Post #12- Toward a Theory of New Literacies

Toward a Theory of New Literacies

This article gave great insight into how the concept and definition of literacy has changed over time, but also how we need to include it into the technological aspect and what it means to be literate on the Internet.  "New literacies change regularly as technology opens new possibilities for communication and information.  We see this happening today as people redefine literacy practices while they communicate on a chatboard associated with a website, talk to one another using a video cam, or participate in virtual reality role-playing games."  It is clear that the Internet isn't just for attaining information anymore; with Web 2.0 we are not only getting information, we can also put in our own information and change what is already posted, especially with websites like Wikipedia.  Another aspect that is quite obvious is that with the changing technologies, the literacy instruction in classrooms has also changed.  With schools incorporating different types of technology between Smart boards and other types of technology in the classroom, it is no wonder that the way we teach is changing too.  Teachers are finding different ways to teach literacy instead of the traditional, text-book ways, so their definitions of what it means to be literate are changing too.  I think we all need to take into consideration the 21st century skills that students are going to need to know, as soon technology will be everywhere.  Literacy won't just be being able to read and write anymore and comprehending what they've read; it'll be comprehending information on the Internet to use when writing research papers, how to read recipes found online, etc.  When reading through this article, I thought the following quote was very important and explains a lot about how the Internet has changed our lives, both at home and in the classroom: "The new literacies of the Internet and other ICTs include the skills, strategies, and dispositions necessary to successfully use and adapt to the rapidly changing information and communication technologies and contexts that continuously emerge in our world and influence all areas of our personal and professional lives.  These new literacies allow us to use the Internet and other ICTs to identify important questions, locate information, critically evaluate the usefulness of that information, synthesize information to answer those questions, and then communicate the answers to others."  It is definitely important to teach out students how to be literate in a non-technological sense because even now, technology isn't everywhere and it always isn't in either school or the home.  When students aren't exposed to technology they need to know how to be literate to comprehend a text or decode information.  When students are literate in a non-technological sense, it will be a lot easier to apply their prior knowledge about literacy and their skills and use them to navigate the Internet and different technologies.