Chapter 7 is entitled "Remix Culture". The basic idea is to take something in its original form and alter it to your own tastes and preferences. Reading this chapter made me really wish I had this technology when I was growing up. Cutting edge for me was going from a reel to reel tape player to cassette tapes!
I know kids today love this, because I see it in my classroom. Several of my 8th graders are creating elaborate musical pieces using GarageBand as an independent project and they are teaching me quite a bit!
This chapter discusses the role of the teacher and it's something I'm still getting used to..."We have to participate as well as produce alongside our students and to become facilitators of their learning...It is not about providing all the answers or giving them specific directives but instead giving our students a map for them to achieve (p. 159)." I've been leaning this way in my thinking and I'd really like to explore this approach some more. I'm so used to being "the resource" and it seems the adult and kids in our school are happy to keep relying on me for help. I know my students will be better off if they learn how to "figure things out" but I'm not used to it and easily slip into providing too much help when asked. It's a tough shift and I'm trying to work my way through it.
The author raises the legal issues remixing brings up. "Remixed creations use material that has some type of copyright from the original author; however remixes recontextualize the original source and create new meaning and are highly eligible to be a fair use of copyrighted material (p. 155)." I feel I would need to understand this issue better before diving into remixes in my class. I'd need a better sense of how to balance copyright protection and fair use. Who decides if it's recontextualized enough?
I found it interesting that two thirds of online teens are content creators. One thing this book does very well is give us information on what kids are doing online now and tries to help us connect learning to their passions! A great ideal to strive for. I look forward to checking out some of the links in the chapter to learn more.
I absolutely love it when a student discovers a new way to do something or a software tool that I was previously unaware of. I make a point to let all of my students know that I DON'T know everything, and that I look forward to what they will teach ME each year. Sharing a student's new discovery with the rest of the class is such a blast.
ReplyDeleteIt just goes to show that teachers need to realize that both teaching and learning reciprocal.