Brock prof gets grant to help kids use technology in learning

By GRANT LAFLECHE ST. CATHATINES STANDARD

The time has come for teachers to start thinking digital. Or so says Brock University professor Jennifer Rowsell.

One of four Canada Research Chair grant recipients announced by Brock Thursday, Rowsell says today's school children simply don't read the way their parents did.

Where their parents would sit down with a book to read, today's kids farm for information in the digital world using what Rowsell calls "multimodal literacy."

"This means they are using several modes of expression at once," she said. "They are reading text, but there are photos and hyperlinks and videos and sound and they are navigating this all at once."

Twitter, Facebook and other social media not typically part of a standard English class are part of how a 21st century student develops and uses literacy. Students, she said, are no less intelligent than in the past, but they are less engaged by a classic novel than with material they find in the digital universe.

The consequences of this use of digital technology has been two-fold, Rowsell said. On the one hand, students move between different media quickly and efficiently.

"But what is missing, however, is a deeper understanding of the subject matter," she said.

So her research, which is funded for the next five years through the research grant, looks at finding ways to integrate the technology that engages the students with subject matter they need to know.

So a teacher might have students create a podcast using photos, scripted voiceovers and other media elements to dive into Shakespeare's King Lear, she said.

Rowsell was one of four professors to receive Canada Research Chair funding this week. The other three were previous recipients and will receive funding for the next several years. In total, Brock received $2.9 million in funding.