I have written this article in response to the Learning Technologies User Group’s online pre-conference forum of the same name. I am attending the LTUG Conference in QLD from 5th-7th November 2008.
This is specifically a response to Mark Bauerlein’s evidence that literacy standards are dropping in our schools, due to students’ increasing reliance and use of technology.
Before we take away their laptops….
Before we take away their laptops, perhaps we need to consider Mark Bauerlien’s discussion in the light of what we are really trying to provide for our students through education.
Gen Z, born from 1995 onwards, will live, work and participate largely in a technocentric culture, which I imagine will be radically different to ours. They will need new skills and new literacies to adapt to the complex social, cultural, environmental and technological issues they will surely face as they reach adulthood.
I have often thought the same things that Mark mentions – the drop in what we call student ‘literacies’ and ‘standards’. However some research has reminded me that the term literacy, like technology, has radically changed. It has, in fact, kept abreast of technology.
“… literacy is more than just being able to read and write; it is the ability to comprehend, interpret, analyze, respond, and interact with the growing variety of complex sources of information”. This definition was written by Roger Sensenbaugh in 1990! Since then we have witnessed a proliferation of literacies: computer literacy, scientific literacy, emerging literacy, visual literacy, conceptual literacy, cultural literacy, and many more.
A current definition is offered by the Centre for Literacy in Quebec: “Literacy is a complex set of abilities needed to understand and use the dominant symbol systems of a culture – alphabets, numbers, visual icons - for personal and community development. The nature of these abilities, and the demand for them, vary from one context to another.
In a technological society, literacy extends beyond the functional skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening to include multiple literacies such as visual, media and information literacy. These new literacies focus on an individual’s capacity to use and make critical judgements about the information they encounter on a daily basis.”
Are current education systems and institutions up-to-date with the real literacies being invented by new generations of students who have grown up with digital technology? I think not.
The students I teach today are so different to the students I taught only 5 years ago. I have had to completely adapt my own teaching practice to meet the learning demands of these students. These students don’t want to read and write to learn about things. They want to experiment, practice, play and experience how things work. They want to invent their own way to decipher and deliver information, and devise their own literacies in the process.
I am convinced that Gen Z will transform our idea of what literacy means and what ‘standards’ are important in education. In fact, these young people are already rewriting and inventing new literacies as we have this discussion. This happens for many of them on their computers at home – because – at school, they are still engaging with 19th century learning practices!
The “proficiency” of Gen Z is set to challenge us. They may not “create prose that is precise, engaging, and coherent,” and may not be able to “write well enough to meet the demands” of archaic institutions. But they may well be the generation to create the revolution in education we are discussing.
As educators, we have the power now, to stretch the parameters of our own thinking and engagement with technology, to help them create a sophisticated revolution: one where technology is used in meaningful, relevant and contextual ways to sustain a lifelong process of learning, as well as support life on this planet.
Lets not draw “deeply flawed conclusions” about how the literacies of younger generations match up against our own. Rather, let us find some sense of recognition and value in the native digital language of these students, help them identify, refine and utilize multiple literacies, to help equip them for the brave new world in which they will need to survive.
The revolution, the new paradigm of technology-supported education will only be achievable and sustainable when students and the literacies they need to live, work, play and survive in the 21st century, are placed at the centre of the learning process by educators.
