A wealth of oral traditions to produce digi forms

We come from a culture with strong oral traditions--or a merging of these from many continents. The peoples from these places who came to our islands long ago to form one Caribbean, came from from European backgrounds, African, Indian and other groups. What wealth there is here! What wealth in verbality/oracy and a unique blend of ever-evolving music in festivals and in daily life. There are folktales, folklore,poems, stories games and characters out of the past who walk our way at carnival time when people become living, speaking poems. There is a need to capture this wealth of folk talent and talk tradition and and apply our digital resources to them--first for teachers and then for the teachers to pass this on to students. Teachers will have to become computer-savvy users, graphic artists and animators, musicians and song composers, but more than ever researchers and story tellers, writers, musicians,readers, team leaders, dramatists, producers of videos. They will have at least to be acquainted with what is current in digital technology for classroom use in other words like their students they will have to achieve digital fluency.

"This increasing awareness of the importance of communities in learning environments includes ways to use computers and technology in order to encourage collaboration... In what ways can digital technologies (in particular the Internet) add new dimensions to dialogue, storytelling, or collaboration? Huffaker hypothesizes that online forums and virtual communities, including message boards,Weblogs and instant messaging software (IM), allow children important spaces to share ideas and feelings, discuss issues and projects, ask and answer each other’s questions, and promote a prosocial spirit..."

Questions for discussion and research...

How readily available is internet access to our local homes and schools? What condition are computer labs in, in our schools? Even when a digi-project gets going how can one best encourage the participation of schools and teachers? How will this kind of Literacy exciting though it is fit into the more traditional kind of curriculum and find acceptability with the teaching fraternity. Teachers themselves should form an online network/group to explore these and other related issues and share pertinent information.

Footer

This work is licensed by Yvonne John under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 2.0), and is an Open Educational Resource.

Last edited by Yvonne John on Nov 21, 2008 2:38 am US/Central.