Thank you, Rochelle.  Ira, Marty and Glenn's comments have made me think that perhaps we ought to create a 21st Century Education Pledge  that pioneering programs and/or staff could commit to as a first step toward a "fresh start" for education.

We can't wait for government on this.  We can wait until everyone is convinced that this is the direction to go.  Those of us who see the need for a change should step up and pledge to work toward 21st Century Education.

I also think it would be helpful to indicate in the pledge document what 21st Century Education is.

I'd nominate Virtual Literacy/digiracy as the first indicator.  A 21st Century Education program ensures that it will teach students a technology that will allow them to fully interact with the Web, with other students and with non-web materials.  In choosing this technology, the device ought to compensate for any disability or difficulty the student might have.  Learning this technological device (screen reader,  universal communicator cellphone, etc) is the priority for the student.  Once the device is mastered, then programs should teach metacognitive skills, soft skills, heuristics, etc., because that is what business has repeatedly told us that it looks for in an employee.  Finally, since the basic skills are also critical in the new century, they should teach the 3Rs.

Universal Design should be the second indicator of a 21st Century Education program.  Programs should ensure that students (and staff) can access, interact with and respond in a preferred mode.  Program should commit to reviewing all their practices from recruitment, through instruction to transition to remove barriers.

My third indicator would be that all 21st Century Education program commit to customization and personalization in the ways they interact with and instruct students.  We need to move beyond standardization to customization and personalization.

Reactions?  Additions to the list? Modifications of the list?

Michael Tate



From: learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of RKenyon721 at aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 8:50 AM
To: learningdisabilities at nifl.gov
Subject: [LearningDisabilities 2682] Interesting discussion: Access to Information and Virtual Literacy

Hello,

I am re-posting a discussion strand by Ira Socol and Marty Finsterbusch from the NLA List.  The oldest message is at the bottom.  You will find that it includes an interesting thoughts about the term "virtual literacy."   Glenn Young used the term virtual literacy in his recent post on our List.

I invite your comments.


Thanks,

Rochelle

Rochelle Kenyon, Ed.D.
National Institute for Literacy/LINCS Online Facilitator
Learning Disabilities Discussion List & Communities of Practice
Center for Literacy Studies at the University of Tennessee
RKenyon721 at aol.com<http://RKenyon721@aol.com/>
321.637.1319

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Let me preface my comment here by saying that probably fall into the "post-modern" "postcolonialist" "disability studies" categories of thought though most of my research has been "on the ground" digital support of literacy - in K-12, in universities, in community colleges, in vocational rehabilitation job training, and in literacy training for homeless adult populations. Still, I tend to analyze the way systems of power (which surely includes educational systems) make choices in terms of power, and power preservation.

When Marty speaks of access to information he is discussing access to power. And when we deny our students - at whatever age - access to information simply because they can not successfully decode the alphabet, we are keeping them powerless, and helpless.

I could tell you a hundred stories, but I will tell just one representative tale.

In Voc/Rehab we met a 38-year-old single father of three. He literally was still carrying around elementary school books - trying to read. He had spent 15 years in adult literacy classes. He was an apprentice plumber, and could not advance in his profession because he could not take the certification tests. He had also lost jobs because he could not quickly read the part numbers on boxes, or read plans. So he and his family were living in poverty. He would not apply for assistance because he was treated so badly in government offices because he could not read the forms. He avoided doctors for the same reason.

15 years of adult literacy training... and no one gave him access to anything.

We gave him the following:
A used laptop computer equipped with WYNN Wizard software and Firefox with text-to-speech.
A "backpackable" USB-powered Canon LiDE scanner
A WizCom Reading Pen

Then we taught him to scan in test study guides, and to carry the scanner and computer in his truck so he could easily scan in job orders, or even sections of plans.

And then we got him test accommodations, so his journeyman exam could be read to him (as with most states, Michigan remains fully resistant to assistive technology in these situations).

Did we make his life perfect? No, we didn't. Did we teach him to "read"? No, we didn't. But we created information access for him that allowed him to move up in his job, to earn money, to even order off a menu in a restaurant. And we taught him to be independent. He could read the bills which came to his house without carrying them to his literacy tutors for help.

I can not help wonder why, in at least the last half of those 15 years of adult literacy classes - when all this technology has existed - no one was willing to give this man a path to an independent life. I struggle with whether we prefer to keep people dependent - whether for our own reasons of self-identity as helpers, or for our job security, or - macro-economically - to reduce workforce competition.

I know that sounds harsh. But when we reject alternative means of information and communication access we deprive people of their power. Of control of their own lives. And that seems very wrong.

Ira David Socol
Michigan State University College of Education
irasocol at gmail.com<mailto:irasocol at gmail.com>
socolira at msu.edu<mailto:socolira at msu.edu>
http://speedchange.blogspot.com/
http://riverfoylepress.com/


Dear Colleagues,

What VALUE is advocating is a paradigm shift to an adult education and
literacy system that uses technology not simply as an accommodation,
but as a fundamental change in approach.

TECHNOLOGY OVERCOMES INFORMATION DEFICIT
The real problem facing adults with low-literacy skills is information
deficit. Most of us with low-literacy skills do not share the same
base of information and knowledge as people with better developed
literacy skills. We have not been able to access the same types of
information due to our limited literacy skills. So the real issue for
adult learners is not reading per-se, but access to information and
understanding the information needed to compete and thrive in our
economy - to have the foundation of commonly held knowledge that many
of us do not have.

Until recently, reading was the only way to gain the knowledge needed
to compete and thrive in our economy. And the current model of adult
literacy offered the only solution. However, with tremendous advances
in technology, including but not limited to the digitalization of
almost all knowledge and the incredible improvements in text-to-voice
and voice-to-text, real access to information is now readily available
to almost everyone everywhere in the world.

Just as the Gutenberg printing press revolutionized access to
information in the 15th Century, modern technology is doing it again
today.  Adult literacy, however, continues to focus on reading as the
only way to gain knowledge.  In this, we in adult education are on the
wrong side of history and need to modernize our approaches.  We need
to embrace and push strongly for the use of technology as a means to
quickly gain knowledge.

NOT A ZERO SUM GAME
The idea of virtual literacy is not a zero sum game.  We should not
look at this as either technology only or current teaching models
only. Adult learners can, and should continue to work with teachers to
gain higher literacy skills including vocabulary and comprehension at
the same time as we gain access to knowledge and information through
technology. With virtual literacy, we can learn more far quicker than
under the current model.

FULL EMERSION
Many experts assert that full emersion is the best way to learn a
second language and to gain vocabulary and comprehension of that
language through exposure to its words and grammar on an on-going
basis. The virtual literacy approach enables full emersion into the
English language far quicker than the current "teaching to read first"
approach. When exposed to new words and the words are used in context
in information adult learners can now access through virtual literacy,
we are likely to learn both the use of the word and its meaning far
quicker than in current models - models that restrict access to the
broader use of language until learners master spelling and reading at
very basic levels.

In addition, virtual literacy (aided by what are standard tools in
writing software) allows adult learners to independently access the
meaning of the words and their proper grammatical use at any time,
without having to wait for instruction, as in the current model.
Teachers and instructors will continue to play important roles under
the new model but, the use of technology greatly expands adult
learners' ability to be exposed to words, learn their meaning, and
concurrently gain new ideas and skills, thereby freeing them from the
time restraints the current system imposes.

ALREADY VALIDATED
The standard three-five year research project to test the effects of
new technology simply can't keep pace with technological advances. The
success of this model has been validated in the blind community. That
community moved away from massive use of Braille to the use of modern
technology. We should apply this successful model in the adult
education and literacy system and transition to a modern system, one
based in technology.

Sincerely,

Marty Finsterbusch
VALUE Executive Director
www.valueusa.org<http://www.valueusa.org/>

________________________________
The year's hottest artists on the red carpet at the Grammy Awards. AOL Music takes you there<http://music.aol.com/grammys?ncid=emlcntusmusi00000002>.
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