In order to make sense of what 21st century literacies are, we can compare it to 20th century literacies. An English literature lesson in the 20th century would make use of hand-outs and written notes provided on the blackboard when in a 21st century class, teachers make use of technology to provide notes through visual presentations or show them the movie adaptation of the novel etc. Literacy has always been linked to technology and therefore rapid growth in technology ultimately leads to a rapid growth in literacies (Collier 2007).
Types of 21st century literacies include blogging, text messaging, podcasts, visual presentations or video productions. Literacies such as these are beneficial to students as the will them to cope and evolve in a constantly changing technology orientated world and workplace.
Although these literacies seem beneficial some educators are not keen of incorporating 21st century teaching strategies as they feel that they replace the more traditional methods of reading and writing. Some educators argue that children are not reading or writing anymore but they do not realise that they are, but in a different way. For instance, a student who may have poor writing skills now has the opportunity to create a visual presentation where their own handwriting is not needed.
An ideal literacy based environment would be to incorporate both 20th century literacies and 21st century literacies so that they can co-exist, this way students get the best of both worlds and are exposed to different types of skills (Collier 2007).
I agree with you, but I would include other literacies as well. In the 21st Century we are faced with the HIV virus, thus it is essential that learners have knowledge of this. This knowledge can protect from getting the virus, because they know now how dangerous it is. Other literacies I feel are important are the Political and News Media Literacies. Learners need to develop the urge to watch television for the correct reasons. In order to be the best citizen they can be they need to develop the responsibility in keeping up with the latest news regarding South-Africa.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your input, I completely agree with you. However, the reason I place emphasis on reading is because this is exactly what is happening to our youth nowadays they simply do not read. They are more interested in media and gossip most of the time and therefore are detached from what is happening around them. If teachers were to provide reading materials (on HIV) along with other forms of information learner would in fact learn about HIV. Answered by Annika 29046492
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