Reflecting
Upon Foundational Print and New Literacies
In an increasingly expanding
global economy with rapidly evolving technologies, the importance of literacy
proficiency has grown significantly. More than ever, students need
to learn literacy skills to read, write, speak, listen, and visually represent
their knowledge and opinions across numerous platforms and media to prepare
them for college education and careers.
Throughout modern history, teachers
have developed their students’ literacy through of a variety of printed texts including
classic literature, contemporary fiction, poetry, nonfiction stories and
informational articles. With massive collections of printed material
still in existence and more produced and used every day, the need for today’s students
to comprehend text in this format remains critically important. For example, 17,000 American public libraries1
still contain large volumes of printed books and magazines that still make up
about two thirds of the 2.5 billion materials that are circulated annually2. The top two newspapers continue to have daily
printed circulation near 1.5 million in the US while dozens of local newspapers
average in the hundreds of thousands3 each day. Even in today’s increasingly technology-laden
world, we are still immersed in printed material.
However, today’s students need to be
exposed to a broader range of information that will expand their knowledge and
perspective of the world. To be college and career-ready, they will also
need to be proficient at comprehending text and expressing knowledge and ideas
through an expanding variety of information and communication technologies
(ICTs). Skill development in new
literacies is becoming more and more essential as technology continues to
transform the world and impact our lives in many ways. There is a critical need for today’s students
to develop proficiency in new literacies in order to learn, evaluate,
communicate, collaborate and succeed with available and future
technologies. With the rapid introduction and adoption of new
technological tools, students need to learn a dynamic and growing set of new literacy
skills that includes researching information through the internet and
determining relevancy, validity, objectivity and purpose of such information
among a virtually endless supply of data.
Proficiency in literacy of text and
information presented in printed and digital forms is fast becoming equally
important given the rapid adoption of ICTs in our everyday lives. For example, while millions of newspapers are
still being printed and circulated daily, millions of daily digital editions of
the same newspaper are now being circulated1. While e-books remain a small percentage
of circulation in the libraries, their use is growing extremely rapidly2. Their increasing popularity is evidenced by the
over 30 million e-book readers sold in the U.S. in just three years4.
Today’s children will need literacy skills
to understand and communicate in various ways besides traditional pen and paper. They will utilize a wide range of tools
including email, chat, video and other quickly emerging technologies. As
tools are introduced in schools to prepare students for college and careers,
many are already utilized in industry. By learning new literacies,
today’s students will be better prepared to succeed in an increasingly-global
and connected environment.
References:
1 Every Library and Museum in America, Mapped,
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/06/every-library-and-museum-america-mapped/5826/
2 Materials Mix: Investigating Trends in
Materials Budgets and Circulation, http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2013/02/publishing/materials-mix-investigating-trends-in-materials-budgets-and-circulation/#_
3 Top 25 U.S. Newspapers for March 2013, http://www.auditedmedia.com/news/research-and-data/top-25-us-newspapers-for-march-2013.aspx
4 E-Reader Market Shrinks Faster Than Many
Predicted, http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/e-book-reader-tablets-cannibalized/?_r=0
No comments:
Post a Comment