Week (2) Post

“What counts as literacy, how literacy changes in response to the new media landscape, and what value we should ascribe to the new forms of communication that continue to emerge and evolve online?”

After my research and reading Mitoko Rich New York Times article: Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading, I found that the definition of literacy had variations.  But the common words in the three definitions I reviewed were having the ability to read and write.  I agree with this commonality to a certain degree but I would add this to the definition:  having the ability to function or operate within your social environment.  My definition of the terms function and operate simply means to conduct day-to-day activities.

Technology is definitely changing the way literacy is being defined and viewed.  Before the age of the Internet and new media and during the process of becoming literate we were taught from text.  Text that had a “predetermined beginning, middle, and end, where readers focus for a sustained period on one author’s vision” (Rich, 2008).  New media has made the availability of text and information limitless where learners can search and find different point of views which help shapes their development in literacy.

New media in education is a part of the evolution of literacy.  If we truly think about it – it’s take a form of literacy to be able to operate technology.  Children as early as the age of two can operate technology and they are in the beginning state of learning language.  This skill based literacy is already being developed using a form of new media.  But in taking advantage of new media opportunities we must remember not to lose site of the learner by relying too much on new media technology. 

Reference:

Rich, M. (2008). Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading. Retrieved from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/books/27reading.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&

Week (1) Post

"The distinctive contribution of the approach to literacy as social practice lies in the ways in which it involves careful and sensitive attention to what people do with texts, how they make sense of them and use them to further their own purposes in their own learning lives" (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p. 9).

Before I started my formal learning process in the traditional classroom setting my social environment was my first form of literacy.  My parents and others within my community started to shape my cognition based on the characteristics of my surroundings to include my ethnicity, moral beliefs, and life experiences.

Once I started the formal learning process in the traditional classroom setting my literacy expectations were confined to what was in text.  When in this environment I felt that students were limited in sharing the differencing and experiences of their social surrounding as a part of the formal cognition process. 

Today, technology has allowed us to form an education environment that has no boundaries. Our literacy expectations are no longer limited by texts and our local social environments.  In addition to the formal content,  by using technology it allows students and teachers from all parts of the world/country to share their culture experiences, social beliefs, and life experiences as a part of the curriculum. 

Additionally, with today's technology we are incorporating literacy as a part of our social practice.  Word processing programs and other communication platforms allows us to create text and is contributing to our literacy process when we are probably not even thinking about it.  I witness this - when I see how advance my children are in reading and writing compared to when I was their age.   

Like most things there are pros and cons to being immersed in technology as it relates to literacy.  One major con is what happens when technology is unavailable?