Technology in literacy

Technology is changing how literacy is defined. In the past, literacy was the ability to communicate through reading, writing, and speaking. What this meant was that people had to learn how to write words and read words in order to communicate to others. Therefore, schools focused on the specific skills of reading such as decoding and fluency in addition to writing such as spelling and grammar. While this is still important, this definition needs to be expanded and adapted to our current culture. As mentioned in the article, the vast majority of the workplace now includes some sort of technology as a necessary skill. Also, people at home have incorporated technology into their lives. Because of this trend, schools need to adapt to the ever changing needs of society. Literacy now needs to incorporate the ability to use the internet and computer to communicate with others. Regular mail or snail mail is almost never used. People now email each other from everywhere. Reading information from texts is being replaced by the information on the web. I can remember doing a report when I was in elementary school and checking out tons of books from the library. Now, all I have to do is type a couple of words into my computer and 10 times the information pops up. Being able to locate and understand this information is all part of literacy. Web pages these days are a collage of images, text, and all other sorts of fun stuff. It might be hard to navigate and understand what is shown on the screen for people new to technology. Therefore, part of teaching literacy in schools is to educate students in gathering and understanding information through the use of technology. Teaching students how to search for a certain piece of information and using email is all part of literacy. Because of the vast size of the web, being able to find that piece of information that you are looking for is sometimes tricky. I can remember surfing the web for hours at a time in college finding a specific topic. The students that I had last year were not yet as proficient as needed.

The push for technology though still should not supersede the traditional forms of reading and writing. Being able to read and write words is still more important that using the computer. Sometimes, I think the push for technology in schools is done so for the wrong reasons. Yes students need to learn how to use the computer however, learning how to read and write is more important. If students cannot read, once they find the information on the web, how will they read it? If they cannot write, what is the use of emailing someone? Learning technology and learning the basics of literacy are not mutually exclusive. It is very possible to teach someone to read and write using technology. However, I have seen the focus of some schools to use technology to teach technology without the fundamentals of learning how to read and write. Schools have felt the pressures to make their students computer literate. It is the hot new thing. What they fail to understand is that what is in the best interest for the students is to be able to read and write with AND without a computer. The basics skills of reading and writing are still the top priority in learning. Technology cannot be ignored, it is necessary for life granted that we all know how to read and write. It needs to be added on to literacy, not replace it.