Week 2 – Journal Post - Signs and Symbols

In your journal post, consider the concept of interactive participant and represented participant as identified in the semiotic theory in Kress and Van Leeuwin Chapter 2 and its link to the social context of literacy.

Based on our text Reading Images, The Grammar of Visual Design written by Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen, “there are two types of participant involved in every semiotic act, interactive participants and represented participants. The former are the participants in the act of communication – the participants who speak and listen or write and read, make images or view them, whereas the latter are the participants who constitute the subject matter of the communication; that is the people, places and things (including abstract things) represented in and by the speech or writing or image, the participants about whom or which we are speaking or writing or producing images” (Kress & van Leeuwn, 48).

Symbols are used in our everyday lives as a form of communication.  We are typically surrounded by signs and symbols. After completing our reading, I took notice of places I visited that day to really absorb just how many signs we know and recognize.  This was an interesting read for me.  I have always been aware of signs and symbols, and their impact on everyday life, but I had never been aware that there was an actual name for it.  I wasn’t aware it was an actual theory; and I had never heard of social semiotic theory of multimodality.

I feel so many people learn visually so I can understand why signs and symbols have such an impact on society. We see symbols in our everyday lives when driving, traveling, searching for a restroom, or visiting a park. Company logos also represent a type of sign or symbol we see and recognize every day.  As part of our literacy, we need to incorporate symbols into other forms of literacy that we encounter.  Our text states that “it is important to stress the essential interchangeability of visual and verbal participants in diagrams, and, indeed, in many other visual genres. Although the processes and structures in diagrams are always visual, the participants which they relate to each other may be of different kinds: pictures, naturalistic or schematic; abstract shapes, with or without verbal labels; words, either enclosed or not enclosed in boxes or other shapes, letters; and so on” (Kress & van Leeuwn, 57).

In addition to globally recognized signs, there are also the signs that I have incorporated into my own job.  As I manage a project or develop a course, I have symbols that I use to quickly alert me to where I am with the project tasks.  I use an application called Microsoft Visio often to manage larger projects. I use it to develop flow charts.  In doing so, shapes are selected to represent a certain action or step such as a process, decision, or delay.  Even the arrows connecting the shapes have a meaning – to show relationships.  According to out text, “the straight line, for instance, means what it literally is: ‘straight’. The ‘straightness’ may then be used to carry any one of a vast range of meanings compatible with that” (Kress & van Leeuwn, 56).

When employees login to our learning management system (LMS), they are greeted by symbols telling them at a quick glance whether they have completed a training requirement or are still in progress or enrolled. They can also see a symbol for the type of training they are enrolling in. There are symbols representing courses in the areas of sales, safety, technology, to name a few.  Speaking of safety, our employees need to be aware of all symbols (called pictograms) representing chemical hazards. These pictograms represent dangers such as flammables, gasses, irritants, explosives and other health hazards.  These are in place to keep employees safe from hazards and to prevent hazards.  To see a list of these OSHA pictograms, you can visit the OSHA website – they are helpful for everyone to know and recognize (OSHA.gov) in their own day to day lives.   

Resources

Kress, Gunther & van Leeuwen, Theo (2006). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. New York: Routledge.  

OSHA, https://www.osha.gov/Publications/HazComm_QuickCard_Pictogram.html

My Week 1 Journal Post

In this course we view new literacies as a social practice, just as we will consider visual grammar a social resource for meaning. Reflecting on your own literacy practices while connecting to the readings, respond in your first journal post to the following quote: "The distinctive contribution of the approach to literacy as social practice lies in the ways in which it involves careful and sensitive attention to what people do with texts, how they make sense of them and use them to further their own purposes in their own learning lives" (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p. 9).

In my opinion, the ways in which people learn continuously changes, supported by changes and advances in technology.  As we learn about new literacies throughout this MALET program, I anticipate ongoing changes and improvements to the way we do things even today.  We use words like ‘new’ and ‘emerging’ to define technology and its place and impact on learning and the learning environment. We also look at social and cultural practices and behaviors.  As learners and educators, we compare the old, comfortable ways of doing things with new and cutting edge ways to learn, improve processes and increase the ability to collaborate with others. 

No matter what changes and improvements are made, I feel that people will continue to react positively to texts as a means for learning.  I do believe that the texts themselves may evolve to provide the learner with more visual representations of the content. As our society becomes more visual, this will allow texts to continue to be relevant and remain a mainstay in the learning environment.  Based on the reading Digital Literacies: A research  briefing by the Technology Enhanced Learning phase of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme, Gunther Kress states in his work The Profound Shift of Digital Literacies that “Texts are becoming intensely multimodal, that is, image is ever-increasingly appearing with writing, and, in many domains of communication, displacing writing where it had previously been dominant” (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p. 6).

I believe that texts both in their content versions as well as their multimodal versions will remain a part of current/modern learning environments. I feel that texts will continue to have a place in the learning environment.  They offer a sense of consistency, a sort of foundation that all learners can build upon using various forms of new literacies.  This adaptability is achieved through various means such as social media, blogs, eLearning, simulations, webcasts, and podcasts, for example.  By incorporating textbooks along with these new literacies, learners are able to meet certain core objectives and competencies while offering the adaptability to adapt the individual learner outcomes. Based on our text, “Developments from a range of social theory perspectives have progressively chipped away at the virtual monopoly over educational research of text-based practices previously exercised by psychologists of one type or another” (Lankshear and Knobel, 2011, p, 76).

Practices I follow to help aid me in my journey of continuous learning still include using texts as that foundation to build upon.  I tend to take notes based on the readings, highlight passages, and refer back to the readings as sources. These practices help me to learn, retain and to understand the content.  There is something to be said for holding the book in your hands and navigating through it.  I can use my tablet to highlight and bookmark as well, however sometimes there is a benefit to having the actual book to reference. 

Philosopher Francis Bacon was credited with the quote “Knowledge is Power.”    Learners are empowered through the use of these new and varied literacies. Through these new literacies, learning is transported from a more individual/personal scenario to one which allows for collaboration, networking, and teambuilding. In addition, offering a varied array of options allows for learners of different generations to adapt and grow. I am a strong proponent of eLearning and blended methodologies, especially in the corporate learning environment, but I do believe that there is value to textbooks even in today’s ever-changing world.  This variation helps to meet and exceed the expectations of learners and facilitators – which are different when you consider traditional versus new expectations for learning outcomes and the transfer of knowledge at a rapid pace. In addition to an individual being deemed literate because he or she encompasses the ability to read and write, Gunther Kress states that “Digital literacies are in a deep and profound sense new literacies, not merely the traditional concept of literacy – reading and writing – carried on in new media” (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p.6).

In the company I work for, we rely on various types of communication including written content, live presentations, and visual aids.  We use tablets, computers, and smartphones, smart boards for demonstration purposes and note taking, textbooks, handouts, and posters.  In addition, eLearning plays a heavy role in the training of our employees.  Although many of the courses are somewhat linear in nature today, there are also courses which involve interactions, simulations and build your own adventure type scenarios.  I am always looking for new ways to incorporate additional emerging technologies into the current offerings.  Offering the varied methodologies allows us to communicate to employees real time as opposed to textbooks which are not necessarily updated and relevant as time goes by and change happens. In analyzing the graphical representation provided of Green’s approach to literacy, I recognize the importance of incorporating all three concepts/dimensions (Operational, Cultural and Critical) of literacy and technology (Durrant & Green, 2000).  In my opinion, all are equally important and impactful for learning as a whole. Although employees are somewhat expected to adapt to the new ways of learning, in my experience they are typically open to it.  Newer employees entering the business world are typically more tech savvy and those less comfortable with technology are transitioned over time as we implement change.  Changing what they know and challenging their comfort level using new forms of media. In doing so, they are given options.  Everyone learns differently.  Some rely more heavily on the comfort level of a text, while others are engaged and stimulated by what technology has to offer. 

References

Durrant, C., Green, B. (2000) Literacy and the new technologies in school education: Meeting the l(IT)eracy challenge? Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 23(2), 89-108.

Julia Gillen & David Barton, Digital Literacies: A Research Briefing by the Technology Enhanced Learning Phase of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme: ESRC 2010.

Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2011). Ideas of Functional Literacy: Critique and Redefinition of an Educational Goal. In Literacies: Social, cultural and historical perspectives. New York: Peter Lang.