Mills (2010) also supports this idea of reinvented roles within the classroom by stating “New Literacy Studies on the role of youth as the next generation of creators of multimodal context, including the critical design of texts, software programs, media images, discussions, and other media objects. The new literacies involve making and remaking media rather than being made by them” (p.257). Mills (2010) shares a project created by students where it was found that students were “critically evaluating new media messages, as both consumers and producers, in an echoed audio podcast procured by the students and published online: “I don’t just play game- I’m responsible for the games I create” (p.253). The title of this project clearly explains how students are able to transform knowledge by producing new constructions of reality. With the guidance of a teacher, these students are able to make new use out of old material. In addition students, are able to take from an available design and their own experience to make new meaning, all of which relate to the New London Group’s “what” of multiliteracies.

 

Another important aspect to note is how multiliteracies have encouraged students to find new sources of information that does not originate from the teacher. For example Mills (2010) states, “The emergence of hybrid digital forms, such as wikis, blogs, databases and online new, calls for new understandings of genre and textual features. New technical proficiencies with computers, and other communication devices must be constantly learned for the rapid production, processing and transmission of electronic texts” (p.248). Technical proficiency skills on computes and other devices are learnt at a rapid pace, as where transformed learning happens over a period of time. This is what makes the digital turn so unique. The fact that everything can happen so quickly and all at once through the use of digital text can allow students to learn more than what one person can offer. Buckingham (2007) also suggests “Students tend to imagine only what they know they can actually make, as they become more proficient with technology, this is turn changes their capacity to imagine new possibilities” (p.51).  However, through overt instruction, students have a conscious awareness as to what and how ideas are being learnt, and more importantly how to assess whether the information they come across is valuable and creditable. Buckingham (2007) argues “As with print, they also need to be able to evaluate and use information critically if they are to transform it into knowledge. This means asking questions about thee sources of that information, the interest of its producers, and the ways in which it represents the world, and understanding how technological developments and possibilities are related to broader social an economic forces” (p,46).

 

Lastly teacher roles are transformed in the way in which classroom communities are constructed.  Buckingham (2007) states, “Group work provides important opportunities for reflection, deliberation and dialogue, and it is only through these processes that connection can be made between hands-on practice and the broader conceptual concerns of media education” (p. 52). On the other hand Buckingham (2007) also offers a counter perspective of the individualized process of production. He states “A computer room, even one set up for creative artwork, tends to involve students working individually at screens, and the teacher often has a more one-to-one relationship with individuals-“ (p.52). In either instance, students have the capacity to learn from a colleague, one that is not their teacher, or a stranger from the digital world. In this case, students are able to draw in narratives from community members that may be relatable. On the other hand, the teacher can gain insight on their student, by learning more about their interest and talents through new media.

 

Transformed Student Roles

 

On the same note, student’s roles within the classroom are altered. The goal of integrating new literacies in the classroom is that theory learnt will become reflexive practice. In other words, students will recreate discourses for their own real purpose. As students become the drivers of their own learning, a real sense of agency occurs. When taking information and constructing it to mold to the individual reality, it is then the student transforms human agency in combination with historically and culturally perceived patterns of meaning (New London Group, 1996). “Transformed learning” and the “redesigning” process are the main agents in transforming student’s roles in new literacy classrooms.  

 

Buckingham (2007) states “The growing accessibility of this technology means that quite young children can easily produce multimedia texts, and even interactive hypermedia- and increasing numbers of children have access to such technology in their homes” (p.49). Students become the creative produces and designers of meaning-making as it is applicable to their own reality.  In a sense “..it can have significant benefits in terms of students’ motivation and their willingness to reflect on their own work” (Buckingham, p.53).  This can be connected the idea of critical framing as students will begin to understand that they become their own mastery in practice. Digital literacy can be seen as a pedagogical practice that is “based on the leaner rather than teacher interests” (ss, p.253). Quoted in Mills (2010) “Experienced peers or ‘co-conspirators’, rather than traditional authority figures such as teachers, play an important role in establishing communal norms of interest-driven media practices of youth. In these settings, youth have significant ownership of their self-representation, learning and evaluation of others (ito et al,2008)” (p. 253).

 

In addition, student agency leads to a type of audience that is larger than their classroom community. New media literacies and the digital turn have provided students with the opportunity to share their work with the public eye. Buckingham (2007) states “The internet provides- or may in future provide- significant opportunities for young people’s work to find a wider audience” (p.52). In addition Mills (2010) also argues “Social media play a vital role in sustaining peer culture, gradually replacing the role played by informal geographical meeting sites, such as malls, homes or the street” (p.253). The idea of the wider audience can be connected to the idea of transformed practice in the sense that theory learnt and new understandings become reflexive practice.  The New London Group (1996) states “With their students, teachers need to develop ways in which the students can demonstrate how they can design and carry out, in a reflexive manner, new practices embedded in their own goals and values”. Through transformed practice and new media literacies students have the opportunity their share personal values and revelations.

 

Transformed Literacy Practices

 

What is important to note is the way in which traditional literacy has transformed to new multiliteracies and modes of media. Buckingham (2007) quotes Fabos (2004) “Rather than seeking to determine the ‘true facts’, students need to understand ‘how political, economic, and social content shapes all texts, how all texts can be adapted for different social purposes, and how no text is natural or necessarily of ‘higher quality’ than another” (p.47). It must be made aware that in the way literacy was developed, digital literacy is also produced from a social, political, and economical context as well. With that being said Mills (2010) argues “New Literacy scholars cautioned that an emphasis on learning in non-institutional settings needed to be tempered with the acknowledgment that the informal literacies of youth are not always rich, dynamic, and relevant to education” (p.252). Even though traditional literacies have progressed to new media literacies, there still needs to be a balance between school knowledge and personal knowledge. The skills and tools of the  ‘what’ and ‘how’ of multiliteracies, as suggested by the New London Group, must be embedded into pedagogical practices.

 

Conclusion

 

The models and paradigms presented by Buckingham (2007) and Mills (2010) provided both qualitative and quantitative research regarding the re/designing present in (some) current educational forms.  I say ‘some’ because these practices can only be integrated only in certain subject areas. Using the models and idea presented in these articles, I question how they can be embedded into subjects such as math and science, where the content in these subjects are extremely formulated and calculated. On the other hand, there are instances in classrooms where students are encouraged to create their own projects to demonstrate their new understandings and ideas. However this is not applied to every school and classroom. Rarely do educators allow students behind the scenes, encouraging them to contribute to the production of course work and evaluation. Applying the skills and tools of New Media Literacies and multiliteracies in the classroom would enable students to control what they have learned and apply it directly to their own experiences. However, questions arise, as it all seems to perfect and easy to do. At what age can New Literacy Studies and multiliteracies be introduced? What are the legality and ethical issues surrounding New Literacy Studies and multiliteracies. Questions and conversations about access and resources need to be brought into action as well as other concerns mentioned above in order to fully implement new literacy skills, and turn these skills into action.

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Works Cited 

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A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Features (1996) by the New London Group 

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Buckingham, D. (2007). Digital Media Literacies: rethinking media education in the age of the Internet. Research in Comparative and International Education, 2(1), 43-55. 

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Mills, K. A. (2010). A Review of the Digital Turn in the New Literacy Studies. Review of Education Research, 80(2), 246-271.