Date post: | 06-May-2015 |
Category: |
Education |
Upload: | paul-treadwell |
View: | 741 times |
Download: | 0 times |
21st Century Literacies
Re-defining basic educational goals for a globalized world.
Paul Treadwell, March 2011
“Acquiring literacy does not involve
memorising sentences, words or syllables … but rather an attitude of creation and re-creation, a self-transformation producing a stance of intervention in one's context." Paulo Freire, Education: The Practice of Freedom (1973)
Why Talk About Literacy?
New literacies for a new world:
Technology is becoming increasingly pervasive Webs of interconnection are being woven
around the world What happens in Egypt affects what happens
here Distance is contracting, and expanding, at the
same time
Expanding Literacies
If we accept the definition of literacy as:
“(involving) a continuum of learning … enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society.” (UNESCO 2003)
Fluency in multiple literacies becomes an essential need for survival in the 21st century.
Being Literate
New Literacies encompass a range of learning:
Multicultural Informational Digital Agricultural Scientific + Civic
Todays Literacies
Currently in New York State 24% of adults fall
below basic (traditional) literacy achievement. Given that, how do we embrace all the other
literacies as important? Are literacies stacked, or overlapping?
Literate Necessities
Providing educational programming to support
the development of these literacies is “golden” Pardon me, couldn’t resist….
It is also a challenge – who among us is MIDAS+ literate?
The MIDAS+ Touch
If we accept the challenge of a redefined suite
of literacies, what does that imply? Integration of these elements into existing
programs Exploring new programming to fill in gaps Partnering in new ways Making skillful use of technology
Start where people are
Not to get too philosophical but:
Some literacies are “meta” literacies Supporting the development of other literacies
We can’t teach what we don’t know
The Meta Level
Technology can be a meta literacy
It can support efforts to educate It, in itself, demands a literacy of it’s users Interlocks with and is dependent upon
“traditional” literacy
Role of Technology
If technology is used as a method to increase
literacies, we need to expand our view of technology. Revive audio as a delivery form Explore games as learning Unite what is learned online with what is
enacted locally Creatively engage in a variety of bandwidths
Not just desktop or videoconferencing Text messaging, audiocasting for mobile phones
A Broad View of Tech
While technologies may “collapse distance”,
we still live in a particular place at a specific time
Balancing literacy educations to respect both the interconnectedness, and locality, of life is the challenge facing us today.
Near and Far
New literacies bridge local and global
knowledge and concerns We already participate in some facets of this
work Is new literacy education consistent with our
mission?
Challenges for Extension