A recent study by Lodge, Hansen, and Cottrell (2016) was brought to the attention of the author of this commentary and motivated her to communicate this rebuttal regarding some of the suggested conclusions. The negative results for certain students of changing current classroom practices which have been noticeably successful for them in improving…

This critical, theoretical paper conceptualizes what determines an ethics for youth media production. Through discussions of media literacy, identity, and multimodality, I attempt to shift the question away from "What are the ethical ways in which youth use media?" toward the question "What are the ethics we have created as media literacy…

The expression of the self through multimodal texts is a central theme in education. While it has been suggested that new technologies act as important mediators in the relationship between texts and subjectivity, the mechanisms underlying such mediation has been a neglected topic of research. This paper considers the theoretical assumptions upon…

This response to Marni Binder reflects upon two examples of (im)migrant children's artwork and challenges the dominant notion that (im)migration experiences--and their subsequent portrayals--can be fit into neat slots. The authors position multimodal composing opportunities as affording children a vital instrument for deploying their full semiotic…

A few years ago, in a tutorial in an advanced level undergraduate subject that she teaches--"Emotions, Culture and Community"--the author was a witness and participant in a pedagogical event that moved and provoked the class: It incited response-ability. This article is about that event, the meaning of response-ability, and the window…

The author reflects on how she has used technology as a language teacher since the mid-1980s. She describes the evolution of technology in language learning pre- and Internet tools, from "blended learning" to social media. She concludes with the telecollaboration projects she has been recently working on and the issues they have found…

The aim of this paper is to discuss the nature and status of distance education in the age of globalization, i.e. how best it fits for the present educational scenario. In this connection, we will discuss how Blended Learning (hence after, BL) is one among the other learning strategies mostly helpful for the learners. Keeping this view in mind,…

Teacher-educator and researcher Daniel L. Kohut suggests in "Musical Performance: Learning Theory and Pedagogy" that there are many problems that result from the way music teachers often teach. Most teachers focus on the process, not the goal. The Natural Learning Process that Kohut advocates is the same process that young children use when they…

The purpose of teaching is to create opportunities for students to learn, and to support and evaluate the learning process as it unfolds. Professional middle-level teachers assume multiple roles in this process. Effective teachers are apt instructors who plan and implement lessons and evaluate student learning. The best teachers set high…

The commentary argues for an understanding of how texts are put together that accounts for multimodality and draws on children's ways of being and doing in the home, their "habitus". It focuses on identities as socially situated. It argues that it is important to trace the process of sedimenting identities during text production. This offers a way…

Notes that since acquisition and utilization of multimodal and crossmodal information analysis seem to develop greatly during the two through four year age period in humans, it might be possible to identify potential dyslexics by early testing the adequacy of those functions. Limitations on the number of concepts that can be handled simultaneously…

Looks at the various ideas related to learning styles and how they relate to our concepts of schooling. (JOW)

This paper addresses many theories of learning and human development which are very similar with regards as to how they suggest learning occurs. The differences in most of the theories exist in how they treat the development of the learner compared to methods of teaching. Most of the major learning theories taught to educators today are based on…

This article seeks to articulate developing trends in art education and practice, locating such movements within the broader cultural contexts of globalization, neoliberal capitalism, and postmodernity. Against this more general synopsis, the autobiographical position of the author as a student and teacher of art will be elucidated as inextricably…

The authors introduce manga to educators, inspired by the comics' explosive entry into U.S. popular culture. The word "manga" refers specifically to printed, Japanese-style comics found in graphic-novel format--not to be confused with "anime" (animated Japanese cartoons, including moving images on television, movies, video…