Gee Chapters 1 and 2

First, just give your thoughts.

I like the book. I think the author is a little to anxious to employ his background as a linguist. Nevertheless, I found it very thought provoking.

Describe your interpretation of a semiotic domain. Why does this matter in traditional learning environments?

Gee describes semiotic domain as "an area or set of activities where people think, act, and value in certain ways." He also says, "By a semiotic domain I mean any set of practices that recruits one or more modalities to communicate distinctive types of meanings." Each of us occupy many semiotic domains: it's a matter of context. We have home, work, school, church, and community domains and more. If you and I "talk the same talk" then we are in the same semiotic domain. If we are in the same semiotic domain, then we would understand each other's jargon. For example, other Java programs would understand what I mean when I say "an abstract class cannot be instantiated" but non-Java programmers would find that statement to be jibberish.

Talk about the "Content Fetish." What does it mean to you and how does it affect your life/profession?

"Content Fetish" refers to the traditional view that learning is all about facts and figures. I as teacher know certain facts that you don't know, and if you learn these facts then you have succeeded as a student and I have succeeded as a teacher.

Lack of content is a legitimate criticism of video games. By content, people are usually referring to transferable knowledge, or skills with value in the market place. But let's be careful here: the same criticism can be made of other activities. For example, I have a black belt in tae kwon do. It was a wonderful learning experience, but I can't say that it resulted in increasing my value to in the job market. Likewise, I think four years of track and cross country was extremely significant in formulating who I am. But no content. Or Boy Scouting: I am an Eagle Scout, but the content I learned -- knot tying, orienteering, fire building -- is of no significance to a prospective employer. So what constitutes "content"?

Choose two of the principles summarized on pg and describe briefly how you might use them together in your educational setting (in a digital or non-digital experience).

4. Semiotic Domains Principle. Learning involves mastering, at some level, semiotic domains, and being able to participate, at some level, in the affinity group or groups connected to them. (This reminds me of Dr. Silber's ETT501 class in which we were required to attend a professional association meeting. It was a chance to "participate...in the affinity group", and it was an excellent learning experience.)

5. Metalevel Thinking About Semiotic Domains Principle. Learning involves active and critical thinking about the relationships of the semiotic domain being learned to other semiotic domains. (This reminds me of the prevelent use of reflections in education. But how does one incorporate reflective thinking in an e-learning course? Also, I think such thinking requires time. People need time to process what they have learned. Such time is usually absent in corporate face-to-face instruction.)