November 2009 1

Kathi Tarrant-Parks, PhDLiteracy and AT Consultant, Wayne Assistive Technology Resource Center

Kenneth L. GrishamPresident / CEO, Co-Founder, Premier Literacy

November 2009 2

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."

Alvin Toffler, Rethinking the Future

November 2009 3

Information Trends

Digital Literacy in the 21st Century

November 2009 4

Information Trends

Digital Literacy in the 21st Century

November 2009 5

Information Trends (con’t)

Digital Literacy in the 21st Century

November 2009 6

An expanding universe of information will

NEVER APPEAR IN A PRINTED BOOK !

Information Trends (con’t)

Digital Literacy in the 21st Century

November 2009 7

Literacy for Survival In this emerging age of:

– The Internet (wiki’s, blogs, “cloud computing”, “Tubes”)– Search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ask)– Social networking (My Space, Facebook, Ning)– Nanotechnology (IPods, PDAs, smart phones) etc.– Interactive whiteboards– Digital books– “Paperless” classrooms

…literacy is no longer a convenience, advantage or efficiency…

… it is quickly becoming a matter of survival.

Digital Literacy in the 21st Century

November 2009 8

Literacy vs. Graduation Rates

21%77%22%18%Michigan

Percent of ILLITERATE (Levels 1+2)High School

Grads

PercentHigh

School Grads

PercentLITERACY LEVEL 2 (marginal literacy)

PercentLITERACY LEVEL 1

(functional illiteracy)STATE

     

 Source: U.S. Census - 2000

 LITERACY VS. GRADUATION STATISTICS (in the general population)

25%76%26%24%New York

21%77%24%20%Illinois

Literacy Level 3 – required for gainful employment *

(* Literacy Level 3 can be roughly defined as the ability to read the daily newspaper)

(These are representative samples. Comparable findings are available from all other states.)

Digital Literacy in the 21st Century

November 2009 9

Literacy Rates At-Large

Government research: 15-20% of the general population (U.S.) has some degree of reading impairment.

This means that 45-60 million individuals need some kind of ongoing assistance / remediation.

Digital Literacy in the 21st Century

November 2009 10

Transition to Higher EdChallenges

For incoming students in Higher Ed, the NUMBER ONE challenge consistently heard is that students are UNDER-PREPARED for the reading / writing workload of Higher Ed.

Digital Literacy in the 21st Century

November 2009 11

Transition Challenges

General availability of literacytechnologies in Higher Ed can have a

direct financial impact to an institution in the form of

improved student retention.

Digital Literacy in the 21st Century

November 2009 12

We are now seeing a “wholesale transformation”,

where literacy means so much more than just simply

READING from a book.

“Digital” Literacy is:

“Digital” Literacy…a New Definition

Digital Literacy in the 21st Century

November 2009 13

“Digital” Literacy is:

– Digestion and Absorption of Information

– Searching

– Publication / Collaboration / Sharing– Application of Newly Found

Knowledge to Real-World Tasks

– Finding / Filtering / Identifying / Validating

– Summarization

– Permanent Retention– Organization / Storage / Retrieval

Digital Literacy in the 21st Century

November 2009 14

“Digital” Literacy = Knowledge

There are TWO kinds of knowledge:

– Internal: knowledge committed to personal memory.

Digital Literacy in the 21st Century

– External: knowledge readily available from one’s ability to employ digital literacy tools, techniques and practices.

November 2009 15

Internal vs. External “Intelligence”

Digital Literacy in the 21st Century

EXTERNALINTELLIGENCE

INTERNALINTELLIGENCE

February 2009 16

“Digital” Literacy is:

Digital Literacy in the 21st CenturyNovember 2009 17

Core Elements of a Digital Learning Environment

DIGITALTOOLS

DIGITAL CONTENT

DIGITALCURRICULA

Digital Literacy in the 21st CenturyNovember 2009 18

Core Elements of a Digital Learning Environment

DIGITALTOOLS

DIGITALCONTENT

DIGITALCURRICULA

Digital Literacy in the 21st CenturyNovember 2009 19

Core Elements of a Digital Learning Environment

November 2009 20

Literacy for Survival

Digital Literacy must now be viewed as a “lifetime skill”.

Failure to become fluent with literacy tools will increase the difficulty for individuals to be competitive for:

- Employment - Education

- Services

Digital Literacy in the 21st Century

The future is bound only by...our capacity to believe

…the breadth of our imagination…our willingness to work toward what we

know must done

11November 2009 Digital Literacy in the 21st Century

February 2009 22

Literacy Technologies must be for

EVERYONE !!!