ebook readers in China

Until I began EDRL 6004, I wasn't aware that ebooks existed, far less ebook readers. Today, I'm reading that in China according to a nationwide survey, 1 in 4 Chinese between the ages of 18 and 70 reads e-books. And for readers under the age of 29, the number of Chinese reading e-books is almost 1 in 2. Keeping in mind that the population of China is 1.3 billion, this is a very literate country.

I guess that is why last week, news broke that Amazon's Kindle is seeking to enter the Chinese ebook reader market. Already active in China's e-book market is Hanvon Technology, which, according to the South China Morning Post, currently dominates about 90 percent of China's e-book sales. Hanvon says it sold about 270,000 e-book readers in 2009 and expects to sell 2 million in 2010.

I guess with the competition, there will be a flurry of ads and the prices may go down, thus encouraging more readers to invest in the ebook readers. As for me, I'm still wondering how to get someone to buy me an ebook reader as a present.

To read more of this article, click here:

http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2010/0803/Will-Amazon-s-Kindle-catch-fire-in-China?sp_rid=NTI5OTY3MDEwNQS2&sp_mid=4528127

Updating skills

We have been talking about using these new technologies and how much difference we expect to see in the classroom. Remember, that we must model what we want our children to learn. If we want them to read and write more, we must read in their presence and discuss some of what we read with them to instil interest. We must also let them see us using blogs, wikis, ebooks etc and allow them to see our own interest and eagerness. Even though the students may be more efficient at using the technology that some of us, we need to keep ourselves a step ahead of them. After all, we are the teachers and we need to remain the authority figure in the classroom, whilst being facilitators of learning. So we need to keep practicing and learning continuously. Learning is lifelong.

Now that EDRL 6004 is over, it does not mean that we have learnt all there is to know about ICT for Reading. On the contrary, we have only touched the tip of the iceberg. We were just given a taste and we have to continue to explore, experiment, practice and share ideas and strategies. Our future as successful Reading Specialists depends on how much we continue to grow in terms of ICT and Reading Strategies.

Assessment strategies

If we are going to teach differently, we also have to assess differently. If we are teaching by incorporating Web 2.0 technology in our lessons, it is unreasonable to continue paper and print assessment. We will need to assess practically. Thus we will have to learn to create rubrics for assessment. The students would have to be appraised of and be made comfortable with the rubrics, the same way we were treated at UWI. Maybe it's time for our goodly lecturers to conduct a session in creating effective rubrics, focusing on what to do and what to avoid. Until such time, we will just have to create our own for our five lesson plans.

In this era of multiple intelligences and Web 2.0 technology, our methods of teaching and assessing must evolve. We are, after all in the 21st century and so are our students. Let us move with the times, or else be left behind.

Digital Story Telling

What do children like to talk about the most? Themselves! (Most adults I know as well, lol). Even more so they like pictures of themselves. My students very often bring to school  pictures of themselves, their families, family activities, vacation pics and so on, and then proceed to explain every detail of the picture to me. Imagine if we could incorporate pictures of these kids and their activities into lessons? Think of the level of interest that would be generated. Well, wait no more, digital story books are here – to stay. When we were introduced to this concept in ICT in Reading I was blown away. It was so easy for the EDRL 6004 group to create an instructional digital story that my mind began to wander. How could I use this in my class?

For the past couple of years I have taken a camera almost everywhere I go. I am of the view that unexpected shots are the best. I have taken shots of snakes in the yard, birds inside the house, flood waters all around my car, a TV personality I met at the airport and all sorts of unexpected but lovely shots. Once I caught one of my post SEA students fast asleep on top of a desk. Another child was so eager to read a book for SSR that he sat inside the cupboard on the bottom shelf and started reading. He was so engrossed in reading; he never saw the flash of the camera.


All of this has made me realise I can use my hobby and the children’s love of pictures to allow the students to create digital photo-stories. Since they will be starring in them, the interest will be automatic, and they will have to ensure that the narration, captions and instructions are done well, thus enhancing speaking and writing skills. I am definitely going to pursue this one, even if I have to take my laptop to school to get it done.

Netiquette

Netiquette refers to internet etiquette. If we are to implement all these new technologies that we are learning in ICT in Reading, then we need to teach our students the proper way to interact with others online. There are behaviour rules to follow online just as if we were interacting with others physically. Students need to be taught netiquette and these rules need to be enforced by teachers in order to maintain disciplined online behaviour. This is especially important when using blogs and wikis and making comments.

Netiquette tips can be found here:


http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html