Literacy Now

Do you remember what happened Nov. 4, 2008? If you said the election of the United States’ first African American president, you would be correct. But that’s also the day I began fearing technology and its negative impact on the teaching profession. That was the day I got the indisputable confirmation that technology would change the profession whether we wanted it to or not.

That evening I watched CNN’s Anderson Cooper in Atlanta interview will.i.am in Chicago using a 360­degree holographic projection, not teleconferencing and not  video conferencing. You might say, “What does that have to do with teaching?” Everything!

Would you love to have J.K. Rowling in your classroom reading Harry Potter to your children? Who wouldn’t love Neil deGrasse Tyson in their classroom every day to teach physics? Why not invite Elie Wiesel to your classroom to talk about his experiences in the Holocaust? If all those things are possible using technology, why do we need teachers?

As Laura McKenna from The Atlantic lamented the nationwide teacher shortage, she also mentioned how many states are implementing virtual­ education programs as a solution. TED million-­dollar prize winner Sugata Mitra even suggested we build a school in the cloud through the use of technology rather than relying on conventional schools with teachers.

Since then, however, I had a change of heart. As I reconsider my role as the classroom teacher, I can’t help but be grateful for this new Golden Age of Technology. Why? Because I finally understood what Seymour Papert meant when he said, “The role of the teacher is to create a condition for invention rather than provide ready made knowledge.”

The transformation began with gaining knowledge on learning science and better information on technology implementation in schools. For instance, when I saw that of 12,725 students who attempted Duke’s first-ever MOOC course, only 313 students completed it, I felt vindicated for thinking hybrid or so­-called blended learning models makes the most sense in today’s information economy. Even after learning about the TPACK Framework advocated by Matthew Koehler and Punya Mishra—which puts  equal importance among technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of a teacher's knowledge base—I am more convinced than ever that a teacher’s technological knowledge is always subordinate to his or her content and pedagogical knowledge. A teacher with superior pedagogical knowledge can turn the most primitive piece of technology such as a paper and pencil into the best possible learning tool for his or her students.

Of course, I am not saying advanced technology is not important. It is vitally important in today’s learning environment. However, I am simply arguing that we should never forget the importance of good teaching that must accompany the tools.

Kentaro Toyama, associate professor of technology and global development at the University of Michigan, emphasized such a sentiment. Based on the research conducted in India where Sugata Mitra’s “school in the cloud” originated, Toyama found that less technology with superior pedagogy yielded better student learning than advanced technology without great teaching. As we learned from the error in judgement from the LA Unified School District's iPad debacle, no amount of instructional technology can yield good student learning without a solid pedagogy based on sound learning science.

As we think more about education technology, let us never forget that even with the best piece of technology such as his lightsaber, Luke Skywalker had to carry Yoda on his back to learn to be the best Jedi he could become. Yes, my students can learn great math skills from Khan Academy videos and learn foreign language from Duolingo on their smartphones, but without a caring teacher in their classroom to provide a solid context for learning, they will not succeed as well as they could. I am sure of it.

Kip Glazer is a native of Seoul, South Korea, and immigrated to the United States in 1993 as a college student. She holds California Single Subject Teaching Credentials in Social Studies, English, Health, Foundational Mathematics, and School Administration. In 2014, she was named the Kern County Teacher of the Year. She earned her doctorate of education in learning technologies at Pepperdine University in October 2015. She has presented and keynoted at many state and national conferences on game-based learning and educational technologies. She has also consulted for Center for Innovative Research in Cyberlearning and the Kennedy Center ArtsEdge Program.

Michael Manderino, from Northern Illinois University, and I will be coeditors for a new column in the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (JAAL), “Digital Literacies for Disciplinary Learning.” Mike studies disciplinary literacies in digital contexts in history and English language arts and the use of multimodal texts for disciplinary learning. My work explores online reading and research, digital literacy and problem solving in libraries, and the use of apps to support learning in science.

The introductory column will be published in July 2016. We approach this opportunity with great excitement because this collaboration unites Mike’s and my individual interests and complementary perspectives to forge new ground. The column will illuminate important questions and identify trends emerging in the field. As we explore topics with invited coauthors, we bring the mindset of colearners: making connections along with our readers and pooling our collective experiences to think about innovations in instructional practice.

Column content will use examples demonstrating new possibilities for innovative digital and disciplinary instructional designs. Although new technologies and apps will be highlighted, literacy and learning practices that accompany the use of these tools will be the focus. This approach to digital and disciplinary learning demonstrates it is not the orchestration of technological tools that should be emphasized in quality instruction. The social and intellectual practices that accompany the use of those tools is the true transformative takeaway.

Given our preference for interactivity, we will offer a number of additional resources linked from the online edition of JAAL. We will include digital content which may take the form of interviews with invited column authors who will draw out and highlight key ideas from their pieces. Supplements may also include expanded examples in the form of digital pictures or video of the learning environment, digital student work, and links to related research. These features will bring content to life and give readers with a vision of possibilities.

We have invited esteemed colleagues who work in schools and community settings to share their insights. These articles will include illustrative examples and implications for research and practice. These invited authors represent a range of disciplines and contexts and work with adolescent and adult learners at different points in their learning trajectory. Mike and I will reflect, along with the authors, on the territory covered across the column series, and on our emerging understandings the synergies and intersections of digital and disciplinary literacies. These insights offer us a rich opportunity to refine, reshape and reflect on additional considerations that came up when thinking about Digital Literacies for Disciplinary Learning. Mike and I are excited about this journey and anticipate a rich set of learning interactions with JAAL readers and the TILE SIG community.

Jill Castek is a research assistant professor with the Literacy, Language, and Technology Research group at Portland State University.

As the importance of digital literacy and digital freedoms for all learners grows, so does opportunity for transformation from Pre-K through higher education. In this context, “open education” is a critical focus for literacy and technology supported programs, both those strictly online as well as blended learning environments. Open learning, or open education, is a set of practices, resources, and scholarship that are easily accessible, free to use and access, and to repurpose. As an emerging practice, definitions of open learning are currently being developed, impacting aspects of educational learning design, practice, pedagogy, and theory.

To better understand these spaces, researchers increasingly are conducting research and interacting openly online. Open research is research conducted in the spirit of free and open source software, making elements of the research methodology, data, and results available online. Open research practices such as sharing data, materials, and analysis alongside published articles have many benefits, including easier replication and extension of studies, increased availability of data for theory building and meta-analysis, and increased possibility of review and collaboration even after a paper has been published. Although modern digital texts and tools make sharing easier than ever, uptake of open practices and research has been slow.

As an example of an open research project, Michelle Schira Hagerman from the University of Ottawa and I are starting a project to study the knowledge, skills, and dispositions used by educators as they embed digital texts and tools in literacy instruction, The Digitally Literate Project. This research and their reflections will be carried out openly online. The ILA’s Literacy, eLearning, Communications, and Culture Committee tapped us as project leads for this work to identify the challenges, changes, and consequences experienced by teachers worldwide in integrating digital literacies into the literacy curriculum.

The research project is just getting started. If you are an educator and have a story to tell about the integration of digital literacies into literacy instruction, we want to hear from you. This research will be conducted globally online and needs a sample from a global audience. Please get involved if you’re a literacy educator and integrating new and digital literacies in an international classroom with an online survey so we might better understand the challenges and opportunities educators are facing. Following this, interviews will be conducted and distributed online. Visit the project’s website for more information.

W. Ian O'Byrne is an assistant professor of Literacy Education at the College of Charleston. His research examines the literacy practices of individuals as they read, write, and communicate in online spaces. You can follow him online on Twitter,and his blog. O’Byrne also publishes a newsletter on literacy, technology, and education.

One of the greatest perks of being a university professor (other than teaching amazing students!) is to be able to travel to many schools and chat with the teachers in the field. Most recently during these visits, I kept hearing the same recurring theme: “We have all this technology, now how do we use it?” From my own observations and research, I have found that teachers are comfortable using the technology itself and actually want to integrate technology into their instruction but they are unsure of how to do this in a way that is authentic, relevant, and meaningful for their students. From preservice teacher candidates to graduate students and inservice teachers, I get the same question: “Where do I begin?”

Recognizing the need to ensure that undergraduate preservice teachers are prepared to integrate technology meaningfully into their future classrooms, I have started modeling technology in all of my class sessions. For example, one of the first lessons I teach in my Technology Integration for Early Childhood course is how to find a professional learning community (PLC). Because technology is ever-changing and new tools are popping up daily, it is important for teachers to find information on the newest resources and connect with other teachers who are using these resources successfully in their classrooms. 

A simple Google search will produce thousands of resources for educational technology PLCs. In addition to the wonderful resources that are presented here on the TILE-SIG blog, here are a few of my other favorite PLC sites to visit:

• Teaching Like It’s 2999!  This blog authored by Jennie Magiera provides tons of information for the digital classroom. Jennie offers lists of iOS and Android apps that are useful in the classroom as well as tips for using iPads along with samples of student work using these tools. She also offers resources for using Google Apps for Education and locating grant opportunities.

• Classroom 2.0 Classroom 2.0 is a great resource for any teacher beginning to integrate technology into his or her classroom. This site hosts The Learning Revolution blog that describes a variety of free professional development resources including blogs, podcasts, and webinars. There is also a forum to connect with educators from around the globe.

• Free Technology for Teachers Author Richard Byrne posts daily blog introducing readers to a variety of digital tools and ideas for application in education. This site is very user friendly and is a good place for teachers who are just beginning to integrate technology to get ideas. One of my favorite features of this blog is Byrne’s “Practical Ed Tech Tip of the Week.” Readers can have these tips sent to them in one weekly e-mail.

All of these resources are inspiring and offer a wealth of information, but this can also be overwhelming to someone just beginning to use technology in the classroom. Thus, I end with two pieces of advice:

1. Technology is just a tool in the lesson. The focus should always remain on the content being taught, not on the technology used to teach it.
2. Start small. Technology integration can be overwhelming if you try to do too much at one time. I advise my preservice teachers to pick one thing they would like try and stick with it until they are comfortable. As they become more comfortable, then they can add more.

Kristin Webber is a veteran teacher with over 22 years of teaching experience. Currently, she is an assistant professor in the Department of Early Childhood and Reading at Edinboro University, where she teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in literacy and technology. She also serves as the program head for the Graduate Reading Program. While in the classroom, Kristin has taught at every level from preschool to high school. Her research interests include the new literacies, instructional technology, adolescent literacy, and reluctant readers.

As educators, we know learners often fail to see the connection between their work inside classroom walls and their lives beyond classroom walls. A question that often arises in many of our students’ heads is, why do we need to learn this?

As the teacher, I wonder how I can help my students see that their time within our classroom is valuable, not just for the few months we are together, but for a lifetime.

One practice I employ is asking students, “Why do you think we need to master this?” Once they get beyond the standard “We need to know it for the test” or “We need this for next year,” my students begin to discover some interesting ideas about how their learning affects them now and in the future.

Recently, our sixth grade had our annual Innovation Day. This day is built on the 20% principle where students can choose any topic, wondering, or problem that interests them. Students get to spend an entire day becoming experts and creating something to use to teach their peers about their area of expertise on the following day during our Gallery Walk, where they get to share their findings.

This year, we challenged students to make something that would be interactive for their peers (and the others guests we invited). We had an incredible day filled with excitement, passion, and creativity as each project was as unique as the student behind it.

I spent more than two weeks working with each of my students in the planning stages. One task they were expected to do was explain what skills or strategies they had taken from their academic classes that would support their learning on Innovation Day. Seeing that “eureka” moment when students realized how much they would rely upon their literacy abilities to discover answers, solve problems, and create something to share with their peers was fun.

Because of our Innovation Day, I had the opportunity to see some of my students in a new light. I saw enthusiasm I had not seen before. Students who had been hard to reach or difficult to connect with through our usual classroom activities were now strong, confident, and excited to share their learning with others.

Several students used Lego Mindstorms kits to build and program robots. Another student created authentic, interactive games teaching peers how to make financial investments. Other students built motors, created inventions, or learned the chemistry behind dyeing hair. Some wanted to create a children’s book using tools like StoryJumper or LINTOR Publishing. Others wanted to create videos using WeVideo, PowToon, or iMovie. Some students wanted to create a how-to guide on a Wiki, Tackk, or a Weebly.

As I took time to visit them during their Gallery Walk, I asked each of the students, “What can we do in ELA to bring this type of learning into our classroom?”

Even though each student created something unique, students’ answers to my probing and valid question were very similar. They each expressed an interest in composing something that could teach others what they had learned. They all wanted to pay forward their learning.

Using their newly gained experience, my students clearly saw how their mastering of ELA standards supported them in anything they wanted to accomplish. They truly have gained an understanding of the importance of literacy in their lives, not just for a grade or a test, but as a vehicle for taking them anywhere they may want to go—now and in the future.

Julie D. Ramsay is a National Board Certified Teacher and the author of “Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing?”: Collaborating in Class and Online, Grades 3–8.She teaches ELA to sixth graders at Rock Quarry Middle School in Tuscaloosa, AL. She also travels the country to speak, present, and facilitate workshops in applying technology to support authentic learning. Read her blog, eduflections.