CoLearners

A professional web site for David Warlick

Nov 15

Contemporary Literacy in Idaho

Photo taken during my morning walk, geese rising off the Boise River [click to enlarge]

It is an honor to speak to the school board members from across the state of Idaho. I am also pleased to be able to strike one of the few states I have not worked in, off of that list. Thanks!

There is a great deal of talk these days about 21st century skills and the new literacies. None of this is new. They are old skills. What has changed is that collaboration, self-direction, innovation, and technology literacy are now entry-level skills for works out of university, technical school, and high school.

I maintain that technology skills are not really an issue, at least in the sense that this is something we have to teach our students. Technology is changing, and it is changing rapidly, and most of our students have a degree of access to these new tools that gives them the knack for developing new skills in using technology. Each new video game that they learn involves new skills.

What should concern education is the degree to which and the ways in which technology is affecting information. In the past fifteen years, information has become increasingly networked, digital, and abundant (overwhelming). In the past five years, our information landscape has become more connective, linking not only information (World Wide Web), but also connecting people through their ideas (Web 2.0).

Instead of technology literacy, what we should be addressing is just plain literacy, the skills required to use information to accomplish our goals. As information changes, what it means to be a reader, a processor of information, and a communicator also changes, forcing use to expand our notions of literacy.

I would also suggest, that in a time of rapid change, we should shift our focus from literacy for literacy’s sake, to literacy so that we can continue to learn what we need to know to do what we need to do. Learning Literacy.

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