1. IONA SARIEVA AMANDA MCARTHUR EDUCATION FOR THE NEW AGE: TRADITION, REFORM, INNOVATION 9 TH FULBRIGHT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE BANSKO, BULGARIA SUMMER 2010 New Dimensions in Teaching and Learning 1

2. Literacy within the Sociohistorical Paradigm o Literacy as a discourse: Related, as other discourses are, to ways people choose to communicate Reaches beyond the ability to read and write Expresses people’s deeds, social group associations, and interests Tyner, 1998 2

3. Literacy within the Sociohistorical Paradigm o Literacy: A complex phenomenon Embedded within history Incorporates social assertions and expectations Many, if not infinite, forms of literacies Continua of literacies Multiple paths to literacy Different forms of literacies coexist Graff, 1981 3

4. Literacy & Technology o Literacy & Technology: constant transaction Pre-Guttenberg era The invention of the printing press The mass industrialization Information technologies Warschauer, 1999 4

5. Electronic Literacies o Computer Literacy o Information Literacy o Multimedia Literacy o Computer-Mediated Communication Warschauer, in press 5

6. Moodle at NEG: Action research project 6 The research question: What are the participants’ views on technology- enhanced learning through Moodle The pedagogical goals: Engage students in meaningful collaboration in virtual learning environments Engage students to content presentation in virtual environments Engage students in collaborative discussion in virtual environments

7. Participants Participants in Moodle training and activities: 94 10 th grade students from NEG Learning context: English as a foreign langauge class Feedback was collected from 58 students Overall observations:  Students’ feedback was generally positive  General apathy being the most negative reaction  Students demonstrated high-level of motivation 7

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10. Student Feedback 10 “What is your opinion about Moodle as an environment for learning and collaboration?” Reasons given for liking: It’s new More interesting than regular homework Useful for opinions other than teacher’s Useful for big groups to share information/opinions Good for learning from home Good for language learning You can send homework any time Can express opinion more freely Reasons for disliking: Appearance is too simple Website is confusing Bad if someone has no computer

11. Student Feedback 11 “Were you interested in seeing your classmates' work while completing the forum assignments on Moodle?” “How do you feel about your classmates having the ability to see your work and the opportunity to comment on it?”

12. Student Feedback 12 “Do Moodle forum discussions feel less like homework? More like social communication?” “Who did you feel was the main audience for your forum posts?”

13. Student Feedback 13 “What is easier for you - to type your homework assignments or to write them by hand?” “When writing your forum posts you first: a.wrote the draft by hand b.typed the text into MWord c.typed your post straight into the Moodle textbox.”