Literacy / Literacies

 

In the news....

 

In July 2008 the New York Times published the first in a series of articles looking at how the Internet and other technological and social forces are changing the way people read.

Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?

 

The second article -- The Future of Reading: Using Video Games as Bait to Hook Readers -- notes that "...increasingly, authors, teachers, librarians and publishers are embracing this fast-paced, image-laden world in the hope that the games will draw children to reading. Spurred by arguments that video games also may teach a kind of digital literacy that is becoming as important as proficiency in print, libraries are hosting gaming tournaments, while schools are exploring how to incorporate video games in the classroom. "

 

 

14 Oct 2008: Internet Use 'Good for the Brain' -- article from the BBC reporting on new research that shows "for middle-aged and older people at least, using the internet helps boost brain power" -- and includes images of areas of the brain activated when reading a book vs. when reading on the internet.

 

 

Websites to explore:

 

Watch this webcast of Dr. Allan Luke speaking about "New Literacies" in Canada in May 2007, hosted by the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat. Here's a jigsaw representation of his Four Resources model of literacy .  See also this list of links to resources related to the Four Roles / Four Resources model of literacy, thanks to the PL Duffey Resource Center, Trinity College, Western Australia.

 

21st Century Literacies-- a good list of links on a variety of literacies, by Debbie Abilock at Noodletools

 

21st Century Literacies -- AT&T Education website -- "On this site, we focus on four 21st century literacies - information, media, multicultural, and visual. We have found resources, both bibliographic and web-based, to assist you in your quest to learn and/or teach literacy skills."

 

Institute for the Future of the Book -- The printed page is giving way to the networked screen. The Institute for the Future of the Book seeks to chronicle this shift, and impact its development in a positive direction. The Institute is a project of the Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California, and is based in Brooklyn, New York. See also their blog if:book .

 

International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA) -- see, in particular, their portal of ongoing visual literacy projects and resources

 

Teaching Visual Literacy Toolbox: Learning to Read Images -- links to online activities and teaching and learning exercises

 

The Online Visual Literacy Project -- Pomona College, California.

 

Literature Learning Ladders -- encouraging active reading through book-technology connections

 

AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner -- from the American Association of School Librarians -- they cover reading as well as information literacy in this changing world

 

National Literacy Trust UK -- Literacy changes lives...

 

International Reading Association -- a membership organization of literacy professionals

 

All About Adolescent Literacy-- AdLit.org is a national multimedia project offering information and resources to the parents and educators of struggling adolescent readers and writers, from grades 4 to 12.

 

Open Wiki on Media Literacy -- various resources compiled by Dr. Alex Couros

 

everyday literacies -- the blog of Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel, authors of "New Literacies: Changing Knowledge and Classroom Learning" (2003) and editors of "A New Literacies Sampler" (2007), a book which can be read online via their blog. 

 

See also NewLits, "a wiki space created to collaboratively develop a rich range of specialist resources for middle school language arts/literacy educators (typically Grades 5 to 8). These resources focus variously and broadly on new literacies and digital technologies. “New literacies” in the sense used here are literacy practices mediated by digital technologies (e.g., blogging, gaming, social networking), or that are newly recognized as literacies due to their increased ubiquity as a practice (e.g., fanfiction writing, live action role-plays)..."

 

Critical Literacy Podcasts -- an on-demand internet broadcast on critical literacy as it is practiced and talked about in different places and spaces

 

We Tell Stories: Six Authors. Six Stories. Six Weeks. -- a digital writing project by Penguin (UK) -- In collaboration with fêted alternate reality game designers Six to Start, Penguin has challenged some of its top authors to create new forms of story - designed specially for the internet. Each is based on a classic, like Hard Times or 1001 Arabian Nights.

 

Inanimate Alice -- an interactive narrative experience -- it tells the story of Alice, growing up in the early years of the 21st century, through the use of text, sound, images, and games.

 

Literate Futures project-- Queensland, Australia

 

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning -- a series of books -- to buy or to read free online -- which examines the effect of digital media tools on how people learn, network, communicate, and play, and how growing up with these tools may affect peoples sense of self, how they express themselves, and their ability to learn, exercise judgment, and think systematically.

 

Workplace Literacy -- a network of individuals, companies and organizations who are interested in learning, defining, mentoring, teaching and consulting on the frameworks, skills, methods and tools of modern knowledge work.

Kindle/e-book photo via Flickr

 

 

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Information Literacy

 

21st Century Information Fluency Project -- where Digital Information Fluency (DIF) is the ability to find, evaluate and use digital information effectively, efficiently and ethically -- from the Illinois Science and Mathematics Academy (US).

 

Information Literacy Resources Directory -- The Information Literacy Section of the International Federation of Library Association and Institutions (IFLA) has created this database to record information literacy materials from different parts of the world, on behalf of UNESCO.

 

Information Literacy website (UK) -- designed and developed by information professionals from key UK organisations actively involved in the field of information literacy

 

S.O.S. for Information Literacy -- a web-based multimedia resource including lesson plans, handouts, presentations, videos, and other resources to enhance the teaching of information literacy -- a project of the Center for Digital Literacy at Syracuse University, New York.

 

Information Age Inquiry -- a project of the School of Library and Information Science of Indiana University -- see their page on inquiry models

 

ILILE, Institute for Library and Information Literacy Education -- provides local, regional and national leadership in fostering valuable collaboration among teachers, school library media specialists and academic faculty who work together to promote information literacy in the K-16 classroom; TRAILS (Tools for the Real-time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills) is one of their initiatives.

 

UNESCO's Towards Information Literacy Indicators -- A proposed framework to measure the impact of knowledge societies from the perspective of people and priorities of government. It begins by defining information literacy before exploring its implications, specifically from a measurement perspective.

 

The Living Sky School Division's Teaching for Information Literacy Site (Canada) -- is designed to help teachers integrate information literacy skills into their curriculum and thus facilitate and encourage the development of information literate students.

 

Information Literacy: The Changing Library -- 2001 article by Cushla Kapitzke