3 Takeaways from Section 2 Readings

New Literacies: Chapter 4 New Literacies and Social Practices of Digital Remixing
The chapter covered a concept called remix, which refers to combining or manipulating concepts to create something new. To illustrate this, they compare this idea to DJ's making music from segments of different songs. They explain that in order to create a successful song, you have to understand the original song well enough to know what it would go with. In addition, they explain how remixing can be in the form of translating art from one medium to another. As the reading develops, they also reveal some possibilities remixing has with concepts related to information and communication technology.
The concept of understanding something deeper to apply it to another product is dependent on the cognition development of the creator. During childhood, students are only able to use concrete operational thinking, which only allows them to make relationships and classifications of concepts. In terms of remixing, this would mean that students would be able to make the connection of artwork between mediums. For example, they would be able to think of the idea of creating a drawing from a sculpture they made. When the student enters adolescence, they have the ability to think in formal operations, which allows them to think logically and consider the possibilities of a situation. With this ability, students would be able to remix in terms of concept. For example, they would be able to analyze the work of an artist, understand their concept or process of making, and create another artwork inspired by what they learned. The key difference is that they are not just going through the motions of making an artwork into another medium, but considering how they could translate ideas.
Combining my knowledge of remixing and developmental psychology, I can create lessons that are cognitively appropriate to the abilities of my students, and give them a challenge to push their creativity.
Chapter 3: The New Digital Arts: Forms, Tools, and Practices
This chapter informs of the kinds of new media that are available and suggests how one can make connections to the classroom with them. In conjunction with the previous reading, it is clear that there is a lot of remixing potential when working with digital media. One reason for this, as illustrated in the text, is the ability to share creations on different social media platforms. It mentions a few kind of sharing platforms such as, social/communicative technology media and artistic/creative media. The difference is what people mainly use them for. For example, one can post a photo on Facebook and Flickr, but if they were posting an artistic photo that belongs in an artist portfolio, it would belong on Flickr rather than Facebook. In addition, they mentioned examples of how people have already created connections between medias, which lends ideas of how it can be changed to fit a classroom setting. From what I gather, a lot of the possibilities are within students interests in communicative and entertainment technology. Teachers would be able to use this to their advantage and create lessons based on students interests.
Digital Storytelling: Guide for Educators
This passage is a cohesive guide for art teachers to use when conducting a lesson about storytelling through digital media. In the beginning of the passage, the author gives concrete tips for how the lesson should be conducted, potential concerns, and possibilities for deeper learning. Further in the reading, the author goes through various types and brands of media that could be used for a storytelling lesson. Each media is given a summary of its function, how to use it, and its potential in a lesson. overall, it is understood that some medias are more realistic to use in a certain type of classroom. It also considers the learning curve there is for certain kinds of technologies since some students will already know how to use them. With this guide, a teacher can find the perfect fit of lesson and material with the accessibility of their school environment.