Early on in this course, I struggled with the amount of digital reading we were asked to do, still being most comfortable with the printed page. However, it is definitely becoming easier with practice and I have found new ways to annotate and capture my thinking as I read with new features of the tools I’ve been using for years. I’ve learned new platforms like Mindomo to organize my thoughts and Flipgrid and Jamboard for sharing thinking that I can now use in providing learning for others.
As an educator, I often use videos to try to inspire or provoke thinking because I find that with adult learners you need to make an impact quickly. Reading an article or even jigsawing it, generally takes more time and is less memorable. This idea relates to what we are learning about visuals and using new tools for learning. In just the few short weeks we’ve been in the program, I find myself thinking about how things look visually, how my audience might react to different platforms, or how I can more quickly get to the heart of a concept or new learning using a digital tool.
For myself, I’ve discovered that we can look at transliteracy the same as any literacy. As our skills improve, we become more confident and then we begin to apply those skills in new situations. In all learning we’re looking for that transfer level of understanding and each week as we try new tools and platforms, I am able to transfer some of the skills and knowledge to whatever new tools we try. In the same way we can apply literacy skills across multiple languages, we can use all literacies to help us navigate an increasingly digital world.