Week 5: Article Review

My Thoughts

This article was extremely difficult to read and understand. I found myself having to look up many of the words to understand what the article was attempting to state. I also had to read several of the paragraphs multiple times to gain a better understanding of the points being made. I realize it’s a research article on a complex and changing topic, but I found it a difficult read which took away from the points it was trying to make.

While I think I understand the main point of the article, many of the points I didn’t necessarily agree with. I do agree that the ever-changing facets of technology make developing educational theories and practices difficult. I also agree that developing teacher education programs to help train teachers on new technology and ways to integrate that technology into classrooms can be difficult as the technology and its usage may change by the time programs and classes are developed. I believe this is a cross-industry issue. Businesses of all types face similar challenges with keeping their workers trained and up to speed on new technologies.

The points that I disagreed with in the article may be related to the various definitions of the terms being used. In my opinion, the definition of literacy does not change. To me literacy means being able to read and write, it doesn’t matter what the delivery mechanism is. I realize this may be simplistic but if I have an understanding the word tomorrow, it doesn’t matter if I see it on a piece of paper, a book, a computer screen, an iphone or an ipad – it is still the word tomorrow and still means the next day. And it still means the next day, even after 24 hours. Now, I understand that someone may not be technologically “literate” meaning they don’t know how to use the technology, but it doesn’t mean they do not know how read or write.

Another area I disagreed with was the research process. While I am definitely a proponent of doing research on line as its much faster and easier, the process to determine what to research does not change. Regardless of if I am in a library at a card catalog or sitting at my computer screen with a search of the internet, I still go through the same process to determine what articles or books to use in my research or to answer my research question. Now, I will admit that with the advent of the internet deciding on good research has become much more difficult as you must find scholarly articles and not just the first things returned in your search.

As I stated early, this was a very difficult read. I think I understood the points the article was making, and I understand the difficulties facing education as technology continues to change. There is definitely a challenge for the educational systems to properly train their teaching staff to be aware of new technologies and how to incorporate them into their classroom materials to help educate students on the new technologies, so they may be productive members of society.

Here is a link to the "New Literacies: A Dual - Level Theory of the Changing Nature of Literacy, Instructions, and Assessment" article.