A11.4: Week 11 Reflection

Aims and objectives: This week I wanted to choose and complete my 6th genre, edit my other genres, and learn about socio-emotional literacy.  I wanted to pace myself with the assignments, completing them thoroughly and on time.

Declarative Knowledge: This week I learned that socio-emotional literacy deals with a persons experiences on the Internet.  Basically it is being able to distinguish good and bad, right and wrong, and being precautious when dealing with different people and things on the Internet.  I learned that this type of literacy is very important for both adults and children.  I also found that being socio-emotionally literate is extremely important when taking part in chat rooms, instant messenging, or any type of forum.  People can often provide ficitious information about themselves, in turn possibly being harmful to someone they talk with on the Internet. 

Procedural Knowledge: In order to complete my 6th genre I had to chose from the ones I had not yet done and then create it as a page.  I chose to do my podcast.  I wrote the text of my podcast and then went to gcast.com to record it.  I called the number, recorded it and then pasted the link on my page.  After completing it I saved and published the page, then sent the link to the class list for everyone to view.  After this, I completed the peer review on Abby and Alyssa’s 5th genre.  I did this by using the comment feature on each of their weblogs.  For this I discussed the voice each piece was in, the intended audience, what I thought the author was trying to say, something specific I liked/”blessed”, and something they may want to consider addressing. Next, I saved the comment.  After this, I continued to find information on socio-emotional literacy.  I conducted a search and found the site Creativity at Work: Articles and Tips, which provided information on what socio-emotional literacy was.  After this I discussed what I found out about this type of literacy, how I felt that certain skills were required to be socio-emotionally literate, and how I thought it had/will change schooling/education.  I then saved and published the reflection to my weblog.  I also commented on my group mates reflections about socio-emotional literacy using their comment features. 

Conditional Knowledge: Before this week I did not really know what a podcast was.  I’m very surprised that it is so easy to record an audio file on the Internet.  These could be used to enhance any type of project or just for your own personal amusement.  I actually let my roommate listen to mine and she was impressed also.  Knowing about socio-emotional literacy is important for everyone.  I think people have recently become more aware of this type of literacy and will continue to use it accordingly.  The Internet poses very many opportunities for people to get themselves in danger so we must all remember this when utilizing the technology.  I think educating people about this type of literacy will be a primary concern now and in the future. 

A11.3 Socio-emotional Literacy

       Before this assignment I did not have any knowledge about socio-emotional literacy, other than what I had seen in passing when researching the other forms of literacy.  To learn about socio-emotional literacy I conducted a search.  According to the site Creativity at Work: Articles & Tips socio-emotional literacy deals with a persons intuition, in a sense.  More specifically, socio-emotional literacy refers to what is right and wrong, along with knowing good from bad when being on the internet.  Being precautious when using instant messengers, chat rooms, or any type of forum is important for socio-emotional literacy.  When people are on the Internet, they can often easily lead people to believe they are someone else so it is very important for people to be socio-emotionally literate. 
       Like I previously stated, I do think there are certain skills that this type of literacy requires; However, I also feel like it has a lot to deal with a persons intuition/conscience.  Most people know when they are doing right or wrong, and often get a bad feeling about something, but often choose to ignore their intuition.  I know when I was younger that I often wanted to join chat rooms, just because I was curious and my mom and dad told me not to.  I knew that I wasn’t supposed to, however I chose to ignore that and do it anyway.  Luckily, I only joined one once or twice and there were no pedophiles or anything that I talked with.  Although, I’m sure most of you have seen the Dateline shows about catching pedophiles on the Internet so we all are aware that it can and does happen.  I think it is very important for people to be aware that even though the internet can be very resourceful, it can also be dangerous.  This is why it is important for people to be socio-emotionally literate.
       Unlike the other types of literacy, I am not sure if this literacy has changed schooling/education yet.  I do however feel like it has the potential to change it.  Since students of all ages are beginning to use technology in schools more, I can imagine that they will also have to teach students how to be socio-emotionally literate.  Teaching children about reliable/valid sources, making them aware of the dangers of chat rooms, instant messenging, etc. will be very important, and making sure that families are involved when younger children are utilizing the digital world.  I personally feel like the family will play the biggest role in this, simply because the majority of the research and things will be done outside of the classroom.