What About New Literacies

"At the current rate of growth, more than one-half of the world’s population will be online in five to seven years and most of the world will be online in 10 to 15 years" (Leu, D. J et al,. p. 5).  Students will be able to deliver information more clearly, transfer knowledge to other individuals faster, come to solutions more quickly, and evaluate information more effectively through the utilization of new literacies.  

To be literate today often means being able to use some combination of blogs, wikis, texting, search engines, Facebook, foursquare, Google Docs, Skype, Chrome, iMovie, Contribute, Basecamp, or many other relatively new technologies, including thousands of mobile applications, or “apps”(Leu, D. J et al,. p. 6).  How will this play a role in our students learning? Reading online can be a collarbortive process for all of your students in the classroom. It can be a time where students can take a topic or research and work together to find multiple solutions or key findings within that research.  

Because networked information technologies invite more and diverse people to exchange information, the new literacies require us to read more critically and they enable us to develop new insights about far more cultural traditions and ways of knowing than we have ever experienced.  Being sensitive to this diversity and developing more critical reading skills within networked ICT will be an important aspect of the new literacies. 

 Courtesy of: http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~djleu/newlit.html

According to the International Reading Association,  to become fully literate in today's society students need to become proficient in the technologies of the 21st century.  With this evaluation, it is important that educators effectively integrate these technologies in the the learning environment.   One quote that I found within researching new literacies stuck out over the majority.  "As readers actively read for the purpose of comprehension, they think of many things and apply various strategies. For example, they activate prior knowledge; create mental images; examine the text’s structure and organization; and notice symbols, images, and other literary devices. These activities can be categorized as reader factors and text factors"(Larson, L. p. 281). "Technology is argued as a solution that will close the gap between teachers, and the traditional method of teaching, and students of the new generation. E-books provide an opportunity for teachers and children to connect and share knowledge, build relationships through literacy developing activities, and enhance stimulation in literacy enriched environments (Strickland & Morrow, 1989). Larson (2008) argues that altering traditional reading workshops to electronic reading workshops is crucial, as well as, educating teachers on how to implement technology and effectively use e-books within an elementary classroom" (Wright, S., Fugett, A., & Caputa, F., 2013. p. 368). 
I did not  realize when activating a students schema that not only do previous literary works play a role in their prior knowledge but technology and experiences surrounding technology.  

References: 

Leu, D. J., McVerry, J., O'Byrne, W., Kiili, C., Zawilinski, L., Everett-Cacopardo, H., & ... Forzani, E. (2011). The New Literacies of Online Reading Comprehension: Expanding the Literacy and Learning Curriculum. Journal Of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 55(1), 5-14

Larson, L. (2012). It's Time to Turn the Digital Page: Preservice Teachers Explore E-Book Reading. Journal Of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 56(4), 280-290 (new literacies) 

Wright, S., Fugett, A., & Caputa, F. (2013). Using E-readers and Internet Resources to Support Comprehension. Journal Of Educational Technology & Society, 16(1), 367-379.