Welcome to the future!
This is my final blog for this course and I feel a refreshing sense of liberation. Over the weeks I have explored and reflected upon issues with technology. New millennium literacy requires web 2.0 technologies, include blogs, wikis, digital concept mapping, multimedia sharing services, content syndication, podcasting, RSS feeds and content tagging services.
These are all undergirded by digital and visual literacy. Digital literacy requires basic skills to retrieve, assess, store, produce, present and exchange information, and to communicate and participate in collaborative networks via the internet. Visual literacy however, develops from seeing and integrating sensory experiences and focuses on sorting and interpreting visible actions and symbols.
Moving Forward
It is imperative that we establish the critical systems necessary to ensure readiness for every student. This requires twenty-first century standards, assessments, curriculum, instruction, professional development and learning environments aligned to produce a support system for student success. The model should combine a focus on twenty-first century student outcomes such as blending of specific skills, content knowledge, expertise and literacies; with innovative support systems to help students master the multi-dimensional abilities that are now required of them.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are undoubtedly at crossroads in the education sector. We can either continue to navigate blindly or hop onto the technology bus. I hope that I have motivated some to do as I have done- take every opportunity to learn more and interact with new technology. It is my belief that when you invest in technology you invest in yourself and vice versa.
So as my final ‘write’ I implore you to go boldly into the future. Be wary though, because the future is here!
Farewell from the Millennium Reading Specialist
Have a Wonderful Future!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The New Millennium Reader
Literacy in the Twenty First Century
In my last blog I merely wetted your appetites with the ‘Missing Link’ in digital literacy. Now, let’s delve deeper. From fire to drums to the first telephone and then the computer, man has attempted to use the technologies of his time to communicate faster, easier and better. The New Millennium however, has seen the rapidity and turbidity with which technology has transformed societies.
Historically, the ability to read and write has separated the sheep from the goats, the educated from the uneducated. The concept of literacy has evolved tremendously in the twenty first century. The New Millennium generation of students- referred to the E-Generation, possesses digital competencies to effectively navigate the multidimensional and fast-paced technological digital environment.
The extent to which we as teachers can cope with this is the ‘educational challenge of the new millennium’. For us teachers, surfing the net and travelling through cyberspace seems as treacherous and daunting as learning a new language. In fact, Prensky (2001), described non-IT-literate individuals as being burdened with an accent, and as non-native speakers of a language, struggling to survive in a strange new world.
The children are Pros
By now you would have realised that digital and visual literacies are the wave of communication specialization in the New Millennium. Children learn these skills as part of their lives, like language, which they learn without realizing it. We adults however, approach the new literacy like we do a foreign language, one which is like Greek, complex and perplexing and not an absolute necessity for survival.
But is it really?
In my final official blog read more about digital literacy.
M. Prensky, (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, Vol. 9, No. 5, pp. 1–6.
In my last blog I merely wetted your appetites with the ‘Missing Link’ in digital literacy. Now, let’s delve deeper. From fire to drums to the first telephone and then the computer, man has attempted to use the technologies of his time to communicate faster, easier and better. The New Millennium however, has seen the rapidity and turbidity with which technology has transformed societies.
Historically, the ability to read and write has separated the sheep from the goats, the educated from the uneducated. The concept of literacy has evolved tremendously in the twenty first century. The New Millennium generation of students- referred to the E-Generation, possesses digital competencies to effectively navigate the multidimensional and fast-paced technological digital environment.
The extent to which we as teachers can cope with this is the ‘educational challenge of the new millennium’. For us teachers, surfing the net and travelling through cyberspace seems as treacherous and daunting as learning a new language. In fact, Prensky (2001), described non-IT-literate individuals as being burdened with an accent, and as non-native speakers of a language, struggling to survive in a strange new world.
The children are Pros
By now you would have realised that digital and visual literacies are the wave of communication specialization in the New Millennium. Children learn these skills as part of their lives, like language, which they learn without realizing it. We adults however, approach the new literacy like we do a foreign language, one which is like Greek, complex and perplexing and not an absolute necessity for survival.
But is it really?
In my final official blog read more about digital literacy.
M. Prensky, (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, Vol. 9, No. 5, pp. 1–6.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
The Missing Link
Literacies for the New Millennium
Over the weeks I have explored some controversial issues regarding technology and literacy in our nation’s schools. Underlying all of these controversies is ‘the missing link’, the fact that ‘new millennium’ students need multiple literacies. Traditional notions of literacy have evolved to encompass a synthesis of language, thinking, and contextual practices through which people make and communicate meaning. Additionally, the concept of ‘text’ now encompasses non-print forms that are digital, aural and visual.
At Secondary school I was merely afforded the opportunity to learn Basic Programming, which is now primitive by today’s standards. The ‘New Millennium’ learners represent the first generation to have been immersed in digital technologies, video games, cell phones, instant messaging, and the World Wide Web, thus making them the first generation to have spent their entire lives in ICT. This I find exciting.
New literacies are underpinned by students’ abilities to read and write to learn hence they must be able to:
1. Identify important questions
2. Navigate networks to locate information
3. Critically evaluate information and synthesize it to address questions
4. Communicate the answers to others
These skills are critical for success in the New Millennium and we are increasingly challenged to link our classroom practices to them.
Keep reading the Millennium Reading Specialist for more interesting discussions on digital literacy.
Over the weeks I have explored some controversial issues regarding technology and literacy in our nation’s schools. Underlying all of these controversies is ‘the missing link’, the fact that ‘new millennium’ students need multiple literacies. Traditional notions of literacy have evolved to encompass a synthesis of language, thinking, and contextual practices through which people make and communicate meaning. Additionally, the concept of ‘text’ now encompasses non-print forms that are digital, aural and visual.
At Secondary school I was merely afforded the opportunity to learn Basic Programming, which is now primitive by today’s standards. The ‘New Millennium’ learners represent the first generation to have been immersed in digital technologies, video games, cell phones, instant messaging, and the World Wide Web, thus making them the first generation to have spent their entire lives in ICT. This I find exciting.
New literacies are underpinned by students’ abilities to read and write to learn hence they must be able to:
1. Identify important questions
2. Navigate networks to locate information
3. Critically evaluate information and synthesize it to address questions
4. Communicate the answers to others
These skills are critical for success in the New Millennium and we are increasingly challenged to link our classroom practices to them.
Keep reading the Millennium Reading Specialist for more interesting discussions on digital literacy.
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