Mediated Culture, Memes, Portland and Open Education

"There is no opting out of new media…. it changes a society as a whole…. media mediates relationships…. the whole structure of society can change…. we are on a razor’s edge between hopeful possibilities and more ominous futures…."

 Dr. Michael Wesch (Cultural Anthropologist)

This weeks announcement by Portland Public School's that they are going to *try* to block social media sites on student laptop computers has caused an uproar and outpouring of rebuke from educators around the state of Maine.  Events in Portland had a strange co-incidence with an issue at WHS this week.  At WHS the Web 2.0 foundations course and Mrs. Bell's history course are working to contextualize an issue that caused blocking to occur in our one to one laptop program Tuesday.  Unlike the Portland situation, we do not have an endemic issue with inappropriate sites that has caused alarm, but we did fall prey to a viral social media site that posed a threat to some young people and the school by exhibiting racist, sexist, and threatening sentiments.  It is the goal of WHS to responsibly seek more freedoms for young people and the internet and not less.  How we as a learning community approach this topic will define much about learning at WHS in the future.  This is an issue for adults and young people to work on together.

Here are some recent articles forwarded to me that I think make good points about social media in schools and open educational policies toward the internet:

 The Case for Social Media in Schools: http://mashable.com/2010/09/29/social-media-in-school/

What are the costs of blocking social media: http://mashable.com/2010/04/13/social-media-ban-backfire/


Right now Web 2.0 Foundations course members are deliberating appropriate use of technology for learning and living in the 21st century. Using Twitter, Canvas LMS discussion forums and the hour we meet at the school, the seminar was initiated to discuss the recent incidence of harassment that caused a site to be blocked on their machines.  Our first days seminar went well with a respectful exchange of ideas and cultural norms expressed.  According to one participant who wants to be a diesel mechanic, having machines at school at all makes no sense if he has to use them for traditional subject matter.  He wants to do the least amount of work that does not apply to his life aspirations as possible.  Conversely young people who love the arts, and engineering spoke forcefully for having there machines as they opened the world up to them and allowed them to research without boundaries what they found fascinating! I will post more on our deliberations in the future.

In the history department, Mrs. Bell offered a project on memes in history that built of the phenomenon and interests of young people and led to amazing discussions on what makes a meme:

A good or effective meme is
- historicallly accurate
- clear
- clever
- references 'then' and 'now'
- is grammatically correct

A weak or ineffective meme is
- offensive
- unclear
- T.M.I (too much information)
- uses an unrelated image
- inaccurate

Together our learning community is having  a discussion about society, media and the future of education.  Adults are listening to young people while providing a safe environment for deliberation and learning. Young people are speaking up about their futures, freedoms, and learning.  Not always an easy exchange....but an essential one.  Keep talking.

Join to conversation by leaving a comment to this post or having a conversation with someone.  Let us know your thoughts.

WHS May Professional Development Series

Learning in a Networked World  Add to Planner

Wednesday, 5/9/2011 2:30pm-3:30pm (CHANGED) Where:                    Mac Lab Prerequisites: Connection to the Internet/MLTI Laptop Theme: Digital-age Teaching & Learning online—Literacies for the Information/Creativity Age Audience: Admin, Teachers, iTeam and interested students Skill: Beginner to Advanced NETS•S: 3- 5 NETS•T: 2- 5 NETS•A: 1- 3, 5 Keywords: web20found, networkedlearning, lms, literacies E-mail: tsteelemaley@svrsu.org Primary URL/Discussion: online resource site coming online                Purpose & ObjectivesPurpose of this session is:  introduce faculty and admin to WHS Canvas LMS. to provide examples, techniques and online resources for teachers to use in the classroom and in online spaces through the creation of a Personal Learning Network (PLN). Introduce current research/resources on digital literacies and citizenship Supporting Research Introduction to Canvas: Canvas K-12 Site Introduction Video: Canvas PLN Personal Lerning Networks for Educators: Video via Dr. Skip Via Follow Richard Byrne http://www.freetech4teachers.com/  Join: Classroom 2.0: http://www.classroom20.com/ Twitter in Plain English http://www.commoncraft.com/Twitter  Brief and engaging video look at how Twitter works. Twittering not Frittering http://www.edutopia.org/twitter-professional-development-technology-microblogging  Explanation of how Twitter can be used as a professional development tool. TwittGroups ADE and Teachers http://twittgroups.com/groups/ade and http://twittgroups.com/groups/teachers  Listing of many Apple Distinguished Educators and Teachers who are using Twitter  Alan November, Web Literacy  Howard Rheingold, Crap Detection 101  Bud Hunt,  Lie of Community  Internet literacy is a hot media/govt topic... a sampling: Digital Literacy is important

What part of connected learning do we do well?

High Tech High

What does WHS already do that mirrors this innovative 21st century learning community. What makes High Tech High so admired?


Standards Driven PBL: What the process looks like.

Successful Online Learning

Here are seven attributes that should have or need to develop for successful online learning:

1. You have to have a sense of self.
Successful learners online have an awareness of metacognition -- self-motivation, self-starting, and ownership of one’s actions. In other words, they reflect on how they learn as well as what they learn.

1. You need to be able to manage your time wisely.
They must be able to lay out their tasks with a critical eye, plan them accordingly, and follow them through to fruition -- many times without someone looking over their shoulder.

1. You have GOT to know how to collaborate.
This is a biggie. More than an understanding of technology, more than a perfection of writing skills, the ability to collaborate is one that must be used comfortably online.

1. You need to be able to set goals for yourself.
Being able to see the target and backwards plan towards that target is vital.

1. You need to communicate well in writing.
The entire online community is based on the language of words and how to communicate them effectively. One cannot use texting language and expect to be heard. A student needs to use their best level of writing.

1. You must follow the community norms.
Just like a classroom has a set of rules, so does an online class. A student must function within the norms and rules of netiquette set up by the instructor (or, better yet, agreed upon by the class itself).

1. You must be your own advocate.
As slam poet Taylor Mali once wrote when asked if they would be tested on the material, “If not you, then who?” So does it go with being one’s own advocate. If you won’t ask the questions, take control, and make sure your voice is heard in a positive way…then who will? 

Via Heather Wolpert-Gawron at Edutopia

Web 2.0 Foundations:

Comment here on what Netiquette points are important to you for our learning community.

World Languages Opportunity via Twitter

Below is a message from Global Education Collaborative member Betsy Corcoran of EdSurge:

-----

Please join EdSurge this Wednesday, February 8th, for our inaugural #esinstruct Twitter chat on the best tools, tips, and techniques for language learning.

EdSurge is the fastest growing newsletter on the planet covering education-technology entrepreneurship. We've got our eye on the tools in development. We'd like to help educators find out what tools might work for them--and give educators a megaphone to share their thoughts and needs with developers.

For a start, we'd like to have a conversation about the most effective tools for teaching languages. We started down this path when one Oakland high school teacher we know asked for advice about what tools could help her Spanish-speaking students reach mastery level proficiency. Other teachers told us they, too, were searching for tools for teaching other languages. We're pulling together our research--but we think these teachers really want to benefit from your insights!

Please bring your thoughts and expertise to this conversation. All you need is a Twitter account. Then search for the hashtag "#esinstruct' between the times of 4:30-7:30pm PST. Tweet in: Let us know whether there are tools you use or tips you can share. We in turn are hoping to invite some teachers who have deep expertise and are willing to share with you.


We will follow up the chat by creating a newsletter that summarizes the highlights of the conversation and includes relevant edtech tools that we've found. If you'd like to get a copy, just drop us a note at feedback@edsurge.com and put edSurge-instruct in the subject line. There's absolutely no cost to signing up, no cost to taking part in the Twitter chat and no condo-like sales pitch on any product.

If you find this kind of chat useful, we would love to hear what other topics are worth exploring in the future. And if you're not familiar with EdSurge, please do take a minute to sign up for our newsletter at www.Edsurge.com.

Thanks & best wishes,
Leonard Medlock & Betsy Corcoran 

Recap: EdSurge's inaugural #esinstruct chat on language learning, Wednesday, February 8th, 4:30-7:30 PST

PD Series: Creating Blended Learning With Google Apps and Canvas

Web 2.0 Foundations is off to a healthy and inspiring start.

The course introduces students to Web 2.0 Foundations (learning and technological environments) through the experiential based pedagogy of networked and mobile learning. Web 2.0 Foundations utilizes a blended learning design to create a virtual and face to face community that promotes ubiquitous learning for WHS students.

According to Colis and Moonen (2001), "blended learning is a hybrid of traditional face-to-face and online learning so that instruction occurs both in the classroom and online, and where the online component becomes a natural extension of traditional classroom learning." [1]  Blended Learning is an essential step toward readying young people for 21st century living.  As a learner, seeing the school classroom as a part or the learning process and not the whole is vital for success today. Likewise, Young people have the world at there fingertips and are using it:

The worlds reality illuminates the fact that old models are not working or preparing students.  What conversations should K-12 Educators have with Universities....




How educators facilitate and find confluence with the world and adapt or bypass current educational systems will determine in many ways the relevance of the teaching profession and schools.  Colis and Moonen, Bonk and Graham (2006) [2] , Jacobs (2010) [3] agree that embracing blended learning is essential for 21 century learners and is a solid step forward for educators.  According to the 2010 Horizon Report [4] (one of the most respected K-12 indices of research back learning trends):

Technology is increasingly a means for empowering students, a method for communication and socializing, and a ubiquitous, transparent part of their lives. Technology is impacting all of our lives, and especially the lives of students, in new and expanding ways. Once seen as an isolating influence, technology is now recognized as a primary way to stay in touch and take control of one’s own learning. Multisensory, ubiquitous, and interdisciplinary, technology is integrated into nearly everything we do. It gives students a public voice and a means to reach beyond the classroom for interaction and exploration.

We have the tools at WHS to move in the direction of prescient change without that change feeling radical.  Blended learning starts with empowerment. Learners take control of their learning through participation in scaffolded online and classroom communities. The first step toward learner self determination comes through expectation and assistance in weaving a world of learning with your students by creating a community both public and semi-public that is with learners twenty-four hours a day seven days a week.  Using a learning management systems (LMS) creates a link between face to face and virtual learning worlds without exposing the teacher or learners to the wilds of the public for core learning community interface.

Web 2.0 Foundations is using Canvas as an LMS platform.  Canvas weaves with Google Apps and provides a "cloud based" solution for moving your class into the 21st century.  Your content becomes fluid, your teaching opened to the wealth of resources on the internet and your communication/pedegogy amplified in a space that an overwhelming majority of students find comfort in navigating.

Posts dealing with Blended Learning will be "labeled" with blended learning canvas, lms and pd at the end of the post so you can easily find the series as more posts come in on other topics.

Thank you for your vision.  Please comment and start a conversation below!

The Networked Student

Over this term you will be completing a Personal Learning Network (PLN). Being a networked student is vital for success in the 21st century. Please view the following video and read the basics of our assignment below. What are you looking forward to and what may be difficult? What will be your first topic of research?

   

Creating a PLN (Networked Learning Project)
Objective: develop and use networked learning to create a personal learning environment/network for 21st century research and design.

Preparation

• Each learner selects his or her topic of study, (what you know, what you want to know), and establishes a research question.

• Acceptable/Responsible Fair Use policy is discussed.

The project is positioned within the following perspective.

What if your teachers disappeared and you had to learn on your own? Would you give up on learning? Where would you begin? Why would learning be important? You are an empowered learner. You have the power to learn anything. How much you learn is up to you. How you manage your learning is up to you. How you manage your time is up to you. A big part of your success will depend on how well you are organized.

Introduction of Tools

Web applications are introduced one at a time to give participants the chance to master the tool within the context of the study topic. Digital literacy is integrated into these lessons as needed. The essential questions of digital literacy are presented.

• Where can you go for good information?
• How do you know if you can trust what you find?
• How will you find subject matter experts you can trust to help you learn?
• Why is reflection important when you are learning something new?
• Why is it important to share what you’ve learned? How will you share?

Web Application (Components of the Networked Learning Environment for Research)

Social Bookmarking (RSS) "Delicious"and/or "Pinboard"

• http://delicious.com/

• http://https://pinboard.in/

• Explain Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and evaluation of Websites

• Set up the account

• Subscribe to each others accounts

• Bookmark, read and annotate at least 5 reliable websites per week that reflect the content of chosen topic

• Add, annotate and read at least 3 additional sites each week.

Note Taking (Information Management) "Evernote"

• http://www.evernote.com

• Create Evernote account

• Begin content collection

News and Blog Alert (RSS)"Google Alert"

• http://www.google.com/alerts"

• Create a Google Alert of keywords associated with selected topic

• Read news and blogs on that topic that are delivered via email daily

• Subscribe to appropriate blogs in reader

Personal Web Aggregator (RSS, Information Management) "Google Everything", "Symbaloo" and "Netvibes"

• http://www.google.com/intl/en/about/products/index.html

• http://www.symbaloo.com/

• http://http://www.netvibes.com/en

• Introduction to Google, Netvibes and Symbaloo for Learning

• Customize choice

• Start by creating a Homepage

• This will build as participants learn new tools

News and Blog Reader (RSS) Google Reader, Reeder RSS Feeds

• http://www.google.com/reader/, http://madeatgloria.com/brewery/silvio/reeder

• Search for blogs and newsfeeds devoted to chosen topic

• Subscribe to blogs and newsfeeds to keep track of updates.

• Set up gadgets in Symbaloo

Personal Blog(RSS)/Mobile Blog "Blogger"

• Create a personal blog

• Blogger

• Post a personal reflection each day of the content found and experiences related to the use of Networked Learning Research Environment pertaining to project topics

• Find bloggers with similar topics subscribe to blogs in reader

Internet Search (Information Management, Contacts, and Synchronous Communication)"Google Scholar"

• http://scholar.google.com/

• Conduct searches in Google Scholar and Fogler library databases for scholarly works.

• Bookmark appropriate sites

• Consider making contact with expert for video conference"

Video (Research, Fun) "Vimeo"

• http://www.vimeo.com/

• Create and Account.
• Create a Channel.

Photo Sharing "Flikr or Picassa"

• http://www.flickr.com/
• http://picasa.google.com/

• Create and Account.
• Upload Photos.
• Share Photos.

• Interest of Participants

Video Conferencing (Contacts and Synchronous Communication) "Skype"

• http://www.skype.com

• Identify at least one subject matter expert to invite to Skype with you, group, family, community for your project.

Daily research, reflection, sharing (Ongoing during project)

Once the personal learning environment is constructed, the learner will continue to conduct research and navigate new content on a daily basis. Activities will be divided between introducing a tip or offering a research theme for the day, actual time spent conducting research will vary.
Synthesis- (Suggested at 1 to 2 weeks) "Google Site or Blog Page"

• Craft a final synthesis of your work.

Other Networks

Covered with time remaining or interest.

Podcasts (RSS) "iTunesU" "Academic Earth"

• http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/ or http://academicearth.org/

• Search iTunesU or Academic Earth for podcasts related to topic

• Listen or view to at least 4-10 podcasts or lectures

Microblogging "Twitter"

• http://twitter.com/

• Create and Account

• Follow 10 Individuals or organizations you found during research.

• Advanced use as interested

References|Attribution

• Steele-Maley, T (2010). Networked Project Design
• Drexler, W. (2008). YouTube - Networked Student. YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Retrieved February 24, 2011, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA

• Portions of this Project Design have been adapted from the work of Dr. Wendy Drexler with permission. 

To be a programmer.... Web2.0found

So glad to see the introductory forum posts in OpenClass.  I will respond to a few in the next couple of posts by feeding forward information.   It's amazing to know that one of your classmates aspires to become a computer programmer!  There is so much out there and I have worked with some amazing professionals in the field of programming.  They all say, if you want to program you better know how the internet works.

(n.d.). Internet map. [Web Map]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Internet_map_1024.jpg

 
A good place to start might be Wikipedia's entry on the Internet (It is really quite amazing)....

You may want to jump right in. Besides HTML (which you will need to learn at some point), you might enjoy hacking on the programming language Ruby on Rails right now. You can Access Rails for Zombies here http://railsforzombies.org/  Rails for Zombies is an excellent and eccentric tutorial from Code School....a place you might want to join later. User beware there are zombies, buring things and a smidgen of poor language in the video.

ROR. (creation). (NA). Retrieved from http://railsforzombies.org/

And....If you do not know Scratch and you like gaming check it out!

(n.d.). Scratch icon. [Web Graphic]. Retrieved from http://scratch.mit.edu/

Web 2.0 Foundations: A Course in Participatory Technology

"So the coin of the realm is not memorizing the facts and figures their going to need for the rest of their lives; the coin of the realm will be, do you know how to find, validate and leverage information; do you know how to analyze and synthesize that information; and can you problem solve, collaborate and communicate with it...." - Ken Kay [1]

Hello all,

Web 2.0 Foundations: A Course in Participatory Technology

An Opening Vignette:

Technology is a word we often confuse with computers, programs, and myriad gadgets only.  If you dig deeper I think you would agree that humans have utilized technology in very innovative ways since the Middle Paleolithic (or for those numbers folks out there c. 200,000 years ago+-).  Be it friction fire, basketmaking, agriculture, irrigation, warfare, in-door plumbing, radio's or iPads there has always been a human driving the social use of these tools.  Elders, leaders, wise people....yes teachers have always enabled and proliferated technology at the core of cultures.  We need to never loose site that the young people before us are entering a radically different world than the one we came from.  Though pockets of traditional life ways exist (and may proliferate in terms of localization of food and economies), the connections young people have to the world and what the world needs are fundamentally shifting the narrative of their futures. We need a learning design that helps young people prepare for a world without borders.   So how are we responding? In 2008, Pearson put together this short video to make a few suggestions:



"We have to develop a narrative that sustains 21st century learning."

The 21st century imperatives for learning deal with information.  Do we enable our students to find, validate, leverage, analyze, synthesize , problem solve and collaborate with information on a regular basis?  What does this look like? 

Web 2.0 Foundations is designed to be a participatory venture between our school, teachers, learners and the community that moves students into spaces of dynamic individualized learning with new technologies while also helping the whole faculty move toward creating spaces (mental, physical and online) that enable these 21st century learners.

Over the semester I will post my designs for Web 2.0 Foundations: setting up an Learning Management System and expectations for networked learning, designs for extensive networked research, mLearning (Mobile Learning), project based learning, 360 degree assessment and more.  You will also see and be asked to view and give feedback on  student research and online creation.  In the end, via a capstone project I will ask students to take an assignment (two....) from a teachers class and transform it using Web 2.0 Foundations.  This experience is meant to make learning at WHS ubiquitous for the participants of the course and our school community. I look forward to working with you all and look forward to your comments and support!  Before the course "officially" starts here are a few important organizational tips for following this process.

We will tag everything we create with the following:

web2.0found (Social Bookmarking, this blog (Called Labels), student blogs (Called Lables))
#web2.0found (Twitter Hashtag)
web2.0foundtools (for specific tech tools used in the experience)
web2.0foundreading (for specific readings and research findings we like)

More on how to follow this tag stream soon!

I look forward to participating with you all in network!

Coming soon:

Step one: can our students find a syllabus, schedule, updates, discussions and expectations in asynchronous spaces online?.....

Apple iBooks Author and Textbooks

Transition Education: 

See More here: 

 
http://www.apple.com/ibooks-author/

Digital Literacy: A Curation

This Post is "Re-Blogged" here with permission from a post by Mary Ann Reilly (a friend, colleague and prescient change agent from New Jersey)

Curriculum & Frameworks
Digital Literacy and Citizenship Classroom Curriculum.  (Common Sense Media). (K-5, 6-8, 9-12)
NCTE  Position Statement: 21st Century Curriculum and Assessment Framework
NCTE Position Statement: Multimodal Literacies
NCTE Position Statement: Definition of 21st Century Literacies


Influential Reports
Biancarosa, Gina and Catherine E. Snow. (2006). Reading Next: A Vision For Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy. 2nd Edition. A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington D.C.: Alliance for Excellent Education.
Flanagin, Andrew F. and  Miriam J. Metzger. (2011). Kids and Credibility. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Gee, James Paul. 2010. New Digital Media and Learning as an Emerging Area and "Worked Examples" as One Way. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Graham, Steve; Harris, Karen & Michael Herbert. (2011). Informing Writing: The Benefits of Formative Assessment.  A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington D.C.: Alliance for Excellent Education.
Graham, Steve & Dolores Perin. (2006).  Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High Schools: A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington D.C.: Alliance for Excellent Education.
Graham, Steve & Michael Herbert. (2010). Writing to Read: Evidence for How Writing Can Improve Reading.  A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington D.C.: Alliance for Excellent Education.
Heller, Rafael and Cynthia L. Greenleaf. (2007). Literacy Instruction in the Content Areas: Getting to the Core of Middle and High School Improvement.  A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington D.C.: Alliance for Excellent Education.
Ito, Mizuko, Heather A. Horst, Matteo Bittanti, Danah Boyd, Becky Herr-Stephenson, Patricia G. Lange, C.J. Pascoe, & Laura Robinson. (2009). Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project.  Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Jenkins, Henry with Kathie Clinton, Ravi Purushotma, Alice J. Robinson, Margaret Weigel. (2009). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Kahne, Joseph, Ellen Middaugh and Chris Evans. (2009). The Civic Potential of Video Games. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Moje, E. B., & Tysvaer, N. (2010). Adolescent literacy development in out-of-school time: A practitioner’s guide. New York, NY: Carnegie Corporation of New York
The National Council of Teachers of English. (2008). Write Now: A Policy Research Brief. 
The National Council of Teachers of English. (2007). NCTE 21st Century Literacies: A Policy Research Brief. 
The National Council of Teachers of English. (2006). NCTE Principles of Adolescent Literacy Reform: A Policy Research Brief. 
Schwartzbeck, Terri. (2011). The Digital Learning Imperative: How Technology and Teaching Meet Today's Education Challenges.  A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington D.C.: Alliance for Excellent Education.
Deborah J. Short,  and Shannon Fitzsimmons. (2007).  Double the Work: Challenges and solutions to Acquiring Language and Academic Literacy for Adolescent English Language Learners. A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York.Washington D.C.: Alliance for Excellent Education.

Organizations
Alliance for Excellent Education
Arts Education Partnership
ArtsLiteracy Project (Brown University) The Handbook is wonderful.
Center for Adolescent Literacies at UNC Charlotte
Center for Digital Literacy (Syracuse University)
Center of Excellence for the Advancement of New Literacies in Middle Grades
Center for Media Literacy 
Center for the Study of New Literacies: Thinking about Literacy, Learning and New Technologies (University of Sheffield)

Commisison on Arts and Literacies International Reading Association
National Association for Media Literacy Education
National Council of Teachers of English
National Writing Project
New Literacies Research Lab at UCONN

Websites/On-Line Resources

Collaborative Center for Literacy Development. 2007. Adolescent Literacy Toolkit. Lexington, KY.Digital Media & Learning.  The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Digital Youth Network: is a hybrid digital literacy program that creates opportunities for youth to engage in learning environments that span both in-school and out-of-school contexts.
Digital Writing, Digital Teaching: Integrating New Literacies into the Teaching of Writing: Blog by Troy Hicks
FanFiction 
Interactive Writing Tools
Project New Media Literacies: Video collection
Re-Imagining Learning in the 21st Century. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.Remix Learning. Private company that provides an online platform for schools, cultural institutions, libraries, museums, and after-school programs to create their own customized social learning network
Teen Ink Literary magazine & website for teen writers
Youth Media in Seattle

Articles/Chapters

Leander, K. & Vasudevan, L. (2009). Multimodality and mobile culture. In C. Jewitt (Ed.) Handbook of multimodal analysis. (pp. 127-139). London: Routledge.
Morrell, E., and Duncan-Andrade, J. (2006). Popular Culture and Critical Media Pedagogy in Secondary Literacy Classrooms. International Journal of Learning.
New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66 (1).
Reilly, M.A. (2009). Opening spaces of possibility: Teacher as bricoleur. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 52(5). 376-384.
Vasudevan, L. (2011). Re-imagining pedagogies for multimodal selves. National Society for the Study of Education, Yearbook. 110(1), 88-108.
Vasudevan, L., Schultz, K., & Bateman, J. (2010). Beyond the printed page: Multimodal storytelling with urban adolescents. Written Communication, 27(4), 442-468.
Vasudevan, L. & Campano, G. (2009). The social production of adolescent risk and the promise of adolescent literacies. Review of Research in Education. 33(1), 310-353.
Vasudevan, L. (2006). Looking for Angels: Knowing adolescents by engaging with their multimodal literacy practices. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. 50(4), 252-256.

Books (You can preview sections of these books)
Appleman, Deborah. (2011). Adolescent literacy and the teaching of reading. Urbana, IL: NCTE.
Baker, Elizabeth A. and Donald J. Leu. (2010).  The new literacies: Multiple perspectives on research and practice. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Christenbury, Lelia, Randy Bomer & Peter Smagorinsky. (2009). Handbook of adolescent literacy research. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Gainer, Jesse and Diane Lapp. (2010). Literacy Remix: Bridging adolescents in and out of school literacies. Newark, DE: IRA.
Gee, James Paul and Elizabeth Hayes. (2011). Language and learning in the digital age. New York, NY: Routledge.
Kajder, Sarah. (2010). Adolescent and digital literacies: Learning alongside of students. Urbana, IL: NCTE.
Mahiri, J. (Ed.) (2004). What they don’t learn in school: Literacy in the lives of urban youth. New York: Peter Lang.
New Literacies and Digital Epsitemolgies: Series published by Peter Lang
Reilly, Mary Ann, Jane M. Gangi and Rob Cohen. (2010).  Deepening literacy learning: Art and literature engagements in the K-8 classroom. Charlotte, NC: IAP. (especially chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10).

Curated Sites (Scoop it)
Hall, Matthew. Design, Literacy and Multimodality.
Reilly, Mary Ann.  Transmediation.
Steffenson, Karen. Spaces for Innovation.

Slideshares
Couros, Alec. (2011). Exploring digital citizenship, digital identity & connected learning.
Hamilton, Buffy. (2011). Framing transliterate learning through inquiry and participatory culture.
Hicks, Troy. (2011). Teaching the iGeneration: Because digital writing matters.

Keegan, Helen. (2011). Guerilla productions for very small screens: Transformations through mobile creativity.
Wheeler, Steve. (2011). New technologies and the future of learning.