Mapping Multiliteracies

Acknowledgements
During the years of this project many people helped make this research possible. There are
the 140 children and their families who allowed researchers into their homes and gave an
insight into their lives. There are the 20 schools and preschools and their principals and
directors. Finally of course there are the 31 teacher-researchers who gave their valuable time
and efforts:
Amy Gill
Anita Hudd
Annabel Price
Annette Boulden
Beryl Tillet
Carmen Aragon
Colleen de Ceukelaire
Denise Watson
Eileen Love
Eleanor Rowe
Ellen Sykaras

Jan Comas
Jeannie Spear
Jenny Chartier
Jo Duldig
Laura Hapek
Lee Duhring
Lyn Norris
Katie Deverell
Kay Mathie
Kelly Perdelis

Kerri Kelsh
Kerry Baldwin
Kerry Hardacre
Keryn Moyle
Pam Edwards
Pam Treasure
Sharon Arney
Thomas Harvey
Trish Pratt
Vizma Betts

The report acknowledges the Australian Research Council for its financial support, without
which the project simply could not have happened. Thanks also to the South Australian
Department of Education and Childrens Services (DECS) for their financial support for each
of the schools and centres, especially enabling the country schools to participate. DECS also
provided a team of outstanding personnel who helped make the project the success it was, in
particular Gerry Mulhearn, Kath Thelning, Sue Emmett and Heather Lawes.
Professor Nicola Yelland deserves special mention for her insight, expertise and for the many
years of experience with ICT that she brought to the project.
Sarah Rose compiled the literature review and also added to the success of the project in her
work as Research Assistant over the past three years. Kathie Stove edited the manuscript and
Rick Tredrea of Document Services at the University of South Australia organised the
printing and formatting.
Thanks to all of you.
Associate Professor Susan Hill
School of Education
University of South Australia
Magill Campus
St Bernards Rd, Magill 5072
[email protected]
A DVD, CD-ROM professional development program accompanies this report. For more
information contact:
http://people.unisa.edu.au/Susan.Hill

http://www.thenetwork.sa.edu.au/educators/projects/early_years.htm

ISBN 0-86803-542-4
This was a collaborative research project between the Department of Education and Childrens Services
(DECS) of South Australia, the University of South Australia and the Australian Research Council
(ARC).

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Mapping Multiliteracies:
Children of the new millennium

Report of the
research project

20022004

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Mapping Multiliteracies

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Mapping Multiliteracies

Contents
Acknowledgements .......................................................................................ii
Executive summary .................................................................................... viii
Research findings.................................................................................................. viii
Pedagogy .................................................................................................................x
Teacher-researchers with mentors.......................................................................... xi
Further research ...................................................................................................... xi

1. Introduction ................................................................................................ 2
2. Methodology............................................................................................... 5
The research design.................................................................................................5
The research methodology.....................................................................................12

3. Learning from the literature: A review ................................................... 17

4. The learning stories................................................................................. 63
In the house with Nicholas......................................................................................63
The Saddle Club.....................................................................................................69
Mila and the Koala..................................................................................................74
Putt-Putt..................................................................................................................83
Battery power .........................................................................................................87
Endangered animals...............................................................................................96
Schmackos .........................................................................................................103
DVD library ...........................................................................................................107
Engaging Taylor ...................................................................................................113
WiggleWorks with Dean .......................................................................................120
Searching for caterpillars......................................................................................125

5. The findings............................................................................................ 131

Unanticipated findings ..........................................................................................139

6. The multiliteracies map ......................................................................... 142

The development of the multiliteracies map .........................................................142
The multiliteracies map.........................................................................................145
Multiliteracies pedagogy in the early years...........................................................147
Design elements of multimodal texts....................................................................148
The increasing importance of visual texts ............................................................148
Bringing prior knowledge to visual texts ...............................................................149
Using the multiliteracies map................................................................................151
Summary and reflection........................................................................................158

Bibliography ............................................................................................... 161

Glossary ..................................................................................................... 167
Appendices................................................................................................. 172
A. Expression of interest...........................................................................173
B. Student consent form ........................................................................... 179
C. Teacher consent form ........................................................................... 181
D. 2002 and 2003 participants................................................................... 183

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Executive summary

Mapping Multiliteracies

Executive summary
What does the explosion of information, entertainment and access provided by the internet
and the digital revolution mean for the future education of young children?
In the Children of the new millennium project we found that children as young as four years
of age were choosing to go online to find information quickly. How will computers and the
internet impact on how we learn in the future? What kind of learning will be possible for the
four year olds who are already choosing to learn online in 2004?
The Children of the new millennium research project, 20022004, explored four to eight year
old childrens learning with information and communication technologies (ICT). The project
targeted the early years of education and sought answers to the following research questions:
x

What are the different ways that young children use ICT at home and in the community?

Where do young children use ICT? How many forms of it do they use, to what extent and
how does it relate to other forms of play and exploration?

What are the different ways that young children use ICT in early childhood education
settings?

How do young childrens knowledge, understanding and use of ICT develop over time?

What do young children think about ICT and why do they like/dont like them?

The two-year study involved 31 teacher-researchers at 20 contrastive research sites. Each year
the teachers attended six research development days spaced throughout the year, where they
engaged in research training with research mentors, presented the data collected about
childrens learning with ICT, and critiqued data collected using several analytic frameworks.
Initially the teacher-researchers compiled in-depth case studies of four focus children and
their use of ICT at home and at school. As the study continued they used a learning story
methodology, a narrative approach to understanding childrens learning.
The teacher-researchers were engaged full time in the classroom and spent several hours each
week exploring young childrens use of ICT. Their learning stories were print-based and
electronic, and they comprised the data analysed in this project.

Research findings
Multiliteracies
This project revealed that the traditional content of reading and writing needs to be broadened
to include the use of multiple sign systems that represent meaning. Children in early
childhood have always used construction, drawing or illustrations, movement and sound to
represent meaning. The newer multimodal technologies merely add to childrens choice of
medium to represent ideas and to comprehend the meanings in a range of texts.
Digital literacies and print-based literacy are not oppositional concepts, both are required. In
fact traditional print-based reading and writing was found to be vitally important. Writing was
significantly important as a memory tool, for planning, designing and recording ideas and
information. Reading was critically important for predicting, scanning, interpreting, analysing
and selecting from the abundance of information. Interestingly the children switched
effortlessly between genres, scanning material for information, following procedures,
searching by scrolling through menus, and interpreting icons and written instructions on tool
bars. In other words, although reading, writing, listening and speaking are paramount, todays

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Mapping Multiliteracies
students must be able to do more, as they decipher, code break, achieve meaning and express
ideas through a range of media incorporating design, layout, colour, graphics and animation.

Multiliteracies map
The multiliteracies map is an analytic tool for exploring four interrelated dimensions of
multiliteracies:
x

The functional dimension involves technical competence and how-to knowledge. With
multimodal texts this involves the mechanics of how to turn it on, make it work,
recognise icons, decode symbols, and read menus.

The meaning making dimension involves understanding how different text types and
technologies make meaning in the world and how they may be used for our own and
others purposes. The focus is on the purpose and the form of text to make meaning.

The critical dimension involves understanding that there is no one universal truth in any
story and that what is told and studied is selective. It also involves critical selection of
appropriate technology for a task.

The transformative dimension involves using what has been learned in new ways and
new situations.

Functional user

Meaning maker

i Locating, code
breaking, using signs
and icons
i Selecting and
operating equipment
i Moving between mediums: cameras, videos,
computers

i Understanding
multimodal
meanings
i Purpose of text
and text form
i Connecting to prior knowledge

Critical analyser
i Discourse analysis
i Equity
i Power and
position
i Appropriate mode

Transformer
i Using skills and
knowledge in new
ways
i Designing texts
i Producing new texts

The multiliteracies map

Homes and communities

In this research project the teacher-researchers took a Technotour of childrens homes that
revealed a use of new technologies by children far greater than teachers had anticipated. In
most cases the children had access to and could use ICT far in advance of the equipment in
many of the schools and preschools.
Computers, next to television, were the most popular form of ICT available in homes.
Children went online to websites linked to television shows, used search engines to find
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Mapping Multiliteracies
information and played interactive games online and with game software. New ways of
building on the skills and interests from home emerged when teachers engaged some children
as coaches or mentors in the classroom and capitalised on childrens funds of knowledge by
using similar software in school as at home. This was particularly so for children with special
learning needs.

Geographic location
Regardless of socioeconomic status or geographic location most children also had regular
access to computers, or were able to access them at friends houses or their grandparents. In
remote and rural communities ICT was essential for family and business communications
although service and maintenance of technology was a problem in such remote areas.

Pedagogy
In every research site the children gravitated to the computer to play games, to find
information, to explore their interests and to create new texts. In preschool and early school
years, the pedagogy that incorporated ICT was most often inquiry based with questions and
problems arising from the interests of a group of children or from individuals. This learning is
similar to issues-based learning where the children engage and connect deeply with content.
Many teachers wrote of the importance of combining inquiry based pedagogy with explicit
teaching of how to use ICT.
The teacher-researchers wrote about how children today are bombarded with information.
Children are aware of an ever increasing abundance of options about ways to communicate
information and increasing choice about how to access information. With this surfeit of
information the children need to be involved in more relevant tasks and use essential
questions so they can recognise and analyse problems, make decisions and develop as critical
and creative thinkers. This problem solving approach to learning allows children to pursue
meaningful tasks in-depth and in a sustained and systematic way.
Many teachers found inquiry based pedagogies engaged children in quests for answers to their
own questions. This inquiry based approach enabled the children to drill down, focus tightly
on questions, sift and scan through to comprehend information that was of interest to them.

Explicit instruction
Explicit instruction was necessary, not only about how to use computers and software, but
also in teaching of frameworks or questions that can support children to deconstruct and
critique multimedia. The teachers and children required a metalanguage to explain how
literacy skills, strategies and problem solving can be used in one medium and transformed
into another type of text.

Engagement
The engagement and fascination children experienced when using computers was clearly
described in the teachers learning stories. It was not the multimodal tools alone that made
ICT an engaging, meaningful experience; it was also the way they were used to craft learning
experiences for children in preschools and schools. Designing learning experiences for
children requires skilful, continuous, professional learning.

Situated practice
Situated practice making learning meaningful and based on real life experiences by
focusing on childrens interests and understandings was highlighted in the learning stories.
Learning needs to be relevant and meaningful and build on childrens prior knowledge and
experiences. The teachers commented on the need for authentic real life, purposeful
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engagements rather than preconceived isolated activities. In addition the children were able to
quickly locate an enormous amount of resources and material through the use of the
information rich internet. Teachers wrote that the visual aspect of the internet was a valuable
tool to further enhance young childrens understanding of their world.

Relationships between teachers and learners

In the project there was a shift from the teacher as the expert to the teacher as the guide by
the side. Teachers and children worked collaboratively; many times children coached other
children the same age or younger. In many preschools and schools the children sought out
other children to help them problem solve, rather than going to the teachers. In some schools
Tech Reps were trained in using the intranet and then became coaches of other children in the
school. Such social interaction made learning fun, exciting and engaging. Rather than ICT
being used as an individual activity the teachers found that children chose to work
collaboratively on solving problems as they arose.

Teacher-researchers with mentors

The teacher-researchers in this project ranged from very experienced to first year out of
university and there was a wide range of expertise with ICT which was not age related. The
teacher-researchers focused on practical classroom issues that were relevant to other teachers.
Originally the project began with teacher-researchers who had great proficiency and interest
in ICT but as the project developed and some teachers changed schools and took on other
commitments, it was decided that the existing teacher-researchers invite another from the
school staff to join the project. The research became a mentoring model of paired researchers
at the same school or preschool which provided immense support and learning for both. Many
teachers who began as ICT novices became confident users of technology and wrote of the
importance of teachers as mentors and coaches providing just in time support.
In addition the research days with university mentors further challenged and supported
participants views about childrens learning. The research development days enabled teacherresearchers to present data and findings and have this challenged by new frameworks,
concepts or relevant research summaries in the presentations by university mentors. Selected
research-based readings extended their thinking. The university mentors also benefited by
participating in the teacher-researchers presentations and learning about what young children
were able to achieve with ICT.

Further research
The Children of the new millennium research project raised many issues for further research.
It became clear that the multiliteracies map alerted us to the need to develop a practical
metalanguage to better describe what children can do with multiliteracies. Teachers may
require examples or models of how childrens critical orientation to multiliteracies may be
developed and examples of ways different electronic tools and programs may be chosen to
fulfil various tasks. The research also raised important questions about how new technologies
may transform young childrens ways of thinking and learning.

Metalanguage to describe childrens learning with multiliteracies

The teacher-researchers tended to focus on the functional and meaning making aspects of
childrens multiliteracies and found it more difficult to articulate ways to encourage children
to critically analyse the different multimodal texts that engaged the children. This may be
because many of the teachers themselves were caught up with the practicalities of how to
turn it on and make it work. In addition all participants in the project found it challenging
to describe ways childrens learning with a particular program or software could be
transformed into use with another program. We need to find the metalanguage to describe the
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Mapping Multiliteracies
learning that goes beyond the operational, and includes the textual and visual meaning making
processes of electronic texts. More professional learning in how to use and describe
multimodal learning is essential, for example the techniques used in visual texts and how
words, music and movement communicate meanings.

Practical examples of developing a critical orientation to multiliteracies

Learning to critique the digital media, and consider whether the information is appropriate or
accurate, is extremely important considering the amount of time children are engaged with the
screen. For many children preschool and school is the only place where they can learn to
question the values and intentions of the many software programs and numerous websites.
Teachers need practical examples of strategies they can use to support children to develop a
critical orientation to multiliteracies.

Frameworks to support the choice of appropriate tools for tasks

Teachers were engaged with the functional, operational tools to such an extent that choosing
and using tools appropriately for strategic purposes was not a focus. This is similar to being
so engrossed in the trees that we cant see the woods a figureground perception problem.
This research highlighted the need to develop curriculum models and frameworks that support
teachers to choose appropriate tools and programs for various tasks. Sometimes face-to-face
conversation or pencil and paper are the best tools for the job.

The long term effects of screen based learning

More research is needed into the long-term effects of prolonged use of screen-based learning.
Children as young as two and three years of age are choosing to play with computers for long
periods of time at home; in some learning stories teachers wrote of children whose main
leisure activity at home was playing with the computer for extensive periods without adult
supervision. Add to this long periods of screen-based learning at school and the length of time
interacting with the screen is significant. Long term use may affect childrens health, social
and communicative abilities, and thought processes.
There has been much research on the impact of television on children but the internet, as a
source of information and entertainment, is set to outstrip television. How will interactive
game-based entertainment affect childrens play and learning? How will new technologies
transform childrens dispositions or habitus, or ways of thinking? As children play, think
and learn this learning becomes internalised as structures, schemas or ways of thinking that
can be used in other contexts. How will the increasing engagement with multimodal literacies
change the ways children think and learn?
Professional development for educators is essential in the area of multiliteracies and this is
currently in progress based on the findings of this project.

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Chapter 1
Introduction

Mapping Multiliteracies

1. Introduction
The internet and the digital revolution are at the same level of development as the automobile
was in the 1920s. The access to information through technology will increase as the world
goes online and in ten years a predicted 7585% of the industrial world will have access to the
internet. The speed at which computers are developing, and the innovations in banking, bill
paying, holiday purchasing and communicating, mean that the internet will move closer to the
centre of everyday life. While e-commerce and entertainment are important, the predicted
future of the internet is to provide information as more and more people turn to it as the
quickest way to verify ideas, news and knowledge.
What does this mean for the future education of young children? In the Children of the new
millennium project we found that young children of four years of age were choosing to go
online to find information quickly. How will computers and the internet impact on how we
learn in the future? What kind of learning will be possible for the four year olds who are
already choosing to learn online in 2004?
The Children of the new millennium research project, 20022004, explored four to eight year
old childrens learning with information and communication technologies (ICT).
The time of the study was a time of an exponential leap in the development of ICT for young
children. In a data drenched society the need to be literate and numerate was an ever
increasing aspect of this context. Previous longitudinal studies into childrens literacy
development had found there was increasing use of multimodal texts in homes and
communities, and recommended that teachers engaging in professional development explore
childrens lifeworlds and link this to culturally relevant pedagogies and resources (Hill et al.
1998; 2000). These findings prompted the urgent need to broaden conceptions of literacy
from a print-based orientation to a wider multimodal orientation that encompassed visual and
audio texts, and how these signs and symbols create meanings.
Research into very young childrens use of computers in education was showing some
interesting trends (Downes & Reddacliff 1996; Labbo 1996). Labbo (1996) suggested that the
kindergarten year was a unique time for using computers because this is when children, aged
four and five years, are developing literacy and numeracy skills as symbolic and graphic
meaning makers. At this time children are building concepts and representing meaning for a
range of purposes by juxtaposing different symbol systems such as typographic, linguistic
marks on the page, or symbols on the computer screen.
The Children of the new millennium project targeted the early years of education and sought
answers to the following research questions:
x

What are the different ways that young children use ICT at home and in the community?

Where do young children use ICT? How many forms of it do they use, to what extent and
how does it relate to other forms of play and exploration?

What are the different ways that young children use ICT in early childhood education
settings?

How do young childrens knowledge, understanding and use of ICT develop over time?

What do young children think about ICT and why do they like/dont like them?

Initially the teacher-researchers compiled in-depth case studies of four focus children and
their use of ICT at home and at school. As the study continued they used learning stories, a

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Mapping Multiliteracies
small selection of which has been included in this report; the larger collection will appear online.
The teacher-researchers were engaged full time in the classroom and spent several hours each
week exploring young childrens use of ICT. The teachers learning stories were print-based
and electronic, and they made up the data analysed in this project.
This report of the Children of the new millennium project documents the research
methodology (Chapter 2), the literature reviewed for the project (Chapter 3), the learning
stories (Chapter 4), the research findings (Chapter 5), and a discussion of the multiliteracies
map (Chapter 6).

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Mapping Multiliteracies

Chapter 2
Methodology

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Mapping Multiliteracies

2. Methodology
This chapter examines the research methodology for the Children of the new millennium
research project. It describes the research design, teachers-as-researchers, research sites and
the decision to change an aspect of the methodology from case studies to learning stories.

The research design

The research design for this two year study involved 25 teachers-as-researchers at 16
contrastive research sites in 2002 and 20 teacher-researchers at 11 sites in 2003. Each year the
teachers attended six research development days, spaced throughout the year, where they
engaged in research training, presented data collected in small groups and critiqued data
collected using several analytic frameworks. Initially the teacher-researchers compiled indepth case studies of four focus children aged four to eight years and their home and school
use of information and communication technologies. As the study continued a methodology
known as learning stories, a narrative approach to understanding childrens learning was used
(see below). A small selection of learning stories is included in this report and the larger
collection will be available online.

Teachers-as-researchers
The decision to involve teachers-as-researchers enabled the project to focus on issues of
relevance to practitioners and systems. As Lytle and Cochran-Smith (1992) write, research by
teachers represents a distinctive way of knowing that aligns the practitioners stance in
relation to knowledge generation in the field. The teachers-as-researchers undertook home
visits and research development days, and compiled data into learning story reports. They
were provided with a research budget for some release time, travel when appropriate, and
materials for the project.
There were 25 teacher-researchers initially selected, a group small enough to share ideas, yet
large enough to incorporate diverse perspectives and a range of age levels in the early years of
school. It was important to include a range of early-years teachers who work with children
four to eight years of age, combining preschool or kindergarten teachers with teachers in the
early years of formal schooling. The preschool teachers were important to the study because
when it began they were receiving little professional development in the use of computers and
the technological equipment in the preschools usually comprised hand-me-down computers
from the primary school or old discarded computers donated by various community groups.
In the first year of the project the teacher-researchers were paired up with each other, where
possible, so they could set up collaborative support. In the second year of the project, when
some of the teachers moved school and some were not available to continue with the project,
the existing teacher-researchers invited a staff member from their school to join the research
project and buddy or mentoring systems were set up.

Research sites
The research sites and the teacher-researchers were invited to write an expression of interest
to be involved in the study. This meant that teacher-researchers who were interested in the use
of information and communication technologies were involved. Selections were also made on
the basis of geographic and socioeconomic diversity; a preference for a research site with a
preschool teacher, Reception teacher and Year 1 teacher who could work collaboratively
together; clear transition policy between prior to school and school; and evidence of the
educators high level of expertise and/or interest in ICT in the early years.

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Mapping Multiliteracies
When the expressions of interest were received, 16 research sites were chosen, seven in
disadvantaged rural and metropolitan areas. Twenty-five teachers all with varying degrees of
ICT knowledge and skills were selected from these sites, including seven from preschools
(Table 1). In some cases two or three teachers were chosen from the one site to conduct their
research together; at other sites, individual teachers were selected and then grouped with
others from nearby schools. Thus cluster groups formed within a school/centre or within a
local community.

Focus children
In 2002 each teacher-researcher observed four focus children and with attrition at the end of
the year there were 96 focus children. In 2003 it was decided to reduce the number to 40 focus
children two for each of the 20 teacher-researchers to enable richer descriptions of
learning. The focus children during each year of the project were chosen by random selection
but there was a check for gender balance. The random selection process meant that teachers
often found themselves documenting the learning of a focus child who may not have been
their first choice. Perhaps the child may not have been forthcoming nor familiar to the
teachers, and the family may not have had a close relationship with the school. This meant
that the teacher-researchers at times moved out of their comfort zone to visit children living in
situations they were unaware of.
Table 1. Participating schools and centres
School
Elizabeth Vale
Pennington JPS
Woodcroft Heights Presch
Greenwith PS
Hackham South CPC*
Grange PS
Frieda Corpe Preschool*
Little Hampton PS*
Inglefarm East PS*
Stradbroke JPS
Seacliff Kindergarten
Seacliff PS
Coromandel CC
Athelstone JPS
Mawson PS
Whyalla Town PS
Neta Kranz Preschool
Miltaburra AS
Narracoorte South PS
Ceduna AS
Total

Description
metro disadvantaged
metro disadvantaged
metro
metro
outer metro
metro
outer metro
outer metro
metro
metro
metro high income
metro high income
metro high income
metro high income
metro high income
rural disadvantaged
rural disadvantaged
rural disadvantaged
rural disadvantaged
rural disadvantaged

2002
3 teachers
2 teachers
2 teachers
1 teacher
1 teacher

1 teacher
1 teacher
1 teacher
2 teacher
1 teacher
1 teacher
1 teacher
1 teacher
3 teachers
1 teacher
3 teachers
16 sites,
25 teachers,
96 children

2003
2 teachers
2 teachers

1 teacher
2 teachers
2 teachers
2 teachers
2 teachers
2 teachers
1 teacher

2 teachers
2 teachers
11 sites,
20 teachers,
40 children

*New sites in 2003

Phases of the project 2002

The project had three distinct phases. It began by exploring childrens funds of knowledge
regarding ICT in homes and communities. The middle phase was exploring and developing
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Mapping Multiliteracies
frameworks for analysing childrens knowledge and ways teachers may plan for childrens
learning. Finally the project was interested in the kind of pedagogy that best fits early
childhood education and new technologies.

Phase 1 Exploring ICT in homes and communities

Phase one built on the ideas and work of Moll et al. (1992), where teachers visited homes and
communities to gather data on the community funds of knowledge. It was thought that such
information could then be used to build curriculum responsive to local knowledge. This
project worked under the premise that homes had previously unexplored ICT funds of
knowledge. Thus teacher-researchers visited the homes of their focal children to explore
what ICT were on offer and whether the children had access to them, as well as finding out
what basic knowledge and skills they had of them.
The focus for the home visits during 2002 was on the ICT events experienced by the children.
The teacher-researchers observed the focus childrens ICT use in the home and community.
Having gained permission from the childrens parents or caregivers, some teacher-researchers
chose to video/audio tape the visit, or use cameras to show what was available. Others chose
to conduct questionnaires and informal interviews. This was left entirely to the teacherresearchers discretion at the time of the home visits. During the home visit the teacherresearchers asked the children to take them on a Technotour of the home, demonstrating their
use of the various ICT on offer.
Based on the work of Purcell-Gates (1995), who observed and coded the use of print in
homes, the focus for the Children of the new millennium project was on the ICT events
experienced by the focal children. Teacher-researchers assumed the role of participant
observers; for example, to gather data on childrens understanding and knowledge of ICT they
occasionally needed to prompt by asking what can you do now? or can you tell me what you
are doing? As Purcell-Gates notes, there are problems with self reporting out of context and
it is only by entering the homes of the children that teachers as field researchers observed how
ICT were used in the home in naturally occurring circumstances.

Phase 2 Developing the multiliteracies map

To explore what children could do with ICT in the early childhood classroom, one of the
project aims was to produce an observation tool now referred to as the multiliteracies map.
The map was originally based on Clays 1993 concepts about print and was used to
understand, describe and plan a literacy and numeracy curriculum based on what children
could do with ICT, childrens concepts about technology. The overall design of the
multiliteracies map was informed by research carried out from a range of theoretical
frameworks developmental psychology, semiotics, critical sociology and a multiliteracies
approach.

Phase 3 How does childrens knowledge and understanding of ICT develop

in the early years?
In the third phase of the research we were interested in how children, with help from their
teachers, could develop and design a range of ICT curriculum projects. For example children
produced iMovies, PowerPoint presentations or CD Roms using different sound effects, clip
art, animation or other special effects. In this phase the teachers were using the information
from the home visits and the childrens interests to develop curriculum incorporating ICT.

Research development days 2002

Six research development days were held during 2002 where the teacher-researchers shared
their knowledge and skills on research methodology and their knowledge of ICT. The

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university researchers and DECS investigators were also present on these days and provided
mentoring guidance and advice when needed. Each of the six days had a focus as follows:

Day 1: Introduction to the project

Project description, research requirements, selecting focus children, planning home
visits, collecting and analysing ethnographic data
Exploring a range of software to be used throughout the project (eg Kid Pix,
Inspiration and WiggleWorks)

Day 2: Conducting home visits

Methodology, ethics, the Technotour
Ethnographic research methods, Dr Sue Nichols, University of South Australia

Day 3: Sharing session

ICT Show and Tell teacher-researchers sharing previous ICT classroom projects
(eg using a digital camera and making slideshows)
New Learning, Professor Nicola Yelland
Discussion ICT issues and dilemmas
Discussion Teaching and learning using ICT
Sharing information on home visits and planning curriculum using ICT resources

Day 4: Sharing session

ICT Show and Tell teacher-researchers sharing previous ICT classroom projects
Sharing information on home visits and planning for the curriculum using what
children are learning at home
Developing an assessment tool for exploring childrens understanding of technology

Day 5: Sharing session

Teacher-researchers sharing their current ICT classroom projects
Reflection What have we learnt?
Multiliteracies, Dr Helen Nixon
Planning for the final report and presentation day.

Day 6: Presentation day

Project findings and teacher-researcher presentations
Teacher-researchers also provided a written report in 2002. These reports were extremely
detailed and thus provided a clear picture of what ICT were available to these children and
what was occurring in the different sites. They included information about:
x

the site and teaching context

the focus children

how the research was conducted

what was discovered from the home visits and how links were made between the
childrens funds of knowledge about ICT and what happens in school/preschool

issues encountered and actions taken

reflections on their own learning as teacher-researchers and learning with colleagues

concerning childrens learning

what questions are being asked by colleagues, children, families

implications for the future for individual learners, class groups, school/preschools

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x

teachers personal views of childrens learning and ICT.

Teachers were also asked to account for the funds provided.

Phases of the project 2003

From the written reports and teacher-researcher feedback, the research design and
methodology was modified in 2003. In 2002 it was found that there was far more
collaboration and learning in sites where two or more teacher-researchers were located than in
sites where educators worked on their own. For the next year it was decided that each site
would have two teacher-researchers working together where possible. Many of the same
schools were involved again but since some of the teachers moved, we also invited their new
schools to be involved. The majority of teacher-researchers from 2002 elected to continue on
and so were very familiar with the aims and ideas of the project. Six new teacher-researchers
came on board for 2003, invited by colleagues who had worked on their own in 2002. This
proved to be extremely successful in providing teacher-researchers with someone to share
ideas, act as critical friends, observe each others children and expand their thinking. In
2003, 11 research sites were chosen with 20 teacher-researchers (see Table 1).
The change in the number of children, from four focus children in 2002 to two in 2003 aimed
to increase the depth and quality of the data collected by allowing teacher-researchers to put
more time and effort into observing and analysing individual children. In most cases a new
group of focus children needed to be selected but the schools and children continued to be
from a diverse mix of locations and socioeconomic areas. In two sites teacher-researchers
were able to follow the same children for both 2002 and 2003. This of course provided rich
data to show how the childrens ICT skills developed over time.
The research methodology also changed in 2003. The case studies, in which researchers
record observations and conversations objectively and avoid judgment and opinion, were
meant to focus on the childrens learning but very often became more about the teachers
curriculum plans. The methodology was thus changed to narrative learning stories (Carr et al.
2000) in which researchers are encouraged to write their personal thoughts and feelings about
the childs learning. These learning stories would explore what individual children were
learning and be a better source of information about it.
Learning stories endeavour to capture the childs and the teachers voice. They write in a
more free flowing narrative style about what children are learning. The learning story itself
becomes data which can then be analysed using a framework or lens to assess the learning.
Learning stories are more child centred than case studies.
The learning stories also became electronic as the project developed the teacherresearchers used digital cameras, video and PowerPoint presentations to record data and to
present their learning stories about the children and ICT. The project team decided also to
compile video footage of the childrens learning stories and also the teachers own stories
about their learning.
The project in 2003 had the same three phases as in 2002: visit childrens homes for a
Technotour; refine the framework for understanding childrens knowledge of ICT; and
understand how childrens learning of ICT develops over time.

Research development days 2003

Day 1: Introduction to the project
Introducing new participants to the project
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Mapping Multiliteracies
Outlining roles and responsibilities/plans and expectations
Refining the framework analysing how children use ICT
Introducing the learning stories methodology
Discussion on the 2002 focus children and the home visits

Day 2: Future plans and past reflections

Feedback to teachers 2002 written reports
Plans for future publications eg report, articles, PD training video/CD Rom
Young children and technology Dr Maureen ORourke, Victorian Schools
Innovations Commission
Discussion issues arising with ICT and young children
Reflection/discussion teacher analysis of learning stories

Day 3: Sharing session

Teacher-researcher sharing session learning stories
Dr Helen Nixon, University of South Australia
Reflection/discussion multiliteracies map

Day 4: Sharing session

Development of the multiliteracies map as a lens for learning
Report from Young Children and Learning Technologies conference, Sydney July
2003
Analysing the Learning Stories

Day 5: Sharing session

Using the multiliteracies map to analyse childrens learning
Using the learning stories to report on childrens learning
Reflection What have we learnt?
Planning for the final report and presentation day

Day 6: Presentation day

Project findings and teacher-researcher presentations
At the conclusion of 2003 the written report each teacher-researcher presented included three
learning stories using the following suggested guidelines:
x

focus at least one learning story on a home visit

include photographs, iMovies, PowerPoint presentations, but based each story in the form
of a written report

focus each learning story on the childs learning

provide evidence of their learning, highlighting literacy and numeracy

include the childs voice by using dialogue and work samples.

Teacher-researchers also provided:

x

a description of the context of each learning story

a summary of their own research throughout the year

their personal reflections.

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Research mentors
Research mentors for the project provided information from their own research, stimulated
discussions, and constructively questioned the teacher-researchers learning stories.

Dr Susan Nichols
Dr Susan Nichols discussed data collection and analysis and the approaches required when
undertaking research in both the home environment and the educational setting. She provided
practical examples of various scenarios that could arise and possible dialogue. She explored
various methodologies and strategies for home and community inquiry. The teacherresearchers analysed field notes from other projects as a way of demonstrating observation
techniques and analysis. Susan spoke of the importance of forming a rapport with both
children and adults in their own home while still remaining objective and not allowing
personal feelings or prejudices to interfere.

Professor Nicola Yelland

Nicola provided video footage, PowerPoint presentations and CD Roms of data she had
gathered in other projects interstate. The data showed children using ICT in exciting and
innovative ways, yet ways that were achievable by the teacher-researchers in this project.
Nicolas practical examples and informative discussions enabled teacher-researchers to be
aware of how children make meaning with ICT and how they can be used as a powerful
learning tool. Nicola also led question and answer sessions on the issues and dilemmas that
arise when working with young children and ICT.
As the project progressed Nicola supported the teacher-researchers to unpack the
multiliteracies map and demonstrated how it could be used in various situations. She also
explored the learning stories in greater depth. Along with DECS personnel, Nicola conducted
sessions on planning for the curriculum using ideas about bringing what was learnt during the
home visits into the classroom. Nicola also kept everyone informed of the most recent
scholarly articles and current trends on ICT and young children.

Dr Helen Nixon
Dr Helen Nixon was invited by the project team to act as a critical friend, to expand teacherresearchers thinking about what they were doing and observing in the classroom and any
issues that emerged regarding ICT. She joined the project in both 2002 and 2003 as the
teacher-researchers made brief presentations of what they were doing with ICT in their
centres and schools, after conducting their home visits. Helen provided detailed and valuable
feedback which helped the teacher-researchers to analyse the data they had collected and the
observations they had made. An example of the feedback Helen provided follows.

Woodcroft Heights Preschool

1. This presentation raised the very important issue of how we might identify childrens
development in relation to ICT use and how we might scaffold childrens learning
with ICT. Do we use the same strategies as for scaffolding other kinds of learning? Are
we restricted in how well we can do this if we dont have a good operational or cultural
grasp of the possibilities of the software?
2. You described very well how you attempt to use ICT as part of the accepted cultural
purposes of the classroom (eg making shopping lists and going shopping). You also
highlighted your goal to support the integration of ICT into areas of classroom culture
other than writing (eg alongside painting easels) but noted that aspects of traditional
classroom structure (eg design of wet areas and placement of power points) mitigate
against this.

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Helen has had many years experience teaching English, literacy and, more recently, popular
culture, the media and ICT. She presented her ideas on making the curriculum relevant and
meaningful to childrens lives, which naturally includes popular culture. Helen shared the
research she has conducted looking at the influence of popular media culture on children. She
also shared iMovies created with children from an inner city Adelaide primary school, where
large percentage of whom are new arrivals to the country, new to the English language and
the Australian culture. These iMovies showed the procedures young children used to make
some of their favourite cultural dishes, thus demonstrating how ICT as a form of multimodal
communication can enhance learning.

Dr Maureen ORourke
Maureen ORourke was Director for Global Futures (Australia) in the Victorian Schools
Innovations Commission, as well as State Coordinator and National Project Manager for the
KidSmart Early Learning Program. Maureen has a particular interest in ICT and young
children and integrating ICT into the curriculum. Maureen demonstrated how the focus for
educators should be on the learning and not the software or the equipment. The particular
focus of her talk for the Children of the new millennium project was the KidSmart Early
Learning Program, which provides computers and professional development to disadvantaged
early childhood settings. Maureen also shared digital portfolios of young children that were
given to parents to demonstrate the learning and interests of the child.
The critical friends in the research project provided valuable, stimulating feedback to the
teacher-researchers and prompted them to question assumptions in the data collected.
The research methodology in this teacher-researcher study was responsive to the concerns of
the early childhood teachers who wished to situate childrens learning within a familiar
context. A discussion of how the research methodology developed follows.

The research methodology

Different types of research need different types of questions and claims. The match of
research methodology to research questions and resulting claims is essential (Duke & Mallette
2004). In this research, involving teacher-researchers investigating the different ways young
children use ICT at home and at school, ethnographic case studies and learning stories were
appropriate for understanding the research questions.

Ethnographic case studies

In the first year of the project the teacher-researchers employed ethnographic methods as they
visited the homes of the focus children to explore and understand what young children could
do with ICT. Inquiring into the funds of knowledge in homes and communities, the project
built on the work of Moll (1992) and his colleagues, and the idea that mediation between the
home and the school was of benefit to teachers in understanding more about the nature of the
children they were teaching. We anticipated that the curriculum the teachers developed would
take into account the funds of knowledge that the children were bringing to the school
setting from their homes.
Research training on collecting ethnographic data (Purcell-Gates 2004) gave the teacherresearchers ways to develop sharp and insightful observations about childrens use of and
understanding of ICT. It also explored ways to come to understand the perspectives of others,
and ways to gather data, for instance, using observation field notes, interviews recorded with
audio tape or as field notes, photographs, and childrens work samples. The training also
examined ways to write the ethnographic case studies so that the readers could gain an
understanding of the context, the child in the family situation, and how ICT was used. In the
case studies the focus was on the child in context at home and at school.
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Mapping Multiliteracies

The case studies in the first year of the study had three purposes: intrinsic, instrumental and
building a case study collection (Stake 2000). They were intrinsic because the purpose of the
case study was to understand the child and how ICT permeated home and school. They were
not used to build theory but to better understand new learning with digital technologies. The
case studies had instrumental purpose in seeking out insights and similarities. For example the
case studies shed light on some of the following issues: childrens learning with new
technologies in remote and rural communities, children with English as second language, and
children with special learning requirements. The case studies were also designed to be read as
a collection and explore patterns across the collection.
When the ethnographic case studies of their four focus children were compiled many teacherresearchers chose to present their data digitally in the form of photographs, PowerPoint and
videos, as well as providing print based records.

Learning stories
In the second year of the project the teacher-researchers, with the project directors, chose to
use a research methodology known as learning stories to better capture young childrens
understanding of ICT at home and at school.
Learning stories are not the same as case studies or anecdotal records about children. They are
narratives or stories and can take place over time, sometimes days or months. Good learning
stories provide detail about the context and background and engage the reader. They not only
describe actions they also make feelings and interpretations visible (Hatherly & Sands 2002).
When compared with case studies learning stories are less clinical, less concerned with
keeping interpretation out of the recording. Teachers find them more interesting and engaging
than an anecdote and more lively and dynamic than objective field notes. Learning stories can
show progress over time as well as some possible strategies for teacher support. They can be
used with other teachers, parents and children as a site for interesting conversations. Parents
too can be involved in writing learning stories, which can include interviews and dialogue
from children.
Learning stories are narrative or storied approaches to research documentation and have a rich
history in education (see Genishi 1992; Witherell & Noddings 1991; Clandinin & Connelly
1990).
Stories are powerful research tools. They provide us with a picture of real people in real
situations, struggling with real problems ... They invite us to speculate on what might be
changed and to what effect. (Witherell & Noddings 1991, p 280)

Learning stories capture the complexity of situated learning strategies plus motivation. They
can incorporate the childs voice and emphasise childrens participation and culture (Carr
2004). They were of most benefit for this project as they supported the teacher focus on
childrens learning and teachers found they provided valuable insights into how children
learn.
Good stories, be they direct or indirect, give us valuable insights into the sense making
component of learning (Engel 2000).

Learning stories have a theoretical base in sociocultural theory. Socioculturally oriented

writers have described learning as appropriated (taken up) in authentic cultural locations,
defining these as communities of practice (Carr 2001; Lave 1997). The learning stories further
developed by Carr (2004) are a narrative style of observations in everyday settings. They are
designed to provide a cumulative series of qualitative snapshots, or written vignettes, of
individual children displaying one or more of five domains of learning dispositions: taking an
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Mapping Multiliteracies
interest, being involved, persisting with difficulty or uncertainty, expressing an idea or
feeling, and taking responsibility or taking another point of view (Carr et al. 2000). Several
teacher-researchers included observations about childrens learning dispositions.
Carr uses the term learning dispositions in a similar way to the sociological concept of habitus
a term used by (Bourdieu 1986) to mean a system of dispositions that are acquired by implicit
or explicit learning or funds of knowledge within communities. Habitus also relates to a
historical worldview. This is useful for early childhood educators to grasp the idea that a
particular community, such as early childhood educators, has particular historical views about
what is expected of young children and how young children are viewed as learners, especially
when considering the appropriateness or not of ICT for young children.
In addition in this project the learning stories attempted to capture the context of the learning
environment that appeared to be enabling or constraining learning. Learning stories are at
times quite short pieces or several episodes linked together. After writing the learning story
the teacher-researcher may comment on the childs (childrens) learning and suggest plans for
future work. Learning stories take a credit rather than a deficit approach to understanding
learning. The stories are of what children can do rather than what they cant do. By
describing strengths and interests teacher-researchers look for positive ways forward.
Learning stories capture the ways individual learners engage in activities, and as the
individual engages in activities their participation changes the activities, while at the same
time they are changed by the activities. Learners recognise, select, edit, respond to, resist and
search for learning opportunities.
The learning stories in this project were compiled as narratives and then the teacherresearchers used the multiliteracies map framework to analyse the childrens learning.

The multiliteracies map

During the project the teacher-researchers developed a framework for analysing young
childrens learning with ICT (see Chapter 6). The multiliteracies map is a framework for
analysing what children can do with new literacies, and as a way of analysing scaffolding,
support and explicit teaching that needs to occur. The framework is included at this point for
the reader so that when the learning stories are read the teachers analysis of the childrens
learning with the multiliteracies map is clear.
The multiliteracies map is made up of four interrelated quadrants. One must be able to:
operate or make various technologies function; make meaning from the technology; be able to
critique it and understand its purpose; and take what has been learned and transform it into
new learning.

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Mapping Multiliteracies

Functional user

Meaning maker

i Locating, code
breaking, using signs
and icons
i Selecting and
operating equipment
i Moving between mediums: cameras, videos,
computers

i Understanding
multimodal
meanings
i Purpose of text
and text form
i Connecting to prior knowledge

Critical analyser
i Discourse analysis
i Equity
i Power and
position
i Appropriate mode

Transformer
i Using skills and
knowledge in new
ways
i Designing texts
i Producing new texts

Figure 1. The multiliteracies map

Ethical concerns
This project involved teacher-researchers visiting the homes of selected focus children and
speaking with family members. Consent was sought to use photographs and video recordings.
The names of children and schools were changed in the learning stories.

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Chapter 3
Learning from the literature
A review

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3. Learning from the literature: A review

Summary
In 2001 when the Children of the new millennium project began there was surprisingly little
written about primary aged children and ICT, even less about preschool children. Articles
were found in a number of journals where teachers gave examples of using various ICT
within the classroom but very few research projects had been undertaken, especially in
Australia. As the project continued more articles began to appear and other research projects
were reported on, but these seemed mainly concerned with older children. Information on ICT
and young children continues to be extremely limited, not only in Australia but globally.
Early in the new millennium, Lankshear and Knobel (2003) conducted a review of ICT and
literacy by searching literacy journals as well as specific early childhood and technology
journals. Of 554 articles in nine journals, only 18 were in the broad area of using new
technologies and only five were specific empirical studies related to technology and literacy
(Yelland, in progress). The review highlighted the need for further study and empirical
research into the use of ICT in early childhood classrooms, and of appropriate software and
equipment with young children.
Featured in this review are a number of key articles, books and other works of various
researchers organised alphabetically. All these researchers have written far more than is
represented here, and all acknowledge that in the 21st century, ICT skills and multiliteracies
are becoming increasingly necessary.
This review includes writers who caution against the use of computers. The debate about
computers and young children was particularly vigorous in the 1980s when computers were
first introduced into schools and continues to this day. Some concerns are that:
x

excessive time spent in front of computers leads to health and social problems

most games promote violent behaviour

computers are too abstract, young children need to play with concrete materials to learn

computers are for individual pursuits and not conducive to collaborative work

young children are exposed to inappropriate software and sites

computers minimise the role of teachers in the classroom.

Others write of how new technologies offer exciting and motivating ways for children to learn
and should therefore be presented in new and exciting ways. They suggest that new
technologies and new learning should not be mapped onto old contexts and old curricula. The
use of computers should not be seen as an add on activity, one for those who finish first or
as a reward for good behaviour. Yelland, in Shift to the Future (in progress) comments,
Instead of being a catalyst for change, new technologies have been in the main mapped on to
old curriculum a curriculum conceived before their invention. She suggests:
[We need] a bold new approach to curriculum which encapsulates a notion of design and
opportunities for children to explore and investigate in ways that were not possible without the
new technologies we have a great deal of information about the ways in which new
technologies are able to transform learning yet curricula in schools remain much as they were
last century Further, there is an increasing recognition that curriculum decision making
needs to take note of childrens out of school experiences and build upon them.

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Alloway, N, Freebody, P, Gilbert, P & Muspratt, S. 2002. Boys, literacy

and schooling: Expanding the repertoires of practice. Department of
Education, Science and Training, Canberra.
This extensive report covers such topics as Literacy, Gender and Boys Education; Surveying
Teachers and Parents; The Classroom Interventions and Analysis of Data and Outcomes, but
this review covers only the final chapter Conclusions and Recommendations.
In the first section of the chapter we synthesise teacher-recommended lines of inquiry and
suggestions for classroom action as well as their recommendations for moving the boys and
literacy agenda forward at systems levels. In the second section of the chapter we reflect
critically on the wider patterns of ideas and conceptual frameworks that teachers drew upon as
they articulated their perspectives through interviews, written reports and electronic
communication with us. In doing so, we highlight some of the problematics associated with
debates about boys and literacy, and draw this report together with our conclusions and
recommendations for theory, research and practice.

Although referring to boys and boys strategies throughout the chapter, the authors make it
clear that boys are not to be thought of and responded to as a homogenised group, that not all
boys experience difficulties with literacy learning, neither are all girls are doing well. When
asked to make recommendations to their colleagues that would improve the literacy learning
and teaching of boys, 24 teachers from 12 diverse sites placed the use of technology high on
their lists. Also included was the need to ensure a clear link was made between classroom and
the popular culture and texts of everyday life, so that boys saw the relevance of classroom
learning with life outside school. Teachers suggested incorporating everyday events, popular
culture, electronic technologies, multimedia and multimodal work formations to capture boys
interests. They encouraged the use of resources (eg texts, videos) that were interesting and
engaging rather than because they meet curriculum and lesson needs (p. 198).
Teachers also made recommendations centred on relationships within the classroom aimed at
helping boys become cooperative learners and participants in literacy classrooms, such as
getting to know students more and treating them more as individuals. Other suggestions
highlighted the importance of successful learners having a positive sense of self and dealt
with ways of expanding the repertoires of boys for (re)presenting the self. Teachers
emphasised the need to draw on students personal experiences and suggested a more active
hands on approach to literacy learning, allowing student ideas and interests to guide part of
their teaching and learning programs (p. 199). Teachers also made recommendations for
changes to school systems, which included better pre-service education, more resources
within schools, smaller classes, more teacher-aide time, professional development
opportunities, professional mentoring and improved partnerships with families and
communities (p. 199). While none of these suggestions is new, teachers believed that the
introduction of new technologies, and the new literacies associated with them, made them
even more important.
In the second section of the chapter, a theoretical framework for action is created, focusing on
three repertoires: 1. A repertoire for (re)presenting the self; 2. A repertoire for relating; and 3.
A repertoire for engaging with and negotiating cultural knowledges and meanings. Drawing
on the data and outcomes of the project, the authors also make eight recommendations,
discussed at length in the chapter, for future theory, research and practice:
1. that, as part of their ongoing community analysis, schools and teachers acknowledge and
explore the varied social, cultural and ethnic backgrounds that boys bring with them to the
literacy classroom, paying particular attention to the ways that constructions of
masculinity influence boys behaviour and learning in literacy

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2. that schools, teachers, researchers and policy makers adopt a practice and futures
oriented approach to literacy in their work to improve literacy outcomes
3. that teachers adopt a range of pedagogical strategies in the literacy classroom that are
designed to promote an active, purposeful and democratic learning environment
4. that teachers construct literacy classrooms as active environments for learning by:
maximising hands-on learning through multiple textual modes; providing opportunities
for students to take control of their own learning; taking account of students backgrounds
and experiences; and focusing on maintaining a productive sense of self among students
as literacy learners
5. that teachers construct literacy classrooms as democratic spaces where authority and
agency are shared; where students are treated with dignity and respect; where students
knowledges, opinions and contributions are valued; and where students learn to work
collaboratively and cooperatively
6. that teachers engage in work with cultural knowledges and meanings by focusing on the
cultures of the real and the everyday, popular culture, electronic technologies and
multimediated texts (in doing this, teachers need to consider systematically the ways in
which such activities can connect productively with curricular learning, and ways in
which critical, analytic work can be developed in the use of potentially misogynistic and
institutionally hostile materials)
7. that, to improve literacy outcomes for boys, schools need school systems cooperation to
provide increased levels of learning support, professional development, and technology
infrastructure and support
8. that future research addresses the effectiveness of the three repertoires model (see above)
for improving literacy outcomes for boys.

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Armstrong, A & Casement, C. 2000. The child and the machine: How
computers put our childrens education at risk. Robins Lane Press,
Beltsville.
Contrary to the view that technology and computers will transform the education of children
and revolutionise the education system, Armstrong and Casement provide instead an
intriguing discussion of the impact of computers and whether they benefit children at all. The
book looks at several issues, misconceptions and illusions on the use of computers in
education, under the following headings:
x

Educational technology and the illusion of progress

White knight or white elephant: The real costs of computerizing education

The disembodied brain

Online to success? Computer-based instruction and academic achievement

The young reader and the screen

The young writer and the screen

The information maze

Caught in the web: Childrens advertising on the web

The physical effects of computer use

The real world of learning

Finding technologys place.

The authors discuss the health issues that arise from excessive use of computers: the effects
on the body and posture, headaches, eye problems, as well as the effects of the
electromagnetic fields computers produce. One of the biggest problems is the negative effects
computers can have on overall physical fitness; children simply sit and play rather than run
around outside. They also point out the dangers of children being exposed to inappropriate
sites on the internet and online advertising.
Armstrong and Casement argue that time and money spent on the constant training of already
overworked and over stressed teachers, could be put to far better use providing more teachers
rather than more technology. They discuss the poor application and use of appropriate
technology and the subsequent poor quality of lessons provided. They suggest the emphasis
on future jobs needing highly skilled computer technicians is over estimated, and question
whether computers really do increase academic achievement.
The authors suggest that computers isolate learners, arguing that students need more
interactions with teachers and fellow students, not less. They compare computers with
television and emphasise the need to deal with real life not images on a screen we should
be experiencing life through sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures. Armstrong and
Casement argue that attributes such as self discipline, self motivation, teamwork and
collaboration are also not developed with computers. They believe that the arts are of
particular concern liberal and fine arts require skills, such as detailed observation,
reflection and meditation, not acquired through computer use.
The authors devote a chapter to developing readers and the need to firstly become familiar
with oral language and to speak fluently. They suggest using computers from an early age
may inhibit the ability to speak and listen, that high impact graphics turn the focus from the
text to image. They also discuss developing writers, and that computers seem no more
effective than other materials in creating fluent readers or writers. Word processing programs,
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Mapping Multiliteracies
they say, have children focus on formatting and fonts rather than creative writing, and pen and
paper still produce the best writing.
Chapters are also devoted to the internet and the problems that can arise with young children.
The authors acknowledge the vast array of information available online but question its
appropriateness. Children can easily access inappropriate adult or even illegal material, they
are unable to discern what is true or not, and it is extremely easy to plagiarise others work.
Advertising is of particular concern. A simple search can be tracked and information collected
on surfing habits that is then used for marketing purposes. The authors comment that children
are exposed to enough advertising outside school, without being bombarded by it in the
classroom.
The child and the machine provides thought-provoking observations and discussions. It raises
many issues that may affect teachers, policy makers, and parents, not to mention children, but
perhaps their most important message is that there is simply no substitute for real life, hands
on experience.

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Cope, B & Kalantzis, M. 2000. Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the

design of social futures. Macmillan, Melbourne.
In 1994, leaders in the field of education from Britain, The United States and Australia met in
New London, Connecticut to discuss the future of literacy education in an ever changing
world. The book Multiliteracies is an overview of the work of this New London Group and
explores the what and how of future literacy teaching what will need to be taught and
how it should be taught in a rapidly changing technological world. The word
multiliteracies encapsulates the multiplicity of communications and the media as well as the
increasing salience of cultural and linguistic diversity. Thus a pedagogy of multiliteracies will
embrace the diverse social and cultural contexts of students lives and have specific cognitive,
cultural and social effects.
Two major issues emerged from the discussions. The first relates to meaning making and how
meaning is made in increasingly multimodal ways. This is especially so in the media world
and the world of electronic texts, where written-linguistic modes of meaning are part and
parcel of visual, audio, and spatial patterns of meaning (p. 5). Making meaning of texts in
such a multimodal world, requires new, multimodal literacies. The second issue relates to the
English language itself and its rapidly changing face. With the advent of the internet, English
is rapidly becoming a world language, helping to create a global village. Yet with increasing
migration and multiculturalism, one standard form of English can no longer be taught and
deemed to be sufficient. The medium itself is changing how we use language. Common
global languages are emerging in the worlds of commerce, politics, the media and
communications, yet acknowledgment of cultural diversity, accent and origin, has never been
more prevalent.
The group developed a theory in which six design elements are used in the meaning-making
process: linguistic meaning, visual meaning, audio meaning, gestural meaning, spatial
meaning, and the multimodal patterns of meaning that relate the first five modes to each other.
Also considered are four components of pedagogy: situated practice drawing on
experiences of meaning-making in lifeworlds, the public realm and the workplace; overt
instruction through which students develop an explicit metalanguage of design; critical
framing which interprets the social context and purpose of designs and meaning; and
transformed practice in which students, as meaning makers, become designers of social
futures. These are not rigid categories nor identified to displace existing practices of literacy
teaching; they are supplements to what teachers already do and provide students with a
multifaceted way of viewing the world.
Considered a work in progress, a programmatic manifesto the book is organised into five
parts: Part I introduces the pedagogy of multiliteracies itself and the designing of social
futures; Parts II, III and IV look respectively at the why, what and how of multiliteracies,
exploring the effects of technological change, multilingualism and cultural diversity; and Part
V explores multiliteracies in practice in three case studies that attempt to put the theories into
practice.

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Mapping Multiliteracies

Cordes, C & Miller, E. 2000. Fools gold: A critical look at computers in

childhood. Alliance for Childhood, College Park MD.
The Alliance for Childhood promotes policies and practices that support childrens healthy
development, love of learning, and joy in living. Our public education campaigns bring to light
both the promise and the vulnerability of childhood. We act for the sake of the children
themselves and for a more just, democratic, and ecologically responsible future.
These are our fundamental beliefs and concerns:
x

Childhood is a critical phase of life and must be protected to be fully experienced. It should
not be hurried.

Each child deserves respect as an individual. Each needs help in developing his or her own
unique capacities and in finding ways to weave them into a healthy social fabric.

Children today are under tremendous stress and suffer increasingly from illnesses such as
allergies, asthma, hyperactive disorders, obesity and depression. This stress must be alleviated.

This 99-page report by the Alliance for Childhood evolved from suspicions that the benefits
of computers with young children were being overstated and that the costs in terms of
money spent, loss of creative, hands-on educational opportunities, and damage to childrens
physical and emotional health were not being accurately reported. The Alliance for
Childhood argues that computers and technology have been so widely and rapidly accepted
that little debate has been undertaken. The report raises many important points and questions.
Under the following chapters, the report explores some commonly held views about
computers and asks whether computers really do motivate children to learn faster and better;
whether young children need exposure to computers to become successful in later life;
whether computers encourage or stifle childrens creativity; and whether childrens needs are
really being met:
x

Healthy children: Lessons from research on child development

Developmental risks: The hazards of computers in childhood

Childhood essentials: Fostering the full range of human capacities

Technology literacy: Educating children to create their own future

Real costs: Computers distract us from childrens needs.

Childrens health is of particular concern, with potential risks including: repetitive stress
injuries, eyestrain, obesity, social isolation, and, for some, long-term physical, emotional, or
intellectual developmental damage. Instead of children spending long hours in front of
computer screens, the alliance argues they need more quality time with caring adults, more
time for active outdoor play, experiences with nature, and hands-on creative activities, seeing
such activities as essential to the health and development of young children.
The alliance believes that instead of spending vast sums on technologies in schools, we
should be promoting more: one-on-one tutoring to students at risk; time to talk with parents
and teachers to encourage conversation and listening skills; time for creative activities; and
direct experience with the world. Rather than providing connections for children to the world,
the alliance believes computers are instead connecting them to trivial games, inappropriate
adult material, and aggressive advertising and that a heavy diet of ready-made computer
images and programmed toys appears to stunt imaginative thinking. Nor does the alliance
believe computers will provide students with the imagination, courage, and will power they
will as adults need to tackle the huge social and environmental problems looming before us.
In the long term, what will serve them far better is a firm commitment from parents, educators,
policymakers, and communities to the remarkably low-tech imperatives of childhood. Those
include good nutrition, safe housing, and high-quality health care for every child especially
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Mapping Multiliteracies
the one in five now growing up in poverty. They also include consistent love and nurturing for
every child; active, imaginative play; a close relationship to the rest of the living world; the
arts; handcrafts and hands-on lessons of every kind; and lastly time plenty of time for
children to be children.

The alliance firmly believes in an unhurried childhood, one that fosters creative, resilient
human beings capable of dealing courageously with an uncertain future. In conclusion the
report makes recommendations for:
1. a refocusing in education, at home and school, on the essentials of a healthy childhood:
strong bonds with caring adults; time for spontaneous, creative play; a curriculum rich in
music and the other arts; reading books aloud; storytelling and poetry; rhythm and
movement; cooking, building things, and other handcrafts; and gardening and other
hands-on experiences of nature and the physical world
2. a broad public dialogue on how emphasising computers is affecting the real needs of
children, especially children in low-income families
3. a comprehensive report by the US Surgeon General on the full extent of the physical,
emotional and other developmental hazards computers pose to children
4. full disclosure by information-technology companies about the physical hazards to
children of using their products
5. a halt to the commercial hyping of harmful or useless technology for children
6. a new emphasis on ethics, responsibility and critical thinking in teaching older students
about the personal and social effects of technology.
The Alliance for Childhood also calls for an immediate moratorium on the further
introduction of computers in early childhood and elementary education, except for special
cases of students with disabilities. Such a time-out, they say, is necessary to create the climate
for the above recommendations to take place.

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Mapping Multiliteracies

Toni Downes
Recent works
In recent years the research of Professor Toni Downes has focused on
childrens use of computers, not only in the classroom, but also in the home
environment. Downes has interviewed children of all ages, and their parents,
on their computer use and explores the different opportunities available at
home and school, and thus provides numerous insights for educators. She
works with both pre-service and in-service teachers particularly in regard to
using ICT for teaching and learning, thereby challenging and extending the
curriculum.
From data gathered by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2000 it is clear that computers
are rapidly becoming a natural part of Australian homes, especially those with children. More
than half of all Australian households have at least one computer and 40% are connected to
the internet. However, of those homes with children under the age of 18, 75% have computers
and 50% of those have access to the internet. These figures have implications for childrens
knowledge of technology, their familiarity with the so called new multimodal literacies, and
their subsequent approach to learning. Downes makes it clear that such familiarity with
computers is not reflected sufficiently in the classroom.
While Australian schools have embraced technology, making efforts to include computers in
every classroom, the culture of schools has changed little in the past 100 years. Todays
children come to school with different orientations to learning, and with skills and literacies
that have been developed from the use of technologies outside of school (2002a, p. 193).
Embracing these skills and literacies that children bring with them to school will further
enhance childrens learning and is something curriculum policy makers need to take into
account. Not only questioning what we teach but how we teach. In many classrooms
computers are still used as simply a tool to perform tasks that could be done with pen and
paper. They may sit in the corner and only be used as a reward system by the fast finishers
and by those who behave appropriately, thereby creating inequities for even those skilled at
using them.
The three papers reviewed here each report on a number of studies, conducted between 1995
and 2000, that explore childrens use of ICT. Through this research Downes is able to
highlight the positive aspects of childrens home computer use, acknowledging the new skills
and new forms of literacy they encounter; how they incorporate computers into their lives;
and how they in turn are shaped by their interactions with computers. She also looks at how
children reshape the computer to their own ends (2002a, p. 184). Having some degree of
control over the computer, being able to choose what they explore and create, is one of the
key features Downes recognised in the home computing environment. The school
environment tends to be much more controlled, especially when it comes to time constraints.
Teachers, under pressure to achieve syllabus outcomes, or with limited ICT skills themselves,
set restrictions and constraints on childrens ICT use. Children are often directed towards
certain sites or only given specific tasks to fulfil all of which may need to be done in the
average 3045 minutes allocated computer time each week.
Other features of the home environment included: a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere;
scaffolding by older siblings or parents with just in time teaching and learning experiences;
and multiple social interactions around the computer. All of these of course can also occur in
the classroom, but were found to be more common at home. Having sufficient time to play
and explore various software, or peruse the internet was the most significant feature of the
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Mapping Multiliteracies
home computer environment, allowing what Downes refers to as time to play, practice and
perform. Children will play games or use software over and over again, enabling them to
become highly skilled in certain processes, which was something many children commented
was not able to be done at school. While time constraints were also a feature of the home
environment, they were generally agreed upon by all family members. Unlike at school,
children were part of the decision-making process when it came to other rules as well, such as
who used the computer and when, whether it was to be used for work or play and what could
or could not be printed.
From interviews conducted with parents, providing children with basic computer skills was
considered essential for childrens success in the future, particularly in the work force and was
seen by some as being as important as basic literacy skills. Thus children were generally well
supported in their computing endeavours. All of the children Downes studied, from aged 5
18, expressed positive attitudes and were extremely comfortable with using computers.
Computers were often in a prominent place in the home as part of the entertainment area and
used by most of the family either individually or collaboratively. Activities in the home
included game playing, writing, editing, project work and finding information. For those with
internet access, emailing, browsing websites, listening to music and downloading software
were also popular pastimes.
According to Downes preschoolers seem to use the computer as a way to express themselves
just as they do with paint and paper. They were clearly capable of using the mouse and the
keyboard to operate various software, following visual cues rather than reading, and could
talk about the images and activities occurring on screen. Children as young as three were
found to be able to use computer technology and be creative and represent their ideas in
symbols, words, sounds and images. Children from the lower primary years reported that they
liked the various drawing programs, educational games, talking books and the internet. They
also incorporated computers and other ICT into their dramatic play, setting up a home office
for instance. For these children computers were seen as a play activity, they spoke of
playing typing games and playing painting games. As the children got older,
communicating with others via email and chat rooms become more popular as did researching
information from CD Roms and the internet.
Electronic literacies and their nonlinear, multimodal approach, unlike traditional texts, enable
children to become co-authors, choosing their own pathways, setting their own goals and
challenges, and having power and control over what they create and view. Computers provide
an infinite number of pathways and subjects to explore. Digital resources encourage risk
taking and challenge childrens thinking through just such exploratory learning. Downes
however does not suggest using these new literacy skills to the exclusion of all others but
instead suggests a pedagogical approach which combines digital and traditional resources
within the learning environment (2002a, p. 195). Creating an environment where childrens
preferred learning styles are fostered and encouraged, thereby improving learning and
development. Downes advocates strengthening the links between home and school to deepen
childrens learning with ICT, enabling skills to be transferred between the two.

References
Downes, T. 2002a. Childrens and families use of computers in Australian homes.
Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 3(2), 18296.
Downes, T. 2002b. Blending play, practice and performance: Childrens use of the computer
at home. Journal of Educational Enquiry, 3(2).
Downes, T. 2002c. Perceptions of how ICT has the potential to influence children beyond the
curriculum: Home/school/community links. In ICT in the primary school, eds A Loveless
& B Dore. Open University Press, Buckingham, UK.

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Further reading
Downes, T. 1998. A matter of equity: Computers in Australian homes, Australian
Educational Computing, 12(2),713.
Downes, T, Arthur, L & Beecher, B. 2001. Effective learning environments for young
children using digital resources: an Australian perspective. Information Technology in
Childhood Education,1, 12943.
Downes, T & Reddacliff, C. 1996. Young children talking about computers in their homes.
Paper delivered at the Australian Computers in Education Conference, April 1996,
National Convention Centre, Canberra.
See also http://www.uws.edu.au/about/acadorg/caess/seecs/staff/toni_downes

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Mapping Multiliteracies

Durrant, C & Beavis, C (eds). 2001. P(ICT)ures of English: Teachers,

learners and technology. Wakefield Press, Adelaide.
Produced with assistance from the Council for the Australian Association for the Teaching of
English, this book is designed to help prepare young people for our ever increasing digital
world. Drawing on a range of experiences from both inside and outside the classroom,
P(ICT)ures of English theorises the challenges ICT pose to the subject of English, literacy and
the curriculum. Its contributions, by leaders in the field of education from across Australia,
celebrate teachers knowledge and good practice, and present exciting possibilities for the
future.
P(ICT)ures of English was chosen as the title because ICT have placed greater emphasis on
the visual components of the curriculum. The teaching of English no longer relies on the
printed page; computer screens have changed the way teachers teach and learners learn.
Durrant and Beavis begin by looking briefly at the impact ICT have had on our practices in
recent years and introducing each of the chapters to come.
The p(ICT)ures that this book provides are many and various; snapshots of good practice,
action research, experimentation and imagination. They offer food for thought and provocation
that stirs up comfortable certainties. They show how English teachers might remake and
reimagine the subject in ways that will best serve our students, in present and future worlds.
We hope the pictures presented here will prompt the creation of many more (p. 9).

The book is divided into three sections past, present and future. Durrant himself looks at
ICT in the recent past; various authors contribute to P(ICT)uring the present, in which both
teaching and technology, and learning and technology are explored in detail. Chapter
headings include Drawing new lines in the silicon: Critical literacy teachers uptake of new
technologies (Wendy Morgan); The new communication order (Ilana Snyder), Digital culture,
digital literacies: Expanding notions of text (Catherine Beavis); The end of school or just
out of school? ICT, the home and digital cultures (Julian Sefton-Green); and ICT, literacy
and disadvantage: An unspeakable topic? (Helen Nixon).
The final section, P(ICT)uring the future, sees Bill Green explore the possibilities of ICT to
come in his chapter, English teaching, literacy and the post-age: On compos(IT)ing and
other new times metaphors. He raises questions about how literacy will be seen in a new light,
how ICT will provide different forms of texts and the need for new textual practices in a
multi-semiotic, mixed-media, digital-electronic environment. He says that this will call on
each of us to think differently and more reflectively about our current practices, which will be
both challenging and exhilarating.

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Durrant, C & Green, B. 2000. Literacy and the new technologies in

school education: Meeting the l(IT)eracy challenge. Australian Journal of
Language and Literacy, 23(2).
With the emergence and consolidation of the so-called new technologies, the issue of new,
emergent, changing, and different literacies has increasingly become a major agenda item
for literacy educators. There are particular challenges for literacy in this new agenda, which
contest traditional concepts of print and their preoccupation with reading and writing texts.
This paper builds on recent Australian work on the integration of literacy and IT in education.
It presents a 3D model of literacytechnology as sociocultural practice, making explicit
connections in this regard with Luke and Freebodys well-known reading resources model of
reading and literacy.

In recent years there has been a profound shift in literacy, schooling and society, from print to
digital literacies. Literacy has transformed from primitive symbol systems, through printed
literacies, and now into hypertext literacy and the world of virtual reality. Durrant and Green
make it clear that print-literacy has not become obsolete it is now simply one of a range of
resources available but educators need to take advantage of the potential and possibilities
the new technologies have to offer. New technologies dont simply replace established
systems of communication; rather, they produce hybrid forms (p. 95). State governments in
Australia continue to ensure students of the future will have access to a wide range of
technologies in their schools and classrooms.
In this article a model for curriculum integration and practice which effectively brings
together sociocultural perspectives on literacy, IT and schooling (p. 97) is outlined and
discussed. This model provides a 3D view of literacy-technology learning, bringing together
the three aspects of the operational, the cultural and critical. The operational dimension refers
to the how to knowledge of how to turn on and operate the computer and any accompanying
software. The cultural dimension refers to understanding what the purpose of each literacy
practice is and making meaning of it. Finally, the cultural dimension takes into account
context, history and power. Students and teachers need to be able to assess and evaluate the
software and technology on offer.
Ultimately students will not only be able to use the resources on offer, and participate
effectively and creatively in their associated cultures, they will also critique them. As with
Freebody and Lukes four roles of the reader (1990) students must learn to be code-breakers,
text-participants, text-users and text-analysts. Durrant and Green state that no one dimension
has priority over the others; a school program needs to incorporate into the curriculum
appropriate engagements with all three dimensions in relevant and socially meaningful ways.
The priority must therefore be experience and activity orientated rather than an instructional
curriculum. Thus it becomes a matter of teaching for learning over learning from teaching.

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Mapping Multiliteracies

Howard Gardner
Recent works
In 1983, Howard Gardner, Professor of Education at Harvard University
published the book Frames of mind in which he introduced the theory of
Multiple Intelligences. Since that time he has received worldwide recognition
and the theory continues to evolve even today. With a background in
psychology and education, and a great love of music and the arts, Gardner
and his theory challenged traditional views of intelligence, the testing of
intelligence, and IQ tests.
From his extensive study over many years, Gardner recognised that intelligence is not
something that can be measured and given a number. He saw that many different forms of
intelligence exist, all of which come together to make up human beings. Originally Gardner
proposed seven intelligences but has since added naturalist intelligence and existential
intelligence. The multiple intelligences are:
x

verballinguistic intelligence or word smart those with well developed verbal skills
and sensitivity to the sounds, meanings and rhythms of words, such as authors and public
speakers

logicalmathematical intelligence or number/reasoning smart those with the ability

to think conceptually and abstractly, and with the capacity to discern logical or numerical
patterns, such as scientists and accountants

visualspatial intelligence or picture smart those with the capacity to think in images
and pictures, to visualise accurately and abstractly, such as artists and architects

bodilykinesthetic intelligence or body smart those with the ability to control their
body movements and to handle objects skilfully, such as dancers and surgeons

musical intelligence or music smart those with the ability to produce and appreciate
rhythm, pitch and timbre; musicians, singers and songwriters all have highly developed
musical intelligence

interpersonal intelligence or people smart those with the capacity to detect and
respond appropriately to the moods, motivations and desires of others, such as sales
people, teachers and politicians

intrapersonal intelligence or self smart those with the ability to be self-aware and in
tune with inner feelings, values, beliefs and thinking processes; these people are well
aware of what they can and cant do and know where to go if they need help; great leaders
and explorers have high levels of intrapersonal intelligence

naturalist intelligence or nature smart those with the ability to recognise and
categorise plants, animals and other objects in nature, such as biologists, astronomers,
botanists

existential intelligence or spiritually smart those with the sensitivity and capacity to
tackle deep questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why we die,
and how did we get here, such as philosophers and religious leaders

Gardner believes that each of us is naturally endowed with certain intelligences that can be
expanded and built upon, and lacking in other areas. Gardner encourages teachers to become
aware of these different ways of knowing, recognise that each student they teach will display
different intelligences, and plan their lessons accordingly. Teachers can also help students
identify their own strengths and weaknesses and in the process discover new, more effective
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Mapping Multiliteracies
ways of learning. This is particularly the case if a child does not have highly developed
verballinguistic intelligence or logicalmathematical intelligence (which are highly valued in
our society), and are labelled as having learning difficulties or seen as unintelligent. Gardner
suggests that because people have different intelligences, they also have different ways of
learning.
Formal schooling tends to neglect these different ways of knowing and learning, and focuses
on the verbal and logical only. Gardner argues that we must plan for multiple ways of
learning. Some students will need to see things visually to be able to understand more easily;
others need to hear instructions; others must have hands-on activities; graphs and statistics
may be needed by some. Still others may need the dynamics that a group can provide,
wanting to discuss and brainstorm their ideas with others; some will need quiet thinking time
alone. Teachers need to provide a range of activities to support all learning styles and also
make the students themselves more aware of their learning styles, and help them discover
where their strengths lie and in which areas they need improvement.
In recent years Gardner has also published papers on technology, multimedia and multiple
intelligences. Although making it clear that technology is not the solution to the problems of
education, he thinks technology and multiple intelligences, go hand in hand. Computers allow
text and images to be displayed, music and voice to be listened to and recorded, and graphs
and diagrams to be viewed and created with ease. One can discover in an interactive and
dynamic way, or those who need a more bodily-kinesthetic approach can find instructions for
different recipes or for building models. Technology, in its various forms can be a quiet
activity for one or a collaborative endeavour for many. Technology also encourages people to
use more than one intelligence at the same time.
Clearly, a marriage of education and technology could be consummated. But it will only be a
happy marriage if those charged with education remain clear on what they want to achieve for
our children and vigilant that the technology serves these ends. Otherwise, like other
technologies, the new ones could end up spawning apathy, alienation or yet another phalanx of
consumers (Gardner 2000).

References
Gardner, H. 1983. Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. Basic Books, New
York.
Gardner, H. 1993. Multiple intelligences: the theory in practice. Basic Books, New York.
Gardner, H. 2000. Can technology exploit our many ways of knowing?, In The Digital
Classroom, ed D Gordon. Harvard Educational Publishers, Cambridge, MA.
Veneema, S & Gardner, H. 1996. Multimedia and multiple intelligences. The American
Prospect, 7(29).

Further reading
Gardner, H. 2000. Intelligence reframed: Multiple intelligences for the 21st century. Basic
Books, New York.
See also www.howardgardner.com

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Gee, JP. 2003. What video games have to teach us about learning and
literacy. Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
I want to talk about video games yes, even violent video games and say some positive
things about them ... (p. 1).

Contradicting much that has previously been said about video games, Gee views computer
games in a very positive light, suggesting that a great deal is being learnt by the users of such
games and that they are in fact teaching valuable learning principles. Gee argues that no less
than 36 important learning principles are embedded into such games, for instance: how
identity is formed; how one connects words, signs and symbols; how one grasps meaning;
how one learns from non-verbal cues; and how one learns transformative skills. Video games,
Gee believes, promote active learning, critical thinking, problem solving and embodied
learning mind and body working together to imprint new knowledge and skills.
Gee points out that in the highly competitive world of video game designers, unlike in
schools, failing to engage children is simply not an option. Game makers must produce games
that will keep children interested, motivated and always wanting more. The games are
designed to teach more and more complex skills along the way that are needed to move
further through the game, constantly challenging and encouraging the children themselves to
push the boundaries of their knowledge and skills. They are therefore educational, although
perhaps not in the traditional sense. They are also highly satisfying, which is not something
children generally associate with learning in schools. Many of those reluctant readers and
communicators at school, will spend hours in online discussion groups or suddenly become
avid readers when needing help to move through different levels of a game. In fact gamers
can become so adept they can become designers of there own video games, transforming their
knowledge and skills to create their own characters, maps and scenarios.
Gee is a well known educator in the United States and a highly respected author of several
books. Along with many others, he positions learning and literacy as a social practice and
video games as an extension of socially situated cognition. He explores the cognitive
development that occurs when gamers try to find their way through mazes and complex new
levels, and sees online discussion groups as supportive communities in which to learn and
gain further knowledge. The students of today face a high-tech workplace of tomorrow, with
computers being an everyday part of recreation and leisure. Todays students still need
traditional literacy skills, such as reading and writing, to surf the web, or play their games, but
they are also learning literacy skills distinctly different from those learnt at school.
Chapter headings include: Semiotic domains: Is playing video games a waste of time?;
Learning and identity: What does it mean to be a half-elf?; Situated meaning and learning:
What should you do after you have destroyed the global conspiracy?

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Hall, N, Larson, J & Marsh, J (eds). 2003. The handbook of early

childhood literacy. Sage Publications, London.
The perspectives of many chapters in this book are based on a view that early childhood
literacy is a global, social, historical, cultural, and political construct. Many of the chapters
suggest that literacy is a social practice that is linked to cultural and linguistic practices and
power relationships in specific contexts. As a social practice, literacy learning is mediated by
language and accomplished in a context in which social actors position, and are positioned by,
each other in verbal, non-verbal, and textual interaction.

While this perspective is taken by most in this handbook, the subjects covered and approaches
taken are as diverse as its authors. The 33 chapters are written by 45 authors from seven
countries, mainly the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, but also Singapore,
Norway, Sweden and Canada. Their work acknowledges that early childhood literacy is a
socially situated practice but also that such practice continues outside of and beyond school.
And just as technology has impacted on all aspects of adults lives so too does it affect the
lives and communication practices of even the very young. The book does not focus on
formal systems of education, nor on children who are struggling with literacy. Instead it
broadens traditional conceptions of literacy, reports on and encourages further research on
early childhood literacy, as a subject of study in its own right, and looks at new visions of
early childhood literacy. The book is organised around five main themes (see preface xxxxi):
x

Part 1: Perspectives on early childhood literacy examines the notion of early childhood
literacy and considers the social, cultural, political and economic factors that impact upon
the nature, function and use of literacy in early childhood.

Part 2: Early childhood literacy in families, communities and cultures centres around
literacy as a social practice and explores different ways families, communities and
cultures construct, value and use literacy with a particular focus on how young children
develop ideas about the meanings and functions of literacy.

Part 3: Early moves in literacy focuses on the process that underpins the acquisition and
development of literacy during early childhood, and emphasises how children come to
understand what literacy is, its purposes and functions.

Part 4: Literacy in preschool settings and schools explores research that shows how
teachers and other practitioners create settings for young childrens literacy learning, and
how children respond to these professional practices and values.

Part 5: Researching early childhood literacy explores in detail approaches to

researching early childhood literacy, mainly from a qualitative perspective. Designed to
provide a theoretical background rather than offer practical approaches to empirical work,
this part provides a foundation for others to conduct research in this field.

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Healy, A & Honan, E (eds). 2004. Text next: New resources for literacy
learning. Primary English Teaching Association, Newtown, NSW.
Text next is a detailed look at the practical uses of Freebody and Lukes (1990) Four
Resources Model or the Four Roles of the Reader. Contributors, have taken the four
resources model, used it in a variety of situations, with a diverse range of children and shown
how different kinds of wings can make it fly (p. 3). Actual classroom examples are
discussed, along with findings from research projects. Each chapter gives substance and
direction to the belief that our school systems can produce critical, analytical and proactive
readers and writers (p. 16).
The book explores ways the four resources model can be used: to explore multimodal texts
and classroom practice; as a map of possible practices for a group of teachers as researchers;
and across different subject areas of the curriculum. Examples show the model used: with
students learning English as a second language; with Aboriginal students and those from other
cultures; as an integrated approach to literacy for children with learning difficulties; and in
exploring students literacy practices through drama. In each case the model was seen as a
useful tool, not only because it recognised the potential of many existing practices, but it also
helps teachers answer what specifically do I do in the classroom to have students know
about, become good at, and appreciate the significance of reading and writing (p. 3).
Healys chapter, which describes in detail a project by a Year 6/7 class, points out how useful
and applicable the model is to both traditional printed texts and multimodal texts, although
multimodal texts hold a different set of conditions for learners to apply the four resources (p.
23). Designing, interpreting and constructing such texts requires complex, unorthodox uses of
traditional literacy skills. The model lent itself to all skill levels and accommodated all
students ESL students, Indigenous students, the gifted and talented, and those at risk.
Honans chapter focuses on teachers as researchers, as bricoleurs those who draw on a
variety of resources around them to create a meaningful assemblage of practices (p. 37)
critically analysing their own and others literacy teaching practices. Using the four resources
model to map their existing practices, the teacher-researchers quickly recognised the emphasis
that was unconsciously placed on code breaking and the theories they were drawing on to
look at the meaning behind the texts. Their own practices therefore could be seen in a new
light but they also realised there was little encouragement for students to become critical
analysers or transformers of texts. Thus their work continued as they devised lists of new
strategies and practices to develop all four resources.
Text next is a useful tool for teachers wishing to further enhance the reading and
comprehension skills of their students. It takes a tool, the four resources model, that many are
familiar with and provides new ways of using it in the classroom. It encourages teachers to
critique their own practices to ensure students are doing more than just code breaking and
participating. Encouraging students to critically analyse the texts on offer, and transform their
skills to other areas, is particularly important in this increasingly technical, rapidly changing
and information rich world.

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Healy, J. 1998. Failure to connect: How computers affect our childrens

minds for better and worse. Simon and Schuster, New York.
Todays children are the subjects of a vast and optimistic experiment. It is well financed and
enthusiastically supported by major corporations, the public at large, and government officials
around the world The experiment of course, involves getting kids on computers at school
and at home in hopes that technology will improve the quality of learning and prepare our
children for the future. But will it? Are the new technologies a magic bullet aimed straight at
success and power? Or are we simply grasping at a technocentric quick fix for a multitude of
problems we have failed to address?

Healy is a teacher as well as a developmental and educational psychologist. She was once a
self confessed techno-enthusiast but her belief that computers provide extraordinary teaching
and learning opportunities for children is gone. Now she believes they are damaging to our
childrens health and well-being. In this volume she explores the effects of computers on
childrens health, creativity, brain development, and social and emotional growth.
The first of the books three sections, looks at how computers are used in classrooms and
homes. The second looks at health issues, intellect and brain development, and the social and
emotional development of young children and teens. Finally Healy shows appropriate and
inappropriate uses of technology with different age groups and discusses possible futures.
There continues to be a huge push to incorporate computers into every classroom, but Healy
believes there has simply not been enough research into the long-term effects and whether
they really do improve learning. Moreover, funds to provide such technology are often drawn
from budgets for the arts, drama, music, physical education and books. She believes too often
inappropriate software is facilitated by inexperienced teachers, and students gain little or no
educational benefit. At home, poor supervision and a general lack of understanding means
children, more often than not, use computers for game playing and entertainment rather than
for educational purposes, despite having educational software available.
The large section of the book devoted to computers and health has a particular focus on brain
development. Health issues covered include vision, postural and skeletal problems, radiation
hazards and the effects of electromagnetic waves, and lack of exercise and outdoor play.
Adults who work long hours with computers report an increase in eye and posture problems,
repetitive strain injuries and overall health problems. Surely we can expect the same problems
to arise for children. As a psychologist, Healy provides a basic introduction to brain
development and the effects of technology. For instance:
1. The brain grows as it responds actively to its environment, and it becomes custom
tailored to that environment.
Technology can subtly nudge the brain to expand certain types of mental skills or neglect
others, depending on how it is used. It can produce either flexible problem-solvers or minds
intent only on finding one right answer. It can engender either a curious, reflective mind set, or
one dulled by spacing out on inconsequential games. The more actively the child uses her mind
as she interacts with the technology, the more active the learning habits she will develop. With
todays software, unfortunately, this is not always the case (p. 132).

The book has been criticised for its anecdotal, rather than valid academic research, approach.
Healy does acknowledge the huge benefits computers and various software, offer those with
physical or mental disabilities, such as cerebral palsy or autism. She also discusses how
technology can aid those with different learning styles or those who struggle with reading and
writing. Healys concerns however do need to be addressed.
Instead of merely asking what our children will learn with computers, we also need to ask what
they will become (p. 191).
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Howard, S. (ed). 1998. Wired up: Young people and the electronic media.
UCL Press, London.
For many years research has targetted young peoples involvement with various forms of
electronic media, including television, movies, electronic games, video cameras, the
telephone, computers and the internet. Whether we agree with it or not, children and young
people [are] managing diverse media forms, enjoying them, thinking about them and
integrating them, seemingly effortlessly, into their lives (p. xi). In fact children of all ages
actively pursue such interactions.
Although written in the late nineties, this book still has relevance today. Each chapter reports
a study conducted with children and young people of all ages using a wide range of media,
from culturally diverse communities in Australia and New Zealand. Gender issues are
explored and many research methods and theoretical contexts represented. Each contributor is
seen as a leader in their chosen field and this compilation brings a rich and unique view to
young peoples engagement with the media.
The authors backgrounds in cultural studies, media and journalism, psychology, sociology,
education, anthropology and the humanities are all reflected in the theoretical frameworks they
adopt. The methods, which are broadly qualitative, include analysis of linguistic and visual
texts, data collection through surveys, interviews, discussion groups and participant observation
and longitudinal snap-shot research designs (p. xii).

The chapter headings themselves describe the contents and provide a glimpse into the subjects
covered:
x

Where do snails watch television? Preschool television and New Zealand children (Geoff
Lealand)

Teaching the Nintendo generation? Children, computer culture and popular technologies
(Bill Green, Jo-Anne Reid and Chris Bigum)

Zapping Freddy Krueger: Childrens use of disapproved video texts (Mark Laidler)

Unbalanced minds? Children thinking about television (Sue Howard)

The middle years: Children and television cool or just plain boring? (Linda Sheldon)

Video game culture: Playing with masculinity, violence and pleasure (Nola Alloway and
Pam Gilbert)

Its different to a mirror cos it talks to you: Teenage girls, video cameras and identity
(Gerry Bloustien)

The friendly phone (Patricia Gillard, Karen Wale and Amanda Bow)

Numerous findings emerge from the various studies but overall it seems clear that childrens
interactions with ICT are not only enjoyable, they are intellectually stimulating; educational
as well as being entertaining. Much talk and communication, in various forms, occurs around
electronic media and it is producing discerning, capable and intelligent thinkers. For instance,
children are developing hypotheses and theories to explain televisions representations of
reality (p. 73). Since the media and popular culture are such a large part of childrens lives,
Green, Reid and Bigum suggest taking popular culture seriously and making use of its
potential as a learning tool. The interactivity of electronic media enables children to be far
more engaged in their learning and play than books or television have permitted in the past.
Indeed they suggest educators ignore or slight the Nintendo generation, or indeed demonize
them, at their peril (p. 39).

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Kress, G & Van Leeuwen, T. 2001. Multimodal discourse: The modes and
media of contemporary communication. Hodder Headline, London.
Kress and Van Leeuwen write that in the past there has been a focus on language alone which
has meant that all the representational and communicational modes in particular cultures have
been overlooked or suppressed. Semiotic modes have different potentials for all kinds of
human expression and engagement with the world, and thus differential possibilities of
development: bodily, cognitively, affectively. The single intensive focus on written language
has dampened their full development.
In addition each of the many kinds or genres, from business cards to car parking rules, has a
particular purpose and text features. Television programs come in different genres from talk
shows, to quiz shows to documentaries, or a combination of genres.
Concerning new literacies, young childrens writing and reading is multimodal and to
understand this and plan effective ways of teaching, Kress and Van Leeuwen write that
educators need a multimodal theory of communication. In Multimodal discourse they describe
four non-hierarchical aspects, and show how meaning is communicated: discourse, design,
production and distribution.

Discourse
Discourse is a socially constructed knowledge about particular events and characters. For
example in Australia, the conversation discourse about Australian Rules Football could cover
certain versions about what happens in the game, who is involved, what they do, the colours,
the teams and competition, sets of interpretations, evaluative judgments, critical or justifying
arguments about football games or aspects of them. In writing, the discourse of football can
be used to write an advertising jingle, a comic, thriller, or a testimonial from a footballer on a
breakfast cereal packet.
In early childhood education there is a discourse, particular kinds of conversations,
vocabulary, rules, who is involved, interpretations and evaluative judgments.

Design
Design is the conceptual planning side of expression and in the case of the football discourse
has to do with plans for ways the particular discourse can be communicated through language
and other signs to communicate particular meanings. Design is similar to the work of an
architect who draws the plan of a house but does not build it, or an advertising executive who
designs the features of an advertising campaign for others to carry out. In writing, design is
where the choice to make a theatre script, a poem, a jingle, or a movie would be decided and
the development of an outline or a plan of what this would be like.

Production
In the actual production of the material or the event a range of media can be used in writing,
from pen and paper to word processing, downloading graphics, using clip art and digital
photography, to making books, creating power point displays. The process of drafting, editing
and revising occurs here.

Distribution
Distribution has to do with the recording or copying of the finished product and making it
available to other audiences. It may involve making a CD Rom, putting the product on the
web, making a book for others to read.

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Further reading
Kress, G. 2000. Design and transformation: new theories of meaning. In Multiliteracies:
Literacy learning and the design of social futures, eds B Cope & M Kalantzis, Macmillan,
Melbourne, pp.15361.
Kress, G & Van Leeuwen, T. 2001. Multimodal teaching and learning: The rhetorics of the
science classroom. Continuum, London.

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Mapping Multiliteracies

Linda Labbo
Recent works
For many years Professor Linda Labbo has worked in the field of education, enhancing the
curriculum and literacy development with a particular focus on reading. For the last ten years
she has extended her research to explore the use of computers and other new technologies in
the classroom setting. Referring to the computer as an exciting new symbol making machine
Labbo has realised the potential of such technology in developing literacy skills in young
children.
Commissioned by the United States Department of Education in 2000, Labbo produced the
paper, Toward a vision of the future role of technology in literacy education, to help provide
American children with an effective literacy education for a successful future. The paper
looks at technology in literacy education in past and present decades as well as making
predictions for the future. Questions and cautions are raised and three factors are explored:
definitions of literacy, learning theories and communicative technologies. The conclusion,
under the heading Ready or not, Here it comes!, discusses the fact that technology is here
and here to stay, and to fulfill the vision of students becoming literate beings, teachers will
need intelligence, heart and courage.
Discussions on the future of literacy education are raised under the headings: Anticipating
societal literacy expectations; Forthcoming definitions of literacy as digital; Expecting
computer-equipped homes; and Formulating relevant learning theories. We firstly need to
acknowledge that electronic or digital texts are far more than just a printed page displayed on
a screen, they are a powerful binary soup of images, text and sounds, which can link to other
sites and information created by anyone, anywhere in the world. Furthermore, the various
informational sources link seamlessly and can therefore be manipulated by consumers of
information or producers of information in ways that meet their communicative goals (p. 6).
It is expected that computers will, in a few short years, be a natural part of nearly every home.
It will be crucial that the technologies present in the classrooms coincide with those present in
the community. Teachers knowledge of communicative technologies will increase and their
role within the classroom will become more flexible and instructional, moving between being
model, mentor and manager. They will still support childrens traditional print-based literacy
development, and also their digital literacy development, and at the same time they will foster
childrens awareness of critical literacy and reasoning. To be digitally literate will mean to
learn skills necessary to navigate, locate, communicate online, and participate in digital,
virtual, and physical communities (p. 6).
Labbo also looks at formulating relevant learning theories and suggests that, rather than one
overarching theory, the complexity of digital literacy requires multiple theoretical
underpinnings. She suggests Vygotskys sociocognitive theory and social learning strategies
will remain influential as will the emerging theoretical perspective, semiotics. Semiotics is
unique in that it combines cognitive psychology with a sociocultural learning theory:
comprehension and expression of ideas is affected not only by students abilities to interpret
and make meaning of signs and symbols, but also by the social and cultural contexts
surrounding such signs. When encountering a digital communicative platform, students are
given opportunities to select and interpret a broad range of multimedia signs (eg words, icons,
music and video) and the cultural connotations that surround them.
Labbo also makes a number of recommendations for future research into digital literacy, such
as who will conduct such research and the questions they may need to ask. She suggests
university and classroom teachers collaborate on research projects and that teacher action
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Mapping Multiliteracies
research projects also be undertaken. Many feel that computers and the ability to
communicate effectively and instantaneously online, will lead to an education system outside
our schools and classrooms. Labbo acknowledges that schooling may be so reconceptualized
and transformed in the long range that it will no longer occur in classrooms but suggests that
the institution called school will remain well into the 21st century and that teachers will
continue to play a central role in childrens digital literacy development (p. 12).
In a more recent article (in press), Labbo raises the question, Do computers belong in
primary classrooms? Her answer is undoubtedly yes, though the full answer is more complex
than that and is developed and repeated throughout the article. Labbo makes it clear that
computers belong in early childhood classrooms when teachers have the necessary training,
vision, and support to integrate them competently. Ongoing professional staff development,
according to Labbo, is essential if the potential of these new technologies is to be realised.
Teachers need to be educated in the knowledge and skills children can learn with access to
computers and how to plan and design learning environments to integrate them into the
curriculum. Labbo suggests teachers use the internet to communicate with other teachers, to
find out what works and what doesnt. She lists a number of the sites dedicated to providing
teachers of all age students with appropriate lesson plans and ideas.
Many feel that young children need to be able to read before benefiting from computers, but
Labbo points out that appropriate software can provide, for example, word pronunciations,
auditory narrations, visual animations, all of which can help vocabulary and reading
development. She argues that if given the opportunities, young children can navigate their
way through a variety of information and interact meaningfully with it regardless of reading
ability. However, teachers also need active, hands-on learning to explore the creative software
programs available. They need the same supportive learning environments as their students to
allow them to make mistakes, receive feedback and try again. Everyone learns best when
they have opportunities to construct knowledge through independent explorations and social
collaborations and providing such opportunities for teachers is vital if they in turn are to
provide such computer-related literacy activities for their students.
Also in press is Labbos chapter The symbol-making machine: Examining the role of
electronic symbol making in childrens literacy development, the purpose of which is to
consider practical classroom implications of relevant theoretical underpinnings that
underscore the role of computer-related multimedia and multiple sign systems in fostering
childrens literacy development. She briefly reviews the vast changes in literacy instruction
for past and present generations and ponders what the future might hold for the next
generation. Definitions of literacy again need to be broadened to encompass the new digital
literacies that new technologies offer. Expanding on the language arts of reading, writing,
speaking and listening to include multimedia symbol forms, Labbo refers to electronic symbol
making, which consists of conceptual processes, strategies, and skills that children develop as
they make meaning with digitally-produced multimedia symbols. Such electronic symbol
making involves digital literacies and multiple sign systems that may be best understood
from a semiotic perspective. Using the example of five year olds, Harry and Samantha, who
use the computer to engage in a number of activities, Labbo demonstrates how childrens
literacy skills and cognitive capabilities are expanded on, as they solve problems of symbolic
representation whereby they organize, re-organize, and represent meaning.
Classrooms now need to be not only literacy rich but also multimedia enriched, inviting
students to express their ideas and think critically using multiple symbol systems. Children
need ample time to engage in electronic symbol making activities, both individually and
collaboratively in ways that reflect their preferred approaches to learning. They then need
time to celebrate, discuss and share their creations with authentic audiences. Labbo believes
that by reconceptualising computers as symbol machines and taking a semiotic perspective,
teachers will create computer-related activities that will be more likely to provide children
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Mapping Multiliteracies
with unique opportunities for motivating, cognitively engaging and empowering electronic
symbol making.
Finally, a recent paper by Labbo, with colleagues Eakle and Montero, explores an innovative
language experience approach (LEA) enhanced by digital photographs and creative software
(D-LEA). Here kindergarten children, all with different abilities, are provided with unique
opportunities for literacy learning using ICT. The authors point out numerous advantages of
working with digital images and age appropriate software and conclude by highlighting the
LEA concepts that appear to be enhanced through D-LEA.
What I think about I can talk about. What I can see [in a digital photograph], I can talk about
and remember. What I can say, I can write down. What I can write down, I can revise on
screen. What I can write I can read or have read to me by the computer. I can read what others
write for me to read.

References
Labbo, L. 2000. Toward a vision of the future role of technology in literacy education.
Commissioned by the Office of Educational Technology, US Department of Education,
Forum on Technology in Education Envisioning the Future, Washington, DC,
December, 1999.
Labbo, L. (in press). Question: do computers belong in primary classrooms? Simple answer:
yes! Complex answer: yes but why? Wisconsin State Reading Association.
Labbo, L. (in press). The symbol machine: Examining the role of electronic symbol making in
childrens literacy development. In Teaching multiple literacies in K-8 classrooms: cases,
commentaries and practical applications, eds J Richards & M McKenna. Lawrence
Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ.
Labbo, L, Eakle, J & Montero, K. (in progress). Digital language experience approach (DLEA): Using digital photographs and creativity software as a language experience
approach (LEA) innovation.

Further reading
Labbo, L. 1996. A semiotic analysis of young childrens symbol making in a classroom
computer center. Reading Research Quarterly, 31(4), 35685.
Labbo, L & Kuhn, M. 1998. Computers and emergent literacy: an examination of young
childrens computer-generated communicative symbol making. In Literacy for the 21st
century: Technological transformations in a post-typographic world, eds D Reinking, L
Labbo, M McKenna & R Kieffer. Lawrence Erlbaum, NY, pp.7991.
See also http://www.coe.uga.edu/reading/faculty/labbo.html

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Lankshear, C & Knobel, M. 2003. New literacies: Changing knowledge

and classroom learning. Open University Press, Buckingham.
In her foreword to this latest offering from two of Australias leaders in educational research,
Donna Alvermann, from the University of Georgia, suggests that New literacies will become
a milestone in literacy education, providing not just a glimpse into the future but a pathway to
follow. Written for educators, parents, policy makers and the public, it demonstrates the
profound impact ICT, the media and the internet are having on our lives and literacy practices.
New literacies steps to the forefront of literacy research challenging existing ideas and beliefs.
The first of the books three sections, Whats new?, begins with a chapter exploring the
extraordinary changes that have taken place in just a few short decades and the new mindsets
needed to address the interfaces between literacy, technology and social practices. Chapter
two draws on studies completed in the field (and in fields other than literacy) to identify a
range of new literacies that should be included in education and literacy research. Chapter
three discusses literacy, mindsets and new technologies, taking the mindset thesis and
adapting it to suit literacy education in schools.
Section two, Staring at the Future, refers to the idea that the future is already here, that we are
indeed staring straight at it, but that, in school education, we are not yet fully engaging with it.
Chapter four critiques the approach taken in Britain by the National Grid for Learning,
suggesting that, despite its good intentions, it may not quite be achieving its aims. Chapters
five and six document practices that are emerging as exemplars of new ways of doing and
being and new literacies integral to them (p. 19). Chapter five focuses on the newly emerging
attention economy and the roles new literacies will play in it and therefore how new literacies
will need to be taught in classrooms of the future. Chapter six then looks at the phenomenon
of peer ratings and reviews a large part of gaining credibility and recognition within the
world of online trading and how this may impinge on education in the future.
The final section, Changing knowledge, contains two chapters, the first of which explores a
concept Lankshear and Knobel refer to as digital epistemologies the changes taking place
in the world due to the increase in digitisation and the implication and impact this may have
on school education. They examine how some of the key assumptions underlying theory and
practice of current curriculum are being challenged. Chapter eight looks at new pedagogical
approaches to working with at risk students, by reporting on the results of a study conducted
with four teenagers each excluded from their classes for disruptive behaviour and each
considered to have literacy difficulties. Each were taught skills for working with new
technologies, then given the task of returning to the class and teaching their peers with
outstanding results. Lankshear and Knobel suggest we have much to learn from the students
themselves, already successfully using ICT in their everyday lives, and that this high tech life,
can and should be connected to life inside school.

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Donald Leu
Recent works -
Leu has written numerous articles on the new and exciting literacies associated
with ICT. He believes that while literacy becomes increasingly electronic the
ability to read and write becomes even more important to our childrens future
than it was to ours (2001). He believes literacy instruction and literacy
assessment need to change to keep up with these rapidly emerging literacies of the
21st century. If an organisation fails to change and remains static, it quickly
becomes obsolete. The same principle, Leu believes, applies to schools. Enabling
students to find relevant information quickly, communicate effectively and
recognise and solve any problems that arise while at the same time supporting
teachers in their use of ICT has become the focus of Leus work in recent
years.
A significant feature of Leus work is the practical advice he provides for teachers in the
classroom while at the same time challenging the thoughts and ideas of policy makers. Since
computers and various other forms of ICT are already a natural part of childrens lives, Leu
states these new technologies should also be a natural part of every classroom. He says that
we should no longer be arguing over whether to include computers in early childhood
classrooms, but instead should focus on how to support teachers efforts to unlock the
potential of these new technologies (Leu 2000a). New, digital, multimedia literacies are not
only redefining the notion of literacy, they are redefining the role of educators. If educators do
not embrace these new technologies and new learning opportunities, and remain static, they
too may become obsolete. Thankfully Leu believes the role of the teacher, far from becoming
obsolete, will be even more important in the future helping guide students through the
internets vast information superhighway. That multimedia environments will increase the
central role teachers play in orchestrating learning experiences making for richer and more
complex learning and teaching opportunities.
What it means to be literate continuously changes as new technologies of literacy rapidly
appear in an age of information, creating both new opportunities and new challenges for
literacy educators. If literacy is deictic, and I believe it is, then the central question for each of
us is not How do we teach children to be literate? Instead, the central question is How do we
teach children to continuously become literate? That is, How do we help children learn to
learn the new literacies that will continuously emerge? Literacy is no longer an end point to be
achieved and tested but rather a process of continuously learning how to become literate. Many
of these new literacies will converge with the internet (Leu 2001).

As Leu (2000a) points out books have been the central focus of education, literacy and the
sharing of ideas for over 500 years. Learning how to read a book changes peoples lives in
fundamental ways. Books help us understand ourselves and the world around us, and open the
door to countless opportunities: Every time we enter the pages of a book we return as
different people (2000a). Today, however, children need far more than just the ability to read
books. The new technologies of literacy, thanks in particular to the internet, are changing so
rapidly and go so far beyond the turning of pages that to avoid giving children the opportunity
to use them, will undermine their ability to succeed in the future. Leu emphasises that the new
internet literacies will not replace traditional book literacies, but instead will build on them.
The internet has brought with it a vast array of new reading and writing opportunities, for
children of all ages. As educators, how we respond to these new literacies and changes will
determine our students ability to succeed in this new multimedia world (Leu 1996). Teaching
using computers and the internet is not something that can be left up to the computer
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teacher during time in the computer lab, just as change happens in the technologies of
literacy; change must also happen throughout the literacy education community (Leu 2000a).
The internet is a valuable tool for researching information on literally any subject and enables
anyone to create and add their own pages to it. It provides a wealth of opportunities for
students of all ages and all reading abilities to become involved with exciting and meaningful
projects, designed to be shared with others all over the world. Traditional literature is
available in new and interactive digital formats and communication has reached new levels of
which emails, chatrooms, online books, MOOs and MUDs1 are just a small part.
However, anyone can publish anything on the internet and so it will become even more
important that students become critically aware and learn to analyse what it is they are
reading. Helping students gain the literacy skills needed to find relevant information quickly,
communicate these findings with others and enhance students problem solving skills, will
become even more important in the future. With books, students could generally be
guaranteed of their accuracy and assumed to be correct, this however does not apply when it
comes to the internet. Anyone with any political, religious or even criminal agenda may
publish whatever they like, thus children must be taught to critically analyse both text and
graphics and use high level thinking and reasoning skills to sift out what is appropriate and
what is not.
The social interactions that occur around the computer screen are also emphasised by Leu,
that contrary to what many would think, working or playing on the computer is not something
done in isolation. Much peer tutoring, sharing of information, collaboration and
communication occurs, more so than with traditional print based literature. Students often
learn about complex multimedia environments by showing each other cool things (Leu
1996). Such sharing of cool things can also occur with students in different areas of the
school, with parents at home, or with others anywhere around the world. Just as students
collaborate and share information, online articles become more than just articles when readers
are invited to interact as part of online discussion groups to discuss how meaningful literacy
learning can occur using ICT and as a place where educators can share appropriate websites
and software.
Finally, Leu claims that all teachers must take on the role of leader when it comes to using
new technologies for literacy instruction (1997; 2000a). No one person or organisation can
keep pace with the new technologies and software programs that arise, but opportunities do
exist for teachers to share the knowledge they have gained and keep as up to date as possible.
Just as children share online the tricks and tips needed to play the latest games, so too can
educators share online the tricks and tips to integrate technology into the classroom.
Knowledge and skills can be shared with each other using the internet and the various forums
it offers, such as chatrooms, discussion groups etc. Continually becoming literate is as
important for us as it is for our students (Leu 1997).

References
Leu, D. 1996. Sarahs secret: Social aspects of literacy and learning in a digital information
age. The Reading Teacher, 50(2), 16265.

MUD (multi-user dimension (or dungeon)) a usually text-based, multi-user simulation environment;
users can create things which stay after they leave and with which other users can interact in their
absence, thus allowing a world to be built gradually and collectively
MOOs (multi-object orientations) an extension of MUD systems to multi-user role playing
environments in which participants can create whole worlds, rooms, objects and characters; typically
used for educational conferencing purposes eg a special area on a computer where students and
teachers can interact in their own or others classrooms
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Leu, D. 1997. Caitys question: Literacy as deixis on the internet. The Reading Teacher,
51(1), 6267.
Leu, D. 2000a. Our childrens future: Changing the focus of literacy and literacy instruction.
The Reading Teacher, 53, 42431.
Leu, D. 2001. Internet project: Preparing students for new literacies in a global village. The
Reading Teacher, 54(6), 56873.

Further reading
Leu, D. 2002. Internet workshop: Making time for literacy. The Reading Teacher, 55(5), 466
73.
Leu, D, Karchmer, R & Leu Jr, D. 1999. The Miss Rumphius effect: Envisionments for
literacy and learning that transform the internet. The Reading Teacher, 52, 63642.
See also http://web.syr.edu/~djleu/home/home.html

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Mapping Multiliteracies

Loveless, A & Ellis, V (eds). 2001. ICT, pedagogy and the curriculum.
Routledge/Falmer, London.
With the introduction of technology at a pace that few of us can comprehend what the
future will look like, how schools will educate its students, or whether there will be schools at
all is anyones guess. The times are definitely changing and we are in a transition period
between old and new literacies and old and new technologies. What is important, according to
Loveless and Ellis, is that this period of change, this period of accommodation is
characterised by participants who are well informed, reflective, imaginative, collaborative,
creative, democratic and critically aware of issues of access, equity and social justice (p. 1).
They make the point that the introduction of ICT into schools and classrooms, which is
occurring on a grand scale throughout many western nations, is having an impact on teaching
and learning that does not necessarily reflect the ways in which children and young people
experience and appropriate the technology in their lives outside school (p. 2). Bringing these
outside school experiences and skills into the classroom through appropriate technology and
appropriate use of such technology will further enhance students motivation and learning.
Making connections, using this knowledge and increasing the involvement of parents and the
community will also support and improve the education of our young people.
Numerous books and online resources are available for pre- and in-service teachers to share
experiences and exchange ideas. The purpose of this volume is to complement all of them.
The authors are all involved with the use and development of ICT within their chosen subjects
or fields and each raises questions and concerns about the relationship between ICT and
formal education. They do so by highlighting three themes:
x

The cultural context

Pedagogy and ICT approaches to and performances in pedagogy

ICT and the curriculum representations of subject knowledge within a

compartmentalised curriculum and ways in which these can be challenged and developed.

Contributors explore a variety of current issues and speculate on possible future scenarios.
The powerful relationship that exists between education, entertainment and commercial
interests, along with parent and teacher responsibilities, are all explored along with new
approaches to literacy teaching and learning. How ICT can be used to enhance all aspects of
the curriculum is also examined as is how technology blurs the boundaries between subjects.
English, mathematics and science, for instance, are no longer taught in isolation; they can all
be combined along with, say, music and art, all within the one software program. Thus
educating future generations will involve interactions between learners, teachers and
knowledge [that] will be far more complex, engaging and unpredictable (p. 6).

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Mapping Multiliteracies

Marsh, J. 2004. The techno-literacy practices of young children. Journal

of Early Childhood Research, 2(1).
In many analyses of childrens emergent literacy practices, there is little acknowledgement
of childrens engagement in techno-literacy practices. This article discusses findings from a
survey undertaken in a working-class community in the north of England which aimed to
identify the emergent techno-literacy practices of a group of 44 children aged between two
and a half and four years of age. It is argued that the multimodal textual competencies and
semiotic choices of these toddler netizens should be more widely acknowledged within
current curriculum frameworks for the early years.

This article discusses the findings from this survey and explores the emergent techno-literacy
practices young children engage in and their parents attitudes towards them. The study was
conducted in an area of high poverty and high unemployment. Parents were interviewed and
questionnaires completed to determine the literacy practices their young children engaged in.
Three aspects are explored in detail in this paper: television (which includes film), computer
games and mobile phones. Results suggest these techno-literacies need to be recognised and
incorporated into the early childhood curriculum.
The concept of multiliteracies, with its emphasis on visual, aural and an interactive approach
to learning, has challenged traditional notions of literacy and brought the influence of the
media into the spotlight. Two trains of thought have emerged: children are passive victims
needing protection from the negative influence of the media, or they are dynamic participants
and active meaning makers in the media that surrounds them. In this survey it was found
television was the most popular pastime with all of the families, but the vast majority of
parents reported that their children were far from just passive observers. The children were
seen as playing the parts of both audience and co-performer. This active participation also
extended into various play scenarios throughout the day. Role playing different characters and
repeating actions and dialogue from their favourite shows, which in many instances, involved
the whole family.
This was also the case with computer games, where older siblings and parents modelled how
to play the various games. And although it was usually fathers and brothers who were the role
models, both boys and girls demonstrated equal enjoyment from playing the games. Thus the
technology again encouraged communication and social interaction. This was also the case
with mobile phones and although these children were too young to send text messages most
were very aware of this form of communication as it was demonstrated to them on a daily
basis by other family members and through the media.
Thus with these rich and rewarding literacy practices in each childs home, Marsh emphasises
the need to include these practices in early childhood settings. She comments that no longer
is it acceptable to view children as pre-readers and pre-writers, given their communicative
competencies from birth (p. 60). These young children actively demonstrated a complex
range of contemporary literacy skills, knowledge and understandings.

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Mapping Multiliteracies

McKenna, M 1998, Electronic texts and transformation of beginning

reading. In Literacy for the 21st century: Technological transformations
in a post-typographic world, eds D Reinking, M McKenna, L Labbo & R
Kieffer. Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ.
It is in the area of electronic resources, designed to support the novice, that textual
transformations have their greatest significance in primary classrooms. [Other authors] have
described how such resources can support the attempts of students experiencing reading
problems to negotiate text in the absence of teacher assistance. A more limited set of such
resources, including digitised pronunciations of words and oral renderings of larger language
units, present educators with a host of issues that will grow in significance as the availability of
electronic trade books continues to expand. In this chapter, I examine these issues, clarify
central questions, and offer preliminary suggestions.

By the time most children reach school they are already familiar with the conventions of print,
including the recognition of letters and a basic knowledge of lettersound relations. They will
also have acquired a vast speaking and listening vocabulary. However, before they reach an
automated decoding and fluency, children rely on assistance from more accomplished readers.
Successful attempts to read must be heavily supported. In classrooms, where one-on-one time
with students is limited, talking books can become a valuable resource. McKenna explores
how talking books provide the interaction needed to enable a child to expand what Vygotsky
referred to as their zone of proximal distance. Such software offers electronic scaffolding in
the form of oral reading of texts and digitised pronunciations of unfamiliar words, making
independent reading a reality long before decoding reaches the point of automaticity (p.46).
Talking books will not of course replace that human interaction but they do allow children to
engage in a complex, authentic reading activity and a positive, child initiated one.
McKenna discusses various research projects conducted using talking books which, though
not extensive, do suggest positive effects. The author provides details of the studies
undertaken and discusses issues and implications that may arise with the more frequent use of
these electronic texts. For example, it seems instructional level and readability of texts may
alter with electronic support children may be able to read and comprehend texts at a higher
level, than with unsupported printed texts. There may be an accelerated reading growth also
because the decoding and fluency stages may develop in parallel with each other, rather than
in sequence. The role of context too may alter; once used as a tool for identifying words for
emergent readers, talking books instead encourage children to behave as though they are
reading fluently, thus reducing the reliance on context. Electronic texts may also be used as an
assessment tool, tracking a childs progress and providing feedback. This will become more
apparent as the software advances. Present and potential features of talking books are also
discussed. For instance, how they provide a variety of response options for readers; that the
future will provide literally hundreds of networked titles to choose from; that embedded tasks
to test comprehension will also be included; and that more sophisticated resources will
become available. Finally McKenna looks at how electronic texts may in fact move away
from reflecting traditional childrens literature and be presented in more exciting, more
engaging and informative formats.

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Mapping Multiliteracies

Helen Nixon
Recent works
Dr Helen Nixon has had many years of teaching experience particularly in
the area of literacy, in schools and with teachers. Her interests include
literacy and popular culture and the media, and more recently, literacy and
information and communication technologies. She has written extensively on
these subjects and worked closely with teachers, researching actual
classroom examples of literacy learning that extends beyond traditional
school literacies and is meaningful and relevant to students lives.
In 2002, Nixon contributed to the publication Digital expressions, exploring popular media
culture, ICT and the English language arts curriculum. She discusses the extraordinary power
the media, in all its forms, has over young people and indeed all of us. Nixon believes that
schools are failing to capitalise on young peoples engagement with and knowledge of
popular media culture and are thus increasing the often large gap that exists between home
and school literacies. She suggests we need to be asking (p. 115): What are the implications
of global consumer-media culture for young peoples literacy and communication practices?
How might teachers best engage with the popular pedagogies of consumer-media culture in
their classrooms? and How might consumer-media culture be approached from a critical
perspective and in ways that are generally recognized as educationally worthwhile?
Nixon discusses the idea of communicational webs (Kress 2000) a complex
communicational structure that links together a variety of media (eg television, the internet,
magazines), with a variety of communication modes which may involve images, writing
and/or talk (eg chats, emails, diaries). Focusing on teenagers involvement with the television
series Dawsons Creek and its associated website, Nixon explores the communicational webs
created and the potential significance of popular media culture for the teaching of reading
or viewing within the English language arts curriculum (p.121). The operational, cultural
and critical dimensions of the literacy practices made available on the website, are explored in
detail under the heading Using the 3D model of l(IT)eracy to design curriculum based on
Dawsons Creek. The aim is to help young people become critical analysers by creating a
curriculum that will provide them with the tools to develop thought provoking and socially
responsible attitudes towards this powerful global media culture.
In 2003 Nixon was invited to be part of the New directions in research collaborative writing
project to discuss media and online literacies. The project included authors from the United
States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Europe, where computers and other forms
of ICT are becoming increasingly central to peoples lives. Young people in particular are
actively and enthusiastically using a variety of different ICT to communicate. They are
participating in live chatrooms, the online computer game culture, popular music culture, and
the fan culture associated with sports, film and television. This global popular media culture,
including online culture, has become integrally bound up with childrens and teenagers
affiliations, identities, and pleasures (p. 407) and because this kind of social participation is
integrally bound up with the ways in which symbolic meanings are made, negotiated, and
contested (p. 408), Nixon believes it is therefore of vital concern to literacy research.
Young peoples involvement with these new multimodal forms of communication, may be
beyond the understanding of most teachers of today, and yet their students are actively
engaging with them often on a daily basis. Again the school curriculum is in vast contrast to
students everyday lives. Traditional literacy skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening
are all very relevant in the new media age but now meaning making is becoming increasingly
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Mapping Multiliteracies
multimodal and increasingly visual. Communicational webs, which most young people are
naturally a part of, use different forms of media and different modes of communication, yet
these young users move rapidly and effortlessly between them all demonstrating high level,
complex literacy skills. They can produce professional quality video, music and multimedia
presentations, which few literacy teachers have had experience with. Thus, the complexity of
the contemporary symbol, media-saturated environment, and childrens simultaneous
cognitive and affective engagements with online and offline worlds mean we cannot afford to
have a narrow literacy research agenda for the future (p. 409).
Part of Nixons own research is to examine what literacy learning is occurring in a variety of
classrooms, where teachers go beyond the basics, exploring new technologies, the media and
popular culture. One of Nixons most recent chapters, written in collaboration with colleague
Barbara Comber, is Behind the scenes: Making movies in early years classrooms. It examines
the experiences of two early childhood teachers from very different environments and their
work with young children in making movies. Both teachers work with five and six year olds.
Helen Grants classes are predominantly ESL students including many new arrivals to
Australia with limited English language skills or knowledge of Australian culture. Andrew
Lord works with Anglo-Australians from working class families. Neither accepts that young
children are incapable of complex literacy practices and both hold high expectations and
assume that young children can and should express serious ideas, engage in cultural analysis
and produce significant multi-media artifacts.
These young children created three films: Aussie slang (2002), Wave cultures (2003) and
Super sausage (2002). The literacy learning that took place is explored in detail at the
cultural, operational and critical dimensions. While making these films the children acquired a
variety of complex communication skills and technical knowledge, but political, cultural and
social issues were also raised that went beyond literacy learning. Thus the whole process
became a meaningful learning experience and a fun one. The children became more aware of
stereotyping, gender inequities and violence often depicted in movies; and could see that
peoples values and safety needed to be taken into account as did the need to respect and
acknowledge other cultures and ideas. These young children understood the reasons why their
films were being made, were enthusiastic and involved, and aware of their potential audience,
becoming analysts, producers and designers of complex and meaningful artefacts.

References
Nixon, H. 2002. Popular media culture, ICTs and the English language arts curriculum. In
Digital expressions: media literacy and English language arts, eds R Hammett & B
Barrell. Detselig, Calgary, Canada, pp.11335.
Nixon, H. 2003. New research literacies for contemporary research into literacy and new
media? Reading Research Quarterly, 38(3), 40713.
Nixon, H & Comber, B. (in press). Behind the scenes: Making movies in early years
classrooms. In Popular culture, media and digital literacies in early childhood, ed J
Marsh. RoutledgeFalmer, London.

Further reading
Comber, B & Nixon, H. (in press). Re-reading and re-writing the neighbourhood: critical
literacies and identity work. In Reading isnt just about books: 21st century approaches
for 21st century children, ed J Evans. David Fulton (UK) and Heinemann (USA).
Nixon, H. 2002. English/literacy education and consumer-media culture. English in Australia,
133, 6870.

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Sefton-Green, J, & Nixon, H. 2003. Can English cope? The challenge of popular culture,
digital technologies and curriculum change. In English teachers at work, eds B Doecke, D
Homer & H Nixon. Wakefield Press, Adelaide, pp. 24254.
See also http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/staff/Homepage.asp?Name=Helen.Nixon

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Prensky, M. 2001. Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon,

9(5).
It is amazing to me how in all the hoopla and debate these days about the decline of education
in the US we ignore the most fundamental of its causes. Our students have changed radically.
Todays students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.
Todays students have not just changed incrementally from those of the past, nor simply
changed their slang, clothes, body adornments, or styles ... A really big discontinuity has taken
place. One might even call it a singularity an event which changes things so
fundamentally that there is absolutely no going back. This so-called singularity is the arrival
and rapid dissemination of digital technology in the last decades of the 20th century.

The clickerati kids of the N-gen (net generation) or D-gen (digital generation) are the first
generation to spend their entire lives surrounded by computers, high tech games and mobile
phones. Prensky refers to them as digital natives. They are the native speakers of the
digital language of computers, video games and the internet. Those of us who have not grown
up with such technologies but have come to know them later in life, he calls digital
immigrants. And just like all immigrants, no matter how adept we become, will always retain
one foot in the past our brains are wired differently.
Different kinds of experiences lead to different brain structures and students of today
certainly seem to think differently from their parents. Thinking patterns have altered. But it is
the immigrants who are teaching the natives who approach learning differently with a
different set of skills. They are used to receiving information really fast, they multi-task
easily, they prefer graphics to text and thrive on instant gratification. These students are
networked with friends and family via the internet, mobile phones and instant messaging, life
is fast paced and multimodal, they have little patience for lectures, step-by-step logic, and
tell-test instruction. Traditional teaching methods will no longer work. From a digital
natives point of view digital immigrant instructors make their education not worth paying
attention to compared to everything else they experience.
Teaching methodologies will need to change, teachers will need to learn to communicate in
the language and style of their students, their lessons will need to be fast paced and
multimodal, like the lives of their students. Just as Latin and Greek once considered vital
to students education are no longer deemed necessary, other aspects of our current
curriculum may also not be needed. This is not to say the basics of reading, writing, logical
thinking and mathematical skills will become obsolete, but new ways of teaching them will be
required. Prensky suggests that the content of lessons in the future which will be largely
digital and technological, will also need to include the ethics, politics, sociology, languages
and other things that go with them. We as educators need to change, we need to invent
digital native methodologies for all subjects, at all levels, using our students to guide us.

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Mapping Multiliteracies

Ilana Snyder
Recent works
Ilana Snyder, Associate Professor at Monash University, has for over ten
years focused her research on literacy, technology and pedagogical practices.
Her early research looked at whether the use of computers improved the
quality of students writing, by comparing computer generated texts with pen
and paper texts. Snyder found significant differences between the two. For
instance the computer students were more motivated and independent, but
also more collaborative. Further, the teacher spent less time teaching, he or
she became more of a coach, working with individual students (1994). It is
this changing nature of classroom life, brought about by new technologies,
that drives Snyder in her work today.
The development of ICTs in the context of broader economic and social changes sets the
stage for a major paradigm shift in notions of literacy (2002, p. 173). Fast, flexible,
instantaneous, ever changing, constantly evolving and being reinvented are just some ways to
describe the world of ICT and the world wide web. Literacy is no longer book orientated or
print based, we no longer read from left to right and from top to bottom, 21st century texts are
multi-directional, multi-modal and multi-authored. But while literacy practices in electronic
environments may be different, traditional literacy skills are far from becoming obsolete.
Engaging with multi-layered texts requires complex reading and writing skills. Snyder insists
it is not a case of either print based or electronic texts, the challenge is to create pedagogical
and curriculum frameworks in literacy education that are suitable for present conditions but
that are also attuned to the multiple communication possibilities that an uncertain future might
yield (2002, p. 174).
New technologies have meant a significant shift from the verbal to the visual. Visual literacies
cross cultural and linguistic boundaries and can be read by even the youngest of children.
Teachers need to be aware of the semiotic range implicit in a variety of communicative
practices (2001a, p. 55) and provide their students with the skills to interpret them and use
them effectively to communicate with others. With the introduction of the internet, written
texts are becoming more visual than ever before. One challenge for teachers who are the
product of a print based generation is to understand and explore how verbal and visual
modes are represented and combined, and how words, pictures and sound interact to make
meaning. Print and writing must not be sidelined (2001a, p. 56). Writing will continue to be
the most effective form of communication, but more and more will encompass a variety of
visual elements that are not simply there for illustration. They will become integral to how
texts are interpreted and how meanings are made.
Unique to the internet is hypertext, where graphics, icons, sounds, animations and movies are
all combined. The internet includes all forms of popular culture and media in one music,
movies, television and radio creating the ultimate multimedia world. It is no wonder young
people are so attracted to it. The trick for teachers is to make use of that popular culture in the
classroom. Snyder emphasises, there needs to be more than just a shared discourse; there also
needs to be a common understanding of communication. To achieve this requires a profound
shift in the ways in which teachers and students interact within learning environments (2002,
p. 184).
Computers are not simply tools to do things faster and more efficiently, they have the
potential to be powerful resources for teaching and learning. The use of computers and the
internet in the classroom will mean the role of teachers will change. Students will naturally
become active participants in their own learning if given the power to do so. Along with the
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traditional skills of reading and writing, critical thinking and analysis will be even more
important tools to foster in students, assisting them in becoming effective interpreters and
communicators. Students must be given the responsibility and means to access information
and interpret it, leading to an environment that encourages exploratory learning. Hypertext
systems seem to foster an implicit, incidental and contextual kind of learning, which is widely
regarded as more enduring and transferable than direct, explicit teaching (1997, p. 135).
Teachers must also help students transform the information into knowledge and communicate
it to others.
Computers may provide access to all students, regardless of disability, language or geographic
location. They have the potential to connect schools and other educational settings with home,
work and entertainment. Unlike television, however, computers are not readily available in
every home. The most recent Australian census (2000) shows more and more households are
acquiring computers and access to the internet, but they are still only the medium of
communication for the most educated and affluent countries and within those countries the
most educated and affluent groups (2001b, p. 114). School may be the only place many
children have access to ICT and educators need to encourage and foster a familiarity with
them, ensuring everyone is given equal access.
With hypertext, reading becomes a form of navigation, and writing is far more dynamic and
interactive, changing how we define literacy practices and therefore how we teach literacy.
Links to other sections or sites mean unlimited pathways are available. The user becomes coauthor as they decide which path to choose and links to follow, or add their own text and
links. Whether we like it or not, computers and hypertexts are transforming society and
education systems, resulting in better communication for all (1997, p. 138). So rather than
deplore the intrusion of technology into our lives, Snyder feels we need to better understand it
and exploit its educational potential. She suggests literacy educators need to imagine and
devise frameworks that welcome the new without ignoring what is important from the past
(2002, p. 18182). She says such frameworks would need to be inclusive, imaginative, critical
and rigorous, built on the knowledge that they are forever incomplete and expanding.
Computers allow great writing flexibility. Students can manipulate the impermanent text and
their own thoughts easily. Texts become visually interactive and formatting, fonts and colours
can be played with at will, encouraging students to take risks in their writing. The process,
production, drafts and final copy are blended together, becoming one. The results are neat and
professional without the need for cumbersome rewrites and are often far more lengthy than
pen and paper writing. Snyder describes writing on screen as being intensely absorbing and
individual (1994, p. 184), yet social and collaborative, being easily shared with others
anywhere in the world. And with the introduction of hypertext, childrens work comes alive
with links to, images, sounds, animations and the works of others anyone from the child in
the next room to their favourite sports and movie stars. The potential for children of all ages is
truly unlimited, but working with such technology creates a new classroom environment and
changes the nature of teaching and learning.
With this increase in technologies in classrooms, students will need a broader repertoire of
skills and be encouraged to explore the differences and benefits of verbal and visual literacies,
asking questions such as: What kinds of information are best handled through visual display?
What are the available forms of visual display? How do words, pictures and sound interact to
make meaning? What can the visual do that the verbal cannot? (2001b, p. 119). Students will
also need to access to a wide range of technologies in order to make appropriate decisions
about which to use in different situations to communicate different information to different
audiences. In other words, to be well educated students will have to understand more than
they do at present about the communicative choices available to use, and about which media
and which forms are more appropriate at a particular moment (2001b, p. 118).

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References
Snyder, I. 1994. Re-inventing writing with computers, The Australian Journal of Language
and Literacy, (17)3, 18297.
Snyder, I. 1997. Beyond the hype: Reassessing hypertext. In Page to screen: Taking literacy
into the electronic era, ed I Snyder. Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Snyder, I. 2001a. Hybrid vigour: Reconciling the verbal and the visual in electronic
communication. In ICT, pedagogy and curriculum: Subject to change, eds A Lovelace &
V Ellis. Routledge, London.
Snyder, I. 2001b. The new communication order: Researching literacy practices in the
network society. Language and Education: An International Journal, 15(2/3), 11731.
Snyder, I. 2002. Communication, imagination, critique literacy education for the electronic
age. In Silicon literacies, ed I Snyder. Routledge, London.

Further reading
Lankshear, C & Snyder, I, with Green, B. 2000. Teachers and technoliteracy: Managing
literacy, learning and new technology in schools. Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Snyder, I. 1997. Page to screen: taking literacy into the electronic era. Allen and Unwin, St
Leonards, NSW.
Snyder, I. 1999. Digital literacies: Renegotiating the visual and the verbal in communication,
Prospect: A Journal of Australian TESOL, 14(3), 1323.
Snyder, I. 2000. Literacy and technology studies: Past, present, future, Australian Educational
Researcher, 27(2), 97119.
Snyder, I. 2002. Literacy education in the digital age: Reframing curriculum and pedagogy.
Pedagogisch tijdschrift, 27(2/3), 14557.
Snyder, I, Angus, L & Sutherland-Smith, W. 2002. Building equitable literate futures: Home
and school computer-mediated literacy practices and disadvantage. Cambridge Journal of
Education, 32(3), 36883.
Snyder, I & Beavis, C (eds). (in press). Doing literacy online: Teaching, learning and playing
in an electronic world. New Jersey, Hampton Press.
See also http://www.education.monash.edu.au/contact/staff_detail.php?uid=ilanas

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Topping, K. 1997. Electronic literacy in school and home: A look into the
future. Reading Online, posted May 1997.
This hypertext provides teachers and parents with a broad overview of electronic literacy in
school and home and includes links and references which can be pursued for specific practical
detail. Definitions of texts, hypertexts, and hypermedia lead to a discussion of changes in the
definitions of reading and literacy Linking electronic literacy activities between home and
school is considered. In this context, access and equity issues are reviewed and the
practicalities of simpler alternative multimedia technologies explored, particularly with
reference to international perspectives. The development of global electronic literacy from the
home independent of the school is then discussed. Future problems, opportunities and
developments are foreshadowed; action implications for practitioners and researchers
discussed; and issues of effectiveness emphasised.

Topping explains the subtle differences between hypertexts and hypermedia, what electronic
literacy actually is and what reading has become in the electronic age. He describes these new
online texts as three dimensional, containing the traditional textual symbols with pictures,
movies, sound and graphics. While books and traditional texts, often used in conjunction with
audio and video, remain as valuable education tools they lack the organisational features,
variety and immediacy of interactivity that online texts offer. Not only has technology
brought about a change in the nature of texts but it has changed the way readers interact with
them. Readers become navigators on an individualised voyage of discovery searching for
what is personally relevant, requiring more active strategic management by the reader
with obvious implications for metacognition and thinking skills.
For young children, those not yet fluent in traditional reading skills, computers can provide
voice recognition, speech synthesis and digitised speech to support reading. Topping lists
examples of appropriate software and looks at electronically supported writing and what
programs have to offer the emergent writer. Word processors alone can improve the quality of
childrens writing but software now has the ability to prompt writers in word choice and
sentence structure. Topping provides a list of software available and also discusses in some
detail direct speech-to-text conversion software.
Topping also looks at how computers can be used for assessment purposes. Electronic
portfolios are a valuable way to keep continuous records of students progress and software is
now available that allows students to self-test on books they are reading then generate reports
and analysis for teachers and parents. Topping encourages the involvement of the home and
family and looks at how technology allows learning to be expanded on, outside of the school
and classroom. This of course raises issues about equity and access, although he feels these
too can be overcome and provides practical examples of how to do so. Topping also gives us
a glimpse into the future, the problems that may occur, as well as the extraordinary
possibilities technologies have to offer.

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Turbill, J. 2001. A researcher goes to school: Using technology in the

kindergarten literacy curriculum. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy,
1(3).
While the initial focus question for the research began as, how are teachers of young children
incorporating technology into their early literacy programs? it soon changed to why do
teachers of early literacy find it difficult to implement technology into their literacy
curriculum?. Findings highlighted that implementation of technology was hindered by lack of
time and expertise to explore and understand available software, teachers narrow definition of
literacy as including only paper-based texts, and lack of understanding of and confidence in the
potential of the use of technology in the early years.

Thanks to Australian government initiatives, computers can now be found in all classrooms
and most kindergartens throughout the country. This of course does not guarantee they are
being used in constructive ways to further learning. Turbill spent twelve months in a Sydney
suburban school working with five to seven year olds from kindergarten and Grade 1 classes,
many of whom were from non-English speaking backgrounds. Detailed observations were
made, video footage collected of children using computers, and teachers interviewed, about
their beliefs and practices for teaching literacy in the early years, their classroom use of
computers and if and how they incorporated them into their literacy curricula (p.257).
The project was designed to find out how teachers were incorporating technology into their
early literacy programs, but from the initial data collection it became clear that other questions
needed to be answered first. Before the new research question: Why do teachers of early
literacy find it difficult to implement technology into their literacy curriculum? could be
answered it was necessary to establish firstly what teachers perceived literacy to be and how
they thought it was best taught and learned. Observation notes were written up as scenes to
demonstrate what was going on for both the teacher and researcher. Six scenes are presented
in detail in this paper, including: 26 children and a PC networked to the internet; same
classroom, same children another day in week 7 of term 1; the school library where there are
10 new computers all linked to the internet in Week 2 Term 2; and midyear in the
kindergarten classroom with the PC, finally with sound. Each scene includes questions raised
by the researcher which were used as a reflection point for future observations.
Data analysis also revealed a number of lessons learned, framed by the revised research
question, these were labeled: teacher-related lessons; computer-related lessons; curriculumrelated lessons; and software-related lessons. These too are discussed in detail and provide a
number of solutions to problems common to classrooms across the country. For instance the
findings suggest: more computers available in kindergartens; more time provided for teacher
training ; more support in the classroom to help the children use technology; and a shift in
how teachers view beginning reading. If teachers saw learning to read as learning to read
print, visuals and animation then technology and software would have a vital role to play in
the early literacy curriculum.

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Wepner, S & Tao, L. 2002. From master teacher to master novice:

Shifting responsibilities in technology-infused classrooms. The Reading
Teacher, 55(7).
Teachers need to be able to (a) give up a little control and let kids explore and discover on their
own, and (b) give very clear directions and train students to be independent with their work on
the computer. In other words, teachers need to model, coach, and then fade to promote
students development of an area of expertise Teachers then need to assess students skills
with the computer to ensure their continued success.

Wepner and Taos article begins with a detailed description of how four experienced primary
teachers use technology and include it into daily classroom life. Each teacher was very
familiar with how to use technology for teaching how it lends itself to instruction, how to
plan for and teach lessons using technology, and how to assess the effectiveness of the
technology they use in relation to their instructional goals and students engagement in and
success with the learning task. Through detailed observations and interviews these four
teachers became part of a research project to determine how classroom teachers
responsibilities are changing as a result of technology. The project examined the teachers
perceptions of their shifting responsibilities for using technology and what they had to do to
adjust to new expectations.
The study produced an observation checklist that listed both frequency checks and descriptive
observations under five categories: planning, knowledge, skills, technical skills, and
instructional management. The article features highlights from the interviews and
observations under each category. The project revealed that although the teachers used
technology in different ways in their classrooms, planned for and instructed in different ways,
they also held a common belief that computers are a valuable source of information for
students, are motivating, are integral to functioning in society, and offer a different way to
present material to the students.
Valuable advice is provided for integrating technology into the curriculum for teachers,
administrators, as well as teacher educators. They suggest professional development, enabling
teachers to become comfortable with the equipment, is essential, as is prior planning. They
recommend always having Plan B at the ready in case the technology fails. Teachers need to
be willing to take risks, be flexible, and be willing to commit to using technology in their
classrooms, understanding there has been a shift in their role as the sole source of knowledge.
Being in front of the classroom is not nearly as important as being beside student pairs and
groups. Rather than share content knowledge on a steady basis, they use their whole-class time
in different ways, for example, to offer directions for exploring a website or a CD ROM
program or to compare findings from a search.

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Nicola Yelland
Recent works -
For more than a decade Professor Nicola Yelland has focused on teaching
and learning with ICT. She believes computers can enhance learning for all
students and provide opportunities for teachers to reconsider their traditional
methods of teaching. Yelland has conducted numerous studies in many
aspects of ICT, for example: students cognitions while they are engaged in
computer-based tasks; students experiences with video games; and the
professional development of teachers with technology. However she makes it
clear that new technologies should not simply be used as an add on to old
20th century school systems, but that a new and exciting curriculum be
created for the 21st century of which new technologies are an integral part.
Yellands research with education and technology began over a decade ago. Studies in gender
differences has been a focus of many articles, and numeracy development continues to be of
particular interest. In her research into early childhood, Yelland has also explored technology
as a form of play. In her 1999 article, Technology as play, Yelland looks at how this new form
of play supports the philosophies of leaders in the early childhood field such as Montessori,
Froebel and Steiner, and also how it fits within Pellegrini and Piagets views on play. Most
agree young children learn best through play, whether in a structured or unstructured
environment; if the play is self directed, children are motivated and empowered.
Play may be simple and involve the use of small toys, or complex, where cognitive challenges
are high and high level thinking and problem solving skills are needed. Technology provides
experiences of both simple and complex play, promoting engagement in new and dynamic
ways. Not only is learning fun, but children are actively involved in making their own
meanings and decisions. The new technological toys are no longer passive participants, but
become interactive players in the game. Computer software and games have moved from the
simple act of pressing of a button to get a reaction, to three dimensional, open ended, highly
interactive experiences. Yelland makes it clear that both traditional toys and materials, along
with the new digital ones, must be provided, but to ignore new technologies and not allow
young children access to them, will mean losing touch with the world in which they live.
Also in 1999, Yelland suggested, in Reconceptualising schooling with technology for the 21st
century: Images and reflections, that in order to use computers in classrooms effectively, five
conditions must be met:
x

integration of technology and curricula

promotion of active learning, inquiry and problem solving environments that engage the
children in individual and collaborative work using higher order thinking skills

use of technology to present and represent ideas

new definitions of play and a reconceptualisation of what constitutes a manipulative

development of media literacy skills that involve a critical analysis of the use of the
technologies and the information derived from them.

Yelland provides examples of how each can be achieved and extended to prepare children as
flexible and creative learners for the new millennium. The chapter focuses on ways to
appropriate the technology to develop new curricula that are both more meaningful and
stimulating to the learning process (p. 41) rather than simply using it to reinforce existing
practices. Yelland makes reference to specific examples and highlights those environments
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that are conducive to meaningful engagement with ideas, via the use of technology (p. 57).
Despite the fact that computers and other technology are available in all classrooms, schools
have been slow to embrace the opportunities such technologies can provide and use them to
their full potential. We need to rethink the roles of teaching and learning for the new
millennium, make brave decisions, and use the potential technology has, to change the context
of school learning and pedagogy.
As a DETYA Research Fellow in 2000, Yelland presented the report, Teaching and learning
with ICT for numeracy in the early childhood and primary years of schooling. This review of
recent research literature, firstly examines the role of ICT in society and education. Next it
looks at the impact of ICT on learning in schools, with a particular focus on mathematics, and
finally, it presents six research recommendations:
x

The use of ICT is a fundamental aspect of learning, and funding needs to be specifically
targeted to its successful integration in the school and universities that provide teacher
education in Australia.

There is a need for Australian research about the impact of ICT on learning, especially on
literacy and numeracy outcomes and the concept of multiliteracies that incorporate the use
of ICT.

We need to identify relevant research questions that support the successful use of ICT in
schools.

Funding should support a variety of research methodologies that include quantitative and
qualitative approaches as well as mixed method research designs.

A longitudinal study to complement research in literacy and numeracy research would be

beneficial.

A set of exemplary teaching practices incorporating the use of ICT should be

commissioned.

Shift to the Future: Research on the use of computers in early childhood education (1994
2004), also reviews the literature available on the use of ICT with young children. Still in
progress, this review looks at the works of leading researchers in the field of education and
new technologies. It discusses recent trends and innovations and reviews the arguments for
and against the inclusion of ICT, in particular computers, in young childrens education. As
in previous articles, Yelland again points out the fact that school curricula remain basically
the same as in the previous century, with new technologies mapped onto old curriculum,
instead of providing exciting opportunities for change. She suggests, as do many of the cited
researchers, that technology expands the possibilities for design and creativity, allowing
children to explore and investigate in ways not possible prior to new technologies.
Becoming literate and numerate in the information age, provides the bulk of the report, and
is followed by, Promoting creative and critical thinking and using higher order thinking
skills. Although she reports on the findings of numerous studies, Yelland comments on the
dearth of research conducted on ICT use with young children. Again therefore Yelland
highlights the need for research to focus on teaching and learning with ICT. The information
available points to an increase in literacy and numeracy development for young children and
encourages complex higher order thinking and problem solving skills. When ICT are
embedded into the curriculum in innovative ways, young children can not only experience
concepts that were previously well beyond that expected of them but that they could deploy
sophisticated strategies and work collaboratively with others in new and dynamic ways.

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References
Yelland, N. 1999a. Technology as play. Early Childhood Education Journal, 26(4), 21720.
Yelland, N. 1999b. Reconceptualising schooling with technology for the 21st century: images
and reflections. In Information Technology in Childhood Education Annual, pp.3959.
Yelland, N. 2001. Teaching and learning with information and communication technologies
(ICT) for numeracy in the early childhood and primary years of schooling. Report for
DETYA, Canberra.
Yelland, N. (in progress). Shift to the future: Research in the use of computers in early
childhood education (19942004).

Further reading
Lloyd, M & Yelland, N. (in press). Adaptation and avoidance: Observations of teachers
reactions to technology in the classroom. Changes: Transformations in education.
Yelland, N (ed). 2000. Promoting meaningful learning: Innovations in educating early
childhood professionals. NAEYC, Washington.
Yelland, N. 2000. Girls, mathematics and technology. In Socio-cultural foundations of
mathematics, eds W Atweh, H Forgasz & B Nebrez. Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah,NJ, pp.
393409.
Yelland, N. (under contract). Shades of grey: Creating a vision of girls and computers. In
Ghosts in the machine: Womens voices in research with technology, eds N Yelland & A
Rubin. Peter Lang, New York.
See also http://www.triangle.co.uk/ciec/yelland-cv.htm

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Chapter 4
The learning stories

*This is a selection of learning stories from preschools and schools in metropolitan and rural
areas. The learning stories demonstrate how the multiliteracies map can be used for a range of
purposes. Additional learning stories will be available online.

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4. The learning stories

In the house
with Nicholas

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Context
Nicholas is a seven year old boy who lives with his mum and dad and two younger
brothers in the western suburbs of Adelaide. When Nicholas arrived at school
two years ago, the computer soon became a favourite place for him to be,
learning how to turn it on, choosing software such as Kid Pix, navigating around
that software, and then closing it down when he had finished with it. Other
children soon recognised his expertise and began asking him to show them how
to solve their problems. I was amazed when I spoke to his mother about it and
found out that he didnt have a computer at home, but only had experiences with
one at kindergarten. Later that same year his parents invested in a computer to
use at home.
Nicholas is very quick to pick up new skills associated with using particular
software like PowerPoint and new versions of Kid Pix. He enjoys sharing his
knowledge with others in the class and will help anyone to solve a problem if he
knows how. However, I have found that he is not very persistent if he doesnt
know straight away what to do he is not a persistent problem solver!
Two years later, Nicholas still shows great interest in using the computer at
school, and was very enthusiastic when I spoke to his mum about me going to
their home to see how he used the technology there.

The learning story

I was being watched as I drove down the street towards his house and was met
at the gate by Nicholas and his two younger brothers. During the visit to
Nicholas home, his mum showed me the VTECH mini computer that Nicholas was
given that she attributes to beginning his love of machines.
The computer was the first thing that Nicholas chose to share with me when I
asked him what technology he had at home. He was very proud of the special
furniture his father had built to house the keyboard and hard drive as well as
the large collection of CD Rom games. These CDs are stored in easily accessible
spaces that Nicholas said mum and dad organised. Mum added that the
childproof lock on the wooden cupboard was very necessary when you have an
inquisitive toddler like Nicholas two year old brother in the house. Nicholas was
able to turn everything on, insert CDs in the appropriate drive and use the
keyboard to log on. Mum had chosen the Dangerous Creatures desktop theme,
but Nicholas was able to change that to another one that he knew his mum liked
(clouds). While he changed the background he quite naturally used the right click
tool and the language needed (eg properties).
Games were Nicholas favoured way of using the computer, and in fact he said he
never used word processing or Kid Pix at home, even though he had both
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programs, because it was better to use those at school. The latest favourite
game was called Zoo Tycoon, a gift for mum for her birthday. During this game
Nicholas chooses different animals to build up a zoo. He also had to build pens
and construct the interiors to make the animals happy with their surroundings.
Nicholas navigated quickly and confidently around, while mum filled me in with
what was happening. When I asked Nicholas how he chose the animals, buildings
and environmental aspects for his zoo, he replied that his decisions were based
on how much animals or items cost. If he had enough money in the bank, he
bought them. It was interesting to see some of the mathematical skills needed
to construct the shape and size of the pens, the length of joining paths and to
see the zoo outlay from different views.
Other games that Nicholas showed me included Age of Empires, Age of
Mythology and Submarine Titans. These were strategy games where he had to
build up colonies or cities or towns by conquering enemies in different ways. As
he closed each game, Nicholas saved the part of the game that he had played,
ready to go back to it later. He was also able to use the Esc. button to skip the
introduction and get to where the real action started. When Nicholas first got
these games, his dad had a go and learnt how to play them and then taught
Nicholas. I asked Nicholas to share a game with me that he played when he first
used the computer. The game Freddi Fish had very colourful graphics and
involved choosing different paths and finding a series of objects to solve a
problem. According to Nicholas the objects were in different places each time
you played, and so it continued to challenge for some time. Younger brother Alan
now plays and greatly enjoys this game.
I found it very interesting that the family got some of their games from special
offers with Nutri-Grain cereal purchases. I believed the games were graphically
of a high standard and challenged Nicholas skills. Mum said the family would be
buying Nutri-Grain while they continued to have the CD Rom giveaways.
The family has worked out a routine for the use of the computer. The original
thought was to place the computer in the toy room, but it was then decided
because the parents spent most time in the kitchen/eating area, that the
computer should go there so the adults could keep an eye on proceedings. Time
restrictions were also seen as necessary because Nicholas would spend all his
time on the computer and younger brother Alan would miss out. The two boys
are allowed to spend one hour per day, every day of the week, playing the games.
Who goes first on any given day is determined by the toss of a coin, with 7.30pm
being the finish time. If either boy is part way through his time they still have
to stop then. Playing alone has evolved because they fought with each other if
they were playing together. They sometimes watch each other, although they
both much prefer to be playing by themselves. When his time has finished,
Nicholas mostly chooses other technology based games to play, such as his Game
Boys or Super Nintendo machines, which was a gift from his grandfather. Mum
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added that these are not anywhere near as popular as they were before the
arrival of the computer.
A large TV and video were in the corner of the play room. Nicholas was able to
insert videos, play them, use the remote control and take the video out when it
was finished. Tapes were bought, borrowed from the video shop or made at
home. Nicholas made mum laugh when he said he had to watch TV in here
because his mum wanted to watch The Bold and the Beautiful on the other TV
the other TV being in the lounge room with the DVD player. Thats dads toy and
Im not allowed to touch it, said Nicholas. I am allowed to watch DVDs with him
though.
Mum is very interested in the computer, and very knowledgeable about the
different functions in the games, although it was new to her two years ago too.
She sometimes asks questions at school to find out how to fix technical
problems. During the home visit, Nicholas and mum bounced ideas off each other
with an obvious valuing of each others input.
I enjoyed visiting Nicholas home and I was particularly interested in seeing how
much family togetherness and input there is around the computer as a means of
entertainment.

Using the multiliteracies map

Functional user
Computer
x

Can turn on computer

Uses mouse confidently

Inserts CDs

Uses keyboard to log on

Changes desktop background to one he knew his mum liked

Uses right click naturally for various functions

Navigates quickly and confidently around a range of games

Closes each game and saves the part of the games that he had played ready
to go back to it later

Uses the Esc button to skip introduction

TV/video
x

Can turn on and off

Can insert videos, play them, use the remote control and take video out when
it was finished

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Game Boy/Super Nintendo

x

Uses confidently

Meaning maker
x

Chose to exclusively play games during his leisure time at home

Building funds of knowledge about processes involved in playing games of

strategy

Learning new games at first dad had a play and then taught Nicholas; now
Nicholas often has a go himself or Mum learns to play too and discusses the
games with Nicholas

Mum and Nicholas bounce ideas off each other when Nicholas is playing

Critical analyser
x

Positioning of the computer in a family area

Routines for the use of the computer (equitable access and restricted time)

Play separately because the boys fight when on together

Brothers sometimes watch each other but much prefer to play by themselves

Transformer
x

Each time the family got a new CD, Nicholas took what he knew about playing
strategy games and used that knowledge to navigate through the new game

Literacy demonstrated
x

Nicholas made connections between the words/symbols involved in the games

and their meaning in relation to his experiences while playing the games

He was posing questions and seeking responses from his mother when playing
games

Sequencing information needed to get through the different levels of the

games

Numeracy demonstrated
x

While he was playing the games Nicholas had to use many mathematical
skills. For example in Zoo Tycoon he had to construct the shape and size
of the pens, and the length of joining paths; and had to see the zoo outlay
from different views. He also had to pay money to get more animals.

Short term review

Nicholas obviously learnt how to play new games quickly, navigating around the
text confidently and moving through the different levels. I was amazed at how
quickly Nicholas clicked from one thing to the other. I got him to show me

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exactly what he was doing and I realised a lot of the time when choices were
offered he was not reading the choices, but was just clicking and if it wasnt
what he wanted he went back and clicked again. At school one day, Nicholas and
a partner were using a website that had a quiz involved at the end of some
research about sea creatures. There were three choices for answers. I noticed
again the very fast clicking and after questioning again found they werent
reading the choices. They were just clicking and going on or back by trial and
error and/or luck. It makes me wonder how much thinking is actually happening
and how we can critically reflect on sites that offer more of a thinking
challenge.

Whats next?
Nicholas has some difficulties with written language. I thought I might get him
to write some How to play procedures to share with other kids. I also thought
I would try and support Nicholas in wider uses for his computer at home. He
loves going on the internet, but just to look for game sites. I will try and give
him some focused questions for some research he could do at home and then
share with us at school.

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The Saddle Club

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Context
Evelyn is a quiet natured four year old, who is quite sensitive and shy. She
interacts with a few close peers and prefers to observe rather than participate
in large groups. Evelyn enjoys collage, painting and drawing activities. She has a
younger brother who is three years old and an older brother of 13 and lives with
her family in a comfortable home. They have a Pentium 3 computer on which
Evelyn accesses interactive sites such as The Tweenies and educational games.
During Evelyns final term of preschool she discovered the joys of using the
internet for research. Up until her final term Evelyn was still very shy,
preferred not to ask for assistance and communicated with only a few of her
close friends. If Evelyn encountered an issue she would sit and cry instead of
working out the concern and using her words. Once in this state she would
refuse help and sit and mope for the rest of her session.
Since Evelyn has gained more self-confidence and been involved in more risk
taking she has blossomed. Evelyn has begun enjoying dramatic play of The
Saddle Club at kindy (a program on TV) with a group of peers and has positively
interacted with a range of peers during this play. In this game she confidently
uses her protective behaviour skills and seeks adult help when needed. During
group time discussion when the children share their ideas and discuss what they
would like to learn about at kindy Evelyn often heard Claude [another child] talk
about using the internet to look up caterpillars or guinea pigs and Bridie [another
child] ask to look up fairies.
I was working with Claude on the internet, and Bronny and Evelyn came into the
office and looked over our shoulders. I talked to the girls about what we were
doing. The next day at group discussion Evelyn waited until the children had left
the mat and then asked me if she could look up horses on the computer.
Fortunately I was able to act on this straight away and asked Evelyn if she would
like to do in now. She said yes and Bronny followed. From this first experience
of using the internet and having a turn at using the computer in a quiet
environment without a large group of onlookers Evelyn felt comfortable to
explore and ask questions.
Up until this time Evelyn had very rarely used the computer at kindy and when
she did use it, it was during the second term of initially having the computer,
when all of the excitement had worn off. She chose the information and pictures
she wanted and then with assistance printed them off. She was so excited she
asked for a copy for her friend Molly who was away. From this I asked Bronny
and Evelyn if they could draw a picture about the horse they found on the
internet. This then lead to writing words and then sentences about horses, using
books as well as the internet to find out information, making horses at the
collage table and continual dramatic play about the horses.
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After this initial experience Evelyn asked to look up horses on the internet
every day and went on to make her own horse book with pictures and words.
Evelyn confidently shared her information with the group and added her own
ideas. Evelyn found her confidence, strengths and interests and simply
blossomed. The whole learning experience was based on Evelyns interests and
ideas with a few suggestions from a teacher. It was so meaningful because it
was Evelyns interest and self-discovery, it was child initiated, which made her
learning journey unique and relevant to her interests and needs. The
transformation from a once shy and timid girl to a chatty, confident and happy
individual who took control of her own learning was simply magical to see.

The learning story

Over the past few weeks Evelyn has been very involved in dramatic play episodes
with a small group of peers. They have been using the hobby horses and playing
Saddle Club a show on TV. As an extension from this play, and interest in
horses, Evelyn has been keen to look up information about horses on the
internet. Each day she comes to kindy Evelyn asks if she can look up horses on
the internet, the first time we used the internet was in the office on the
laptop. I explained how we needed to change the fax machine to modem and how
to connect the phone line to the laptop. I then asked Evelyn exactly what she
wanted to look up and explained how to type in the word horses and how the
search engines would try to find all links about horses. Lists came up and we
read through a few together. After locating an interesting link I asked Evelyn to
click on it and then read her the information as it came up. There were many
pictures of horses and lots of interesting information.
The more Evelyn clicked onto a picture of a particular horse the more pictures
and information about that horse came up, eg grooming, show jumping,
particulars, the horse at home. I asked if she would like any of the pictures and
information printed. Evelyn excitedly chose a picture and waited for it to print.
With the printed picture I asked Evelyn if she would like to write some words
about the horse she found.

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Evelyn was interested in drawing a picture about the horse she had found but
said she didnt know how. We chatted about the different shapes that can be
seen in a horse picture like the oval shape for a head and a larger oval shape for
the body. From here Evelyn began drawing her horse starting with the oval
shape for a head and then working on from there. From this interest Evelyn
continues to draw many horse pictures with confidence and asks to have words
written all about her horses. She is now also interested in writing her own words
about horses as seen in the picture above. She also finds books about horses
from the bookshelf and asks me to read her passages from the book and she
chooses what information is applicable to her horse which she copies onto her
page.

Evelyn now sees the computer as an important piece of technology that can be
used for research and looking up information as well as something that can be
used for games. Evelyn talks about the Barbie site she has found at home on
the computer and each day she comes to kindy she still asks to look up
information about horses on the internet. Evelyn has a developing understanding
about how we log on to the internet. Each time I talk through the process
Bronny and Evelyn say in unison We know, we know! Evelyn enjoys revisiting the
first site we found as it has so much information and pictures but is now
enjoying exploring different sites. Evelyn confidently draws and designs horses
with collage materials and is much more confident taking risks with her learning.

Using the multiliteracies map

As a functional user Evelyn uses the mouse well, she types her name using the
keyboard, she understands that the X in the corner closes a screen and
recognises some other symbols and understands their use. She chose a range of
ICT to extend her learning experiences and find out information computer,
internet, printer and scanner, and also observed as I used the digital camera to
take her picture and then save it onto the computer. Evelyn has a basic working
knowledge of using the computer and follows prompts well.

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As a meaning maker Evelyn chose to use the computer specifically so she could
look up information on the internet about horses. She understands that by
logging on to the internet she has the ability to look up anything she likes by
typing in some key words to a search engine. Evelyn needs assistance and
prompts to do this but she understands the process. She also problem solves,
recognising specific dial up connection sounds means the teacher has not plugged
it in correctly at the back and switched the modem on.
As a critical analyser, in a one-on-one situation in the office using the lap top,
Evelyn comfortably experimented on the computer and asked questions. Also at
home Evelyn has been using the internet to access sites such as The Tweenies.
Evelyn chose appropriate software and hardware to support her own learning.
She asked to use the internet to look up horses and then on another occasion
asked to look up fairies. Her interest in horses however continued for the rest
of the term and she often asked to look up horses. She had her favourite sites
and usually clicked around those discovering more and more information as she
went. With one of her favourite horses, one site gave every nitty gritty detail of
its day-to-day life and what was involved from grooming to feeding to exercise
to show jumping to playing in the fields. Evelyn was able to access the
information she needed with minimal assistance.
As a transformer Evelyn discovered how to use a search engine and how to
access horse sites on the internet. She then used this knowledge and applied it
to looking up fairies on the internet. With assistance Evelyn also transformed
her gained knowledge about horses from the internet and from books to that of
her own book with her own written words and sentences about horses. The book
had coloured hand-drawn pictures, names of horses, sentences about horses and
some typed words. Evelyn understood the meaning of written text and enjoyed
telling me what she wanted to write and then copy this into her book. Evelyn
discovered if her writing didnt fit and she had more to say she could simply add
another page and continue on there. Evelyn began to recognise some letters and
words and pointed them out in her book.

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Mila and the

Koala

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Context
This learning story takes place over a two day period. There are two children in
this story with the focus being on seven year old Mila. The learning in this story
evolved from an unplanned experience in which we saw a koala near our school
grounds. While reading this story, think about the ICT and literacy skills Mila is
developing and using while learning about koalas.
Mila was born in Russia and began speaking English at the age of five. He has
excellent computing skills and understandings. Both of his parents work in the
ICT field. Mila has a strong interest in ICT and is a member of the Student
Voice ICT Working Party at school. It is part of his role on this committee to
critique internet sites for the other students. He is a confident child with
excellent creative and drawing skills.

The learning story Day 1

The word had soon spread around the Junior Primary classes. Theres a koala in
a tree down at the flexi logs, said a child from the class next door. Can we go
and see it? was the question being asked by the children in the F6 class, so off
we went.
Walking to the other end of the school, the children were chatting excitedly,
but as we reached the Junior Primary logs play area, the koala could no longer be
seen. As we turned to walk back to our classroom, Linda, our grounds person said
that the koala had started to head back up the creek towards the foothills.
Naturally we started to walk along the creek, hoping to catch a glimpse of the
koala. We only had to walk about 100 metres before we found him sitting happily
high up a tree.
The children ran towards the tree to get a better look. Thats a male koala
because he is big, said a child. A small group of children began to share what
they knew about koalas. I asked Mila to tell me about koalas. He said They are
furry little creatures that sometimes get lost by their families and sometimes
they look around for food to eat.
We headed back to school, with the children still talking about the koala. Some
children asked me questions about koalas to which I did not know the answers.
When we arrived back to our room it was recess. Can I look on the internet to
find out about koalas, said Mila, to which I responded, Its recess time. But I
want to learn about koalas, was his reply. I did not want to squash his
enthusiasm and encouraged him to do his research. Another student, Hannah
said that she would help him.

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I asked the children what they wanted to find out about koalas. Mila started to
come up with some questions. He sat with Hannah to develop four questions for
their research.
x

How are koalas born?

How do you know if it is a female or male?

Where do they live?

Are koalas nocturnal?

The two children sat at the computer to start their research.

Hannah:
Mila:
Teacher:
Mila:

Hannah:

Teacher:

Hannah:
Mila:
Hannah:
Mila:
Hannah:
Mila:
Hannah:
Mila:
Mila:

You can be the mouse clicker and I will do the writing

(Mila logged onto the internet)
Do I have to go onto Google?
Yes
(Mila types in google.com into the address bar)
I will type in koala
(Hannah spells the word for him as he types. When the search
results come up, Mila clicks on the first result on the screen.
Scrolling up and down the page he says ooh.)
We need to read it
(Mila scrolls down further. Both children were reading the
information together)
Do you know what that means? (No, was the response from both
children) Do you think that this is a good site to help you find your
information? (Yes, was the response from both children)
Ok, lets see if we can find it
How are koalas born?
It might be in breeding (Mila again scrolls down the screen)
Were nearly at the end
Its not
Yes it is (as he points at the scroll bar)
Oh yeah
It doesnt tell us anything (Mila clicks on the back arrow and
returns to the search page)
Lets look at another site. This might have our information (Mila
continues to click away)

In the meantime, Hannah had thought of another question, and started writing it
down Why do koalas climb trees?
Mila:

Is this a good site? (choosing another site and asking for

clarification). Lets look in facts (he says as he clicks on the icon).
Did you know that new born koalas are only the size of a jellybean?

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Hannah is soon bored after watching Mila click for a long period of time. It
doesnt have information, said Hannah. It was at this stage that I suggested
that the children look at the class bookmarks. Mila closed down the internet and
confidently reopened the class home page to find the bookmarks. It did not take
him long to see the site labeled koalas. The site they accessed was
www.abc.net.au. It did not take the children long to find the answers to their
questions. Mila pointed out that the koalas bush land is being cut down, to which
his response was Now, thats sad.
After they answered their questions, I asked Mila what he would like to do with
the information they had found. He said that he would like to share it with other
people. We talked about the ways that they could do this. Hannah suggested
that they make a poster to teach people about how to look after koalas. Off the
children went to develop the poster.
Mila:
Hannah:
Mila:
Hannah:

We need different roles

Ill be the drawer
Ok, Ill do the writing
Yeah, youre a good writer.

The children completed their task, chatting for most of the time. When they
had finished I asked them if they would like to show their work to the principal.
The children were very excited and ran towards the front office. Returning a
short time later, proudly with stickers on their t-shirts, they said that the
principal had asked them if they would like to display the poster on the office
door.
Hannah:
Mila:
Hannah:
Mila:

We could put it at all of the entrances into the school

How many entrances are there to the school?
I think we need two
No there are more than that (Trying to count the entrances).

He asked me Can you photocopy this one to put at each entrance?. But by now it
was home time. Once the class had been dismissed, Mila and Hannah had a quick
lesson on how to use the photocopier and made four copies of their poster. To
finish a successful day, Mila and Hannah went with their parents to the front
office and proudly sticky taped their poster to the front office door.

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The learning story Day 2

Today Linda, our groundsperson came into our class to talk to the children about
propagation. She walked in with a large eucalypt branch over her shoulder,
placing it in the middle of the class circle. She left and returned with a box of
seedling bags filled with soil. Linda spoke to the children about the propagation
process, passing seeds around for the children to look at. Mila studied the seeds
and branches for a long period of time.

The children were then asked to help plant out the seeds. Once all the children
had had a turn of planting, we all went to look at Lindas propagation area. Mila
again showed much interest in the propagation area, asking Linda some well
thought out questions. How do the plants get watered? and What type of plant
is this? were some of his questions. Mila was then invited up to plant some of

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the gum tree seeds. Mila carefully selected the seed, placing them into the bag
with soil.

After this, we went to the schools computer room. The children had a task to
link our class topic about inventions with the experiences over the past few
days:
All of the gum trees have died. The koalas have nowhere to live. Use Kid Pix to
design a machine that will propagate seeds into new gum trees.

Mila quickly opened the Kid Pix program and set to work. He confidently changed
between the drawing tools in the program. Not once did he delete his pictures,
or change his mind. It did not take Mila long to complete his design. When asked
about his work, he spoke confidently and was able to articulate how each part of
the machine operated. He printed his work and with a pencil labeled the parts of
the machine.

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Using the multiliteracies map

Functional user
x

Excellent mouse control and ability to read and select information quickly

Able to access the internet and use search engines

Used the internet to find the answers to questions

Good hand-eye coordination, excellent keyboard skills

Mila learnt how to use the photocopier

Mila used the Kid Pix program confidently, changing between drawing tools,
the size and style of fonts, and colours

He was able to print his work

Meaning maker
x

The experience of seeing a real koala developed Milas curiosity to find out
more about them

In the past Mila has had many experiences in using the computer for a
variety of purposes with various programs. He was able to articulate what he
had to do next in his process of inquiry

Mila had a purpose for his learning authentic learning; learning led to an
outcome

Developing good questions, writing the questions (with question marks at end
of each one)

Genres and text types, distinguishing between facts and questions

Reading and understanding the facts on the computer Mila knew when the
information was too difficult and their questions were not getting answered
good reading and comprehension skills

Understanding of how to make a poster it was laid out well and contained a
title, facts, questions, a picture and statements

Oral language communication, discussion

Taking their learning and understandings and representing it in a different

way

He placed the picture of his propagation machine in the middle of his page
and the title was appropriately placed

He understood what labelling an item meant and successfully did so with his
propagation machine

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Critical analyser
x

Mila has a good understanding of when it is best to use the computer to

support his learning; the children did not choose to use the computer for all
tasks

Good group skills and an understanding about what was necessary for him to
work collaboratively the children assigned and undertook different roles
for each task

Roles were shared equally between the two children

Mila is a confident child who will take risks; he does not have a fear of
failure and will give most things a go

Transformer
x

A variety of experiences have enhanced Milas literacy skills

Mila was able to explain the reasons for his learning

Through an interest in finding out about koalas, Mila was able to further
develop his literacy and ICT skills

After listening to Lindas talk about propagation, Mila was able to transfer
his understandings to design his own propagation machine

Writing in a variety of forms multiliteracies

Short term review

x

A non-planned experience led to tremendous learning outcomes in a variety

of learning areas

Teacher encouraging and providing opportunities to extend learning

Mila having access to technology when he needed it

Milas excellent ability to use a variety of computing applications to support

his learning

Group work collaboration skills

Well developed literacy skills

What next?
x

What can I do to ensure Mila has opportunities to use the computer when he
thinks it will help his learning?

Mila could use other ICT tools to explain the workings of his Gum Tree
Propagation machine

I will teach Mila how to narrow his searches on the internet to ensure he
accesses appropriate sites.

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Putt-Putt

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Context
Brad is four years and six months old and is one of my focus children for 2003.
He has a computer at home and has some of the software we have at
kindergarten. As a result he has become the expert when it comes to these
programs and is often sought out to provide assistance to other children. It is
not uncommon to hear someone suggest that they could go and ask Brad to help.
Brad has always exhibited a high level of engagement with computers and will
use them at kindy every day, often spending an extended time being involved
with other children and their endeavours if he has already had his turn. Initially
Brad was only interested in playing the game based software, Freddi Fish or
Putt-Putt, and would rather wait a little longer for a turn than spend time
exploring Kid Pix or Maxs Sandbox.

The learning story

Brad is an only child and lives with mum and dad. They do not have internet or
email access at home and neither parent is computer literate. Dad does not use
computers at all and Mum is in the early stages of learning to use an accounting
program for work.
Brad has access to a computer at home and kindergarten. The family recently
purchased a second hand computer for Brad to use after he began kindergarten
and enjoyed using them there. They have also purchased some software for
young children, Clifford, Big Action, I Spy and a Putt Putt game that
kindergarten has and Brad particularly enjoys. Mum supervises Brad turning on
the computer and installing games but commented that Brad tells her how to do
it.
During the home visit, Brad wanted to show me how he could play his computer
first, so we started there. His mum had chatted with him about why I was
coming and he was very excited. Brad had Putt-Putt installed so we played
together for a while. He had only had the game for a few weeks but was finding
his way through it quite well. He knew where the various places were, the farm,
the tunnel, the truck with the flat tyre, and he knew some of the problems he
needed to solve at various points. For example, to feed the aardvark he needed
to go to the farm and pick some grapes, working through the maze in the
process. Once he had the grapes he had to return to the pet store where in
return for the grapes the shopkeeper gave him a flag that he needed later in
the game. This level of logic and problem solving is difficult to provide in a
kindergarten environment and computer technology has been of great
assistance. I am frequently surprised at the complex problem solving strategies
children exhibit when using this type of game.

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At the preschool we continue to offer game based problem solving software

such as Freddi Fish and Putt-Putt. They proved again to be very social activities
providing excellent opportunity for cooperative learning. Additionally these
games present the children with problem solving scenarios that are very
difficult to provide in any other way. The children engage in multistep, non linear
problem solving. They have to recall where objects are located, what purposes
they are for and how to obtain them. The processes involved are complex and
require quite high order thinking. Staff do very little directed teaching in
relation to these programs but rather encourage the children to experiment or
seek support from their peers. In fact the children at times display greater
knowledge than the staff.

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Using the multiliteracies map

Functional user
x

Navigates his way around the program

Locates places on the screen

Able to use the mouse to weave through the maze

Able to use the keyboard

Meaning maker
x

Gaining meaning from the visuals on the screen

Able to carry out the tasks asked from the program

Could carry out the many steps within the program

Critical analyser
x

Understood the problems to be solved within the program

Understood the rewards given for completing tasks

Developed cooperative skills with other children

Understood the non-linear aspect of the program

Transformer
x

Able to verbally explain processes to other children

Able to transfer learning to new problem solving situations

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Battery power

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Context
Ally is a child in my Year 1 class. She has an older brother who
is very supportive. She has been part of the Children of the
new millennium project for two years and I had conducted home
visits to Allys home in both 2002 and 2003. The inquiry based
investigation that Ally was involved in was part of an integrated
unit of work. This was co-planned with two other Year 3
teachers.
Ally is the youngest child in her family. She is a child who
enjoys creating and making in preference to using technology.
Ally will often sit back and allow the child she is working with
to take control of the mouse. It is only with constant
encouragement that she will have a go. She rarely uses technology in free choice
activity time, except with a group of girls. At home she has an older brother who
enjoys the electronic world of computers and PlayStations etc. In the home
visits he would take over and solve the problem before Ally had had an
opportunity to react. Her mum is very supportive of Allys learning.

The learning story

Students in the Year 1 class were asked what they wanted to do in class, they
identified that they wanted to go on excursions, do more mathematics
investigations, do more design and technology, as well as use computers more. As
a result, a sleepover was organised at the Investigator Science and Technology
Centre Megawatt. It was the first time the children had been on a sleepover.
The children were involved in many hands-on experiences. After a few hours of
free exploration the children and teachers all congregated in a large room. Here
the presenters talked about charges and
the associated energy. The children had a
great time using the charged ball that
when touched with a charged wand would
make the children and parents hair stand
on end. This caused a lot of excitement.
The next day was a toy day at school. The
children each bought their favourite toy to
school. There was an assortment of different stuffed toys and battery
operated toys. All the children mixed together. We sorted the toys and worked
out the different things in the school that needed electricity. We looked at all
the toys that had batteries in them and the soft toys. The beginning of our unit

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of work had commenced. It was a great way to immerse the children into their
topic.
All the teachers planned an Investigator Science and Technology Centre
experience for the three classes to take place at the school. We spent sometime
getting experiences organised for the students and then putting them together
so that the children could have lots of hands on experiences again. The children
used balloons and rubbed them on their hair to make their hair stand on end.
They used batteries and bulbs to make circuits. They had to work out how to
make switches. They worked in teams rotating through these experiments. We
took some batteries and bulbs and wire to have some free choice play activities
in the classroom. Ally enjoyed all these experiences and was really enjoying the
topic.
We then talked about batteries. The children had to work out what types of
things electricity from a battery flows through. They made a circuit and added
metal objects. They worked. Next they added paper and cork and they didnt
work. They continued this investigation in a free play experience during activity
time. Ally and some other students enjoyed testing different materials and
writing their ideas on the piece of paper.
Next the children had to organise their teams. In Allys group were three girls.
As a class we looked at lots of TV advertisements. The children viewed examples
of Eveready batteries, Duracell batteries, Optus Communication, Telstra and
many more. Ally loved looking at advertisements and brought some she had taped
at home to watch with the class. Ally and her team decided that there were
many features to an advertisement. Key elements included catchy names of the
products, the jingles that were played, which supported the product and the
video, text and sound that created new meaning to the advertisement. Ally and
her team decided what were the good points of the advertisements and timed
how long each one lasted.

Creating an iMovie
The essential question to the task was:
Design and make a toy that requires a battery to operate it. Use this toy to test,
which battery is the best value for money?
You have been hired by an advertising agency to market a new brand of battery.
Using your knowledge of electricity, design a new toy to test your battery. Create an
iMovie that will sell your product and convince the audience that your new battery is
better than any other.

iMovie is a video-editing program used on only Apple Macintosh computers. An

iMovie had been created at the beginning of the year to share a typical class day
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with parents at our acquaintance night. Ally and her team were excited. We had
decided as a team to go to the Technology School of the Future (TSOF) to use
the specialist support of staff and facilities.
Allys team decided that their battery would be called the Super Star Battery.
In mathematics they looked carefully at the shape of batteries. They worked
out that this shape was a cylinder consisting of a rectangular part and two
circles on each end of this curved rectangle. Allys team created their new
Super Star Batteries and added artistic touches to the battery. This activity
presented many experiences to engage and challenge many learners.
We continued to investigate advertisements. They had to work out: What
advertisements they liked and why? What messages did the advertisement
communicate? We looked at the various features of an advertisement. They
explored the product, the symbols that related to the product, the jingle that
supported the products (catchy phrases), the colours, music, the video content
and the timing of the advertisement. From these observations it was decided
that we would produce a video that would be no longer than 30 seconds. We were
working on these aspects within our literacy program in the classroom.
Another aspect to the project was to create
toys that would use a battery in Design and
Technology lessons. Ally and her team
designed and then made their toys. They
proceeded to add a circuit to the toy. This
was quite difficult. They all made their own
toys in Allys group, but some of the students
worked in teams. There were TVs, birthday
cakes, fireflies, spooky houses and traffic
lights. Ally made a firefly that was very
creative. She paid attention to detail and painted hers meticulously. She
attached the circuit and bulb within the firefly and it lit up. She was extremely
excited and bought her mum in to school the next day to show her.
The children planned their video by using a storyboard in teams. They added a
catchy jingle to the storyboard. The jingle was prepared in writing lessons. They
took digital photos of their toys they had made and decided these should be
embedded to the video. They chose to create a Kid Pix picture to use within
their video. The reasons why their batteries were the best to buy were
determined. Ally and her team were now set with their plan of what they wanted
to achieve.

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Filming techniques were discussed
with the whole class. The day to film
came. The children produced their
video products that they were going
to edit at TSOF with the help of
Year 5 students. At TSOF Holly
helped us understand the program
with some demo video about surfing
in Hawaii. Allys team enjoyed and
understood the video editing
techniques taught to them. During
the next half-day the teams had to
edit their video, using the techniques
learnt during the previous sessions.
They worked together with some
support from Victorias mum, who
used to be a video editor. The
children followed their plan by
adding sound, text and digital Kid Pix
and digital pictures developed at school to enhance the video production. The
plans changed as they had learnt so much about the iMovie program and wanted
to include some new and additional features that they had been exposed to.
During this time I was able to observe the teams working. The children were all
encouraged to contribute adding their ideas and opinions with the support of the
parent. Ally was definite about her ideas and was obviously enjoying the artistic
medium of video. She was operating the mouse and manipulating the video
content. With the support of the team and the parent helper, the video was
completed. Only final adjustments to sounds needed to be added back at school.

Learning about electricity with the aid of WebQuests

Teachers wanted the students to have a deeper understanding within the topic
of electricity and to be involved in an inquiry approach to learning. This approach
encourages students to pose real questions that they wish to find the answers
to. Students make connections between what they already know and what they
want to find out more about. This approach is encouraging children to take
control of their investigations and contribute to the direction of their learning.
I used the random chance of throwing a dice to work out what else we wanted to
find out about. We threw the dice and came up with a series of questions that
we wanted to find out more about. The six question starters of Who, What,
When/Where, Why, How and Which on the cube supported them with the
beginnings to the questions. This is a shared Year 1 and Year 3 brainstorm of
questions.

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WHERE?
Where does electricity come
from?

WHAT?
What do we do with
electricity?
What is lightning?

WHICH?
Which way does electricity
go?

WHEN?
When did they invent
electricity?

WHICH?
HOW?
How do you make electricity? Which is more powerful
batteries or electricity?

We collated all the questions from the three classes and designed a WebQuest
to answer the questions. Some students in my class needed support reading the
words on the screen so Year 3 students were instructed to support the children
in Year 1. They enjoyed this and Jake worked with Ally. He was very good in that
he only helped when asked and did not take over. Ally seemed to be very relaxed
with this as she usually worked with her brother at home. She answered the
questions electronically using the storyboard. I had designed this so that the
students could copy and paste easily from the internet into their electronic
storyboard. They learnt an enormous amount about using online resources using

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the WebQuest. Ally had been home from school a few days later and had said
that she had found other WebQuests on the internet while she was home.
The last thing that we did was an activity based around our essential question on
value for money. Ally had used her firefly and Victoria had used her birthday
cake to test the two batteries. The Duracell battery was stuck into the firefly
and then timed. It ran for approximately 100 hours. The Cheap as Chips battery
was stuck into the birthday cake. That went for 10 hours. So what was best
value for money battery? We counted by tens. It would take 10 Cheap as Chips
batteries for every Duracell battery. The Cheap as Chips batteries were 10
cents each and Duracell batteries were $1.00. They were the same, but the
difference was that we would need many Cheap as Chips batteries. There would
be more pollution with the Cheap as Chips batteries so we chose the Duracell
battery as the best value for money battery. Both the children and the teachers
enjoyed these experiences. Ally said that this was her favourite unit of work.
We watched the videos after returning to school. I asked the children if they
wished to change their movies. We had revised the question What makes a
powerful advertisement? All of the children were happy with their productions.
They loved seeing themselves in the movie. They then focused on adding music
and sounds to enhance their movies. This was carried out with the support of a
parent. The parent had come to school especially to do this, who had been
involved in the half day at TSOF. She had forgotten some aspects to the
program and had asked me for help. Automatically Ally had said that she could
help with this as she had remembered how to do that function. That was
remarkable as the period between these activities had been about two weeks.
Adults find this so hard to retain information unless they are constantly involved
in using the program. The learning for Ally had been significant.

Using the multiliteracies map

Functional user
x

Developed an understanding of iMovie a video editing tool

Able to add text to work

Able to add transitions to enhance a video production

Able to add effects to advertisements

Used the digital video and still camera

Imported graphics

Imported Kid Pix slides

Saved work and was able to retrieve files

Used the WebQuest and created an electronic story board

Deconstructed advertisements into the components

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x

Used a tripod to support filming techniques

Developed an understanding of the different text types for advertisements

Meaning maker
x

Looked at features of advertisements

Explored the impact that words, music and sounds have on the consumer

Planned and organised their ideas to develop a story board they could map
out and plan what they were going to do next

Had very little exposure to making movies and filming as this was their first
attempt as creators but talked about themselves as viewers

Looked at the impact of sound, text, video images and graphics to produce an
advertisement

Used the WebQuest to gather information

Used hypertext language to find information

Used visual information to gain meaning and understandings

Critical analyser
x

Worked together in teams sharing the various roles within the team

Created filming techniques etc

Was reflective and critiqued film a difficult process and needed more
support with this

Made decisions about where to add sound, images transitions etc

Worked with a Year 3 student when using the WebQuests to support with
difficult text and some operations

Transformer
x

They created Kid Pix pictures and were able to export these and use this
technique when developing HyperStudio stacks or Kid Pix Slideshows etc

Used the internet and simple searching through a search directory when
they were researching their own topic

Able to read and navigate online resources

Used filming when conducting interviews for the vision iMovie produced later
in the year

They were further developing their understanding of the text of

advertisements and how all of the elements had an impact on their product

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Whats next?
x

The children really enjoyed the process of using the online resources to
develop searching skills within a search directory to find online resources as
well as book resources need to do more of this

Work with the children to develop their critiquing skills

Continue to base learning experiences around an inquiry focus with an

essential question

Continue working in teams to develop these skills

Continue encouraging Ally to have a go and take risks

Continue to focus on students different learning styles to engage them in an

activity

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Endangered
animals

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Context
This learning story about a teacher starts with planning in Term 1 of 2003. At
the end of each term teachers are given a day to plan integrated units of work
focusing on the purposeful integration of ICT/Hots (Higher Order Thinking
Skills) and identifying key learning areas. Trish had done an amazing amount of
professional development in relation to skill development. She had taken part in
numerous sessions on how to use iMovie, but had never actually finished
anything, making her feel frustrated. Her goal was to finish her first learning
story home visit as an iMovie, which she did and presented this to everyone
involved in the Children of the new millennium project in Term 2.
Trish planned, with the help of the ICT coordinator and fellow colleague working
on the Children of new millennium project, to investigate a unit of work based
around an essential/critical question. She wanted the children to be involved in
an inquiry approach where they investigated key questions to guide their
research. A class excursion to the zoo was planned for later in Term 2, where
they found that the zoo had five endangered animals.
Together they decided they would offer these animals as choices the children
could investigate. With the funds provided through the Children of the new
millennium project in 2003, the school purchased a digital camera. The class was
using the digital camera continually. This made it possible for the childrens and
teachers skills in digital photography to develop. They wanted the students to
be able to take digital pictures while they were at the zoo.
The teachers did some searching on the internet and found some suitable sites
that would support the students in seeking out different information. They had
planned to work with the teacher librarian to do some in depth researching
using, books, posters, online resources and real life animals from the zoo.
Further planning occurred before the work started. A linked webpage was
developed and a storyboard with the questions that the students were going to
investigate. The teachers decided that the essential question would be What
are zoos doing to help endangered animals?

The learning story

Trish went to the zoo with her class to find out about endangered animals. Six
year old Ellen made notes on four pages that allowed her to organise the
information into manageable sections about her favourite endangered animal, the
snow leopard.

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Ellen then decided to produce her report onto a Kid Pix Slideshow to show the
class. The features on the software program enable her to write labels and use
arrows, draw, and import photographs from the internet. There are a variety of
design options, fonts, font sizes, colours, spatial layout decisions, textures,
backgrounds voice recording and music options.

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Analysis of Ellens report on the snow leopard reveals that she understood the
discourse of a short 45 page slide report on an endangered animal. Her design
of the Slideshow took one main idea for each slide and new information was
written and illustrated on each slide. She decided not to add audio which would
have been possible. She downloaded a photograph and also had drawings with
labels and also drawings about why the animal is endangered. The production of
the Slideshow presentation involved colour, background, decisions about type of
illustration, spatial layout and font. The Slideshow was saved to a disc so that
Ellen could take it home and share it with her parents.
The Slideshow was a result of Trishs careful scaffolding of ways to organise
information, she helped Ellen understand how slide shows work in Kid Pix and
allowed her lots of scope in producing the text.

Using the multiliteracies map

Functional user
x

Able to use the tools in Kid Pix

Could add text to slides

Could change background colour

Could create a Slideshow

Used the internet to find information

Able to use text, colour, images to create multimodal text

Meaning maker
x

Could read a variety of text to gather meaning

Able to use text to answer a question

Able to use visuals to gather more information

Understands the function of a Slideshow to share information

Critical analyser
x

Creates a meaningful, informative text

Aware of intended audience

Made critical decisions eg not to use sound

Transformer
x

Transferred familiar researching skills with books to the internet

Able to explain/describe tasks to others and support their learning

Able to use internet skills from other topics to find out information for this
topic

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Literacy demonstrated
x

Reading ID cards

Researching from books

Reading information on internet

Writing sentences in booklets

Writing information on each slide

Locating symbols on the screen

Following prompts from within the program

Numeracy demonstrated
x

Sequencing numbers from ID card

Time changing number of seconds for each slide

Spatial page layout

Size and shape of drawings

Short term review

Students can:
x

Log on

Use their ID cards

Use school intranet site

Find information on the internet

Make a Slideshow

What next?
x

Make slide show, adding sound

Use HyperStudio

The teachers learning

In her final report Trish made the following comments:
My learning curve has been huge through being a part of this project. Having time to
listen to national researchers and talking with peers has given me a chance to reflect
on my practice. What has been extremely helpful is the just in time learning. I have
been wonderfully supported by a peer in the project who has taught me many new
computing skills, how to meaningfully plan for ICT, how to use the ICT equipment and
the different programs to use as I have needed them. As I have continually used
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these throughout the year I have not forgotten them and have even been able to
help other staff members.
The unit of work planned on endangered species worked around a question. This was
something that I had not really done before and so this was new learning for me. I
have now incorporated this into my planning of units of work.
The other great part about the project was working with a peer and being able to
share ideas and support each other. Shared learning works for both staff and
students and has been a huge focus for me this year.

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Schmackos

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Context
Having seen the Schmackos dog food commercial on television a number of
times, the children decided they would like to try making their own clay
animation.

The learning story

Having viewed several clay animation advertisements and realised that there was
a particular form or discourse in advertisements, the children emailed the
producers of the advertisement:
To Whom It May Concern,
Our Year 1 and 2 class is learning about outer space and we would like to make some
clay animation shows about space. We have seen the Schmackos commercials on TV
and read in the newspaper about how you made the vet ad. Lots of children in our
class have dogs and think that your commercial is funny.
We were wondering if you could send us a copy of your commercial on videotape so
we can all watch it at school. It will help us to learn more about animation and teach
us how to do our own.
We will send you a copy of our clay animations once we have finished them.
Thank you,
Flexi 6 children.

The company emailed the children a response and posted them a copy of the
advert. After viewing the animated advertisement with the teacher and
analysing the features the children used the discourse of short entertaining
animations. This learning story was developed from an inquiry based investigation
on the topic of Space. Children researched a particular planet, they then used
books and were looking on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) site for further information to research their topic. The teacher first
of all immersed the students in the topic on space. They then viewed a
Schmackos advertisement on TV and the students decided that they wished to
make their own clay animation. They decided that they would use the
information about their new planet to create a narrative text as a basis for
their clay animation.
A narrative was decided upon which gave the children lots of scope so they could
also draw on their previous experiences with narrative. The design contained the
overall time, length, how many photographs, how the characters moved around
the space, whether sound would be used or not, what the dialogue would be, and
who would be the voice over narrators. The resources used included Stop Motion
software, a digital camera, and painted backdrops. The production included the
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loudness of the voice of the various characters, the narration, and the speed of
the animation. Finally the children shared or distributed their animation to other
children in the class and answered childrens questions about the production.
All phases of making the animation involved writing of many kinds. They made
lists with the teacher about the features of the animations they viewed. They
noted information about the solar system from the NASA website. They wrote a
script about the narration they would use in their production and described the
setting, the characters, and the actions and dialogue of the characters. In
writing the narrative they employed the writing process of drafting, revising and
editing. They then wrote a final copy that they used to guide the clay animation
production. The text types or genres they used included narrative, play script
and treatment, and the text they constructed was a video that was visual,
auditory and animated.

Using the multiliteracies map

Functional user
x

Able to use the digital camera

Able to create clay models to represent a story

Creates a scene to work within the animation

Able to move clay animations to tell a story

Able to take multiple digital camera pictures to create a 40 second animation

Able to save and retrieve work in an appropriate format

Able to put multiple pictures together to create a clay animation

Meaning maker
x

Understands the program Stop Motion to make a meaningful animation which

tells a story

Able to create a background for the scene to portray a meaningful message

Able to use sound and voice to create mood

Able to use colour and positioning of the clay models to add to the story

Able to create an appropriate narrative text

Able to work with others offering suggestions and ideas when needed

Critical analyser
x

Worked together well in a team situation taking on various roles

Understood the need to take turns and wait

Able to critique animation and make changes when needed

Able to work with three mediums, sound, visuals and movement or actions

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x

Could problem solve within the Stop Motion program

Transformer
x

Able to use new learning in many areas in other application

Are using narrative text with a greater depth of understanding

Have developed an understanding of the whole production of an animation to

enhance a narrative text

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DVD library

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Context
Simon was selected as a focus child in 2003. Simon has very limited literacy
skills and has great trouble staying on task and remaining focused in class. I had
received an invitation to Samanthas birthday party. She is Simons younger
sister. I thought it would be a great opportunity to catch up with Simon at home
in a social and relaxed setting where he felt comfortable. I went without a
camera this time and just asked Simon to take me on a Technotour of his home
(The photos included in this story were taken during a second follow up visit).

The learning story

I arrived early to Samanthas party. I walked up the driveway and knocked on
the door. Simon came to the door opened it and walked away without saying
anything. I followed him into the kitchen where Samantha was with a few of her
friends and so was Simons mum as she busily got ready for the party. I gave
Samantha her present and Simon grabbed my hand and took me to his bedroom.

He said This is my TV and radio. He then proceeded to turn on the radio and a
cultural channel came on through the speakers. What! Simon exclaimed and
quickly changed the channel until he found a local radio station, SAFM. He then
turned the radio off and moved to show me how to work the TV.
He turned the TV on at the set and changed the channel also at the set. He did
not use the remote at all and made no attempt to use it. He flicked through a
few channels and turned the sound up and down before he turned the TV off and
moved into the lounge room.

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He wanted to show me how he could set up his PlayStation 2. My favourite game

is Spiderman you have to get the bad guys and the Green Goblin and find the
person who killed Spidermans real parents. He went to the TV and turned it
onto AV. He then plugged the PlayStation into the wall, turned it on and loaded
the game into the tray. Oh! The control is not working. Its broken. It does not
sit in the slot right. You have to put something under it so it will work. Simon
then grabbed the remote control to the TV and placed it under the controller.
There that will work, Dane [one of Simons older brothers] told me I had to put
something under the control so it will work!. Simon then showed me how he could
set up the game. He clicked through about six screens in five seconds and I lost
track of what he was doing!

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I asked him How do you know what menus to go to and what options to pick and
do it so quickly? He replied I remember. Its my favourite game! He played the
game and finished the first two levels very quickly and then told me he had more
to show me.

He took me into his parents room, a huge room, and Simon told me he could go
into and use the equipment in there when he wanted to. He said This is mums
DVD, video and TV. He quickly turned the TV on, set it to AV, turned the DVD
on and opened the tray before I had a chance to blink! He then showed me how
to play a DVD and that his favourite DVD was the Scooby Doo cartoons and the
movie The Mask.

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Simon moved over to the filing cabinet and opened the top draw. This is where
we put them. There was a whole drawer full of DVDs. Each of them was
numbered and Simon was searching for the right place to store the DVD that he
had been viewing. Do you want to watch one? I told him that it would be cool one
day to watch some that I had not seen.

Simon then said Follow me. He took me into his brothers bedroom and showed
me his brothers camera. Ummm . . . how do you turn it on? Simon turned the
camera around and upside down then put it back down and headed out to the
kitchen to join the party.

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Using the multiliteracies map

Functional user
x

Able to use many tools video camera, DVD, TV, CD player

Turn machines on and off

Able to go to use the menu function

Able to plug in the PlayStation to use on TV

Operates the hand controls

Able to select a DVD

Meaning maker
x

Views videos and DVDs for meaning and enjoyment

Understood the tasks of various games

Uses the prompts in PlayStation games

Critical analyser
x

Transformer
x

Uses skills with different tools confidently

Able to transfer understandings to other ICT tools

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Engaging Taylor

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When I used Hyperstudio I learnt how to draw. I couldnt draw the clock. I did wing
flaps on my aeroplane. I didnt learn how to drag that colour attributes. I wanted to
have another play of Hyperstudio. You can spray can it and it doesnt ever run out. I
definitely want another play. By Taylor

Context
Taylor is in Year 2 and is aged eight years old. He lives in a beachside town with
his mother and brother, Shaun aged 7 years. His father lives in a nearby caravan
park and Taylor visits him most weekends. His mother is in the process of
setting up a general store in town for tourists and locals.
Taylor is an inquisitive child who tends to be a tactile learner. He loves to
explore touch and find out how things work. He has an interest in ICT and enjoys
using ICT. He loves attention and will often seek negative attention in
undesirable ways. He has been a reluctant learner and has been very physical
with his peers. He is a loner and doesnt care to work and cooperate with others.
He has struggled in learning areas especially written tasks and is often reluctant
to perform any language task. He was referred to a child psychologist for
assessment and is to be reassessed to ascertain if he is dyslexic.

The learning story

Using HyperStudio 21 October 2003
Taylor was asked to use HyperStudio and see what he could discover and learn
from it. He was able to log on and enter the program by himself. He went to
colour and created a background made by a brick wall. He clicked on the drawing
tool and drew lines on the page. He then wanted to start again so asked How do
you get a new document? I told him to go to file and click on New Stack This
created a new page. Once in a new document he created another brick
background on the page. Sam who was observing what Taylor was doing wanted
to know how he did it. Taylor told him go to tools and click. He discovered he
could type on the brick wall. He did lots of typing of nuisance words. Brock was
observing.

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HyperStudio 2nd session

Taylor was able to log on and find HyperStudio. He used the mouse and made
patterns on the screen. He played with icons, then transported the colour icon
to the middle of page. Using the brick pattern, he coloured the page. He then
deleted and made a circle and oval, he clicked to keep and said he was making a
clock.
He typed 12, then rubbed out 12. I asked him why, he said cause and did not
explain it further. He then proceeded to draw over using blue and white clouds.
He coloured in all the white spots with clouds. I said now you have had a play can
you draw an aeroplane. This is his topic he is researching in Issues. He
proceeded to draw an aeroplane.

12

Taylors clock

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Taylors aeroplane

Using the multiliteracies map

Functional user
x

Able to open and close program

Able to save work and access it at another time

Can print, use mouse, draw, colour

Asks for help or uses play to investigate how

Used server to save work

Created many options and designs during exploratory play

Can verbalise processes to peers

Created new document

Discovered he could type over background

Meaning maker
x

Understanding how to operate HyperStudio

Knows he is venturing into the unknown so is thriving on new knowledge

Knew he could create and learn in his own way so it became a meaningful
experience

Knew how to open, save, find and produce creation

Knew how to vary colour

Could tell a fellow student how he created background

From symbols and icons could interpret what task they could perform

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Critical analyser
x

Quite knowledgeable and seen by his peers as a capable user of HyperStudio

Is willing to experiment and have a play

Often due to his own behaviour his peers see Taylor as someone who has
little to contribute but on this occasion he was regarded as the expert

Entered program by himself so had to read and decipher icons

Followed verbal instructions to achieve a task

Asked for information

Representing his understanding through drawing

He was directed by the teacher to use HyperStudio but once he began to use
it he needed little direction

Transformer
x

Has learnt how to use HyperStudio and can create a stack of pages

He could share his knowledge with his peers, younger children and adults

Could create a stack to show children how to use HyperStudio and could
include photographs and diagrams to illustrate each technique

Literacy demonstrated
x

Read icons and symbols

Used icons to discover what they did

Typed using letters from keyboard

Verbalised his needs

Questioned others to help solve problems

Able to erase and start with new page

Observing monitor screen to discover what happened next from his selection
of icons

Retraced his steps so had good recall

Predicts

Representing knowledge through using visual diagrams

Numeracy demonstrated
x

Used colour to illustrate his learning

Looked at shapes and tessellation of brick wall

Drew straight and curved lines

Problem solved

Found middle of the page

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x

Found he could create various shapes

Creating a clock to demonstrate his knowledge of time

Knew digits to make 12

Positioned digits in required space

Collected and organised data

Measuring distances using lines and shapes

Using a page

Patterning of brick wall

Locating features

Personal reflection
Taylor was so keen to meet the challenge and find out what he could learn and do
in HyperStudio. The first time he used the program I let him play so he could
discover for himself some of the wonders of the program. His peers were very
interested in what he was doing and also wanted to have a play with the program,
as they were seeing some of the achievements Taylor was creating. It also gave
him the confidence to share with others about what he had learnt. He also had
my undivided attention, which is something Taylor thrives on. He was willing to
discuss and became quite excited about his learning. I felt it was a challenge for
Taylor to use his discoveries to extend what he chose to learn in Issues. It
showed that Taylor could produce and use skills, which he often doesnt display
as a learner.

Short term review

Taylor is a tactile and kinaesthetic learner so needs to touch and use equipment.
This task allowed him to do this. He was able to make decisions and solve
problems so enjoyed the challenge. He was able to use a program he was
unfamiliar with and climb the hill with his learning. He was able to enter the
program, change colour, create a background, draw lines and create a new
document. He could recount verbally to his peers how to perform a task this
was a boost in Taylors self esteem. The following day he was able to retrace his
learning without prompting from others. He was able to drag toolbars and access
their use. He could produce a design and print.

What next?
Taylor gained confidence and self esteem during this task as he was in the know
and could share this knowledge with his peers and teacher. In the eyes of his
peers he was perceived as an equal. This needs to be encouraged as it can
promote growth in Taylors self and class perception. Taylor could be instructed
in further areas using HyperStudio and then ask him to teach his fellow
classmates. He could be challenged to create other stacks so he can produce a
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book on how an aeroplane takes off. This was one of his questions he posed and
researched in Issues. He could then share this with his peers and teach the
younger children about how aeroplanes fly. He could be directed to label his
aeroplane and complete diagrams to show each stage of the aeroplanes take off
and landing.

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WiggleWorks
with Dean

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Context
Dean is seven years old and the second child in a family of three children. Dean
lives with his two sisters and parents. His parents work in farm service industry.
He has had periods of living on a farm outside the town. Dean has autism and has
no clear and direct verbal speech. He can speak a few words with correct
intonation, but most speech is composed of sounds at different pitches with
accompanying body language gestures.
Dean is well aware of his surroundings and will make appropriate speech sounds
depending on his needs and interests in that context. For example if in the art
room and wanting to paint he will automatically get an apron and point dah to
the cupboard with a view to getting out brushes and paint. Dean is using and
learning to use the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) to
communicate. It comprises COMPIC picture cards which are assembled onto a
Velcro strip (such as I want scissors with corresponding word/picture cards).
These are exchanged with another person for the item or request. He tends to
use body language and sound over this system though.
Dean has a strong interest in ICT. This includes computers, digital cameras,
videos/TV and electronic games/toys. He has a computer of his own in the
classroom and a small games laptop of his own at home. At school there is one
computer situated within the Special Education classroom. This has a number of
programs on it and also ones that can be loaded from a CD.

WiggleWorks is the program that I have been using with Dean in his Special

Education class time. Dean is very keen on using it as it is gives him a voice when
he reads a book using the program. He tends though, to use it in a very linear
fashion. He always chooses the one book Hide and Seek and goes to the Read
Aloud program often then to the My Book where he colours a whole page blue
his favourite colour. I have tried to interest Dean in other books in the program
but to no avail. Observing him in this learning story had made me realise how
astute he is in reading semiotic text. Taking his learning the next step though
has been difficult as Dean has had other ideas.

The learning story

Dean chose his book Hide and Seek from the WiggleWorks box. He then found
the WiggleWorks icon out of a number of icons on the main computer screen.
He entered WiggleWorks, looking for and finding his name. Dean firstly went to
Read Aloud and it is here that he clicks on each individual word. This is
remarkable to watch because the computer appears to give him a voice as he

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does this. He began following the book at the same time too, but then
concentrated exclusively on the screen. Afterwards he gave himself a big clap.
Dean then listened to the same story on tape. He showed good operation of the
tape player, but then rushed ahead of the story of tape. At the last page
though, he knows to wait as he is obviously listening to the story and has
realised this. He then makes a fast wave action with his hand over the final
page as he hears the last words and music of the tape story ending.

Literacy demonstrated
Dean showed many aspects of literacy when using WiggleWorks.

Spatial and text orientation

Dean showed a good ability to read semiotic text in choosing the WiggleWorks
icon out of the many icons on screen. He recognised and read his own name, the
Read Aloud icon and then clicked on each word in the story in the correct story
sequence. He shows the letter count motions in counting each word, even though
he rushed through the reading of this story. Spatially he has very accurate
mouse skills that allow him to click on individual words in a sequential order.

Oral language
Dean actively communicates his happiness and dismay through gestures and
sounds. He appears to have a voice through the computer whilst in the Read
Aloud section. It is interesting that he chose this over the Read function
where the computer adds music and is direct and fluent. Dean obviously wants to
have control and the Read Aloud function enables him to do this.

Numeracy demonstrated
Dean appears to count the words and letters in whatever he reads. This
maths/word combination works well for him and he always appears to follow a
linear routine to his learning. This is consistent with the tendency of students
with autism to need routine in many of the things that they do.

Using the multiliteracies map

Functional user
x

Dean is very confident in finding and operating WiggleWorks

He is a skilled mouse user

He is confident in operating tape players and other ICT devices

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Meaning maker
x

Dean obviously understood the semiotic and written text he encountered in

WiggleWorks and navigated his way through effectively

His preference for routine and linear learning patterns would explain his
speed and confidence here

Critical analyser
x

Again, I found it difficult to evaluate with Dean as he appeared to have good

self-confidence in using WiggleWorks

Transformer
x

Dean appears to transform his preference for routines into using his skills in
linear fashion when using WiggleWorks. However, it is of interest that, I
would say, WiggleWorks is not linear in its design.

Personal reflection
Dean is a challenging child to work with and does not have high work outputs of a
written nature. Several times Dean wrote something on WiggleWorks only to
have deleted it with smiles galore. I have learnt to be patient and see that small
everyday routine learning situations are little stories in themselves into what
Dean is learning.
I have found the project highly useful in providing:
x

insights into the home use of ICT by two of my special education students

dialogue with colleagues (from an isolated country view)

an insight into teaching and learning with ICT being done in other schools
which is difficult because of the isolation of Ceduna.

I have learnt that ICT and computers in particular can be wonderful tools to
support learning in many ways. However unless you have those tools (or the
money to purchase them) such ways are meaningless and life continues as it
otherwise would.
Being isolated from many colleagues in the education profession because of our
distance has meant that unless you participate in projects of this nature or
training and development sessions in Adelaide, you are simply not exposed to
other ideas and developments. We are now aware of and use programs such as
WiggleWorks and others.
I have learnt more about Deans abilities with semiotic text which is remarkable.
Dean loves written text books outside of the computer screen. I feel though
that I have many more questions to ask.
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Above all it has been rewarding working with these children and getting to know
them better through this project.

Whats next?
x

How can I extend and encourage Dean to venture beyond the same book all
the time?

How can I encourage him to venture into the Write function of

WiggleWorks?

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Searching for
caterpillars

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Context
In the preschool Kris enjoys searching for creatures in the outdoor environment.
He noticed some leaves that had holes in them and told me that the caterpillars
had been eating them. Excitedly he kept looking through the bushes and under
leaves and sure enough he found a big fat caterpillar. Look, look, here it is. Kris
pulled the caterpillar from the leaf and put it into a container. Look at this
caterpillar I found he said proudly to his peers You can touch it if you want, but
be careful, you might hurt it.
Kris and his friend Corey decided to use the internet to see if they could find
more information about caterpillars. With Coreys interest in researching
information on the internet he suggested they could do this. Kris followed armed
with his caterpillar and magnifying glass. Kris watched and listened as Corey
asked me how to access information on the internet, where the cords needed to
be connected, how we needed to log on and dial up, and what the computer was
doing. Wow neat Kris exclaimed as the computer made the dial up sounds.
Corey had first go on the mouse, but Kris ended up squeezing his way in so that
he controlled the mouse. Kris clicked around on various pictures looking for a
caterpillar like his. Corey having been involved a few times in looking up
information on the internet sat back patiently and let Kris explore in his excited
state.
What word do you think we could type in to the computer so it knows what we
are looking for? I asked them. Caterpillars Corey and Kris sang in unison. They
watched intently as information started coming up on the screen. Once the
pictures downloaded squeals of delight sounded from Kris OH WOW, Look there
are lots of caterpillars.
Kerry:
Corey:
Kris:

Do you see any like yours Corey?

Not yet, Oh theres one
Oh yeah, thats like my furry one, see. Can I do it now?

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Using the multiliteracies map

Functional user
x

Selects the computer to access the internet

Able to use the mouse successfully

Understands the functions of various icons

Uses visuals cues when selecting programs

Starting to develop skills in using the digital camera

Opens Word successfully using the icons

Meaning maker
x

Gains meaning from visual text and icons

Uses program icons to open and insert pictures

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x

Uses search function by repeatedly doing the task and typing the word
caterpillar

Understands the difference in the dial up sound when connecting to the

internet

Recognises and uses the word caterpillar repeatedly

Identified the caterpillar from the pictures on the internet

Critical analyser
x

Understands the different computers in the preschool have different

functions

Can gather information from a search engine

Was able to discern which sites were appropriate for what he wanted

Transformer
x

Uses the search function to find out information about other things

Is starting to use the digital camera for various purposes

Short term review

Kris interest in looking for insects and creepy crawlies in the outdoor
environment has now extended to looking up information about them on the
computer. Since the introduction of the computer Kris has had a real interest in
exploring its many functions. So this, now combined with his own interest in
insects, is a very meaningful experience for him. Kris has discovered a way to
further learn about creatures and extend his own learning experiences. After
Kris initial experience of using the internet he now has an understanding about
how and what the internet can be used for and is very excited about a different
way of researching critters.
Kris is able to read a range of picture icons, he understands that the pop up
boxes are trying to ask him something, he visually follows pictures and
information that are non-linear and uses the mouse without having to look down
at his hand. Kris is still a click-a-rama at times but is beginning to click on
objects/icons with a specific intent not just to get a reaction on the screen. He
has slowed himself down while using the mouse and moves the curser to specific
parts of the screen. He uses the double click on the mouse with the intent to
open up an area of information. He prints off his own work and is now able to
open up a new page in Word. From this experience Kris saw me taking photos of
him using the digital camera and asked if he could take some photos. This then
lead to another new learning curve and experience, which Annette has followed
up in her study of Kris.

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What next?
Continue with Kris interest in researching insects using the internet and explore
books as well. Get Kris to do some brainstorming about ways in which we could
find out information. Focus on how the internet search engines are most
effectively used, eg exactly what do you want to find out? (arrowing the search
and discussing exactly what information he wants to find out about). Critical
thinking, use of language ie descriptive words.
Ask him if there is anything else he would like to look up on the internet. Chat
about the range of possibilities. Follow up with his interest in using the digital
camera and have Kris explore how a digital camera can be used. Perhaps make his
own book of photos using the digital camera, computer, printer, also incorporate
the microphone so that he can not only type some words but tell his story about
the pictures as well. Add in his information that he has printed off of the
internet to make the whole experience meaningful.

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Chapter 5
The findings

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5. The findings
This chapter explores in detail the findings arising from the Children of the new millennium
research project and seeks to answer the original questions proposed.

What are the different ways that young children use ICT at home and in
the community?
To explore this question the teacher-researchers undertook a Technotour with their selected
focus children. The teachers visited the childrens homes and each child enthusiastically led
their teachers on a Technotour to demonstrate the technology they had on offer and what they
could do with it. The teachers were amazed by young childrens access to and facility with
ICT at home. In most homes children had access to televisions, videos, DVDs, electronic
toys, Game Boys and PlayStations. Teacher-researchers were overwhelmed by the diverse
range of ICT that students were using regardless of socioeconomic status or geographic
location. In many homes, for example, there were large scale entertainment systems in their
living rooms, with wide screen TVs and many DVDs/videos to choose from. Most of the
children also had smaller CD sound systems in their bedrooms, some even had their own
televisions. The majority of children also had regular access to computers, or were able to
access them at friends houses or their grandparents. The Technotours revealed that the
children had access to enormous amount of ICT knowledge and experience.
In the rural townships, children were using two-way radios or wide range mobile phones to
communicate with dad working in the field. Mum used the mobile phone to contact the school
bus when they were running late to be sure they hadnt missed the bus. More than in the city,
a number of country children were not permitted to use the home computer as it stored
important farm accounts for the family business. Although there were children with
significant experience with technology, sometimes parents were reluctant for their children to
use the computer in case they broke it, because of the lack of ICT support, service and
repairs available in country locations. This disadvantaged some children and as a result they
became reluctant users of technology in the school context. One teacher wrote about a rural
school where a girl who was part of a group of six girls, who disliked using technology
preferring to draw in this time instead of engaging in specific ICT lessons. After the
Technotour to the farm the teacher had a better understanding of her experiences and skills.
The teacher encouraged her to risk take and as a result the childs self-esteem increased and
she shared her learning with the others.
The most popular pastime in all homes was playing games. Despite worrying that children
may spend too much time playing games, teachers could see, as they learned more about the
games, that the children had developed complex problem solving and navigational skills
while playing. Many parents were also concerned about the amount of time spent on the
computer and most had set rules and time restrictions to ensure children had a balance of
other activities. Another favoured home activity was to click and navigate through internet
websites and screen options searching for information. Some children received considerable
support from older siblings and adult members of the family when required. This just in
time learning and free discovery learning encouraging children to have a go enabled
many young children to be quick navigators and make quick decisions about moving between
sites and programs. One preschool child, a regular borrower at the local library, borrowed not
just library books, but also different software programs.
The Technotours encouraged teacher-researchers to extend their childrens learning with new
technologies. At one site a teacher-researcher was so impressed by a childs skills that she
encouraged him to become a classroom coach for other students. This child had been quite
disruptive and reluctant in school learning activities before the home visit, but this new
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knowledge changed the teachers views about the child and the teacher then supported him to
be successful within the class.
In one rural school, the teacher-researcher discovered an enormous amount about the learning
style of a non-verbal autistic child who experienced intense frustration in school and was
considered extremely disruptive. During the home visit the child displayed ease and
confidence in using electronic toys and books. The teacher could see that the child used his
home laptop as a visual communication tool and achieved some stimulation as well as
comfort from the programs loaded onto the computer. She then used similar technology in
school and this alleviated some of the childs frustrations and high pitched classroom
outbursts.
This same teacher-researcher observed another child with special needs in language and
communication. The teacher noticed his speech expanded considerably when he spoke about
playing the Age of Empires game at home. He used longer and more sophisticated words and
more complex sentences. The teacher made the observation that the child had developed skills
in the area of critical analyser in that he could understand the intention of the game and in
return gained power from being a successful player. I feel Matts self concept was enhanced
whilst playing this game and he felt a power in playing it. On a social-emotional level he is
a student who loves fantasy and play, and this game would serve his needs here. Having
developed a better understanding of what engaged the child and what extended his learning,
the teacher purchased literacy software with visual and audio support.
A child recently arrived from South America, in a new arrivals program at one school,
discovered the power of emails as a communication tool. After the Technotour her teacher
found that the childs father was still living in Argentina, waiting to join his family. The
teacher suggested that the child email her father many thousands of kilometres away. The
child used her mother tongue, Spanish, to communicate electronically to a friend in Argentina
who would make contact with her father. The child wrote a draft letter then had mum check it
for correct Spanish usage. She then compiled the email and waited several days before she
received a reply. When she finally received a reply the whole class gathered around to read it.
It was written in Spanish and the girl became very emotional when she read it. She kept a
copy on her desk for the rest of the day, then took it home to share with her family.
In this school for new arrivals, where English was often a second language, the teacher
learned about childrens ease and interest in visual literacies. She decided to use the digital
camera to teach the children to read and write about their new school environment. She used
visual information in the form of photographs alongside the English language to create
PowerPoint presentations, as a form of language experience so the children could
communicate to parents about the school activities. With the picture cues, parents and
children were able to read together what the children had written in English.
In another preschool setting in the south of Adelaide, a child with older very proficient
siblings was very tentative about using technology at preschool. The child was not a risk taker
and needed a lot of encouragement with any activity. She had access to a brand new computer
at home but was unsure of the not-so up-to-date equipment at the preschool. From the
Technotours, the preschool teacher understood the childs circumstances. This aided the astute
teacher to support this child in a small group situation, giving the child the confidence to try
new things. The child quickly developed so much confidence that in one kindy session she
made her own collage version of a computer, complete with an egg carton keyboard with cut
out letters replicating the Kid Pix screen.
The same preschool teacher recommended to the preschool committee, the idea of developing
a digital camera bag. This could go home with the children and be used to share the learning

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happening in particular families. The idea of connecting with the children at home makes for
greater understanding of their individual learning preferences and needs.
An older Year 2 child, a proficient reader, was a confident internet user at home searching out
sites and even doing his footy tipping through the Australian Football Leagues website, AFL
for Kids. He was able to send his teacher an email and got great enjoyment playing games on
the AFL site and navigating around it. He also demonstrated amazing patience when coaching
his younger sister on the computer. When asked what he liked to do on the internet he said he
really liked searching for information to read around questions that interest him. The internet
was for him the quickest and most effective way to find information.
The Technotour revealed that childrens use of new technologies was far greater than teachers
had anticipated. Next to television, computers were the second most popular form of
information and communication technology available in homes. New ways of building on the
skills and interests from home emerged when teachers engaged some children as coaches in
the classroom and capitalised on the childrens funds of knowledge by using similar software
in school as at home. This was particularly important for children with special learning needs.
In most cases the children had access to ICT far in advance of the equipment in many of the
schools and preschools.

Where do young children use ICT? How many forms of it do they use, to
what extent and how does it relate to other forms of play and
exploration?
In the first year of the project, 2002, of the 92 focus children studied, 68 had computers
(74%), and 48 (52%) of those had internet access. This included the most isolated children on
the far west coast of South Australia, as well as those from the most socioeconomically
disadvantaged areas in the suburbs of Adelaide. Only a relatively small number of children
had PlayStations or Nintendos (23 in total) and only 15 children had Game Boys. We found
that 92% of households had a television, nearly half of which had two or more, and every
household that had a television also had at least one video player. As the project continued
computers became more prevalent as did DVD players and DVD burners. Television was
used for entertainment; computers for entertainment and information. Even those children
who did not have computers commented they used them regularly at friends or grandparents.
In the rural communities nearly every household had a CB/two way radio or wide range
mobile phones and there were frequent comments about using global positioning satellite
(GPS) in cars and tractors on the farm.
Regardless of age, nationality, geographic location or socioeconomic status, all of the children
were familiar with and regularly accessed a wide range of ICT. Children were very aware of
the different ICT such as computers, mobile phones and digital cameras what they were
used for and by whom. ICT became part of sociodramatic play scenarios; television shows
were acted out; interests in pop stars and sports stars were actively pursued online; computer
games became part of everyday conversations and activities; and the internet was used a
valuable resource for information. Having grown up with so many different forms of ICT, the
children were comfortable and familiar with using them and they played a major part in their
lives.
Various ICT were a feature in all of the research sites and teachers made efforts to integrate
them into all learning areas. Both preschool and school aged students were involved in
investigations that promoted inquiry based pedagogy. Children were involved in posing
questions about what they wanted to find out more about. They were involved in using search
engines on the internet, books, posters, other students and real life experiences to seek out
answers to these diverse questions. The teachers in the preschool setting supported childrens
self-initiated investigations and supported the young children as they connected to the internet
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for example to find out about the names and behaviours of local caterpillars and websites
linked to The Saddle Club television show.
Some children in the project used a problem based approach known as Webquests. This web
based activity focused around a scenario or a real life problem with many scaffolded websites
to support the learners. When using online websites the children had to search in nonlinear
style around the webpage. They did this in order to locate relevant information and navigate
their way to it. While the information accessed may involve the children reading linear
connected text, the ways to search for information required that the children make deductive
and analytic connections between icons and print-based cues. Teachers commented on the
importance of visual information on the internet. Brain Pop a science website was popular
with one class learning about electricity. The students could hear and see small movies about
electricity. Some of the information was difficult for younger ones to read and understand but
with the use of older peer support children overcame this problem.
WebQuests were used by children in Year 1 when involved in a problem based research
project. The topic was zoo animals and the essential question the class was investigating was
Is the zoo doing enough to support endangered animals? They chose to go to the zoo to
observe and take digital photographs of these zoo animals. They also used a linked webpage
of websites selected by the teacher. They then researched the questions they thought would
help them answer their essential question and created a Kid Pix Slideshow to share their
learning with others. They found that the Zoo looks after our endangered animals by helping
them and breeding them. This unit of work provided the children with a greater depth of
investigation. They were able to use all the information they had gathered to answer their
essential question.
In another school setting where children were engaged in individual rather than group or
whole class problem based learning, one child collected data about whether children littered
in the school. He compiled several questions about littering and asked other children about
their response to the question. Being a child who disliked using a pen and paper he
enthusiastically tackled this task using the spreadsheet tool in Apple Works. With the support
of his teacher he represented this data as a graph and was then able to interpret the
information. In this activity the task replicated the real life purpose and applications of new
technologies that can be used to support many areas of students learning. The teacher was
able to discuss how meaning can be represented and connected with this childs preferred
learning style.
The power of visual literacy looking at images, movies or hearing sounds provides the
child as a researcher, a multi-sensory approach to fact finding and learning. In the preschool
setting children were using the internet to enhance their learning about animals. One four year
old chose to write the word horse, copy information she had found on the website, make
drawings and print off photographs, to make her own horse book. Another preschooler
focused on his fascination with caterpillars and used the internet to find more information.
A teacher in a beachside suburb of Adelaide wrote that students in her class loved using
Google (a search engine) in their free time. They searched for pictures of their favourite
soccer player, David Beckham, and saved them in their folders. Their confidence to follow
their interests developed some strong friendships and they would share the sites they had
found at home with others. The interest shown by these boys alerted their teacher to the fact
that boys in particular may connect with the information rich resource of the world wide web.
The internet is a means to engage resistant readers to access and read information texts.
In schools with children learning English as a second language it was found that they were
using Microsoft Word at home to type up the spelling words they were learning in school.
They used the auditory and visual ability of the computer to support them with their learning,
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which was particularly helpful for children who had an auditory approach to learning to read.
Children in the rural schools were investigating the use of the Smartboard, an electronic white
board that is a touch sensitive computer screen. The Smartboard was effective with students
who were primarily kinaesthetic, tactile learners. ICT tools can provide other ways that suit
different learners and enable them to be successful.
A number of teachers chose to email messages to their children who then became familiar
with the system and were able to use its many features. Children emailed other class
members, the teacher, their parents and family members in other countries. One class also
found a school with the same name as theirs in England and so began to send and receive
information, sharing unique features of each school and community.
In every research site the children gravitated to the computer to play games, to find
information, to explore their interests and to create new texts. In the preschool and the early
years of school, the pedagogy that incorporated information and communication technologies
was most often inquiry based with questions and problems arising from the interests of a
group of children or from individuals. This learning is similar to issues-based learning where
the children engage and connect deeply with content. Many teachers wrote of the importance
of combining inquiry based pedagogy with explicit teaching of how to use information and
communication technologies.
The teacher-researchers wrote about how children today are bombarded by information. With
this glut of information, children need to be involved in more relevant tasks and essential
questions to allow them to make decisions and develop as critical and creative thinkers. This
approach to learning allows children to pursue depth tasks rather than learning isolated skills
removed from authentic or meaningful tasks.
The project found that children are aware of an ever increasing abundance of choice about
ways to communicate information and increasing choice about how to access information.
Many teachers found inquiry based pedagogies engaged children in quests for answers to
questions the students generated. This problem based approach enables the children to drill
down, focus tightly on questions, and sift, scan through and comprehend information of
interest to them.

What are the different ways that young children use ICT in early
childhood education settings?
In the previous section teachers wrote about using inquiry based pedagogy as a way to engage
children and in this section the theme is of collaboration and how children and teachers
worked together.
In the project children were experimenting with and mastering open-ended software programs
such as Kid Pix, Hyperstudio, PowerPoint, Stop Motion, Kidspiration and Inspiration. The
children supported each others as well as the teachers learning. New game software, new
computers, accessing the internet to find information, new equipment such as digital cameras
for making animations, promoted shared problem solving. The teacher-researchers reports
highlighted the importance of social interaction and peer support of each others learning. The
children chose to work with peers in order to talk through and problem solve together. Rather
than promoting individualised learning ICT supported active collaboration. One preschool
reported that they thought the computer area was going to be somewhere children could work
quietly. In fact this was not the case and the computer area became a centre for social
interaction. Children were supporting each other, fascinated by navigating the fast moving
objects, colours and visuals on screen.

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The use of the digital camera in another preschool showed the engagement and support
children were giving each other when they were using these tools. This shared learning by the
children allowed many to offer their ideas and opinions in a natural problem solving situation.
The teacher was guiding and facilitating the discussion by asking pertinent questions rather
than telling them the answer and in many cases they were also learning alongside the children.
In one school, exploring Gardners multiple intelligences (1983) enabled children to identify
their strengths as learners and also areas they needed to focus on. Children identified their
particular intelligences and discussed some learning goals they could make to improve their
learning. This also gave them the opportunity to identify areas in which they could support
other children in the class. They graphed a representation of their intelligences using Apple
Works and also developed an online version using the same program. Encouraging children to
focus on taking some responsibility for their own learning also enabled them to realise that
there are areas that we all need to work on and develop.
A number of teachers created digital portfolios as evidence of each childs learning. At a
preschool level this was achieved by children saving their collection of Kid Pix slides to share
with their parents. Another school site had used PowerPoint and embedded video content
with five year old children who were able to articulate clear reflections of themselves as
learners. This conveyed a clear message to the research team that this was a powerful way of
assessing childrens learning and sharing that learning with both the child and their parents.
The children at a school for new arrivals used My internet to develop an intranet at the school.
Tech Reps, from all year levels in the school, were taught explicitly in small groups the skills
to add new notices and information on the intranet. They then taught these skills to others in
their classes so everyone was able to add to the noticeboards. For instance, children from all
classes within the school were able to share each others birthdays by placing them on the
calendar. This communication and collaborative project gave purpose and meaning to the
childrens learning and gave even the youngest children the role of teacher.
In the project there was a significant shift from the teacher as the expert to the teacher as the
guide by the side. Teachers found that children chose to work collaboratively solving
problems as they arose. In many cases, in both preschools and schools, the children sought out
other children to help them problem solve, rather than coming to the teacher. There were
many examples of collaboration involving children as coaches of other children the same age
or younger. Such collaboration meant even the youngest children became coaches and
teachers, and the social interaction made learning fun, exciting and engaging.

How do young childrens knowledge, understanding and use of ICT

develop in the early years?
With assistance, four year old children can read a range of multimodal texts. They can also
design and plan the layout and arrangement of multimedia texts and use different software to
produce them. The new digital literacies involve children moving effortlessly between a range
of texts types for different purposes to play, for entertainment, to find information, for
designing and creating new products.
The teachers did not view digital literacies and print-based literacies as oppositional concepts;
both are required. In fact, traditional print-based reading and writing was viewed as vitally
important. Writing was significantly important as a memory tool, for planning, designing and
recording ideas and information. Reading was critically important for interpreting, analysing
and selecting from the abundance of information. Interestingly the children switched
effortlessly between genres scanning material for information, following procedures,
searching by scrolling through menus, interpreting icons and written instructions on tool bars.
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In other words, although reading, writing, listening and speaking are paramount, todays
students must be able to do more, as they decipher, code break and achieve meaning and
express ideas through a range of media that incorporates design, layout, colour, time, graphics
and animation.
We focused on the learning stories written by the teachers as our evidence and then looked
carefully at what children were achieving at different levels. It was evident that children from
age four to eight were doing similar things with the use of new technologies. They were all
using open ended and problem solving software programs. They were navigating the
keyboard and using the mouse. They were using the digital camera and making sense and
meaning from print/paper based texts as well as from digital texts. Each problem that children
worked on enabled the refinement of new skills. For example: exploring how batteries and
energy work led to exploring websites on the internet; communicating with a parent far away
prompted the use of email; using a form of digital language experience about the school
context prompted children to import digital photos to a PowerPoint presentation which was
then burned onto CD Rom so parents could view it at home. This is similar to work with
genre theory where the purpose or function dictates the form of information and
communication technologies.
The multiliteracies map was designed to explore what children can do with information and
communication technologies. This was not designed as progressional; in other words,
preschool children do not sit entirely within functional user, then become meaning makers as
their skills develop. Preschoolers, like all the other children in the early years, were
developing all aspects of multiliteracies. They were making sense of the text that they had
created. They were learning to use the keyboard and learning skills and acquiring knowledge
through their use of different programs. They were being critical and selective about what
they wished to do. They were using the acquired skills and knowledge across many areas of
their skill development. Children were not just using computers for computers sake but were
exposed to meaningful problem solving experiences that prompted investigations. These
functions made more sense to teachers and children than learning how to type or learning all
the features in Kid Pix.
There were many layers to childrens level of multiliteracies. At the preschool setting children
involved in the caterpillar investigation, were seeking out the tools that connect to the
internet. They were repeatedly coming back to the experience; practicing, problem solving,
testing until they found the information that they required. The particular child in the learning
story was so excited to find his caterpillar that he downloaded the picture and put it into a
word document. This then initiated another investigation using the preschool digital camera.
Interpreting logos and symbols, recognition of words then writing the word caterpillar into a
search engine and seeking out and finding the actual picture of the correct caterpillar is quite a
major task for any child, especially a four year old. In all areas this child was developing his
skills and knowledge as: a functional user (developing skills to use a search engine), a
meaning maker (finding the appropriate visual text and print based texts that he needed), a
critical analyser (able to detect useful and accurate information) and a transformer (able to use
the pictures in other applications or use the internet in another situation to further support his
learning).
For children in Year 2 the Schmackos learning story about clay animations shows childrens
achievements in the four areas of multiliteracies. They have excellent functional skills going
between digital camera shots and the program Stop Motion. They are able to create clay
models and move these to replicate their narrative text. They have an understanding that 40
digital shots replicates to one second of movement. They are making meaning of the text by
creating a three-dimensional scene to match their narrative script. The movement and
dialogue match the visuals and show their understanding of the text they have created. They
have shared the roles to create the animation. Team members all contributed to the various
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roles: the capturer (sat at the computer and captured the images), the mover (moved the
figures) and the encourager (supported the other children). The children developed critical
understandings of the clay animations and how the program works. They had a good
understanding of narrative text and were able to further enhance their text with the use of ICT.
The children had transformed their understandings of how a narrative text can be enhanced
with new technologies. They were able to trouble shoot and worked well as a team.
The previous examples at a preschool and with a Year 2 class reveal both learning
experiences as purposefully centred around activities involving problem solving. They related
to the context that the children were engaged in and investigating. They show the
sophisticated level of investigation and creation at both age levels. The children selected tools,
be they paper and pencil, digital cameras, the internet and software programs to suit a range of
purposes.
The multiliteracies map is a multilayered teaching and learning tool that may be used for
many different purposes. It is a generative tool that could be used for planning or an
observational, reflective tool to explore growth and development.
Critics of the use of computers in preschools and the early years of school may argue that
young children need to learn to read and write first before computers are introduced. This
project showed that the traditional concept of reading and writing needs to be broadened to
include the use of multiple signs systems that represent meaning. Children in early childhood
have always used drawing or illustrations to represent meaning and the newer multimodal
technologies merely add to childrens choice of medium to represent ideas and to comprehend
the meanings in a range of texts.

What do young children think about ICT and why do they like/not like
them?
Without exception all the children and teachers found the use of ICT engaging and
motivating. However, the teachers also commented on the frustration associated with not
having access to up-to-date hardware and software, especially in rural areas. In rural schools
access to technical support and servicing of equipment remained an immense concern.
In reviewing all of the teacher-researcher learning stories, it was apparent that children liked
using technology in the preschool and school settings because it fitted in with their interests
and allowed for problem based learning to occur. Teachers found in many cases that they
were learning from the children, were able to become the guide by the side and let go of the
notion that they were the font of all knowledge. The teachers home visits enabled them to
connect with children and build on the childrens interests in their classes and centres.
Children undoubtedly were enthusiastic about the multi-sensory aspects of various programs
and online resources. They used the icons on the screen, clicked prompts without worrying
too much that they couldnt read all the text. They made the computer do what they wanted to
achieve. They shared the enjoyment with others in the class. All sites had pictures of huddled
groups amazed at the visuals they saw on the screen. Laughter, pointing and sharing together
were pictures that were common in most reports.
In 2002 a students who had an enormous number of games on his home computer made a
comment that he loved the computers at school because they were funner. At school they
didnt have any games loaded on the computers. He was the asked what programs do you
like? Kid Pix, because it is fun to play it. Even though he used Kid Pix to support his
learning he saw this as fun. Maybe having an opportunity to discover and learn makes it fun
for young children. Children who felt supported, able to take a risks and have a go in a caring,
nurturing environment were happy in the learning and investigations.
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The engagement and fascination children experienced when using computers was drawn out
in lots of reports. Two rural schools commented on how they worked with childrens
disabilities by using the multimodal aspects on technology. A very kinaesthetic learner, who
was quite disruptive, used the large screen associated with an interactive Smartboard. He
could move around the screen achieving and using large muscle movements as he created a
piece of work. This seemed to make sense for this child rather than the confines of a desk and
pencils and paper.
Another child who was identified as gifted with a physical disability enjoyed the button
actions in the program HyperStudio. This excitement in using a new tool allowed him to test
his phonetic spelling ability. Through the Blubber Mouth component of HyperStudio he was
able to phonetically change the American voice in the program to match what he wanted it to
say. He supported others in the class sharing his expertise with this program. He was quickly
identified as the expert, which built up his self-esteem. He was able to use this new learning
when working within another project on Early Man. This was shared with a gifted class at a
local high school and the Governing Council Annual General Meeting. Another girl preferred
learning through art and construction. She enjoyed using technology but would prefer to
explore colour and texture through the use of paint and paper. By exposing her to the new
tools in meaningful ways she was able see that she could be very creative using Kid Pix or
HyperStudio.
The engagement and fascination children experienced when using computers was clearly
described in the teachers learning stories. It was not the multimodal tools alone that made
information and communication technologies an engaging, meaningful experience, it was also
the way they are used to craft learning experiences for children in preschools and schools.
Designing learning experiences for children demands skilful expertise that requires
continuous professional learning.
Reading the learning stories reveals the significant growth and learning both the teachers and
the children of the project have experienced and shared over the two years. The teacherresearchers commented that working alongside national researchers, in collaboration with
peers and with support from curriculum leaders of DECS, was significant for all.

Unanticipated findings
Teacher-researcher with university mentors
Embedded within the learning stories of the teachers was the importance of teacherresearchers exploring what children can do with ICT. The narrative learning stories as a
research methodology described childrens learning in ways that were authentic and relevant
to other teachers. The paired researchers at similar schools and preschools provided support
and the use of the university as mentors also challenged participants views about childrens
learning. Many teachers who began as novices with ICT became confident users of
technology as the project developed and wrote of the importance of other teachers as mentors
and coaches providing just in time support.
The regular research development days challenged and extended the teacher-researchers
thinking with presentations by university mentors and handouts of selected research based
readings. The university mentors also benefited by participating in the teacher-researcher
presentations and learning of what children were able to achieve with ICT.

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Multiliteracies map
The teacher-researchers generated the research tool the multiliteracies map which combines
print-based and information and communication technology. They developed a broader view
of literacy that focused on the function of communication and the many choices and forms
available to get the message across to others (see Chapter 6).

Inquiry based learning

The teacher-researchers employed inquiry based learning, sometimes beginning with an
essential question or an issues based question to generate inquiry. Inquiry based learning
prompted the teachers and children to explore all possible sources of information print-based
and electronic. It also led to the use of different forms of presentation of information which
was often multimodal. This is in keeping with early childhood pedagogy where visual,
auditory and movement have been used to communicate ideas.

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Chapter 6
The multiliteracies map

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6. The multiliteracies map

The development of the multiliteracies map
During this project computers, along with many other forms of information and
communication technology, became a common sight in preschools and schools. Statistics
show that they are rapidly becoming a natural part of Australian households. How to analyse
and assess childrens ICT skills, how to extend their ICT learning and help them become
critical users of the technology, was of vital importance in this project. Producing an
observational tool that allowed teachers to explore young childrens learning with new
literacies was one of the major aims for the Children of the new millennium project. A
pedagogic tool would support teachers conceptualisation and planning of new information
and communication literacies.
The original research plan began several years ago with a print-based orientation to early
literacy. We aimed to develop a pedagogic observation tool (concepts about technology,
CAT) that teachers could use to understand, describe and plan a literacy and numeracy
curriculum based on what children could do with ICT. This phase of the research was based in
the concepts about print (CAP) of Clay (1993) who worked within a developmental
cognitive psychology and linguistic perspective to explore emergent print literacy.
In the original plan we intended to explore three kinds of ICT programs and develop the
observation schedule from careful analysis of what children did with three different programs:
WiggleWorks, Kid Pix Studio Deluxe and the ABC website.
WiggleWorks is an interactive print and CD Rom curriculum with instructional options, such
as reading, writing and book making. It also comes with read-aloud options, such as word-byword, or line-by-line book making capabilities that allow children to create their own stories,
complete with text, graphics and sounds. WiggleWorks allows children to read, write, speak
and record themselves reading, as well as create books and print them.
The second software program, Kid Pix Studio Deluxe, is a multimedia paint and animation
program that very young students can master. There are painting tools, 100 video clips, songs
and sound effects. The program has animation projects such as the Moopies which are simple
tools that allow users to animate their own art and create their own movies. Digital Puppets
allow children to use the keyboard to synchronise objects to music or other sounds, and the
Stampimator allows students to edit any of 800 stamps and animate them along a path defined
by the mouse. Young children can complete projects like painting a singing birthday card or
putting on a digital puppet show, create animated stories, collages, photo essays, reports, and
full-fledged productions that integrate animation, video, special effects, photos, music and
sound effects.
Finally it was anticipated the teachers and children would go online to sites such as the ABC
website where there are range of games and activities where children can draw, match,
complete puzzles and play games. From exploring these programs and sites and observing
childrens interactions with them, we intended to map the childrens concepts about
technology and follow their development.
As the project developed it became clear that using a framework that explored childrens
concepts about new literacies with three programs did not capture of the range nor the
complexity of ICT that children engaged with. In addition a hierarchical set of checklist items
would not take into account the ways children used basic operational skills such as keyboard,
alongside reading icons and making meaning from digital texts.

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To expand the framework we were informed by Freebody and Lukes 1990 work on the four
interrelated roles of a reader which was initially used by teachers to plan a print based literacy
curriculum. This work included a focus on code breaking and meaning making or
comprehension while also adding two important aspects: text analyst or text critic based on
critical literacy; and text participant or text user based on the work of the genre theory and
ways readers participate with different text types.
Code breaker: How do I crack this code?
This involves the activities related to the alphabetic code, punctuation, high frequency words
and vocabulary.
Meaning maker: How do I comprehend this text?
This involves all the activities that focus on comprehending the text, as well as illustrations, to
gain knowledge and understanding from the text.
Text user: What is the function and form of this text?
Here the text user is involved in activities that help analyse the particular purpose of the text,
its form and language features.
Text critic: What does this text want me to feel, do or think?
This involves a critical awareness of the intent or purpose of the text.
At that time the four interrelated roles of a reader were primarily print-based. The move into
technology based literacy found further pedagogic explication in the work of Durrant and
Green (2000). They suggested teachers use a 3D model to conceptualise a technology, literacy
and numeracy curriculum. The 3D model has three integrated dimensions: operational,
cultural and critical.
The operational dimension involves technical competence and knowledge in ICT, how to
turn it on, make it work, open files and documents, or use the internet or email.
The cultural dimension involves understanding how texts and technologies do things in the
world and how they are used for our own and others purposes, either in school or everyday
life. The focus is on both making meaning from texts and creating texts that make meaning
for others.
The critical dimension involves understanding that there is no one universal truth and in any
story or any curriculum what is told and studied is selective. It is important for young children
in evaluating CD Rom packages and information from the internet for reasons of consumer
awareness, social justice and equity.
The teacher-researchers continued to read widely and were also informed by a multiliteracies
perspective (New London Group 1996) which places a focus on the following: situated
practice, overt instruction, critical framing and transformed practice.
Situated practice: How and in what way do multiliteracies relate to students interests,
lifeworlds and local communities?
Overt instruction: What language and teaching is required to communicate the operational
uses of technology such as using the keyboard, mouse, menu, search engines, email, and the
internet? The different modes of meaning in ICT including the design elements of text
call for more than just the mechanical or operational features such as using the mouse. The
meanings of graphics and other symbols need to be explored and communicated.

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Critical framing: How do students develop a critical stance in which to view a text in
relation to its context and understand how texts position the text user? This is particularly
important because young children are so often the targets of sophisticated marketing strategies
to encourage the behaviour of movietoyfoodclothinglogo consumption.
Transformed practice: How are students developing and designing texts using the skills and
processes embedded in one task, then identifying and using them again in another task? A
simple example is if a child can use the menu to navigate one program we would expect
similar skills could be applied to another program.
The teachers found the work of Freebody and Luke (1990), Durrant and Green (2000) and the
New London Group (1996) useful in generating their own framework for exploring
multiliteracies that included the multimedia texts which the children and their teachers were
producing that went far beyond traditional print-based literacies. For example digital learning
portfolios, CD Rom with video, audio and graphic clips, five year olds making their own
PowerPoint and Slideshow presentations, and children making short movies and animations.
Such examples prompted the research team to look further into for ideas about multimedia to
expand our thinking.
The work of Kress and Van Leeuwen (2001a) provided further insights into how children read
and create multimodal texts using visuals, sound and movement. These researchers wrote that
in the past in Western culture there has been a distinct preference for monomodality, where
the highly valued genres of writing, in novels, academic papers and official documents, came
entirely without illustration and had dense pages of print. More recently this monomodality
has begun to reverse, not only in the mass media, the pages of magazines and comic strips,
but in the documents produced by corporations, universities and government departments who
have all acquired colour illustrations and sophisticated layout and typography. In early
literacy childrens picture books have always had close connection between illustration and
print. They have been interactive for many years, for example in the Spot books and peepo
style books with their windows and cutouts. Now, more and more young children are
drenched in visuals, sound and all forms of multimedia, in movies, DVDs, television, CD
Roms, the internet, PlayStations and computer games.
The new literacies that children engage with are multimodal visual, auditory, interactive
and fast moving. Computers are symbol machines (Labbo, in press) that allow children to
negotiate a complex interplay of multiple sign systems (eg video clips, music, sound effects,
icons, virtually rendered paint strokes, text in print-based documents), multiple modalities (eg
linguistic, auditory, visual, artistic), and recursive communicative and cognitive processes (eg
real time and virtual conversations, cutting/pasting text, manipulating graphics, importing
photographs).
We observed children as young as three and four years of age representing meaning with
digital photographs about their learning and playing, importing them into Slideshows,
changing the layout, the colours, and the shape. They made books with photographs and their
own art work using a myriad of colours and backgrounds which can have sound and
animation added to them. A semiotic framework is necessary to understand how symbols
which can be letters and words, drawings, icons of various types, photographs, colours and
animations can communicate meanings (Kress & Van Leeuwen 2001a; Lemke 1998;
McKenna 1998; New London Group 1996).

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Multiple sign systems and multiple

modalities require a semiotic
theory of meaning making

Print based

Figure 2. Semiotic theory to represent meaning

Semiotics offers a wide lens to describe how meanings are made and goals accomplished
using semiotic resources such as oral language, visual symbols and music. It is not a
question of print based (Clay 1993) versus digital literacies, but multiliteracies, which
incorporates both.
The project was challenged by the need to create a framework that captured the depth and
complexity of ICT learning allowing teachers to observe childrens learning with these new
multiliteracies and plan for and extend their abilities.

The multiliteracies map

In the project the teacher-researchers pooled ideas, critiqued, discussed concepts, rejected
some and accepted others and came up with what was referred in the project as the CICT
Framework Concepts of Information and Communication Technologies. This framework
has four integrated dimensions: functional, meaning making, critical and transformative.
The functional dimension involves technical competence and how-to knowledge for
multimodal texts the mechanics of how to turn it on and make it work, recognise icons and
other symbols, and read menus.
The meaning making dimension involves understanding how different text types and
technologies operate in the world and how they are used for our own and others purposes.
The focus is on the function and the form of texts to make meaning.
The critical dimension involves understanding that there is no one universal truth in any story
and that what is told and studied is selective.
The transformative dimension involves using what has been learned in new ways and new
situations.
The teachers in the project found the CICT Framework extremely useful for observing
childrens learning and for planning their future learning but the title had meaning only for the
project team and teacher-researchers, not for other educators. After brainstorming a number of
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commonly used terms new literacies, electronic literacies and digital literacies we
decided that the framework was a map of multiliteracies. For instance, the so called new
literacies will soon become old literacies, and electronic and digital literacies do not take into
account print-based paper literacy. The term multiliteracies comprehensively covered the new
electronic/digital literacies and the very important print based literacies, of particular
importance in the early years. Thus the framework became known as the multiliteracies map.

Functional user

Meaning maker

i Locating, code
breaking, using signs
and icons
i Selecting and
operating equipment
i Moving between mediums: cameras, videos,
computers

i Understanding
multimodal
meanings
i Purpose of text
and text form
i Connecting to prior knowledge

Critical analyser
i Discourse analysis
i Equity
i Power and
position
i Appropriate mode

Transformer
i Using skills and
knowledge in new
ways
i Designing texts
i Producing new texts

Figure 1. The multiliteracies map

The multiliteracies map enables educators to observe how children develop as a functional
user of multiliteracies, make meaning from a range of texts, critically analyse all forms of
monomodal and multimodal texts and then take the skills and knowledge, and design and
produce new texts. The map has proved to be extremely versatile and can be used to analyse
and assess the work of individual students, small groups or whole classes.
The following questions were used by educators when examining their planning for young
childrens learning of multiliteracies.
Meaning maker
Functional user
x
As a learner what signs/symbols do I
x
What meanings or understandings am I
need to decode?
creating?
x
How do I use a range of tools pen,
x
Do I understand the purpose of the
paper, cameras, videos, computers?
activity?
x
How do I demonstrate my use of the
x
What prior knowledge have I brought to
internet/software programs?
this activity?
x
How do I engage exploratory play with x What understandings do I have of
multiliteracies?
multimodal literacies?

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Transformer
Critical analyser
x
What social action is taking place
x
What have I learnt and what can I do
here?
now?
x
What equity perspectives may affect
x
How can I use my skills in another way?
my identity and the rights of others?
x
What aspects of what I have learned can
be used in other ways?
x
How may power and positioning affect
my understanding of multiliteracies?
x
How can I extend and play with my new
knowledge?
x
Can I choose appropriate mode/
software /hardware /information to
support my learning?

Multiliteracies pedagogy in the early years

The teachers involved in the Children of the new millennium research project engaged their
students in creating text types that were very different from the traditional print-based texts.
The students were not working exclusively with texts based on symbols written on a page.
They were engaging with texts that have many different associated modes of delivery and the
texts associated with the online resources certainly opened up a whole new way of reading
and acquiring information.
Children were learning to read not only with traditional print materials, but also with the aid
of a range of programs such as living books, electronic books, programs such as
WiggleWorks, and online materials from the internet where children can be read a word or
phrase just by clicking on it. They gained meaning from a text, with reading supplemented by
visually seeing the picture, and by hearing the story in a guided manner. The children were
immersed in a myriad of multisensory experiences that supported their many different
learning styles.
The learning that engaged the children related to their interests and lifeworlds. The teacherresearchers commented on the importance of two concepts: situated learning and explicit
instruction. An example of situated learning is: after finding caterpillars in the yard, children
used the internet to classify and find out more information about the mini beast. They used
multimodal webpages with visual information, text, icons and links to navigate. By searching
the children found pictures to match the caterpillar and were able to find out its scientific
name. The use of a visual mode of communication supported this learning. The teacher gave
this task meaning and relevance by facilitating this childs just in time learning.
The teacher-researchers commented that learning needs to be relevant and meaningful and
build on childrens prior knowledge and experiences. Authentic real life, purposeful
engagements rather than preconceived activities form the basis for learning. Children are able
to quickly locate an enormous amount of resources and material through the use of the
information rich internet. The visual aspect of the internet is something that can be a valuable
tool to further enhance childrens understanding of their world.
The teacher-researchers emphasised the importance of explicit or overt instruction within the
situated learning that needs to take place for each child to be successful. The teacher needed
to support the children in finding out how to connect the computer to the internet, they then
had to find a search engine and type in the word caterpillar. The child in the story continually
returned to this activity because of his interest and a desire to find and seek out more
information.
Linked to explicit instruction is the need to develop the vocabulary or terms the children can
use in using multiliteracies. Multiliteracies incorporate linguistic, visual, audio, spatial and
gestural design features, and each of these design features requires a decision.
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Design elements of multimodal texts

When creating multimodal texts it is important to consider the knowledge that children will
require in developing their skills (Table 2). This framework identifies the need for explicit
teaching of specific skills when using multimodal texts. It provides a starting point for
teachers to develop and enhance their thinking by identifying the critical elements within the
multimodal texts.
Table 2. Design elements of multimodal texts
Design element

Component

Description

Linguistic design

Vocabulary

Words used to convey a message

Metaphor

ICT figurative language ie trash can,

window, cut, paste, desktop

Structure

Organisation of presentation

Audio design

Spatial design

Visual design

Gestural

Delivery

How the message is conveyed

Modality

Auditory, print, video, graphics, animation

Voice

Electronic, own voice, natural speech

Music

Selected or composed music

Sound effects

Selected or created sounds

Ecosystem

Interaction of all components

Geographical

Layout and landscape

Architectural

Construction, composition and organisation

Colour

Mood and emotion

Cultural significance

Perspective

Depth and dimension

Point of view

Vectors

Directional lines to focus attention

Foreground

Giving power by positioning

Background

Creating the setting or scene

Behavioural-action

Gestures

Sensuality

Creating atmosphere

Body control

Positioning and movement

Emotion

Conveying feelings

Kinesics

Body movements to communicate

Based on the design elements in Healy & Honan, 2004, p. 21.

The increasing importance of visual texts

Young children are increasingly bombarded by images, logos and symbols at an early age.
They see advertisements with logos and symbols that represent products, teams and sports.
Young children read sign posts, signals and symbols to help them make sense of their world.
They interpret these texts and make connections. Young children know that they can get
hamburgers and fast food at the golden arches of McDonalds. The media has a significant
impact on the way logos, symbols, sounds, signs and images convey meaning in our world.
Colours and logos represent their favourite sporting teams such as the Adelaide Crows
football club, which has a crow as a symbol and the colours of red, blue and yellow. Young
children constantly interpret signposts and symbols as they travel in cars, helping them
develop road sense and an understanding of how the world works.
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Children today are bombarded by multiliteracies in their play and work that have symbols,
logos, text and colours associated with them. Young children can access programs by using
these symbols. They quickly associate shortcuts with strategies to be successful. Children can
access the internet by clicking on the big blue e. The colour, shape and size of the icons
support users when accessing these programs. The Kid Pix icon is different from the
WiggleWorks icon. The symbol for closing a program is the letter X. Arrows, dots, flashing
lines, underlined text, all represent different things on a computer screen. The browser hand
is universal in programs and means that this section of work either links to another section or
website on the internet.
More and more teachers and children are using digital cameras or digital video to record their
learning or to create multimodal texts. As cameras become less expensive they will become
more accessible within the classroom and preschool environments. It is also very important
that children gain important skills when using these tools and teachers were introducing
children to reading and writing with visual texts.

Bringing prior knowledge to visual texts

Childrens social and cultural experiences determine the way that they interpret a piece of
text. These experiences may be acquired through television, DVDs, advertisements,
magazines and picture books.

Use of lines
x

Lines are used to define an emotional response.

Lines can be thick and bold or thin and fragile, direct or fuzzy and blurry, straight and
calm or rounded and soft.

Lines are used to suggest direction, show movement, create energy or establish a mood.

Use of colours
Colour is one of the most emotionally evocative artistic elements. Hot or warm colours (red
and yellow) can suggest excitement, whereas cool colours (blues and greens) can suggest
calm.

Use of perspectives
The use of perspectives shares the view with the readers of the text, bringing the action up
close and personal, or giving the reader distance and detachment.

Camera angle
x

High angle the camera is positioned above the subject and looks down. The subject
seems small, weak, intimidated. This angle is often used on the victim within a
narrative.

Low angle the position of the camera is below the subject and looks up at it. The
subject seems large, evil, powerful and intimidating. This angle is often used on the
strong character: the villain in the beginning of the film, the hero towards the end of the
film.

Eye level angle the camera is positioned on eye level with the subject. This is a
common angle that shows the subject accurately. It is often used to show honesty and
good nature.

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x

Dutch angle the camera is positioned on an oblique or crooked angle. The audience is
encouraged to feel that something peculiar is occurring. It can make the audience feel
uncomfortable.

Camera movement
The camera operator should decide whether the camera should remain still or move with the
action. Moving the camera around can create tension, allow the viewer to be part of the action
and add variety to the scene. There are a number of ways this can be done.
x

Tracking shot the camera is moved along on tracks similar to railway tracks.

Dolly shot the camera is moved along on wheels.

Tilt shot the camera remains still, usually on a tripod but its body is tilted up or down
during filming.

Panning shot the camera remains still, usually on a tripod but its body spins
horizontally.

Zoom shot the camera remains still, usually on a tripod; the lens only moves closer or
further away from the subject.

Adding text to visuals

By changing the font, colour and size of text, the editor is creating different elements to the
video or film.

Sound effects
There are two types of sound effects. Diegetic combines sound effects with vision, which
impacts on the meaning of the film. Non-diegetic is the sound effects alone, which helps
create the atmosphere. With diegetic effect you see the jaws of a shark and hear the sinister
music; with non-diegetic effect you just hear the sinister sound, which implies that the shark
is near.

Music effects
Music can also create mood. There are two types of music effects: pleonastic, where the
music copies the mood or actions shown through the images and interactive, where the music
does not follow the images but creates a new meaning.

Dialogue
Cinema dialogue is what is said and is just as important as how it is said. Sound and images
impact together to deliver meaning to text.

Online text
Reading of online text is certainly different from the reading of a book. Online text readers
tend to skim and only read information of importance. Eye movement may not be from left to
right but rather in a circular movement. Reading may be shallow but wide, and at the same
time pursuing selected topics in depth. People read just in time chunks rather than the whole
content.
The teacher-researchers required more information on multimodal design features in order to
provide explicit teaching about how multimodal texts create meanings and to support
childrens critical analysis of how meanings are represented on the web, DVD and other
sources.

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Using the multiliteracies map

The teacher-researchers developed the multiliteracies map to inform their teaching practices.
Using the multiliteracies map teachers could analyse childrens learning, plan the next step or
opportunities for teaching and describe childrens learning to parents and to other teachers.
Perhaps the most use was in planning explicit instruction and communicating about learning
as children as well as teachers were able to share their new learning and understandings.
The teacher-researchers used the multiliteracies map which had four interrelated quadrants
with a different focus in each:
x

the functional user or operational skills

how students make sense or meaning from the text

the critical aspects to using technology; the cultural perspectives; power and positioning

the transformative aspects of the computer: how students have taken their new learning
and used this in other ways.

Functional user
i Locating, code breaking, using signs and icons
i Selecting and operating equipment
i Moving between mediums cameras, videos,
computers

FUNCTIONAL USER
At a functional level, children will develop skills to be able to:
x
turn the computer on and off in the correct manner
x
open and close a program, file or folder
x
save work and retrieve files
x
operate the mouse, have mouse control, especially double clicking
x
use the keyboard
x
edit and back space
x
recognise some letters and numerals on the keyboard
x
change the screen and background on the computer
x
coordinate the use of multiple aspects of the program to achieve a result
x
explore various ICT through play
x
recognise, use and understand icons and symbols eg X in the corner closes a screen
x
use a digital camera or scanner
x
download digital photographs
x
use the print function
x
access and use the internet
x
navigate around and between webpages
x
select appropriate tools and use buttons to add sound, animations
x
insert pictures into work and adjust the size
x
choose a background colour
x
use age appropriate software
x
use Kid Pix drawing tools and create Slideshows
x
operate the Slideshow function
x
use the transitions to Slideshows

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x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x

add text to slides

view work previously created
show emerging competence in using a wider range of tools independently for a
purpose to draw a picture, and change colours of the paintbrush
show knowledge of word processing
use a typing program to increase speed and accuracy
open, reply to and print emails
recognise an unread email
insert and play CDs
navigate around the hand controls of a games console
operate remote controls to operate the TV, video, stereo, DVD player
change between and focus on different interactive devices at once (eg Nintendo &
Game Boy)
use a photocopier.

In the Children of the new millennium project we found that young children had well
developed abilities to operate complex tools and programs for multiple purposes. Young
children used several visual cues to support them in the use of such programs. Children were
creating and reading multimodal texts using a variety of operational and functional skills.
They used computers, digital cameras, microphones and other ICT. Four year olds at
kindergarten were creating Slideshows of their own work to show to parents and friends. They
were using functional skills in operating quite complex toys and tools in their home
environment.
Todays students engage with a diverse range of interactive toys; soft toys are no longer just
cuddly, they can react when you touch a hand or ear. Music may play or the toy can talk to the
children. Traditional books with complementary story tapes support students reading at a
very early age. Children were able to navigate through a commercial DVD to seek out games
that they could play, and switch between cable TV programs, free-to-air TV and select video
or DVD. They were able to use microwave ovens. Some children had access to two or three
computers at home and were well aware of the capabilities of each machine. They could
select the appropriate machine for the function that they wished to perform, whether it was a
game from a CD Rom or accessing the internet. They used search functions to do simple
searches at home, for information supporting their interests. Children could use email to
communicate with a friend or family member from their home environment. This global
connection was very important in the new arrivals families. Children used their mother tongue
to communicate via email with their family members in other countries.
Teachers gained valuable insights from the home visits that enabled them to further engage
children in the classroom. They identified childrens varied strengths and by understanding
preferred ways of learning and interests, it was possible to support their learning in the
classroom. For example a Year 1 child at a country school had no interest in using technology
at school. During the home visit the teacher became aware of the sophisticated functional
skills that the child had, navigating through many programs at home competently and
confidently. The teacher then used this child as a tutor in the classroom. This six-year-old was
able to support other childrens learning and also the teachers. The child felt empowered and
her attitude towards technology at school made a positive shift.
Another teacher gained the insight that children were learning the functions and operations of
programs by play and exploration. It appeared that they were not explicitly being taught the
various tools within a program unless a problem or a question arose. The child only asked a
parent or older siblings for support when there was a need. Thus the teacher let the children in

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her class have plenty of time to explore and discover new functions for themselves. She also
allowed time for children to share their new skills with others.
Television shows and cartoons that children watch on the weekend flowed over into preschool
and school when children asked for help to find the programs website, email an answer to a
competition or send a text message to the presenters to convey a message. The childrens
world of communication certainly has changed significantly with the impact of ICT in their
home, play and school environments.
In the preschool setting students often learnt many new functional skills by sitting and
watching others. The children tried new programs that offered different layers of complexity
and creativity by watching and observing others using the program. The learning that
happened through collaborative problem solving with technology was significant. Children
were able to gather an understanding of the functionality of various programs. They could
transfer the acquired knowledge from one program to another new situation within the
functionality of the program.
Teachers considered the importance of having access to technology within the classroom
rather than in a separate computer room where ICT learning seems to be isolated rather than
integrated into all learning programs. Children are making decisions about how and what are
they going to use to support their learning and the computer could not be included if it was
only available for one 50 minute session once a week.

Meaning maker
i Understanding multimodal meanings
i Purpose of text and text form
i Connecting to prior knowledge

MEANING MAKER
As a meaning maker, children demonstrated their understanding by:
x
creating scenes with a theme or related aspects
x
being able to plan and know what to create
x
searching out specific pictures, scenes, functions
x
learning from and observing others problem solving
x
being aware of many different programs
x
following prompts in literacy based games
x
using the internet as a tool to search for information
x
typing key words/phrases into a search engine
x
recognising certain sounds and their meanings eg the dial up tone of the internet
x
responding to and writing different genres and features
x
developing good questions for process of inquiry (resource based learning)
x
developing reading and comprehension appropriate to the program
x
recognising and reading visual cues
x
using the computer to support spelling; auditory, visual aspects of the computer
x
reflecting on, expressing feelings and responding to texts
x
sharing and explaining their work with others
x
sharing thoughts and ideas behind the texts they create
x
recognising that emails are a tool for communication between people and places
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x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x

understanding the reasons for passwords and security

using different kinds of texts to convey different kinds of messages
realising the purpose of different devices
recognising the purpose of instructions (both in book form and online)
realising the need to go through processes/steps
being a problem solver with computers
choosing when and where to use ICT or when pen and paper was more suitable
deciding which ICT device was the most appropriate for the task
connecting the skills and knowledge learnt earlier with new tasks
recognising symbols from previous use of ICT.

Young children are able to make meaning from activities to create texts that communicate
their ideas. Children as young as four were able to undertake research on caterpillars by
matching a real life caterpillar with visual text found on a screen, after using the internet to
find appropriate websites. Children in Year 1 were able to look at the features of an
advertisement, and the components that made it powerful, and create their own. Children were
gaining meaning and new understanding from reading hypertext language from the internet
and other multimodal texts. In a New Arrivals Program the children found email to be a
powerful communication tool when they sent messages to family and friends in other
countries, often using languages other than English.
Children in preschools were able to gain meaning between different text types. They were
able to search and use the internet and use the information they found to print out and support
each other to find meaning from it. Children worked together to gain context from the rich
information source of the internet, using visual information as well as some familiar texts.
They were able to then transfer their understanding of this text to their own research findings
using traditional print based text.
In a Year 1 class children were researching an endangered animal using online resources,
books and posters as well as real life resources. They used processes from Resource Based
Learning to find information and then to answer the essential question Is the zoo doing
enough to support endangered animals? The children had to find the answers to guiding
questions to help them answer the essential question. The rich information source of the
internet was used for their research. The sites were scaffolded by the teacher to ensure that
information would be useful and not too difficult for students to use. The online print was
large with many visuals to support the learning. The children found information from various
sources: they were observing endangered animals at the zoo, viewing visuals that could
support their understanding of the animals and they heard information spoken about by
experts at the zoo.
A child in a remote area was developing more complex speech patterns using a computer
game called Age of Empires. He was able to write at school using the speech patterns learnt
through his immersion in this program. Technology was allowing the child to further develop
his knowledge of linguistic patterns in sentences and transfer it when he used language in
other situations.
Children in a city school after viewing an advertisement for Schmackos dog food, used this
medium to further enhance their literacy learning. They looked at the genre of narrative text.
They created their own narrative using the medium of clay animation to make this text type
come alive. They were involved in complex social learning structures in their various roles
within the group the mover of the clay figures, the capturer of images and the mouse
operator. They had been involved in a process of looking at a text, seeking out more
information about the development of that text type and then creating their own text type. The
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next process would be refinement of their creations and looking at how they could make
changes to improve their clay animation next time they used this medium.

Critical analyser
i
i
i
i

Discourse analysis
Equity
Power and position
Appropriate mode/software / hardware

CRITICAL ANALYSER
As critical analysers, the children began to have understandings of:
x
the importance of computers in the world and how much we rely on them
x
how computers are central to everything in the house, that we are surrounded by
them
x
how many different things use/need computers
x
how other countries may not have so much technology and why
x
the use of particular pictures and scenes to create interest/understanding/mood
x
the purpose and power behind particular pictures and scenes
x
what visual literacies are and how powerful/persuasive they can be, especially for
young children
x
how powerful hypertext/multiliteracies can be compared to printed text
x
the power of the internet in finding out/sharing information and communicating
x
the internet being available in different languages, for other countries/people
x
how the internet and emails bring people together/make the world smaller
x
how the internet and emails are for everyone, young & old, male & female, in all
languages
x
who the internet is used by and why
x
who creates different webpages and why
x
the fact that not everything on the internet is true
x
the need to critically analyse what is being read and why
x
the control hypertext gives them ie choosing their own path, clicking on what they
wanted to
x
the purpose and intent behind advertising/webpages/merchandise
x
whether different cultures/ages/classes/genders are represented in
advertising/websites/movies
x
whether different cultures/ages/classes/genders are targeted in
advertising/websites/movies
x
why certain words/music/images/animations are used
x
who emails are sent by and why
x
the power of emails to find out/share information and communicate
x
the importance of learning by observing others
x
asking pertinent questions when experimenting with various ICT
x
asking the right questions when trying to learn new skills
x
asking the right questions when trying to create new products/texts
x
who had the access/power within the centre/school/home when it came to using
various ICT
x
how position in family and society made a difference when it came to using ICT
x
who controls how much time is spent on computers and why
x
why games must often be played separately to avoid conflicts ie between siblings
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x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x

the violence of games and how they affect different people

the difference between real life and games
how favourite sites can be saved, returned to, navigated around and shared with
others
how good/powerful/empowered it felt to share skills and knowledge with others ie
sharing sites with peers, showing a teacher how to find/do something online
how fears/insecurities/worries affect progress and success, especially in a group
discerning/discriminating what sites/software are appropriate for who and why
discerning/discriminating what information is appropriate for who and why
choosing appropriate software and hardware to support their own learning.

Teachers-researchers found it more difficult to recognise and articulate when children were
displaying behaviours of critical analyser. However, even the youngest children displayed a
basic understanding of equity and power. They understood about power and position within
the family when it came to using ICT, and could quickly discern if websites were appropriate
for their age and level of understanding. They also had the ability to critique their work and
make changes to best convey a meaningful message, although the level of critiquing certainly
depended on the age of the children involved. Some children were quite happy with their
products; others continually changed and developed theirs to further enhance the message.
Often older siblings in the family had access to the computer within the home environment.
The preschool child would use the computer if it was not in use by an older child. In the home
children were often helped by older siblings when accessing the internet. In one home visit an
older brother supported his younger sister to problem solve. She was encouraged to have a go,
experiment and explore. At school she was a non-risk-taker and would rather sit back and let
someone else operate the computer. She was happy to just watch. Gaining this insight allowed
the teacher to be proactive and encourage her to take some risks. Often within the school
community older students will willingly support younger students in a myriad tasks. How
they mentor and coach by not doing for the younger children requires careful monitoring.
In preschool, structures were in place to ensure an equitable use of resources. Where a group
of boys was keen to use the computers throughout their session, a list was introduced for each
child had to write his or her name down to ensure that a variety of children had opportunities.
This motivated the children to develop appropriate hand writing skills at an early age. A timer
ensured that each child had ten minutes and they were responsible for resetting the timer. This
worked well and the children in this centre were even starting to collect work samples to put
in their student portfolio folders to share with their families at the end of the year.
An older class of Year 2 children had differing opinions about the speed at which they could
locate specific information. Children wanting to find out more about lasers thought it would
be quicker to use Google, their favourite search engine, to locate information rather than a
science encyclopedia a child had bought to school. In the experiment the child with the
encyclopedia was faster, but the child using the internet thought his information would be
more accurate. This alerted the teacher to questions of authenticity of websites, who publishes
on the net, and the authors varying perspectives.
More support was required when children were engaged in critical literacy to do with
gathering information from the internet. When teaching children information literacy skills, it
is crucial to validate information using a variety of sources not just one website. Young
children can still gather information from a web address (universal resource locator (URL)),
and be aware of the familiar use of grammar within the URL: .edu identifies a site with
connections to education, .gov implies a government connection, .au at the end indicates an
Australia site. Some sites have connections with university researchers but the site represents
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their own opinions and ideas, not necessarily endorsed by the employing institution. Alerting
young children to this information and getting the children to question the validity of different
sources will start to develop young children as text critics.
In order for young children to engage in creating meaningful text they need to be critical of
the discourse of different multimodal texts. For example, young children learning about how
advertising texts work viewed many different types of advertisements. They then
deconstructed the advertisements into the various multimodal features that made them
powerful catchy jingles, sounds and actions, many images, video content, printed text, and
often humour. Battery advertisements incorporated many funny situations. The young
children then used this framework to create their own advertisement for a battery. They then
had to critique their advertisements and decide how they could improve their ads. At this early
age many children were just happy to see themselves on a video and had very little idea about
how to improve their advertisements. Repeated exposure to tasks like this would ensure that
children became more informed users and critical analysers of multimodal texts.

Transformer
i Using skills and knowledge in new ways
i Designing texts
i Producing new texts

TRANSFORMER
As a transformer, children could transform their skills and knowledge to:
x
extend their ICT play into other events eg painting, reading, collage or construction
x
extend their ICT learning into other areas eg science, maths, the environment
x
turn traditional texts into multimodal texts and vice versa
x
identify/name key elements/icons of one program and recognise them in another
x
recognise that many icons and tools in one program have the same functions in
another
x
export work from one program to another, creating a new form of multimodal text
x
identify words within another context from the internet to books
x
trouble shoot technical problems from one program to another
x
listen to a story/instructions/recount, then create their own multimodal texts in
response
x
select the right key words when searching the internet
x
select relevant websites/links when searching the internet
x
manipulate text by altering size/font/colour/position/background/number of pages
x
create their own books from information found online
x
create electronic texts to share with their families
x
convey messages and information to others by electronic means ie emails/mobile
phones
x
work independently when given a task
x
explore independently on the computer or with other ICT
x
understand the rules/actions in one game to confidently play another
x
understand the purpose and outcomes behind each task/item
x
recognise the different uses of a digital camera and still camera
x
recognise the differences between printed texts and online texts
x
confidently click on links within websites, knowing they may lead to even more
adventures
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x
x
x
x
x
x

gather information from a variety of sources to create new texts eg

interviews/websites/books
gather images from a variety of sources to create texts eg
websites/books/photographs/drawings
recognise the powerful of different elements when making a text eg
songs/dialogue/animations
transfer knowledge of real life and represent that on screen eg with
Slideshow/PowerPoint/iMovie
include diagrams and labels to explain an idea/concept
mentor each other by sharing knowledge/skills/ideas regarding ICT.

Being able to transfer skills and knowledge into new situations is a vital component to
becoming literate. The transformative power of multiliteracies is the ability to apply new
knowledge and understanding and make new meaningful texts. The children in the project
were developing their knowledge and choosing to use this knowledge in new mediums.
Children investigating one program could apply their knowledge to become adept at another.
Examples of children transferring knowledge were numerous: kindergarten children soon
realised they could investigate far more than caterpillars and horses and began to search for
other interests; a Year 2 student listened to a talk on what was needed to propagate native
plants and without hesitation designed his own propagation machine.
Throughout the project teachers stories tell of children shifting between different programs.
With an understanding of how one program worked, children were able to transfer the
functional/operational skills. They are able to swap between traditional print based texts to
multimodal text; read a book and navigate a webpage. Children were developing many skills
when working in inquiry based investigation around an essential question. They were making
decisions about the information they had gathered and selecting information that supported
their decision.
As part of the learning process the children made real life connections between their learning
and their world. Using technology actually gives children an opportunity to apply the
knowledge they find for a specific purpose. Children used Apple Works to create a graph from
the data they collected about littering within the school. They then used this graph to interpret
the data. Children in Reception in a hills school used Explorapedia to find out more
information about a frog that they had found at home and used Kid Pix to do a scientific
drawing. They were able to find out more information and nurture a tadpole in the classroom
and watch it grow and change. Children in Year 2 were able to share the information they
found out about flight using the nonlinear program called HyperStudio. They used the
scanner to scan work they had created using pencil and paper. One child used his knowledge
in HyperStudio to present his findings of Early Man to a group of gifted and talented Year 8
and 9 students. Children in Year 1 were able to create a Slideshow using Kid Pix and make
decisions about Is the zoo doing enough to help endangered animals?
The multiliteracies that children are playing with and learning from range from print based
pen and paper texts, to interactive games on DVD. Childrens worlds are multimodal. In early
childhood, music, colour, movement, art, construction, touch and a range of visual icons are
part of the curriculum and an important aspect of how children learn. The colourful games
and software programs present exciting opportunities for new learning.

Summary and reflection

The teacher-researchers found the multiliteracies map a useful tool for analysing childrens
learning. The analysis of functional and operational skills was easier to articulate than the
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critical and transformative aspects. This may be because in many cases the teachers were
learning how to operate the technology at the same time or just a little beyond the children in
the classroom. It is also possible multimodal texts are so new that developing the
metalanguage to describe the design techniques requires more research and development.
Teachers found the concept of critical analyser most difficult. This included helping children
question the purpose and intention of different software, and the intention of various authors
creating internet games and activities for children. The issue of gender arose in teacher
research development days but not in the learning stories. Comment on issues of equity
mostly had to do with children learning to collaborate and share the computer or girls not
being risk takers and older male siblings taking over the home computer. Many teachers
developed excellent strategies for turn taking and sharing roles to support collaboration.
The concept of discourse analysis of spoken conversation and written discourse was difficult
to grasp. In the research development days the concept of talk was discussed in the
ethnographic research training, but the meaning of discourse and how it may work to position
people by giving power or removing power, was hard to make explicit because talk is so taken
for granted. Teachers understand that conversations in classrooms are created by teachers and
children in their day-to-day interactions and are affected by cultural, social, historical and
political forces; they are not neutral. It may be difficult for busy teachers to step outside
themselves to view talk and its social purposes.
This research reveals the need to create more practical models of ways teachers can work to
develop childrens critical skills relating to multiliteracies, in particular analysing ideas and
intentions, and links between ideas in information. This is particularly important when
children are engaged in watching hours of television, accessing the internet, playing a range
of electronic games and being able to download photographs and information easily from the
web. These new multimodal multiliteracies are socialising and defining identities that can be
used in various ways to create or resist existing political forces. It is crucial that teachers
explore with children the clever persuasive techniques that can be used. Also because
resources and information are so readily available this makes it crucial that frameworks for
understanding different perspectives and view points to do with analysing information,
evaluating, identifying bias and intention are clearly taught to young children. When children
download a photograph, they need to consider why they chose that particular photograph,
whether it is appropriate and why they didnt chose other photographs.
Linked to difficulties in critical analysis were difficulties in identifying and articulating how
children build knowledge or ideas in one source or text and then can use it again in different
ways in another text. Observations showed that the children were adept at using computers
and other equipment, and accessing software, but identifying the childrens knowledge,
schemas and ideas was difficult to do. Understanding childrens knowledge in one medium
and supporting them to apply it in another medium may help bridge the multiliteracies of
children at home and make them more accessible in school. An example is the teacher who
had children analyse the Schmackos advertisement and deconstruct how sound, visuals, text,
timing, colour and the narrative genre worked to sell dog food. The children used some of
these ideas in making their own animation. This close analysis of the purpose and features of
multiliteracies is essential for children to understand the intention of the particular
communication and how these features are used.
The multiliteracies map helped show what children could do well with new literacies and
provided signs of where research is needed to build teacher knowledge and skills.

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Glossary

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Glossary
Constructivism
Constructivism is an educational theory of learning which recognises learners as the
constructors of their own knowledge, values and dispositions. Learning involves constructing
meaning from a variety of experiences, instead of just regurgitating facts. Constructivism
promotes customising curricula to suit individual needs; learning should be hands-on, active,
collaborative and situated in real world contexts. Teachers focus on helping students make
connections between facts and fostering new understandings. Extensive communication and
open ended questioning is encouraged to help students analyse, interpret and predict.
Assessment becomes part of the learning process and the students themselves play a large role
in judging their own progress.

Critical literacy
Critical literacy involves the analysis and critique of all forms of texts including written,
visual, spoken, multimedia and performance texts. It provides new ways of looking at texts
and encourages students to question and challenge the attitudes, values and beliefs that lie
beneath the surface and investigate how language practices can transform social practice.
Critical literacy asks students to look at the meaning and motives of a text and the purpose for
which it was composed. It explores how language shapes self and society, and the relationship
between language, power, social groups and social practices.

Digital divide
A term used to describe the discrepancy between people who have access to, and the
resources to use, ICT such as computers and the internet, and people who do not. The term
may also describe the discrepancy between those who have the skills, knowledge and abilities
to use the technologies and those who do not. For example a digital divide may exist between
high and low socioeconomic areas; or between rural and urban areas.

Digital literacy
(see also Electronic literacy, Multimodal literacy and Technological literacy)
Digital literacy extends beyond the ability to read and write. With the digital age came the
need to understand information presented in a wide variety of ways, for example with text,
images and sound. Digital literacy refers to these multimodal ways of reading, seeing,
interpreting and assessing information. The knowledge and skills needed to interpret and use
sounds and images are different from those needed to interpret and use words, yet all are
needed to become digitally literate.

Electronic literacy
(see also Digital literacy, Multimodal literacy and Technological literacy)
Electronic literacy includes not only the ability to use the traditional literacy skills of reading
and writing, but also the ability to use a range of electronic resources, such as the internet, to
produce information electronically, for instance on a webpage. Thus knowledge and skills of
computers and computer software are also needed.

Essential questions
(see also Inquiry based learning and Problem based learning)
Essential questions require students to think and make decisions. They are based on childrens
interests and cannot be answered with just facts. They require children to gather information

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from a variety of sources, and analyse and synthesise this information to make decisions or
take actions in order to answer the essential question.

Hyperlink
(see also Hypermedia and Hypertext)
Hyperlinks are embedded into electronic documents, such as webpages, and are links that can
be clicked on to take the reader to another section of the document or to an entirely different
document altogether. Hyperlinks can be in the form of highlighted words, phrases, icons or
images.

Hypermedia
(see also Hyperlink and Hypertext)
The world wide web is an example of a hypermedia system. It is a system in which different
forms of media can be presented, such as text, graphics, sound, animation and video footage.

Hypertext
(see also Hyperlink and Hypermedia)
Hypertexts are text based documents in which different objects can be linked together. Thus
the information provided in the text may be supported by objects such as photographs, music,
animations or videos. Hyperlinks allow a reader access to these different objects. A significant
feature of hypertexts is that they are nonlinear. Readers can choose multiple pathways through
each document, effectively becoming co-authors and editors of a text creating their own
version or story as they navigate their way through the vast amounts of information available.

Information and communication technologies (ICT)

Communication has now been added to the term information technologies to acknowledge the
fact that such technologies are used for far more than just the accessing and receiving of
information. ICT can be used to access, gather, manipulate, present and communicate
information in a variety of ways. It is intended that ICT be embedded into the curriculum and
each subject at all levels of learning, to ensure students become capable users of ICT in the
future. This will allow them to acquire the skills needed to: successfully operate a variety of
technologies; access and interpret information; design and construct texts; and be able to
communicate with others. The term ICT encompasses all forms of technology including
television, computers, digital cameras, DVDs and CDs, among many others.

Inquiry based learning

(see also Problem based learning and Essential questions)
Inquiry based learning allows students to be actively involved in their own learning either as
individuals or by collaborating in groups. Inquiry is more than just seeking answers to
questions; individuals learn to evaluate and convert information into knowledge and
understanding through questions, discussions, theorising, interpreting, deciding and analysing.
Well designed inquiry based learning produces knowledge that can be widely applied. It
requires children to contemplate solutions to real life situations. Children make informed
decisions about these self-generated questions.

Internet
(see also the World wide web)
The internet is a global network linking literally millions of computers together in countries
all over the world. Described as a networking infrastructure, it is an enormous network of
networks. The internet can be used to send information via email, newsgroups and instant
messaging services. The most common way information is shared using the internet is
through the world wide web.
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Multiliteracies
A broad view of literacy that takes into account the influence of, and constant change in,
information and communication technologies. It acknowledges many forms of representation
and how meanings are increasingly communicated using multimodal texts. Information may
be communicated using a blend of text, image, sound, film and animation. This view of
literacy also recognises the diverse nature of social and cultural practices associated with
literacy and how these practices provide differential access to power within society.

Multimedia
A multi or mixed media presentation presents texts, sounds, images, animations and video in
an integrated way often with the help of other forms of technology, such as computers, digital
cameras, video cameras and scanners.

Multimodal literacy
(see also Digital literacy, Electronic literacy and Technological literacy)
Communications using multimodal literacies contain a variety of texts, sounds, graphics,
animations and video footage, therefore a picture book can also be considered multimodal.
However multimodal texts are becoming more and more complex and nowadays are often
linked with the use of computers, the internet and various software. Multimodal presentations
can convey not only the written word, but also the spoken word; they can play music and
sounds; show pictures, photographs, animations and films. They can take us on virtual tours
to places on the other side of the globe and using time-lapse photography show the changes
that take place over days or even months. The screen itself can also be divided showing
multiple images at once, requiring complex observation, recognition, interpretation and
evaluation skills.

Multiple intelligences
The theory of multiple intelligences, developed by Howard Gardner in 1983, recognises that
intelligence is not a single attribute that can be measured and given a number, that many
different forms of intelligence exist. Originally Gardner proposed seven intelligences, but has
since added naturalist intelligence and existential intelligence.
x

Verballinguistic intelligence or word smart those with well developed verbal skills
and sensitivity to the sounds, meanings and rhythms of words, such as authors and public
speakers.

Logicalmathematical intelligence or number/reasoning smart those with the ability

to think conceptually and abstractly, and with the capacity to discern logical or numerical
patterns, such as scientists and accountants.

Visualspatial intelligence or picture smart those with the capacity to think in images
and pictures, to visualise accurately and abstractly, such as artists and architects.

Bodilykinesthetic intelligence or body smart those with the ability to control their
body movements and to handle objects skilfully, such as dancers and surgeons.

Musical intelligence or music smart those with the ability to produce and appreciate
rhythm, pitch and timbre; musicians, singers and songwriters all have highly developed
musical intelligence.

Interpersonal intelligence or people smart those with the capacity to detect and
respond appropriately to the moods, motivations and desires of others, such as sales
people, teachers and politicians.

Intrapersonal intelligence or self smart those with the ability to be self-aware and in
tune with inner feelings, values, beliefs and thinking processes; these people are well

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aware of what they can and cant do and know where to go if they need help; great leaders
and explorers have high levels of intrapersonal intelligence.
x

Naturalist intelligence or nature smart those with the ability to recognise and
categorise plants, animals and other objects in nature, such as biologists, astronomers,
botanists.

Existential intelligence or spiritually smart those with the sensitivity and capacity to
tackle deep questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why we die,
and how did we get here, such as philosophers and religious leaders.

New literacies
New literacies are those literacies associated with the new information and communication
technologies (ICT) and are therefore, just like the technologies, constantly evolving. Students
skilled in new literacies have mastered the traditional literacy skills of reading and writing,
but also incorporate visual literacies, with complex interpreting and analysing skills. These
students can not only read fast paced, ever changing, nonlinear hypertexts, but can
simultaneously design and create them. They may incorporate a complex mix of different
media including digital images, video, animation as well as traditional drawing and writing
skills. They are fully aware that their audience extends beyond the classroom, school, home
and community and indeed can reach audiences across the globe.

Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the art, science or profession of teaching. It is the methods used to transmit and
encourage another to learn and expand their knowledge, ideas and understandings.

Problem based learning

(see also Inquiry based learning and Essential questions)
Problem based learning is a way of approaching topics to engage children in real life
investigations or issues that may confront them. Children are encouraged to learn how to
learn. They are encouraged to think, collaborate, plan, organise, analyse and synthesise
information from a variety of sources. This requires them to make decisions about topics and
answer real life problems and scenarios.

Productive pedagogies
Productive pedagogies is part of the New Basics Project developed for Education Queensland.
The aim of the project is to improve the learning outcomes of all students. To do so teachers
work with the new basics (what is taught), productive pedagogies (how it is taught) and rich
tasks (how children show it). The productive pedagogies describe a common framework
under which teachers can choose and develop strategies in relation to what they teaching and
the variable styles, approaches and backgrounds of their students. Attention is paid to many
essential aspects of classroom teaching, under the following dimensions:
x

Intellectual quality encourages students in higher-order thinking and has a

problematic approach to knowledge which involves communicating ideas, concepts,
arguments and explanations.

Relevance (or connectedness) helps students to make connections between different

aspects of school learning, their past experiences and the world. Students engage with
real, practical or hypothetical problems which connect to the world beyond the classroom,
not restricted by subject boundaries and linked to their prior knowledge.

Supportive classroom environment is one where students are able to influence the
nature of the activities they undertake and how they are implemented. It also involves a

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high degree of self-regulation by students. Such an environment encourages risk taking
and has high expectations of students.
x

Recognition of difference to ensure that students know of and value a wide range of
cultures, create positive human relationships, respect individuals, and help to create a
sense of community.

Sociocultural perspective
The sociocultural perspective is a theoretical viewpoint that searches for the causes of social
behaviour of an individual or small group within a larger one. The sociocultural perspective of
teaching, learning and assessment takes into account the connectedness between childrens
learning and development and the social and cultural worlds in which they live.

Technological literacy
(see also Digital literacy, Electronic literacy and Multimodal literacy)
To be technologically literate one needs to: know what technology is; have a basic
understanding of how it works; and understand its purposes, potential and uses. Technological
tools include computers, mobile phones, digital cameras, fax machines, and are used to
access, analyse and evaluate information, problem solve and communicate information and
ideas.

Visual literacies
(see also New literacies)
Visual literacies extend beyond traditional literacies to include the ability to recognise,
interpret, create and use graphics, icons, images, animations and video to think, teach, learn
and communicate.

WebQuests
WebQuests are inquiry based activities in which the majority of the information gathered
comes from the internet. Each WebQuest provides students with: an introduction in which the
scene is set and background information is provided; a task that is doable and interesting;
pointers to the available resources needed to complete the task; a description of the process
learners should go through to complete the task; some guidelines for organising information;
and finally a conclusion reminding students what they have learnt and how they can extend
the experience. WebQuests can be undertaken by students of all ages, are highly motivating
and allow students to work together in groups, while giving individuals important roles to
fulfill. Findings can be presented online, thus they provide a world wide audience, allowing
students to receive feedback from numerous sources. They provide a clear purpose for
learning and develop high level thinking skills.

World wide web (WWW)

(see also Internet)
The world wide web is an information or data sharing system that forms a major part of the
internet. Information is presented in the form of webpages which contain numerous
hyperlinks, linking not only the various graphics, audio and video files, but also linking one
webpage to another. Web browsers such as Internet Explorer are used to access the millions
of webpages available.

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Appendices

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A. Expression of interest

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Curriculum Policy Directorate

TO:

ALL DIRECTORS OF CHILDCARE CENTRES, PRESCHOOL DIRECTORS

AND PRINCIPALS OF JUNIOR PRIMARY, PRIMARY AND AREA
SCHOOLS

RE:

CALL FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FOR THE

CHILDREN OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM ICT RESEARCH PROJECT

How do children learn with information and communication technologies (ICT)?

What can we learn from childrens use of ICT at home and at school?
The Children of the New Millennium ICT Research Project is a two year joint Curriculum
Policy Directorate, University of South Australia and Australian Research Council research
initiative.
Associate Professor Susan Hill, in association with Professor Nicola Yelland and Curriculum
Policy Early Years personnel have developed a project proposal entitled:
Children of the new millennium: Using information and communication technologies for
playing and learning in the information age.
This project, initially involving 24 early years educators in 2002, will:
x

x
x
x

Support the implementation of the South Australian Curriculum Standards and

Accountability Framework through exploration of the educational possibilities of ICT
in the early years
Provide early years educators with policy advice and information that supports the
effective and innovative use of ICT to inform and enhance childrens learning
Develop an observational tool (Concepts about Technology)
Build upon and further support critical reflection and research collaboration between
early years educators.

The research project will investigate symbolic, graphic and creative aspects of childrens
learning and development through their interaction with a range of multimodal texts used in
home/community and preschool/school settings. It will seek to answer the following
questions:
x
x
x

What are the different ways that children use ICT at home and in the community?
Where do children use ICT - how many forms of it do they use, to what extent and
how does it relate to other forms of play and exploration?
How does childrens knowledge, understanding and use of ICT develop over time?

Description of the three phases of the project:

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All aspects of the first 2 phases will be completed in 2002. Some components of phase 3 will
also be addressed, however the focus of the second year of the research (2003) will be to
validate and add to the findings of the first year.
Phase 1: ICT in homes and communities
In order to research the uses of ICT in the homes of the four selected focus children, the
educator, accompanied by a researcher/project team member, will make one or more home
visits. As a participant observer they will document how children use ICT in their homes in
naturally occurring situations and gather relevant information from parents/carers. Educators
will be given research training to gather ethnographic data. The project will adhere to DETE
and university of SA ethical guidelines.
Phase 2: Development of the Concepts about Technology (CAT) observation tool
The study will describe three cohorts of children in preschool/childcare and the first years of
school with reference to their facility with and understanding of ICT. Using the Marie Clay
Concepts about Print model, educators will develop a tool that they can use to conceptualise
the connections between literacy, numeracy, creativity and technology and how childrens
learning can be planned for and extended. The overall design of the CAT will be informed by
research carried out from a range of theoretical frameworks and will encompass three
integrated dimensions of ICT use - operational, cultural and critical.
Phase 3: How does childrens knowledge and understanding of ICT develop over time?
Explorations of how childrens knowledge and understanding of ICT develop over time will
focus on situated practice, overt instruction, critical framing and transformed practice. The
applicability of using the CAT tool to be informed about childrens knowledge, skills and
understandings and plan for their further learning will be validated and refined.
Who will be involved?
8 groups of 3 co-located or collaborating early years educators will be selected through an
Expression of Interest process. Early years educators means those working with children aged
between 4 and 7 years in the following settings; childcare, preschool and first years of school.
At least 6 of the 8 groups of collaborating educators will be located in centres and schools
which have a significant proportion of children from low socio-economic backgrounds.
What project support is available?
x Funding for up to 8 days TRT release per educator, to be used to attend 6 professional
development days (at the Education Development Centre, Hindmarsh or a similar
Adelaide venue) and 2 days to conduct home visits and document information
gathered from parent/carer interviews
x The professional development days are scheduled for:
x 25 & 26 February, 25 March, 5 June, 6 September, 13 November
x Travel costs for country participants
x Support from university researchers and Early Years Curriculum Policy personnel
x Relevant ICT software (Kid Pix, WiggleWorks, Maxs Sandbox) will be provided if
not readily available in the centre/school
x Some additional professional development in ICT use as identified throughout the
project.
Requirements from centres/schools
x Access to computers (including internet) either within classroom, school or centre for
selected children and educators
x Participation in designated whole-day professional development forums
x A detailed end of project report.
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Criteria for selection of early years educators-as-researchers

Successful applicants will need to demonstrate:
x Demonstrated commitment to innovative practices directed towards improving
outcomes for learners
x Demonstrated commitment to holistic approaches to teaching and learning
x Evidence of incorporating contextual influences into effective, responsive learning
programs
x Evidence of critically reflective practice resulting in curriculum change
x An interest in expanding the use of ICT in early years curriculum
x Ability to participate in electronic communication and support processes.
Written expressions of interest will be considered by a selection panel and rated against the
criteria as outlined.
Closing date for expression of interest: Friday, 8th February 2002
For further information, a copy of the project brief, or an electronic version of the Expression
of Interest, contact:
Kath Thelning, Curriculum Policy Officer, Early Years
Ph: 8226 4284 fax: 8359 3001 email: [email protected]

Centres and Schools are now invited to nominate educators to take part in the Children of
the New Millennium ICT Research project on the attached Expression Of Interest.

Jennifer Stehn
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CURRICULUM
Department of Education, Training and Employment

Susan Hill
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
University of South Australia
Date: 23/01/02

Expressions of Interest should be sent to:

Kath Thelning
Curriculum Policy Officer, Early Years (Rec-Yr 2)
Curriculum Policy Directorate
31 Flinders Street
ADELAIDE SA 5000
ph: 8226 4284 Fax: 8359 3001
email: [email protected]

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EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

Children of the New Millennium ICT Research Project

Due Date - Friday February 8th 2002 - Term 1 Week 2
CENTRE/SCHOOL

DISTRICT

NOMINATED TEACHER(S)

PRINCIPAL/DIRECTOR
CONTACT
PHONE

E-MAIL

Specific information about how the educator and centre/school is addressing each of the
following criteria:
x

Demonstrated commitment to innovative practices directed towards improving outcomes

for learners.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
x Demonstrated commitment to holistic approaches to teaching and learning.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________
x

Evidence of incorporating contextual influences into effective, responsive learning

programs.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
x Evidence of critically reflective practice resulting in curriculum change.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________
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x

An interest in expanding the use of ICT in early years curriculum and exploring with
children, understandings about their learning.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________
Briefly describe your centres/schools ability to participate in electronic communication and
support processes
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________
Briefly describe any anticipated needs for additional software and ICT professional
development support (NB: this information will assist in initial project planning and is not
intended to preclude any applicants).
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________
Statement of support and commitment by Principal/Director
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________
Joint childcare/preschool/school expressions of interest are not an essential requirement,
however you may like to provide details of existing professional collaborative links which
may be built-on through participation in this project.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________

Signature _____________________________________________________________

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B. Student consent form

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
AND CHILDRENS SERVICES
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Children of the New Millennium: Using ICT is a collaborative project between the Department
of Education and Childrens Services and the University of South Australia. Participants
images/artefacts may be used for future training/reports.

CONSENT FORM
I provide consent to the Department of Education and Childrens Services/ University of
South Australia to use images of my child/my childs school work.

(Name of person providing consent PLEASE PRINT)

Person providing consent for a child must be a parent or legal guardian

(Name of child PLEASE PRINT)

of

(Address PLEASE PRINT)

(School name PLEASE PRINT)

Conditions of consent include:

1.

Consent to images of my child/my childs school work being taken by the Department of
Education, and Childrens Services/ University of South Australia use in a variety of
educational materials for an unspecified period of time.

2.

Understand that the ownership of copyright remains with the Department and acknowledge
that there is to be no payment or further consideration to be paid for images of myself/my
child/my childs school work.

3.

Understand that any images taken may be shown in a public environment in South Australia,
interstate or overseas.

4.

Agree that my child/my childs school work may be edited at the sole discretion of the
Department.

5.

Acknowledge that the Department is not obligated to use any or all of the images of myself/my
child/my childs school work.

Signature of person providing consent.

Date .

University of South Australia & South Australian Department of Education and Childrens Services

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Mapping Multiliteracies

C. Teacher consent form

University of South Australia & South Australian Department of Education and Childrens Services

181

Mapping Multiliteracies

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
AND CHILDRENS SERVICES
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Children of the New Millennium: Using ICT is a collaborative project between the Department
of Education and Childrens Services and the University of South Australia. Participants
images and/or written data may be used for future training/reports and the professional
learning of teachers.

CONSENT FORM
I provide consent for the Department of Education and Childrens Services/ University of
South Australia to use images and/or written data.

(Name of person providing consent PLEASE PRINT)

of

(Address PLEASE PRINT)

(Educational institute name PLEASE PRINT)

Conditions of consent include:

Consent to images and/or written data being taken by the Department of Education, and
Childrens Services/University of South Australia and use in a variety of educational
materials for an unspecified period of time.
Understand that the ownership of copyright remains with the Department and the University
and acknowledge that there is to be no payment or further consideration to be paid for
images and/or written data.
Understand that any images and/or written data may be shown in a public environment in
South Australia, interstate or overseas.
Agree that any images and/or written data may be edited at the sole discretion of the
Department and/or the University.
Acknowledge that the Department and/or the University is not obligated to use any or all of
the images and/or written data.

Signature of person providing consent.

Date .

University of South Australia & South Australian Department of Education and Childrens Services

182

Mapping Multiliteracies

D. 2002 and 2003 participants

University of South Australia & South Australian Department of Education and Childrens Services

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Mapping Multiliteracies

School
Elizabeth Vale
Pennington JPS
Woodcroft Heights Presch
Greenwith PS
Hackham South CPC*
Grange PS
Frieda Corpe Preschool*
Little Hampton PS*
Inglefarm East PS*
Stradbroke JPS
Seacliff Kindergarten
Seacliff PS
Coromandel CC
Athelstone JPS
Mawson PS
Whyalla Town PS
Neta Kranz Preschool
Miltaburra AS
Narracoorte South PS
Ceduna AS
Total

Description
metro disadvantaged
metro disadvantaged
metro
metro
outer metro
metro
outer metro
outer metro
metro
metro
metro high income
metro high income
metro high income
metro high income
metro high income
rural disadvantaged
rural disadvantaged
rural disadvantaged
rural disadvantaged
rural disadvantaged

2002
3 teachers
2 teachers
2 teachers
1 teacher
1 teacher

1 teacher
1 teacher
1 teacher
2 teacher
1 teacher
1 teacher
1 teacher
1 teacher
3 teachers
1 teacher
3 teachers
16 sites,
25 teachers,
96 children

2003
2 teachers
2 teachers

1 teacher
2 teachers
2 teachers
2 teachers
2 teachers
2 teachers
1 teacher

2 teachers
2 teachers
11 sites,
20 teachers,
40 children

*New sites in 2003

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Mapping Multiliteracies

E. Software and hardware

cited in the project

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Mapping Multiliteracies

Software
In schools and preschools

In homes

Apple Works
Compic
Dingo Email
Explorapedia
Freddi Fish
HyperStudio
Inspiration
Kid Pix 2 Studio Deluxe
Kid Pix 3
Kidspiration
Land of UM
Maxs Sandbox (includes MaxWrite, MaxShow
and MaxCount)
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Publisher
Microsoft Word
My Amazing Body (CD Rom)
Putt-Putt
School Intranet
Stop Motion
WiggleWorks
World Book Encyclopaedia (CD Rom)

Age of Empires
Barbie Software
Busy Bee
Dr Seuss Reading games
Email
Gadgets and Gizmos
Galaxy Maths
Halo Combat Evolved
Harry Potter
Hi-5
Incredible Machines
Maths Workshop Game
Microsoft Word
Number Train
Pinball Machine
Pirate
Print Artist
Selected CD Roms borrowed from local
libraries; various software in languages
other than English
Snow Boarding game
Software from Nutri-Grain packets
Solitaire
Space Race
Spelling Games
Talking Books
Typing Tutor
Winnie the Pooh

Online
In schools and preschools

In homes

ABC website for kids

Barbie website
Bob the Builder
Brain Pop
Dingo
Enchanted Learning
Google
Intranet
NASA
Popular culture websites
Saddle Club
Teacher selected websites for the Intranet

AFL for kids

Barbie
Bob the Builder
Daisy Maths
Google
Websites from the back of cereal boxes
Websites from Cartoon Connection

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Mapping Multiliteracies

Hardware
In schools and preschools

In homes

CD player
COMPIC
Digital camera
Fax machine
Microphone
Midi pads
Photocopier
Red button
Scanner
Smartboard
Telephone
TV
Video

CB radio
CD player
Digital camera
Dishwasher
DVD
Fax machine
Game Boy
Microwave
Mobile phones
Ninetendo
PlayStation
Scanner
Stereo
Still camera
Telephone
TV
Various electronic toys
Video
Video camera
Washing machine

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