1. “The only thing I can think of to “address” is where you wrote, “I am suggesting that a team be assembled” -I would maybe list the professionals that would be included in that “team”. “- Missy

2. “One thing to address is that you are writing from a “young” child’s perspective -how young is this child? I’m wondering because you used some difficult terms: disorder, diagnosis, physician, aspirating, & breakthrough. Is the child at an age where he/she would understand these terms?” – Missy

3. “I would like to address the lack of statistical information in the letter. I think that it may help proving your case.” – Sara

Quote three specific pieces of feedback (not the whole responses, just parts of responses) that you gave to someone else that you believe were most likely helpful to them in revising their own work. Include links to these comments.

1. “I think that you should address putting into the entry how the mother is reacting to all of this, also to demonstrate how the child thinks they are reacting to it all. It would demonstrate to the audience how certain things are handled and explained.” - Whitney H. for Emma

2. “I think that you should address using normal. What do you mean by that? Maybe if you gave another word or so, normal wouldn’t seem so cliche!”  -Whitney H. for Holly

3. “I would like to address the issue of having no examples. I think that to make the letter seem more heartfelt, examples such as certain cases or feelings/emotions would help the letter. ” – Whitney H. for Holly

Examine examples of the first two items above and write about what this information tells you about the kind of responses you give.

By reading the examples of the comments that I give, I do not believe that I am specific enough. I also think that I play it safe when giving feedback to others.  I Do not want to offend anyone, and in the end, most likely do because it seems as though I do not put effort into reviewing their work.  I also need to be much more in depth in the comments that I give to others.  Sometimes when writting comments, I know what I am trying to explain to them, but it’s hard for me to put it into my own words so that they are able to understand it.  I give very vague, undetailed comments that need much work.

Write a goal (behavioral objective) for yourself as a peer responder.  Specificically (this is an important word as I do not mean generally), the next time you participate in a peer response groip, what do you intend to do differently?

I will think critically about the works and what they are trying to accomplish before beginning to comment on any aspect of the document.  I will also be more detailed and desciptive in my feedback.
 

Authority:
1.Do you recognize the author’s name? Yes.. I do, but it is not a known name to anyone.
2.If you did not recognize the name, what type of information is given about the author? Position? Organizational affiliation? E-mail address? Biographical information? There is a page, About the Author, where minimal information about the author exists such as University attended, name, undergraduate level of study, where she is from and small background details.
3.Was the site referenced in a document that you trust? Yes, all documents on the site contain the works that were used to write them.  If a reader would like to do further research, there is information to do so available.

Objectivity:
1.Determine what is the aim of the author or organization publishing the site. The Author is attempting to complete a Project for a class and inform others about Pediatric Dysphagia through a person who is made up to help portray the information to others through a number of documents and project parts.
2. What is the purpose of the web site? To answer a number of questions about Pediatric Dysphagia that others may have such as what it is, who has it, what can be done…. etc. It is also to inform others through many voices and for many audiences of the problems it can create and what can be done.
3. Do you trust the author or organization providing the information? I do, because it’s my own and I know how and from where the work was derived. However, if a professional or expert was looking for credible resources I would not. The site states that I am not a professional or expert in this topic and a number of works are also my own. Even though numerous resources have been used and sited, it is in no way a professionally made website.

Currency:
1.Is the date clearly displayed? There are dates in a number of places on the weblog. By the titles of each page and post and comment placed, however, no other dates are available for the reader to view.
2.Can you determine what the date refers to? The date is the date of which the individual assignments and works were completed.
3.Are the resources used by author current? The majority of the dates used were recent, however, very few of them do date back to approximately the 1980s. 
4.Does the page content demand routine or continual updating or revision? The information is relevant and pertinent without constant revision, however, it has been updated and revised many times.
5.Do the links on the page point to the correct Internet site addresses? Yes. All of the sites to now go to the correct site they were intended to.

Coverage:
1.Are the topics covered on the site explored in depth? Yes, almost to a repetitive manner but are very informative.
2.Are the links on the site comprehensive or used as examples? Yes, they are for the Unifying genre.
3.On the site, are the links relevant and appropriate? Yes. All of the links on the site link things to other documents within the site excluding the bloglines which link the reader to other outside resources which in some way, tie into the project information.
4.How valuable is the information provided? In my opinion, it is very valuable.  An immense amount of time and effort has been put into creating the information and data that fill the site. It is very valuable it times of time and effort.

Declarative Knowledge: I learned that a Table of Contents for the Multi-Genre project consists of all of the work that has been completed in a listed manner that enables others to view your site in the way that would be the best for them to understand. I also learned that there is a difference in revising and editing your work. Revising your work is changing or fixing your work so that the meaning behind it is clear to the reader.  Editing is changing or fixing your work to correct the mechanical problems/mistakes you have made so that the reader understands it more clearly as well.  While they are alike in a way, they are also different in terms of the reason for completing the tasks.

Procedural Knowledge:  To complete the first assignment of the week, Table of Contents, I had to create a new page on my blog and title it Table of Contents.  I then wrote a list down in an order that the reader of my documents should open and read them.  The order is: Preface, Acknowledgments, About the Author, Unifying Genre, References, and Reflection.  Underneath that listing, you include a list of the genres you have completed and the order of which you wish the reader would view them to understand your project the best.  I then linked the documents on the Table of Contents to the actual page they are located so the reader can access them easily.  To do this, you highlight the word you are trying to link, click the link button on the toolbar (looks like a chainlink), and then enter the URL into the slot alotted.  If done correctly, the word will then be linked to the appropriate host it is located. I then completed the Peer Response to the 7th Genre of Holly & Emma’s work.  I did this by looking at their weblogs, following the link to their 7th genre, and listening to both of their documents posted (both of which were Podcasts).  I then listed a number of items under the comment feature such as Voice (who was saying it), Audience (Who it was Intended for), Say Back (What I thought they were trying to accomplish through the document), Bless (something in their work I thought was really good), and Address (something in the work I thought they should consider further).  I thought critically about their documents and how I percieved them; then wrote them in the alotted places. To complete the third assigment of the week, or the References portion of my MGP, I created a page and titled it References.  I went through all of the work I have completed thus far (my genres) and copied and pasted all of the sites onto this page.  I then posted it to my weblog.  To complete the fourth assignment of the week, Re-Vision the Work, I had to pick a genre that I wanted to work on further, or that I thought could use some serious revising (they all do!).  I decided to work on my Journal Entries using the SCAR method as I wanted this to be my Unifying Genre and it had not included the appropriate links that it needed to.  I first read over the document to see if any errors jumped out at me directly.  I started with S, or substitute, and thought of a few words that I knew would be stated more clearly.  I then changed these words to make them more precise.  I then worked on C, or cut.  I then thought about the words/phrases I had used in my piece that should be removed to make the piece more clear to the reader.  I then worked on A, or Add.  I added more detail to the piece (trying to make it not too wordy) so that the reader would be able to percive the work better.  Then, I worked on R, or rearrange and did the least of this aspect.  I did move some details around, but not as much as Substituting, Adding, and Cutting. I then wrote approximately 56o words about why I decided to change certain aspects of my work.

Conditional Knowledge: I feel as though creating a Table of Contents for my project will make it easier for the readers of my project to find their way around my weblog easier without being confused or misunderstanding what they should look at first.  I truly hope as though giving feedback to Holly & Emma will help them understand how others see their work – hopefully the way they intended to do so.  If not, they will percieve what changes they should make & how.  By putting all of my resources together on my weblog, it will enable credit to be given where it is due.  If someone is looking for how to get information about Pediatric Dysphagia by looking at my site, this will allow them to retrieve this information without looking at other genres to do so. By revising my work, I was able to fix it so that it is unifying and others can piece my work together as a cohesive whole unit. I hope will all of these conditions, I have done them effectively. 

In addition to using the SCAR method, just being able to read over your document over and over again, you are able to notice many things you did not the initial time the document was created.  By letting it sit for a period of time and then rereading it, you are able to catch many things that you would not normally.  The SCAR method is a great way to revise that you would not think of if not pointed out that you could add, cut, substitute or revise.

Declarative Knowledge: To be able to complete my 7th genre, I had to know what a powerpoint presentation is composed of and how to make one.  I learned that making powerpoints is a very uncomplicated task that only takes a long period of time to complete! Through my powerpoint presentation, I learned that the goals of therapy for Pediatric Dysphagia are primarily few, but very complex procedures.  There are functional goals and compensatory goals.  A number of goals that are created and executed through therapy are for the child experiencing the disorder, while the others, are for the caregivers/parents who take care of the child doing things such as feeding.

I learned that digital literacy is a small term that ties together a number of various literacy skills we have been learning about throughout the semester.  Digital literacy skills are those that tie together a number of others that help those find their way through technological situations and using digital devices and knowledge correctly and to the best of their own ability.  I learned that a preface should contain why you decided to do a certain project and explain why it is interesting to you.  Acknowledgments should contain those in which you wish that thank or notice for helping you complete your project; for supplying outside information or even for moral support.  An about the author does just that – tells about you! The person writing the documentation or putting together a collection of knowledge and why you are doing so.

Procedural Information: I created my powerpoint, because we had to complete this genre, by first looking back at my project prospectious and thinking about the essential question I had not completely answered yet.  I found this was “the goals of therapy for pediatric dysphagia”.  I started doing research; looking through books Mrs. Holland gave me on therapy of pediatric dysphagia, tried to find articles online (that you did not have to buy), and visited various websites such as the Duke Medical Center Page on Feeding Disorders.  Once I had found my information, I started piecing it together cohesively for my document.  I opened up Microsoft Office Powerpoint and started looking around to refamiliarize myself with the program so I would understand how to use it.  I looked at clip art, different templates for slides, and even how to layout my information to make it visually appealing.  When I was satisfied with the pictures I wanted to use and the information I would use for this piece, I started drafting.  I put all of my information on the slides by typing it in, manipulating the font and size, and then putting the slides in the correct order of which the viewer should see them.  I then saved this document and watched it over and over as a slideshow to make sure I was able to follow the powerpoint presentation easily and ensure the terms used were not too difficult to understand for an ordinary reader.  I then used APA format to put together a slide showing my resources.  When completed, I got on my weblog and created a page for this Genre 7, Powerpoint Presentation.  I created a title for it and then had to upload it from Microsoft to the page “copying to editor”.  This took a very long time, expecially for the amount of slides I had completed.  I then commented on the work by two of my fellow classmates, Holly & Emma.  I visited their weblogs, looked at their Genre 6 critically and then wrote to them on their comment feature different tips I could offer on their work such as who it was created for, who it was in the “voice of”, what information they were attempting to express, something I thought they did well on, and something I thought they could think about further.  I then looked up websites and articles on digital literacy to complete assigment 3.  I answered the questions, What Do you know about Digital Literacy, What my reaction to these skills is, and how I feel as Digital Literacy will influence education.  I posted my 600 (little over need) to my weblog as 12.3.  I then completed the assigment of Preface.  To do this, I had to think very critically as to why I chose to complete my project on Pediatric Dysphagia and attempt to word it into how others would understand my rationale.  I posted this as a page to my weblog.  For assignment 5, Acknowledgements, I looked at books I had to see how they completed theirs such as Janet Evonovich.  I then thought about how I had learned all the information I did, and who I owed for that.  This was fun to do and I hope that these people will someday read my Thanks! For the last assigment of the week, I created an About the Author page on my weblog. In this document, I wrote approximately 10 sentences about myself, shortly explaining something about me to a reader who may stumble upon this site.  I posted all of these assigments to my weblog.  I included information that was broad and even personal into these sites, keeping in mind anyone could be reading it!

Conditional Knowledge: I hope as my Powerpoint presentation will benefit someone learned about Pediatric Dysphagia.  Hopefully a clinician would know more about the skills than is shown in my document so the information it percieves would not be as influential to them.  However, I hope that to someone who cares for someone with pediatric dysphagia will understand the importance of theraputic tecniques and how they would be benefial to their child.  I hope that I helped Holly & Emma by telling them they are doing a great job on their work and offer them some advice on how they could make it even better (at least in my own opinion).  My learning about digital literacy, I will again hope to never take these skills for granted and hope to only strengthen them through my continued work with technology.  With my last three assigments, I hope to give my site some “personality” and hope the reader who does not know me can understand the reason I chose my topic for this project, why I love it so much, and those I am ever so grateful for.

Digital literacy is a very small term that is used to describe a number of skills, functions, and qualities a person must develop to be able to use digital tools & devices effectively.  There are so many skills we have automatically that others may see as “inate” however, it is one concept to have the skills but a completely new one to understand how you use them efficiently.  By having & even using these skills, one is more apt to be able to communicate with each other electronically, understanding how to use and find knowledge on the internet, and complete tasks that are digitally oriented.  There are a number of subcategories of various types of literacies that encompass digital literacy: Photo-Visual Literacy, Reproduction Literacy, Branching Literacy, Information Literacy, and Socio-Emotional Literacy.  All of these have their own unique skills that a technologically savy user must be aware of and familiar with to use technology to the best of their ability.  Photo-Visual Literacy is the ability to understand knowledge through looking at images or pictures.  One must have emense “cognitive” skills to be able to read into information through visuals.  Another type of literacy is Reproduction Literacy, skills that are developed enabling others to broadcast their creative works to others and allowing those learners to corperate their documents for their own use and understanding.  Branching Literacy includes the skills that are developed enabling someone to use the information they have found to put it together cohesively to form their own knowledge.  Socio-Emotional Literacy is the skills you must have to safely and effectively navigate your way around the internet such as knowing when sites are safe for your own use.  The last kind of digital literacy is Information Literacy.  This is the ability to find information you need through the internet. 

What are your reactions to the idea that there are certain digital literacy skills?

I am not at all surprised there are digital literacy skills.  Before this course began, there are a number of these skills that we all possed initially; however, it was beyond our thought process that these were titled and indefinately, even existed.  Such things as Socio-Emotional literacy and Information Literacy are very important to me and I hope that I use these skills often.  Circumstances such as trusting those you are recieving information from and communicating with online is an important tactic to treasure.  Also, being able to find the documentation for educational use and knowledge is also very beneficial to all of use who need the resources or have a desire to learn more material.  I feel as those all of these “digital literacy” skills are ones that all people involved with digital technology should encompass and in turn, most likely do.  Skills such as motor control, cognitive thinking, and critical thinking skills are each a part of digital literacy; we each have some of these, at least I hope so.  I am very glad and appreciative that I learned about these skills before it was too late and skills such as these were taken for granted.

How do you think this “new” literacy will change education/schooling?

My opinion of this question has changed many times, even in my own mind, to how this will effect learners growing up in a technological world.  However, I do not feel that these skills are “new”.  I feel and hope as though they have always existed, just not named and throught critically about.  I am under the impression though, as teachers will be certain to instill these many skills in their students in hopes they will develop them at a faster pace; fulfilling their potential of use of the internet and digital capabilities.

Eshet-Alkalai, Y. (2004). Digital literacy: A conceptual framework for survival in the digital era. Journal of

Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 13(1), 93 -106. Retrieved November 12, 2006.

Declarative Knowledge: This week, I learned that in a letter to a politician, you need to express your feelings about a specific subject, a description of why you feel this way, and a suggestion of how this focus may be accomplished.  It also needs to be a professional addressed document that states specific points to a subject matter.  Socio-Emotional Literacy skills are skills that are developed to help you navigate your way through the internet in a mature, suspecting manner.  It is necessary to understand these skills so that your own knowledge may be shared with others, you understand how to view and use research materials of others, and how to use online entertainment web providers to your own advantage.

Procedural Knowledge: I approached writing an imitation letter to a politician by first thinking about the main focus I wanted to center my attention to Pediatric Dysphagia around.  I decided that I wanted the point of the letter to be about state funding for Pediatric Medical Research.  I stated points such as how to save the state money, to help the welfare of insurance companies, and children who are suffering from this disorder.  I then looked online for the address for this department in the capitol building and made up a fake name for the receiver.  I looked up points online on the cite, Caroline Pediatric Dysphagia, to find reasons this disorder should not be overlooked to add credibility to my document.  I tried to write my letter to be the most flowing letter as possible, while still trying to inform the audience of the urgency.  I then gave feedback to Holly & Emma by reading their 5th genres and answering the prompts: Voice, Audience, Say Back, Bless, and Address.  By reading their work a number of times, thinking about it critically (such as what would I like to know more about, or what really impressed me about this document).  You then try your best to think about how you can help them, or maybe get them to think critically about a point to enhance the performance of their own work.  You then post this on the comment section of your assigned classmates weblog.  I then found information on Socio-Emotional Literacy by looking for it on Google.com. I found a website that I have read on previously thoughout the semester.  It is written by a very professional speaking professor who has dedicated a lot of his works to literacy topics.  I answered the questions, What {do you know/can you find out} about socio-emotional literacy? What are your feelings that there are these types of skills?  Do you feel as though this will change schooling/education?  By reading about the topic and then trying to answer the questions, an approximately 400 word reflection may be produced.  This is then posted to your weblog.  After these were complete, I looked at each of the socio-emotional writings of my classmates to make comments about their feelings/emotions on the subject as well.

Conditional Knowledge: I feel as though reading my Letter to a Politician, someone could gain a better understanding of Pediatric Dysphagia and should come to an understanding that others should be concerned with it’s reprecussions more than just the ones suffering from it’s effects.  I feel as it’s another good piece of information about Pediatric Dysphagia that may aid the reader on it’s symptoms, effects…etc.  I feel that by researching socio-emotional literacy, I will think more clearly about the skills you must encompass when using the internet and that it is not something that should be taken lightly.  I again, hope that Holly and Emma will benefit from my comments; I know that feedback from others truly does help me.

I found that socio-emotional literacy are the skills that are acquired to travel your way through the world wide web.  It includes the processes that you begin to encompass when you are looking at the work of others, allowing researchers to view your own, and even being online for entertainment purposes.  According to Aharon Aviram, Socio-emotional literacy is having the skills to “understand the rules of the game.”  He believes that this type of digital literacy is a must and most likely, the most important one a user needs for the internet world.  Eshet-Alkalai believes that socio-emotional literacy skills are the skills that are used to not only share your information with others, but sharing your emotions through digital communication; to find harmful people in chatrooms, avoid internet scams, and knowing what to open/not open because of harmful viruses.  These skills are those that require the user to become mature working with the internet, have a solid understanding of the digital world, and be constant critical thinkers. 

What are your reactions that there are certain socio-emotional skills?

I am not surprised that there are skills that are needed for the user to obtain when searching/using the internet or other forms of digital technology.  These skills are those that help to keep us safe from harmful things that are out there for us to come in contact with such as computer viruses that may crash our own PCs, dangerous people that could be lurking in chatrooms, or even knowing what sites are relevant and truthful research sources.  What I find interesting though, is that these skills do indeed take time to aknowledge and achieve.  They take experience and dedication to the skills and services of the internet, and respect to others who are also users for the same reasons.  Another interesting feature is that when searching this topic, I found studies that have been completed by Eshet-Alkalai on the formation of these skills.  It was discovered that younger people have more of these skills than older users.  I believe this is because we have grown up in the technological world.  Older users, perhaps those who are unfamiliar with the internet, may be nieve to the harmul, dangerous pathogens that are able to damage you, your trust, or even your equipment.

How do you think this “new” literacy will change education/schooling?

I believe that this will greatly change schooling and everyone involved with the process of using internet/digital tools for education.  Students in this time of “digital craze” do need to understand the dangers of using false knowledge and how to interpret it (even if it is posted on the internet), be aware of harmful pathogens that could affect their own or the schools computers, and even when to be aware of unsecure sites or crazy people in chatrooms. When so many students are using such resources as myspace and facebook, it is important to be aware of these skills and how to use them productively.  These are skills that we all have but maybe unaware of it; if perhaps we were educated on them and how to put them to work for us, an abundance of product would surface.

Aviram, A. (2006). Towards a Theory of Digital Literacy: Three Scenarios for the Next

Steps. European Journal of Open, Distance, and E-Learning. Retrieved

November 5, 2006, from

www.eurodl.org/materials/contrib/2006/Aharon_Aviram.htm

Almost everyone that I receive emails from are either nutritionists, speech langugage pathologists, or physicians.  They discuss so many topics from tests, coughs, saliva types, food, and many others.  I have not actually written a letter to be sent out to the entire group (I think that I’m apprehensive because they know so much about the topic and it’s very obvious).  Another thing that they do very often is discuss articles they have read along with journals and books that they are each familiar with.  They talk about the tecniques they have tried or would like to try and the outcomes they have each produced. 

I think that mailing lists are a great thing.  It seems to me as there are people on there that have very strong ties with each other and trust each other very much – otherwise they would not ask eachother for the opinions as they do.  A lot of the information that I have recieved through these emails has been and will be very helpful for me to use in the future.  As it does not really have a source, it will be difficult to use the information concretely, but it does spark ideas and thoughts into my head about pediatric dysphagia.  I am really glad that i joined the mailing list that I did. It is run by Dysphagia.com and is called the Dysphagia Archives.  I am very happy that I have joined this mailing list.  It has provided me with a lot of useful information!  

Declarative Knowledge: This week, I learned how to create a podcast.  According to www.gcast.com, a podcast is a way to share recorded audio material through the internet with others who want to listen to it as a FM MP3 file.  You are able to record anywhere from 10 seconds to 30 minutes of material for others to listen to.  It is very easy to do and on this website, it is free!  Reproduction Literacy is the process of taking an idea, document, or creation and manipulating it to produce something completely new.

Procedural Knowledge: I decided to do a podcast for my genre this week because it was something that we had just learned about and I thought that it seemed very simple and engaging and would truly enhance my project.  I first looked at my foundation questions and thought about which one I had not answered yet.  The first question, “What is Dysphagia?” in my opinion, hadn’t been touched on clearly enough.  I decided to create a podcast that explained pediatric dysphagia in a very clear way.  I first found resources that I wanted to use for this product and wrote out what I wanted to say on paper.  I then looked on the GCast website and found the number to call to record my message.  I read what I wanted my Podcast to say and read it aloud as if I was leaving a message on any voicemail.  I then listened to my message after I left it and automatically sent it to my podcast.  I then posted a page onto my weblog that was entitled Genre 5.  I linked “Whitney’s Explanation” to www.gcast.com and then wrote into words what my podcast said exactly.  It also included a short story at the top explaining why my podcast was done and for who.  I then wrote comments on Holly & Emma’s Genre 4 assigments to tell them my feelings about this document.  I explained who I thought was speaking in the document, who it was written for, what it was trying to explain, what I really liked about it, and what I thought they should change to make it better.  I tried to think very constructively to truly help them with what I thought they should change and what they should be proud of.  I am counting on them & I want them to be able to count on me for helpful comments to their work.  I then did work to find information and write a reflection on Reproduction Literacy.  I did this by going to www.google.com and searching for Reproduction Literacy.  I then thought about what I learned and found out about these skills, my reactions to these ideas, how I believe education/schooling will be changed because of this, and gave some examples of why I felt this way.  I then looked back on the mailing list I have been a part of for the last 9 weeks on Dysphagia. I looked at emails that  had recieved, who was talking in the lists, and the information they were providing to the discussions.  I then got onto my weblog and posted all of this information under week 10.

Conditional Knowledge: I am very excited and happy that over the last couple of weeks of having this class, I have learned so much about various types of internet digital works and literacies.  Some of these topics I have learned about and discussed are things I would have never learned about otherwise such as podcasts, webliographies, and project prospectus.  I am very happy that these literacy skills are now something I will think about when using them and I would not have before.  I am also happy that I have the chance to have others in my class evaluate my work and give me their perspective on the documents I have created, while I do the same for them in return!  I really liked the assigments we completed this week!