What role does technology play in promoting literacy dialogue?

from BC Literacy Forum

http://bcliteracyforum.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=2058420%3ATopic%3A281

I  guess for me, the question is mute.  Here we are online, with strangers, reading and commenting on an important educational and social issue.  Like traditional reading literacy, information and media literacies also have a continuum of skills that develop over a lifetime.  The beauty of our technological era is that the variety of  modalities available enlarge and enrich the dialogue we seek.  No single media, regardless of its currency, is better- they just are. 

As an educator, selecting, acquiring and implementing a range of media with mindfulness benefits learning.  When some original reading material can also be interacted with through print, audio or even video, students can better develop understanding.  Whether the scholarship is in humanities or sciences, new technologies like blogs, wikis and podcasts assist all learners(K-adult) process. Theses tools can expand learning by 'passive reading' with learning 'by doing'.

If stakeholders, engage in technolgies(like this forum) to expand their understanding of the broad and often vague notion of literacy, this has to be a beneficial exercise.  In my view, the challenge is not with the technologies but more with people finding the time and energy to change their behaviours and pratices that promote literacy growth. --Al Smith. Original Comment Post BC Literacy Forum.

Comments

[Eric Roth]

An articulate plea for educators to recognize that 21st knowledge needs will look, feel, sound, and be very different from 20th century educational paradigms.