Week Three - May 23
Technology, Literacy and Learning
Jonassen, Peck & Wilson (1999). Chapter 1: Learning With Technology: Technologies for Meaning Making.
Norton & Wiburg (1998). Chapter 3: Designs for Literacy
Pool, C.R. (1997). A new digital literacy: A conversation with Paul Gilster. Educational Leadership, 55 (3) (On-line). Available: http://www.ascd.org/readingroom/edlead/9711/pool.html
“We
cannot “teach” you what we know. You
cannot know what we know, because you have not experienced all that we have (nor
us what you have), and so even if we now share an experience, your
interpretation will be different from ours because we are relating it to a
different set of prior experiences.” (Pg
3)
Jonassen,
Peck & Wilson
This quote opened up a whole new notion, for me,
about constructivism and how it relates to the classroom.
As we discussed during Wednesday’s class, often authors make
assumptions about a reader’s working knowledge of the concept.
To often this causes confusion among educators struggling to determine
how constructivism “fits” into their everyday profession. Having a clear resource such as this chapter, that identifies
assumptions about constructivism and its role in the classroom, not only helps
define the theory, but also provides a basis for the rest of the text.
The term literacy is ever-changing as society’s demand on
education also changes. Children
require new and expanding skills to survive after graduation and, as educators,
we need to ensure their success. This
ever-changing trend was exemplified by Wednesday night’s discussion.
Students may be losing basic skills with the advent of technology but who
is to determine if that is a critical loss?
As was put forth, the introduction of calculator’s correlatated with a
loss of mathematical skills that were once a foundation of the Math curriculum, but
is the lack of ability to do long division necessarily a detriment to a
student's success in the world?
I would argue, probably not, but there needs to be consistency in classrooms as to what skills are forsaken for the promotion of others. Resources and support systems should be in place to ensure that the schools can successfully ride the transition of the new demands on literacy. If in fact, we are heading toward a greater reliance on technological skills, we need to think beyond the mentality of simply “doing” computers. Educators, parents, and students should all be involved with the transition to a new literacy to reduce the amount of resistance that often characterizes new educational paradigms.