Wednesday, November 28, 2007

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Monday, October 22, 2007

Digital Natives

Todays public school students are tech savvy. They blog, instant message friends and strangers, share music, post movies, and advertise themselves on Myspace. In fact 96 percent of students having internet access engage in social networking technologies (see the National School Boards Association report at http://www.nsba.org/site/docs/41400/41340.pdf). The Report also found that 50 percent of students having online access at home discuss education topics online, including their homework and selecting a college . Yet district administrators (roughly 71 percent) believe that social networking has little educational value for schools. Administrators further doubt that social networking technologies can have a postive impact on reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. It appears that students have more online time at home than in school. Who is preparing students to deal with the content and skills needed to effectively use online environments.

Consider the fact that our young people's tech abilites can be raw. They are digital natives. Students have research skills enabling them to readily find infomation on the internet. But to what extent do they reflect on data, statements, "facts", and visuals? Public schools may not be offering appropriate opportunites for students to become literate in Twenty-first multiliteracy skills. For example, it seems 25 seventh-grade "high level" readers accepted as fact an attempt to "save" the endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. Can an octopus live in a tree? Absolutely! Read about the plight of the P.NW.T.O. at www.zapatopi.net/treeoctopus.

It seems public schools have much work ahead to infuse the curriculum with multiliteracy skills, especially critical evaluation, innovation, and creativity.

Some programs are researching the new literacies and their use in schools and others are developing multiliteracy programs.
1. New Literacies Research Lab - University of Connecticut
http://www.newliteracies.uconn.edu/ .....researching a model for use in teaching multiliteracy
2. Partnership for 21st Century Skills - Monroe P.S., Conn.
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/ ...an advocacy group helping schools include multiliteracy skills into the curriculum
3. A teacher institute on the new literacies - Scarsdale P.S., N.Y.
http://www.scarsdaleschools.k12.ny.us/ .....new literacies training for teachers in one school district

Refer to the article "The New Literacies" at this location:(http://www.districtadministration.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=1292&pf=1) for more information about students, schools, multiliteracy, and the projects noted above.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Do you feel Selber’s 2004 Multiliteracy analysis is still relevant today?

Selber’s framework continues to have validity today. Educators should assist students in using and understanding digital literacy tools. Witness the number of laptops carried through airports. Cell phones, Blackberrys, Sidekicks, and GPS units are standard communication tools accessible to people on a daily basis. Public schools collaborate in networked ventures such as the Global Virtual Classroom (http://www.virtualclassroom.org/), ThinkQuest (http://www.thinkquest.org/), and other collaborative opportunities (see http://www.globalschoolnet.org/index.html for more links). Long distance e-learning thrives throughout the world linking teachers and students. In 2003, the United States alone had 1.9 million students participating in e-learning environments (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_learning).

Perhaps the second of Selber’s literacies, critical literacy, is the core of digital literacy. Knowing how to ask questions about what technology serves us is essential. Some students may be tempted to accept cart blanche what they view on the network. I recall one of my deaf middle school student's wish to get his hands on a Sidekick. One afternoon, as he browsed the internet, he came across the statement, “Free Sidekick 2”. He waved to get everyone’s attention and signed, “Look! A free Sidekick 2. I want it.” Of course, the young man did not read the fine print indicating a service contract with monthly payments was required. I spent the next 20 minutes trying to show him that the Sidekick 2 was not really “free”. How many times do people simply accept digital information as accurate, without thinking about the source, its intent, and what it wants you to do or believe? Selber’s notion of critical literacy applies even more today as the global network expands. He “makes the case that students should be asking why and how technology institutions such as websites, campus computer labs, software packages, etc. have been set up to persuade, control, direct and use them.” (see Shawn Miller’s review of Selber’s book at http://currents.cwrl.utexas.edu/fall05/miller.html. Refer to point 5 in the review.) Surly in educational settings where critical analysis is important, educators must address students’ critical literacy skills.

The social, political, and economic ramifications of technological multiliteracies are profound. Digital technologies can be accessed with little or no cost, instantaneously, and from a multitude of locations. This access to information where people can freely communicate and publish seems to be democratic. Yet, some would argue that digital technologies lead to a more totalitarian society. In the real world, not all individuals have equal access to the digital, global world. Others passively absorb digital content rather than interacting with the media. (http://data.commonground.com.au/program/TS06-program-post-conf.pdf) Therefore, Selber’s views on the social, political, and economic impact of digital media apply today, more than ever.

Selber and Multiliteracies

Selber makes compelling arguments for English Departments to enter the multiliteracy debate. In fact, Selber implores English Departments to co-opt the debate, making technology a central part in teaching reading and writing. Therefore, according to Selber, every English Department should have at least one expert in computer literacy. In his book, Multiliteracies for a Digital Age, Selber offers a framework to guide educators in designing programs to produce multiliterate students. His framework consists of three literacies, functional, critical, and rhetorical. In summary, Selber suggests that students should use computer tools effectively, question and critique the advantages and disadvantages of technological tools and information presented on the web, and produce a variety of unique hypertextual products.