First, a short word from my inner being: THIS IS MUCH HARDER THAN I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE!!!! I have been an avid blog
lurker for many years, and have availed myself of all the modern technologies that have come to the fore in recent years: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Further, I have not read a printed news source in years, preferring to gather information from online sites as varied as the New York Times and The Onion. I have worked in the computer industry and owe my need for glasses directly to overuse of the computer screen (true story!). Query then why I have been struggling to come up with words with which to fill my blog posts (trust me, I am not known for my reticence or lack of verbosity). I liken the feeling to stage fright. Well then, just as with stage fright, the only cure is to get on stage, so here are some thoughts about new literacy and NETS.
I have a few comments on what are termed the 'new literacies', which can be boiled down to the following (at least in my mind): those multitude of technologies through which a student (and by student, I mean anybody) can expand the scope of his or her learning. As has been noted, the landscape for human interaction is changing rapidly, especially within the past 15 years or so. This pertains to all aspects of
communcation, including social, educational, and work.
In 1995, at the dawn of the internet age, it took me over one hour to download a 1mb file on a 56k network. Most web pages were primitive in design and took quite a while to load, and my Mosaic browser would bring up tons of irrelevant data in a search, often in no particular order of importance. My PC cost over $2,500, with an extra 8mb of RAM going for $600 or so at that time. Needless to say, there were fewer participants in internet-related activity in those days.
Fast forward to 2011, with my respective children in grades 4, 2, and 1. Both the 4th and 2nd grader had experience working on the internet, with the 2nd grader creating and posting his own Glogster report, with
imbedded video, describing the Japanese sword martial art known as Kendo. I tell you
true, he had little to no input from me. At the same time, my 4th grader, using the internet search functions of Google, was able to create a presentation showing how he could take $150 and set up a schedule to spend a day in New York City. This presentation included train schedules from New Haven to New York and back, prices for meals in Grand Central Station, stops at several tourist attractions, and the average price for a hot dog at one of the many
stands that exist in the city (which is public information, by the way). I feel confident in the belief that none, or nearly none, of this information would have been available online in 1995!
In an article entitled
Expanding the New Literacies Conversation, the authors
present a case for viewing these new technologies not as a separate issue, but rather as a continuation of the pedagogy being studied, thus freeing it from being seen as another bell or whistle or fad. Though I found the article a bit dense (and the overuse of the term 'rich' was enough to make anyone concerned with
good prose wince), I do believe they are correct in their assessments.
Now, as I am sure we all know, just because something can be found on the internet doesn't guarantee a degree of authenticity, and many educators and parents have legitimate concerns regarding proper and constructive use of the digital landscape. Enter
NETS, which is a creation of ISTE and as far as I can tell, is a sort of 'best practices' that can and should be developed in the educational system in order to best use what the new literacies have to offer. The page for teachers describes the ways in which we can act as good models and facilitators, plus how to create functional and useful metrics by which we can measure the fluency of our students. The student site is basically a list of those best practices that will lead to digital fluency and, hopefully, productive global citizens when the time comes for them to shed their cocoons and become beautiful bright butterflies on the open plain of adulthood (ouch, that hurt!!).
What do you think? Those of you young enough might not remember those early days, but our life has changed forever and we as a society, which most assuredly includes public education, must get on board the train or be left at the station! Where some see trial and tribulation, others see opportunity and advancement. Where do you see yourself?
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