Response to Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?

As an educator I neither view digital media as a threat to nor a replacement for traditional media.   To me it is an opportunity to embrace a new culture, a culture that our students were born into, making them natives, and the rest of us, immigrants. That aside, new media presents educators with an opportunity to teach new skills and further develop old ones. 

            The internet is a gateway to participatory cultures where there are “relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices.” (Jenkins 2009: p. 3) Such interactivity can be difficult for a teacher to monitor and nearly impossible to control, yet it does present numerous teaching moments.

            Teachers that allow their students to participate in these cultures will encounter opportunities to build critical thinking and ELA skills.  Students are capable of being taught to evaluate sources and check information against those deemed reputable for accuracy. Participatory sites that are plagued with spelling, grammar, and content errors can be used to hone students’ skills by having them find the inaccuracies and re-write the text correctly offline, or online in the case of wiki community participation.  Student blogs can be used to encourage civic participation, engaging students in the democratic process. Character education can be integrated to teach responsible participation and responsible use of web resources and school technology. Progressive educators will capitalize on the opportunity to “build on the foundation of traditional literacy, research skills, technical skills, and critical analysis skills taught in the classroom.” (Jenkins 2009: p. 4)