilitating media-rich writing, production, and distribution across content-areas and grade levels K-12 and higher education are covered. From early childhood beginning writers to adult learners, this chapter describes teaching and learning using media-enhanced writing to promote and emphasize learner experience. Drawing upon learner experience is a key component in facilitating multicultural expression and presentation. Accompanying assessments utilized for technologies in teaching K-12 and higher education writing and presentation are addressed.

Reading and Writing Strategies

In the field of education, students are not only expected to come to college with the reading and writing skills needed to successfully complete their program of study but also to enter the profession upon graduation with the ability to teach the next generation these skills. At the authors’ institution of higher education, as with other higher education institutions, the reading and writing skills of incoming freshmen is a concern across the campus. To address this concern, two education faculty members created a reading and writing program. The program would prepare incoming freshmen with skills and strategies they could use to be successful in their college courses, as well as support student transition and retention. The pilot study created will address a concern raised in the literature regarding the under-explored reading research at the college level. To this end, this chapter shares the process involved in teaching the program and the experiences of the first cohort of students enrolled in the program.