Embracing multimodality
I support dyslexic adults in various environments. In an age when we should be encouraging our 'Digitally Native' students to communicate effectively eye-to-eye, should I stop my students from texting others while I am teaching them? I used to. Can they really process all of the assistive software instructions, study skills on how to write and remember while texting? I mostly teach one to one and I used to insist they put their phones away as I presumed my dyslexic students cannot multi-task: they cannot process two lots of information while I am teaching them, but I have been proved wrong. It appears that the information I give them is prioritised as equally important to their real world social context. Maybe this is my problem: learning facilitators need to keep abreast of multimodality and in understanding students can process multi-modes of language maybe we can offer them a 3 dimensional way of learning. So, should I wait for my student to finish texting?
I used to insist that learners switch off their phones but now use the resources available such as spellchecker and calculator. For ESOL learners, Translate is really useful and I do find that the opportunity to use their phones productively in class means that they don't text during lessons but are they more focused? Maybe.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment Pauline. These are really good points. Did you mean Google Translate? I love it! I have heard that it isn't very accurate.
ReplyDeleteI am still a little bit 'old school' and think that when I'm teaching the things I have to say are far more important than googling, facebooking or other such possibilities on mobile phones - or does that make me egoistic?
ReplyDeleteHi Joan, I'm also quite old school... I just don't believe students can multitask like that and still absorb everything. Especially when it comes to the teenagers I teach. Our school banned celphones from classes last year which really benefitted atmosphere and student marks...
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