Case Study Reviews

I chose the following two case studies to review and reflect upon.
  

1. Imagine All that Stuff Really Happening: narrative and identity in children’s on-screen writing
   
2.  Kids Closer Up:Playing, Learning, and Growing with Digital Media 

  

Summary of Case Study 1

In reading "Imagine All that Stuff Really Happening: narrative and identity in children's on-screen writing, I felt a bit lost at times. Admittedly, my university undergraduate background is not in education, and I think that may have played a factor in deciphering the information and how it applies to the early findings and summaries of my own Media Ecology Case Study: 10 Years Old & Tech Savvy.

However, I believe the study makes a case for the educational value that can be placed on children being digitally inclined and technologically aware.  The author, in his final statement, indicates, "Digital media and the new forms of communication provide rich possibilities for redefining interaction, and establishing participation and production that

reach out beyond classroom spaces."  It is clear he sees a valuable connection between what kids can do online and the impact it has on higher thinking, critical assessment and in depth communication.

It appears what many of the students pick up through digital sources (movies, music, television shows, online games), they can and do utilize in writing typical of writing assignment.  The author found, "Many of the texts that these projects generated show children recruiting different parts of their multi-layered identities into the texts they produce.

Whilst some aspects of their narrative writing are characteristic of the enclosures of bookspace, the electronic communication is far more diverse,often showing fluid movement between different facets of the authors’ experience."

In one student's writing, a girl named Kavita, the author notes that she includes phrases like "there once was", "formally known as" and "the hit film Disney's Beauty and the  Beast".  I'm going out on a limb to say that some of those phrases weren't likely learned in the classroom, but she can certainly incorporate them into her assignment for this study.  I'd venture to say then, students are learning from digital technologies and can successfully incorporate those lessons into their creativity and critical thinking.

For example, a student named Kavita, spends much of her time personalizing the writings she shares with the study's author - from developing her own sort of signature in emails to coming up with designs and digital artwork to go with her the stories she shares.  Simply changing the text color to red and background to green when she describes a single rose that is growing in her story is part of her storytelling and communicating.

In this case study, I found information to support my own theory that multimodal and multigenre ideas adapted from technology can better a classroom experience.

Summary of Case Study 2  

In beginning to read "Kids Closer Up: Playing, Learning and Growing with Digital Media", I was initially excited to see how two 8 year old girls (with similar online and digital interests as the 10 year old in my case study) were using technology to engage in creativity and entertainment. The study considered the socioeconomic backgrounds of the two young girls, influences of adults and other children in their lives and access to games, movies, Internet browsers and more.  They were the mirror image of the student in my own case study.

Similarities in Case Study 2 and my Case Study

• The girls enjoy music via iPods or other devices with earbuds.  
• They enjoy gaming systems, especially if they can engage in play with others.
• They play fashion games.
• They enjoy cooking games. 
•  They have regular access to digital media and the Internet.

Differences in Case Study 2 and my Case Study

•  The younger girls have not created their own digital works (videos, edited pictures)
• There was no indication the younger girls have had to write research papers and use the Internet as a source for information.
• The younger girls had not yet sought out sites that allowed them to better manage their own creativity (for example Tikatock - as mentioned in the initial draft of my own case study.)

Because of fewer examples of those self created multimodal products, I believe the author of Kids Closer Up: Playing, Learning and Growing with Digital Media, did not necessarily find educational value in what kids are doing with digital media.  She wrote, "Even as new technologies captivate young users in ever-faster cycles, the developmental capacities and predilections of children remain, for the most part, stable." 

It could be I misunderstood the purpose of the case study, but I disagree that online digital media use doesn't impact development.

She does acknowledge that the age of her case study students may limit the educational value they get from digital media and indicates future use of digital media could be valuable in learning: "Eight-year-olds are still too young to effectively appropriate many of the digital tools and resources available for creative expression and computation. Trajectories toward future participation are not determined by age 8, but how Katie and Victoria use digital media to pursue topics of interest to them now will shape what they know, what they can do, and how they see themselves by age 13."

For that last argument, I feel that the entire 23 page study was not a waste in the terms of trying to analyze my own case study.