Brandy and Tool Use

Brandy poses some interesting questions for educators and educational designers. Using seemingly advanced literary tools for preliterate students can be a way to introduce literacy and the written word in a non-threatening way. I think it all comes back to context. Learning doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Learning experiences are very closely tied to the contexts in which they take place, and educational designers must take context and social space into account when designing learning spaces and activities. 

What worked for Brandy takes a lot of patience and may not work for everyone else. But the concept of using the advanced tools around us to enhance learning experiences for all levels of learners is an important take-away from this reading. We need to be innovative about our tool use and design of space and activity. It is easy to fall into routines of tool use and classroom setup. I think about my own classroom and the kinds of activities we did that other teachers thought were questionable, like using Etherpad to write essays or discussion forums to explore literary symbols. These aren’t odd practices, but they are different than “normal” ELA classroom practices. There are plenty of tools freely available that can enhance the learning space, and we should think more broadly and make use of them.