This blog will be focused on the discussion and readings from the LIS 680 course taught at Pratt during the Spring 2009 semester. The course is focusing on technology and construction of a new definition of literacy based on the new developments of our culture. It seems as if there is a big gap in place in our culture with those who have grown up with computers and those who have not. Also the academic response to new technology also seems to be dependent on this age difference. As one of the people who have always had computers, it appears that those who have not are very frightened and confused about how to address and educate those who are more techno-literate. From the readings it seems as if many of the techno-illiterate academics want to throw out all education models and create a new one that will address the new techno-literate generation. However, to me it seems as if it should be more of a melding of both, you can't possibly know how to type if you don't first learn the alphabet and if you can't type you will struggle using a computer. If you don't understand common board games you perhaps would not understand a video game, although that's not as clear of a connection now with the leap frog technologies. The world has changed, but I feel that a lot of what we've developed for models of education have lots of value and should perhaps adapt to new technologies, but it is definitely not the end of the print world. The world did not crumble when the overhead projector was invented, nor should it fall apart when facebook or googledocs does, it all should be seen as a new tool that aids in learning rather than detracting from it.
Anyway these are just a few of my initial ponderings about this topic and I hope to understand more of both sides positions on this issue and I am looking forward to the class discussions and readings for this course.
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These are great initial comments, and they all have a place in our discussions, online and in class. One particularly striking point you allude to is whether and how literacies from the past help us cope with new technologies. Gee will have lots to say to this point.
ReplyDeleteI have mixed feelings about the new technologies because I am not as savvy as I want to be. As a teacher, I am expected by the students to be the jack of all trades and when I don't know, my response is let's find out or I'll get back to you. To assist with setting up a blog, I looked to my technology specialist for assistance but she had no idea how to help me. Her response was that she has never done it and when I learn it I should teach her.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the discussions on Freire, Elmborg, and Gee, I think we need to call a full court press. We are not working on the same page as far as critical literacy is concerned and because our views are different we will all resort to what is comfortable. I am wondering what a critical literacy program looks like across the curriculum and what are the role of the students and teachers/librarians? If we are using Freire's problem-posing concept of education, what does authentic learning look like?
For me, I want to know that I am supported when I venture into new territory. I want to have an open-mind to look at the glass as being half-full especially during those frustrating nights when my blog floated in cyberspace.
My expectations for my students is almost the same. I want them to experiment with the tools that they are afforded, and make their own discoveries. Along the way, I can model best practices and demonstrate techniques that transform thoughts in a multifunctional format. (print, pictures, sounds).
I may not be on the right track but the students that I work with are learning, discovering and most of all having fun and making sense of their world.