Profile Picture for Mia Zamora (DML Central)

Mia Zamora (DML Central)

Kean University 2017, The Network

Textransformations: Interactive Art Practice as Connected Learning

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We find ourselves in a cultural moment that is particularly fraught with the impulse for instant gratification as online social networks have us “plugged in” and busy narrating our lives online. So many have become wholly accustomed to certain forms of digital interactivity by seeking approval and amplification in online forums. Jaron Lanier has effectively dubbed certain social media platforms as “behavior modification empires.”  The hazards are now plain to see. Open communication platforms profit from the data generated from […]

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Kean University 2017, The Network

Connected Learning and 21st Century English Teacher Education

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Much of the current rhetoric about technology and education relates to devices and software programs — what types schools should purchase, how much money districts should spend on them, how they should be integrated into classroom learning, and what return on investment they should produce. The implicit message communicated by this rhetoric is that technology transforms education through the medium of specific tools — that these tools are what structure and produce powerful teaching and learning. Give teachers and students […]

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Kean University 2017, The Network

Reteaching Teaching: Pedagogy and Teacher Training for the Digital Age

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Digital media and networks, like blackboards and post-it notes, are tools whose effectiveness depends on how they are used. Whether you call it “connected learning” or a “new culture of learning,” deploying the tools depends on changing the mindset of educators. Connected learning elements are openly networked, interest powered, production centered, peer supported, shared purpose, academically oriented. Educators and trainers of educators are leading the way by experimenting with pedagogy that engages students by connecting their academic curriculum with their […]

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Kean University 2017, The Network

Networked Narratives: Designing for Emergence

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In our last script published here, we approached our Networked Narratives course (@NetNarr) in an emergent fashion. This next installment considers how students explore digital identity via a number of role-play activities, influenced by a few outside mystery characters. Designing for Emergence, The Screenplay, Part 2 Act 2: Scene 1 (A slow dissolve into a view over Alan’s shoulder in a video call with Mia. It’s the summer of 2017, and he sees the bright light coming through the window […]

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Kean University 2017, The Network

Networked Narratives: Digital Alchemy of Storytelling

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More than enough books, TED Talks, and blog posts have described the potential of storytelling. Stories often enhance our endeavors, whether in business communication or in learning, in political rhetoric or in our overall understanding of the world. The emphasis on the special essence of the story suggests an existence of a certain kind of magic. Could a story work like an elixir? For us, this notion of the magic in stories paved the way for our “digital alchemy” effort […]

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Kean University 2017, The Network

Watchworthy Wednesday: Meet 10 Women Championing Connected Learning

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As Women’s History Month comes to a close, let’s turn our attention to 10 women scholars making their mark as champions of connected learning. (Connected learning calls for broadened access to learning that is socially embedded, interest-driven and oriented toward educational, economic or political opportunity. It is based on evidence that the most resilient, adaptive and effective learning involves individual interest as well as social support.) As connected learning advocates, these 10 scholars, among a number of others worldwide, argue […]

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Kean University 2017, The Network

Air-B-N-Me: Self Representation in the Digital Age

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Is your real life anything like your online version of it? How have open networks and social media shaped our perceptions of both ourselves and others? The politics of representation in the digital age continue to shed provocative light on the divide between what is real and what is represented. In my current New Media Studies class, my students and I have found it useful to consider this question by investigating the idea of “filtering” — a concept that Jill […]

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Kean University 2017, The Network

Creating Cyber Connections

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We have been reflecting lately on the significance of our network in helping us learn and grow as scholars, as teachers, and as co-learners. Often, people associate the term network with the infrastructure of computer systems. But, what has this important term come to mean for learning in the context of digital pedagogy and the social web? Who do we connect with and how do we share on the web? How do networks facilitate and expand the scope of our […]

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Kean University 2017, The Network

Connecting Colleagues in Cyberspace

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If #connectedlearning is an educational approach designed for our ever-changing world, then Virtually Connecting is a #connectedlearning community that is reshaping the ways we think about professional collegiality.   In a traditional model of professional development, conferences have always been the key location to build conversations and connections. Conferences enrich our growth as educators and scholars in countless ways. That said, some conferences are simply more friendly than others (read accessible/open vs. elite/prestigious). Either way, it has always been the […]

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Kean University 2017, The Network

Digital Writing as Mode of Thinking

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In my current “Writing Theory & Practice” course, we have been discussing the elusive notion of “voice” in writing. What makes a writerly voice distinct, audible, sincere, authentic? What makes a voice compelling? We have recognized that voice is connected to both embodiment and subjectivity. We have talked about the important link between voice and empowerment. We have acknowledged how hard it is to hone one’s writerly voice, as we reach for a kind of agility that allows us to […]

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Kean University 2017, The Network

Advancing New Forms of Scholarship in Writing

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I continue to think a great deal about how new media has grown the possibilities of our collective academic work. As the director of a Masters in Writing Studies Program at Kean University, I often reckon with how our traditional forms of scholarship are merely one reference point when considering how to produce and create new knowledge. As a result, I have for some time been a proponent of a more expansive sense of what writing might entail in the […]

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