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This site is about literacy. You know it's about reading and writing, but it's got a twist. We're adding technology to the formula. As stated by the International Reading Association, "The Internet and other forms of information and communication technology (ICT) such as word processors, Web editors, presentation software, and e-mail are regularly redefining the nature of literacy. To become fully literate in today's world, students must become proficient in the literacies of ICT . Therefore, literacy educators have a responsibility to effectively integrate these technologies into the literacy curriculum in order to prepare students for the literacy future they deserve" (International Reading Association, p.2). And who are our literacy educators? Everybody. No matter what grade or what subject, we all teach literacy. We are preparing children for a world where technologies of literacy are rapidly changing and new technologies of literacy are regularly appearing (Leu & Kinzer, 1999, p.2). In the United States, 77% of K-12 classrooms had at least one computer with an Internet connection in the fall of 2000 (International Reading Association, 2001, p.2). We believe that people should read and write well, but this expectation is about 200 years old. Everything has changed. The world of work has changed. How we communicate has changed. The information we have available has changed. Tools available are different. In order to operate more efficiently and compete successfully within a global economy, everyone must be able to rapidly and effectively accomplish four important activities: identify important problems central to their own unit, gather relevant information, and critically evaluate it, use appropriate information to solve central problems, and then clearly communicate the solution throughout the organization. Literacy is at the heart of each of these four tasks (Leu, 2001, p.1-2) Through the use of technology projects we can have students accomplish each of these activities. They gather information about a topic, evaluate that information, then communicate it back to an audience with some type of project that might include a presentation, brochure, or a website. In order to accomplish any of these tasks students must be able to read and write, thus we're promoting literacy. Technology has become a major part of life for educators and students. We use it for e-mail, research, writing papers, tracking data, reporting grades, and maintaining our checkbook. It's all around us and it does play an important role in the teaching and learning process. The purpose of education is to promote learning. The integration of technology into the teaching/learning environment is essential in preparing students for life in the 21st Century (Lamb, p.1). The key to activating this learning is through the effective use of technology. Technology isn't just the computers in your classroom. According to AECT (Association of Educational Communications and Technology), instructional technology is "the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning..resources are sources of support for learning, including support systems and instructional materials and environments" (Seals & Richey, 1993, p.1-9). Technology involves the use of lots of hardware including computers, CD-ROM's, scanners, digital cameras, VCRs and overhead projectors. It also includes software from word processors to drill and practice to multimedia. But technology integration is much more than just the "stuff". Educational technology deals with the selection, design, development, implementation, and evaluation of all kinds of teaching/learning environments. According to Seals & Richey (1993, p.24-43), "Design refers to the process of specifying conditions for learning...Development refers to the process of translating the design specifications into physical form...Utilization refers to the use of processes and resources for learning...Management refers to the process for controlling instructional technology..Evaluation is the process for determining the adequacy of instruction." Literacy is constantly changing. Leu (2001), terms it as "deictic", which means its constantly changing as new technologies of literacy appear (p.1). Literacy isn't just about printed materials. We hear terms such as web literacy, a term for "finding, scanning, digesting, and storing Internet information" (Sutherland-Smith, 2002, p.663). The Internet allows us to have a wealth of resources available to us at the click of a mouse. Do students understand how to sift through the sites to access information? Are they able to analyze what they read on the screen? Are they able to evaluate which sites are authentic and which are not? Web text reading is different from print reading. Just because you can read out of a book, does not mean you'll be able to read from the web. Web text is different mean requires different reading strategies to decode meaning (Sutherland-Smith, 2002, p.664). As Sutherland-Smith (2002) points out, reading web-based text permits nonlinear strategies of thinking; allows nonhierachial strategies; offers nonsequential strategies; requires visual literacy skills to understand multimedia components; is interactive, with the reader able to add, change, or move text; and enables a blurring of the relationship between reader and writer (p.665). Some strategies to teach web reading are
given by Sutherland-Smith, 2002, p.665-667).
The Internet is not an alternative
"better than books"; it signifies an option "different from
books" (Sutherland-Smith, 2002, p.668). The role of the
computer is not to replace but to enhance a rigorous
education. Technology should not be the focus of the
classroom, in fact it should fade into the background and
the curriculum should be in the spotlight. |
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Last Updated April 25, 2002 |
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-K-12 Technology Coordinator Manning Community School |
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