The 21st Century Redefined Literacy
Since the invention of the internet in the 1980’s and spread of WiFi in the early 2000s, the world has drastically changed. Many of these changes have created a sphere for people to connect, progress, and trade ideas. Despite these positive advancements, these changes have caused the culture of the world over the last thirty years to convert to a virtually unrecognizable place. This is especially true in the work force and in schools that are dominated by the ever-changing technology. One thing employers and educators are quickly realizing is that it is almost impossible to keep up with the fast-paced growth of new technologies. Thus, one of the expectations colleges and employers have for the educators of our time is to equip students with the knowledge and literacy to adapt to the rapid advancements of the 21st century technology. Before the end of the 20th century, a teacher’s job was to teach student to be literate in reading, writing and arithmetic. However, with the progression of our society, the word “literacy” has progressed with it. Thus, the word “literacy”, can now incorporate a fast array of ideas, such as, social literacy, financial literacy, and technological literacy. Therefore, to be literate in the 21st century a person much be able to adapt to the platform in which they are interpreting meaning from, and this, is ultimately the job of the 21st century teacher: to teach their students how to engage with their technological surroundings and understand how to obtain the information needed to survive in a world that is constantly changing and adapting.
One of the main themes of being literate in the 21st century is learning and participating in affinity spaces. These can include spaces like, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blogs, and endless others. Many teachers, seeing that affinity spaces incorporate social media, immediately discredit the use of them in their classrooms thinking that they are distractions from the more important lessons. However, Jen Scott Curwood in the article, “The Hunger Games: Literature, Literacy, and Online Affinity Space” argues that affinity spaces can be areas for students to expand their reading and learning beyond the written page and classroom. As an example, Curwood studied one young man that particularly loved the Hunger Games, so much so, that he regularly participated in an affinity spaced that allowed Hunger Games fans to interpret, trade, analyze, create, and blog about the themes, motifs, literary techniques of the novels. Thus, in many ways, the young reader was learning and advancing his ideas about the books through the affinity space he discovered. Through this example, teachers can see that affinity spaces can increase and strengthen the skills the student is meant to learn in the classroom. Thus, creating and allowing creativity and passions to flourish through domains like blogs, affinity spaces will only increase a student’s appreciation and interest in school.
Furthermore, affinity spaces can be particularly useful in increasingly learning and understanding in the classroom. In the article, “Using Technology in the Classroom” by Stephanie Reeves Boles, she argues that animation on science websites make concepts clear to her students and allowing them to listen to videos that pronounce vocabulary increases better communication, and thus, a more educated science student (2011). She also says that technology creates diversity in her classroom by allowing student choice through resources that students relate or understand best (Boles, 2011). Additionally, many college classrooms and public schools use platforms like Canvas, Google Classroom, Blackboard, LiveText, and others for the sharing of ideas, testing, discussion, assignments, and announcements. These sites vary significantly depending on the purpose of the site. So, the need for teachers to incorporate and expose students to these different types of platforms in their classrooms has become more and more pertinent for young people to develop skills and become literate in navigating the increasingly distinct affinity spaces and platforms used in the 21st century.
Another crucial part of being literate in the 21st is the use and comprehension of multimodal texts. Multimodal texts are texts that include traditional print text, pictures, graphics, videos and other means of communication information to convey meaning. One of the arguments that, Maureen Walsh from Austraila University makes in her article, “Multimodal Literacy, What Does It Mean for classroom Practice?” is that the classroom must incorporate these as much as possible in order for students to learn and practice with material that may have interwoven ideas in the graphics. Walsh suggest that the multimodal text and print text are impossible to separate in the sphere of learning today, thus teachers should guide students in interpreting the ways information of our society is presented (Walsh, 2010). The website Creating Multimodal Text by Annemaree O’Brien provides many ways teachers of the 21st century can incorporate multimodal text, and endless ideas about how teachers can encourage their students to make their own multimodal texts. O’Brien argues that students should be able to create their own multimodal text to “enable students to effectively design and communicate meaning through such rich and potentially complex texts” and to keep up with the 21st century technological advances (O’Brien, 2018, par. 4). Therefore, preparing and exposing students to multimodal text in the classroom is essential in their survival and navigation in the 21st century.
Upon these realizations about incorporating technology in the classroom, many school districts have adopted The International Society for Technology standards that guide technology integration in the classroom to prepare students for the future. The following graphics compare the teacher’s and student’s responsibilities for technology in the classroom. As you will see, many of the ideas are connected between student and teacher, and it is clear the teacher is meant to guide and aid the student in their technology usage.
Thus, education needs to continue to be altered to match the developments of our society. Today, it is not enough for a person to be able to read and write. To be literate, a person needs to be able to navigate our ever-changing technological world in an effective manner. Thus, as a future educator, I plan to take on this challenge and never stop trying to incorporate new technology into the lives of my students.
Resources
Boles, S.R. (Summer 2011). Teaching with Technology. Science Scope, Vol. 34 (№9), pp.39–43. Retrieved from https://www-jstor-org.libproxy.clemson.edu/stable/pdf/43184159.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A58dabd0f7766feaa9bc0d7a054a831c0
Curwood, J.S. (2013). The Hunger Games: Literature, Literacy, and Online Affinity Space. Language Arts, Vol. 90 (№6), pp. 417–427
International Society for Technology. (2018). “ISTE Standards for Students” Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-students
International Society for Technology. (2018). “ISTE Standards for Teachers” Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-teachers
O’Brien. A. (2018). Creating Multimodal Text. Retrieved from https://creatingmultimodaltexts.com
Walsh, M. (2010). Multimodal Literacy: What Does it Mean for the Classroom?. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, Vol. 33 (№3), pp.211–239. Retrieved from https://www.alea.edu.au/documents/item/63%20%5B27
