learning with technology

How to learn with multimodes? It is quite difficult to explain. However, shifting to the digital world with the powerful and convenient of Internet, a lot of learning opportunities are created. Just look at this link. http://tts.imtranslator.net/3lKN This is really learning with multomodality. You can learn with ICT technology, learn native English access, learn with visual and audio and even write your own essay and read by native speaker. What a wonderful world.

Jewitt (2008) has made it very clear that multimodality has redefined the concept of literacies and learning. In traditional classrooms, literacy refers to learning with written mode. Students learn from verbal teaching, text books and express themselves in verbal presentation and written examination. Language is the major mode for teaching and learning. Student learning is conducted by verbal communication and written examination. Literacy is defined as the competency to express oneself knowledge in language (Jewitt, 2008). Shifting to the ICT world, the context has been changed. Students are not limited to express themselves in traditional language mode (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006; Yue & Yuen, 2005). Nowadays students are called digital natives (Prensky, 2001) as they are actively participating in producing visual and media artefacts out of their school lives (Burn & Durran, 2007; Jenkins, 2006; Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006). Kress & van Leeuwen (2001) named the new w...

In addition to New Literacies, New London Group (1996) introduced the term multiliteracies in response to the changing social conditions of global capitalism, especially on the new demands on the job markets. Jewitt (2008) summarized Multiliteracies as literacies beyond traditional written and spoken litearcy to expressing ourselves with multiple and multimodal texts. Situated in the digital word, we communicate not limited to text, but visual, audio, video and all other new modes such as in Facebook and blog etc. We are expressing ourselves in Multimodal Discourse (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2001). In summary, Jewitt (2008) remarked that multimodality is about meaning making through the situated configurations across image, gesture, gaze, body posture, sound , writing, music, speech .... Next time don't blame that the youth are getting worse in expressing themselves in written or spoken language. They might be expert in expressing themselve in Facebook and YouTube.