Of Mouse and Book

Mariel Amez – Rosario

 Of Mouse and Book
Using Web 2.0 resources in
Literature Teaching

A Room of One’s Own

Presentation at
2009 FAAPI Conference
Digital Natives accustomed to the twitch-
speed, multitasking, random-access,
graphics-first, active, connected, fun,
fantasy, quick-payoff world of their video
games, MTV, and Internet are bored by
most of today’s education, well meaning
as it may be.
But worse, the many skills that new
technologies have actually enhanced
(e.g., parallel processing, graphics
awareness, and random access)—which
have profound implications for their
learning—are almost totally ignored by
educators. (Prensky, 2001)
 VLEs
Virtual Learning Environments

email, bulletin boards, chat rooms, online

forums, calendars, tools to create online
content and courses, online assessment
and marking
http://ies28.sfe.infd.edu.ar/aula/index.cgi
Contents
Sample Unit
Management
 Wordle
http://www.wordle.net
Generate “word clouds” from text that you
provide

Greater prominence to words that appear

more frequently in the source text.
 The Lagoon – Joseph Conrad
Wordle created at
http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/539804/The_Lagoon
 Forum

What themes and features do you

expect to find in the story? Can you
predict any points of contact with the
theory discussed?
Daniela: According to this wordle "The Lagoon" seems to
be a story of adventure and exploration of unknown
territories. A "white man" can possibly be the main
character of Conrad`s story. The place where he arrives
with his canoe has probably been inhabited by "great men".
A description of a new territory might be central to the story
together with the burden imposed on the colonizer (white
man) who has to conquer this unknow land and civilize its
people. If this is so, it shares many points of contact with
Boehmer`s extract. The chapter we had to read explains
how Imperial England set its trace in history. It refers to the
way colonies` different realities were reflected in literature
and how colonizers and the colonized peoples struggled to
make strange contexts familiar.
Student B: I agree with Daniela in the sense that this
story seems to describe the adventures of a white man in
an exotic place. Because of the use of words such as
forest, fear, silence, murmur, death, voices, I think we will
find the ambiguity which Boehemer mentions: the
fascination, and at the same time, the fear of the unknown.
There is no doubt that the White Man will be the main
character in the story since he is given prominence in the
wordle. Besides, I believe that the setting of the action will
be the river side or a lagoon because of the title of the story
and the words that appear in the wordle (boat, river, canoe)
 VLEs
• classified storage of resources
• catch up on missed lessons
• work at own pace
• expand learning on a certain topic
• improve organisation of coursework
Free VLEs: Moodle, Dokeos
 Explore at http
://campus.dokeos.com/courses/FAAPI/?id_session=0&isStudentView=true
 Wikis
• web-based
• users create, edit and link pages
• page-history (track and undo changes)
Discussion of a story
 Wikis
• collective content creation and
development
• complement or replace lectures
• discussion before or after reading

PBWorks; Wikispaces
 Social networking sites
• construct a public or semi-public profile
within a bounded system,
• articulate a list of other users with whom
they share a connection,
• view and navigate the system

My Space, Facebook, Ning

 Ning
http://www.ning.com/

• Widgets
• Videos
• Photos
• Audio
• Members’ pages
• Blogs
• etc
http://litineglish.ning.com/
 Social bookmarking
• submit bookmarked web pages to a
central site
• bookmarks can be found and tagged by
other users
• lists of articles or activities online can be
expanded and commented on
del.icio.us, Diggo

http://delicious.com/marielamez/litinenglish3
 Book shelving sites
GoodReads.com; Shelfari.com; LibraryThing.com

•bulletin-board book discussions

•linking profiles with "friends“
•recommendation engines,
•book groups
•downloadable "widgets," (to post samples
of virtual shelves on private sites)

http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2259629
 Book shelving sites
• Read reviews
• Write reviews
• Analyse covers
• Compare preferences
• Write stories
 Blogs
• web-based journals or diaries
• user can post text and digital material
• others can comment
 Reading Journal

While you read this novel you are required to

contribute 4 (four) posts to you personal blog.
In each post you should try to answer some
of the questions provided and add any other
personal comments you consider suitable.
See questions.
Example
 Timelines
http://www.dipity.com/litenglish1/personal
 Microblogging: Twitter
• free service to send and read messages
(tweets)
• What are you doing?
• Tweets: text-based posts of up to
140 characters
• displayed on author's profile page and
delivered to followers
• restricted or open access
See: http://twitter.com/mayanlou
 Planning a film version
• Choose cast
• Select score
• Design trailer
Choose the cast
 Trailers
• Themes
• Characters
• Tone
• Setting
• Key quotations
• Emotional response
• Abilities with complex technological resources
See some examples at
http://campus.dokeos.com/main/document/document.php?cid
 Social Networks
• networking, teamwork, and collaboration
• bonding among members, modifying
traditional power structures
• variety of resources: plural views and
diversity of media
• individual and joint discoveries and
feedback
 10 activities for the EFL classroom
integrating Web 2.0 resources
• Keep a reading journal
• Create a timeline for the events in the
story
• Write “tweets” from the characters
• Select the cast for a film version
• Design a movie trailer
 10 activities for the EFL classroom
integrating Web 2.0 resources (2)
• Write a review of the story
• Design a cover for the story. Write the
blurb
• Create a personality quiz for the
characters
• Which character are you? Online quiz
• Turn the story into a comic strip
Go to

http://campus.dokeos.com/courses/FAAPI/index.php

Check the links, and find free online

tools you can use. Leave comments and/
or questions in the forum if you want.
 Why Web 2.0 in Education?
• Cater for different learning styles
• Encourage participation
• Expand learning and classroom borders
• Foster autonomy
• Empower students
• Develop essential skills for further
education and labour market
 Of Mouse and Book
Using Web 2.0 resources in
Literature Teaching
A Room of One’s Own
Presentation
http://roomown.wordpress.com

2009 FAAPI Conference

Mariel Amez