Multiliteracies Group 3 SU 09

From WikEd

This page has been created for the use of students in EPS 415 during Summer 2009. Please do not edit this page unless you are a member of the appropriate group. Thank you.

Authors

Ben Derges

Bob Allison

Elizabeth Yacobi

Grogan Ullah

Jamie Icenogle

Joseph Simone

Mikki Maddox

Rebecca Monterastelli

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

EPS 415 - Ethical & Policy Issues in Information Technologies - Summer 2009

Professor Nicholas C. Burbules

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Contents 1 Introduction to Multiliteracies 1.1 Our World of Multiliteracies 1.2 Defining the term "multiliteracies" 1.3 Questions for Consideration 2 Our Thesis 3 Overview of Semiotics 4 The Historical Dominance of Printed Text and the Challenge of the New Technologies 5 Types of Literacy 5.1 Visual 5.2 Spatial 5.3 Multimedia 5.4 Gestural 5.5 Linguistic 5.6 Computer 6 Multiliteracies and Cognition 6.1 Affects on the Brain/Mind 7 Multiple intelligences 8 Teaching Literacy in the Classroom 8.1 Mathematics 8.2 Social Studies 8.3 Science 8.4 Language Arts 8.5 Fine Arts 8.6 World Languages 8.7 Special Education 9 Differentiating Instruction According to Abilities 9.1 Universal Design for Learning (UDL) 9.2 Bilingual Education and English Language Acquisition (Literacies and Culture) 10 How Multiliteracies are Impacting Other Areas of Life 11 Implications for Curriculum and Instruction 12 Globalization, the New Technologies and Multiliteracies 13 Future of Literacies 14 Conclusion 15 References

Introduction to Multiliteracies

We currently live in a time where technology is taking over. People of all ages are using more and more technology to help with everyday common activities. Calculators can compute the hardest of math problems, GPS systems can navigate the most directionally challenged, and hardbound reading materials are almost becoming obsolete due to online books and newspapers. Due to these technological changes, communities no longer just have to read, write, and speak to communicate. People can use technology to convey a message. We live in a digital age where text can be sent via a phone, computer, or PDA. Letters can be sent using e-mail or through a social networking site. Everyday new technological advances are being made and new ideas and concepts need to be learned. Individuals need to become familiar with technology and what it can bring for us both at home and in the classroom. We need to be aware of multiliteracies that can be found both in culture and the classroom.

Are kids different because of digital media?

Our World of Multiliteracies

Since the renaissance and the invention and use of movable type and the printing press, the availability of printed books, journals and newspapers to the general reading public dramatically increased. By the 19th century innovations in printing allowed manufactures to produce millions of copies of a single page in one day. The shift from hand copied texts to printed text to high speed printing in the 20th century increased literacy in the West and positioned the written text as preeminent and literacy as socially necessary.

But what exactly do we mean by the term “literacy”? Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, dating the word as coming into widespread use at about 1883, defines it as “the quality or state of being literate.” The word “literate” apparently entered the stage of European consciousness in the 15th century, congruent with Gutenberg’s infamous printing press, and can be traced back to “Latin litteratus, marked with letters,” hence “literature.” To be literate became a marker of one’s identity. It came to imply that one is educated, cultured, and belongs to a particular class. To be literate is opposed to its opposite, the illiterate – the one who cannot read or write, the synonym of which is “ignorant,” which points to a person who has little or no knowledge, and thus little or nothing to offer us.

The current dominant position of letters and written text, as described above, can be understood as a historical process of one type of media usurping other forms of knowing and representations of ideas and knowledge. Although the challenge today to the supremacy of the written text as a way of knowing is primarily through new technologies, it would be inaccurate to claim that the privilege of the text has gone unchallenged throughout history. Both the secular legacy of the Greeks and the religious legacy of the Abrahamic Faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) point to a slow process of the sacred written text gaining ascendancy over the oral traditions.

Within the Abrahamic Faiths, one of the primary influences upon Western culture, the sacred written text slowly evolved, gained acceptance and usurped the oral tradition. The Torah did not take its written form until 400 B.C. and the Hebrew Scriptures did not take their final form until about 90 B.C. It took more than three centuries for Christians to agree upon an authorized and universally accepted list of sacred texts which today are called the New Testament. Interestingly, there is only one reference in the New Testament accounts of Jesus as having written something (John 8:6). However, we do not know if what he traced in the dirt with his finger during his defense of an adulteress facing stoning was letter, symbol or image. Mohamed was illiterate and, although many of the verses of the Qur’an were immediately memorized and written down by his followers on cloth, stones and bones, the final authoritative version and arrangement of the Qur’an did not emerge until two decades after the Prophet’s death.

Within the Greek tradition, most scholars since Milman Parry in the 1930s hold that both the Iliad and the Odyssey were oral compositions and only much later reduced to text and posited as the work of a single author, Homer. Plato, known today for his written works, describes the struggle between the oral and written traditions in the Phaedrus, a primary and foundational source in the field of rhetoric. Plato makes a case against writing, having one of his characters, Thamus, claim that it will “produce forgetfulness in learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves.”

Commenting on this, Susan Dobra, in her paper The Gift of Theuth: Plato on Writing (Again), argues that “the evidence is striking. Not only through the mouthpiece of Socrates in the Phaedrus but from his own stylus in the "Seventh Letter," Plato denies the legitimacy of the written word as capable of conveying knowledge in any truly significant way.”

Although equally denigrated as a way of knowing by Plato, from the earliest cave paintings to contemporary forms, art has served as a means of representing knowledge and expressing ideas and emotion. Arthur Efland contends that art presents knowledge in a lattice like fashion, avoiding the tendency of science to force a regime of consistency and hierarchy onto knowledge. Instead, art allows for the play of competing ambiguities, complexities and contradictions of knowledge.

Throughout the 20th century film took up the mantle as the primary challenger to the hegemony of the written text. Film theory evolved as a way of legitimizing film, and the early discussions around film defended it as an art form. However, film is more than art, serving other purposes from education, as in documentaries, to propaganda films. Film theorists range from Marxist, with their emphasis on film as an expression of class struggle, to humanist, which view film as attempting to convey a moral message, to feminists, who view films through the lens of patriarchy. Film incorporates the written text, as screenplay, which remains hidden below the surface of the presentation. How is film literacy different from the written text? Before attempting to answer that question, let us begin with a few basic generalizations contrasting the media of film and literary fiction. In contrast to novels, films generally omit a narrator. Films tend towards external dramatic points of view, dispensing with interior monologues and an exploration of the characters’ interior worlds. The average film must traverse the plot in less than two hours, or about 100 pages of screenplay, limiting the depth of subject coverage. Despite these differences, or perceived limitations, there are unique qualities to film that a “literate” viewer should appreciate, including: (a) setting, lighting, location, narrative, symbolism, camera angles, acting, directing; (b) how a particular film sits in relation to its genre and other films; (c) the relationship of the film to the actors’ and director’s – as well as producer’s - filmographies; (d) the film’s manipulation of time and space; and (e) the interplay of images, sound and motion. Unlike the written text, film has the quality of “continuous motion – a flowing, ever changing stream of images and sounds sparkling with a freshness and vitality all its own.” (Boggs, 112) Since the latter part of the 20th century and the ascendancy of film as a medium of expression, to be “literate” implies more than to simply read and write, it includes the ability to critically examine film as well as the written text.

Although many public schools incorporate films in the curriculum, and despite the fact that film is built on a structure of theme, setting, plot, characters and conflict, much as literature, it has remained in a subordinate role within the public school setting. Tertiary schooling has faired little better as film continues to be on the margins of the curriculum in comparison to English and its emphasis on the written text. The College Board lists only 160 colleges in the United States as offering a major in film studies.

Today, the hegemonic position of the written text is being challenged on a number of fronts. The primary challenge has arisen as a result of new Internet based communication technologies, which often combine, or have the ability to bundle, the written text with the visual (e.g. Flikr, Google Lit Trips) and/or audio (e.g. podcasts and powerpoint presentations), or to completely dispense with written texts as the primary mode of communication (e.g. You Tube). Young people form the driving force behind the use of, and reliance upon, these new technologies, where User Generated Content (UGC) has shifted the emphasis from being passive consumers of programming to active creators and contributors of content (Mesch).

According to recent social research presented at the Pew Internet and American Life Project by Amanda Lenhart, 93 percent of youth ages 12 - 17 use the Internet. Of those, 63 percent go online daily. 97 percent of teens play video games. 65 percent use social networking sites. 71 percent of teens own a mobile phone, demonstrating the widespread use of new technologies by what has been called the Net Generation. This, in turn, has caused us to reconsider the singular application of the term literacy to the written text.

Defining the term "multiliteracies"

According to the Wikipedia definition, "The traditional definition of literacy is considered to be the ability to use language to read, write, listen, and speak. In modern contexts, the word refers to reading and writing at a level adequate for communication, or at a level that lets one understand and communicate ideas in a literate society, so as to take part in that society."

In our communities, the nature of literacy is changing. The New London Group recently discussed the links between the changing social environment students and teachers are facing in the classroom and a new method to teaching literacy that they call "multiliteracies." (A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures) Multiliteracies describe the new ways in which people can communicate. These approaches include advances in multimedia and technology. Even more specifically, new multimodal methods of curriculum delivery are being used everyday in a classroom of any subject area. These methods include using sounds, print, digital and visual texts, with the use of the internet, digital TV, cell phones, iPods, PDA's, or other computer and technology devices. (Williams) As educators, we must apply these technologies in the classroom in order to motivate our students.

Modern students are being exposed to more types of technology than ever before. They use these tools every day in their personal life for communication and having fun. Since times are changing, we as teachers should incorporate these technology tools in the classroom. Some ways that students are communicating that we should incorporate in our classroom include wikis, blogs, social networking sites, and internet websites. (Borsheim) In order to use these in a classroom, both the students and teachers must become multiliterate. Everyone must understand how to navigate through this digital age. Becoming multiliterate will enable people to fully function in this new digital age.

However, even though we may use technology and multiliteracies in the classroom not every student has the same technology knowledge and skill. There are social, political, and economical divides in technology that can prohibit the use of technology in certain areas and homes. (Warschauer)

Questions for Consideration

The world of multiliteracies raises a number of issues and questions. Below is a short list that one may want to consider:

• How might ICT affect learning?
• How has Web 2.0 undermined expert knowledge and what impact does this have on learning?
• How is knowledge constructed differently within different media?
• What is the affect of multiliteracies and ICT on brain development?
• Do different types of literacies work better in different subject areas?
• How important is being multiliterate to future employment, and what affect does this have on education?
• Will the widespread distribution and use of ICT bridge social inequalities or create new ones?
• What impact might being multiliterate have on citizenship and social engagement?
• What affect could multiliteracies and ICT have on globalization?
• What might the impact of ICT and multiliteracies be on identity and "otherness"?
• What impact might ML and ICT have on teaching minority students?
• How might ML be included in curriculum development, particularly in the development of culturally appropriate curriculum?
• How is ML's affects on the classroom different than, if at all, from its affects on youth activities outside of the classroom, e.g. music, sports, etc.?

Our Thesis

Multiliteracies provide the format or viewpoint by which we view the world and interact with it. We can see ML as one of the building blocks for positive interaction with the global community. And the more we as teachers can build on that, the stronger our students will be able to compete in a global environment as well as build positive relationships in their communities.

Overview of Semiotics

Semiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of sign processes (semiosis), or signification and communication, signs and symbols, both individually and grouped into sign systems. It includes the study of how meaning is constructed and understood.

Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), a founder not only of linguistics but also of what is now more usually referred to as semiotics, stated that semiotics is a "science which studies the role of signs as part of social life...it would investigate the nature of signs and the laws governing them." Other than Saussure, key figures in the early development of semiotics were the American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) and Charles William Morris (1901-1979), who developed a behaviorist semiotics. In modern times semiotics began to become an approach to cultural studies in the late 1960s partly due to the work of Roland Barthes (Chandler, 2005).

Semiotics is a field of study involving many different theoretical stances and methodological tools. One of the broadest definitions is that of Umberto Eco, who states that 'semiotics is concerned with everything that can be taken as a sign'. Semiotics involves the study not only of what we refer to as 'signs' in everyday speech, but of anything which 'stands for' something else. In a semiotic sense, signs take the form of words, images, sounds, gestures, and objects. Today semiotics is often broken into three branches:

Semantics: the relationship of signs to what they stand for.

Syntactics (or syntax): the formal or structural relations between signs.

Pragmatics: the relation of signs to interpreters (or those who use them).

Semiotics is often employed in the analysis of texts (although it is far more than just a mode of text analysis). Text can exist in any medium and may be verbal, non-verbal, or both; so long it is physically independent of its sender or receiver. A text is an assemblage of signs (such as words, images, sounds, and/or gestures) constructed with reference to the conventions associated with a genre and in a particular medium of communication. (The term 'medium' may include such broad categories as speech and writing or print and broadcasting or relate to specific technical forms within the mass media--radio, television, newspapers, magazines, books, photographs, films, and records--or the media of interpersonal communication--telephone, letter, e-mail, video-conferencing, computer-based chat systems) (Chandler, 2005).

Semiotics: The study of signs

The Historical Dominance of Printed Text and the Challenge of the New Technologies

According to Anstey & Bull (2006), text can be defined as "meaningful units of written, or print, language." This is a narrow view that suggests text is simply a passage of printed words. Print texts can be considered "bounded" in that it is bound up in objects known as books (Lankshear & Snyder, 2000).

The linguistic semiotic system is the set of signs and symbols that form the basis for print text. Within this system basic concepts include the fundamentals of decoding and encoding sounds and essential understandings about the structures and syntax of sentences. Much of these basic skills within the linguistic semiotic system have been focal points for common literacy education. Up through the Industrial Age (late 20th century), these linguistic notions were adequate in studying literacy.

In today's Information Age the rapid speed of technological innovation has led to a vast pool of new forms of text, language, and semiotics. With non-print content on the Internet and other multimedia sources (film, video, gaming), and the increasing visual content in books and magazines, the notion of text as only print is no longer sufficient. "Knowledge of the linguistics semiotic system that is the basis of print text is still as necessary as it has always been, but in this highly visual and technological age it is no longer sufficient." (Anstey, M. & Bull, G., 2006, p. 100-101)

Types of Literacy

There are not one but numerous types of literacy. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)feels that literacy is a human right and tool for social and human development. It is essential in our everyday lives to strengthen our world's development and education. In order to communicate with people, we must become literate in several areas.

Picture from [Taking a Broad View of Literacy]

Visual

Visual literacy is the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of visual actions, objects, and other images. Visual literacy is based on the idea that pictures can be “read” and that meaning can be communicated through a process of reading. (Visual Literacy)

Images are all around us, and the ability to interpret them meaningfully is a vital skill for students to learn. Students need to:

• Take notes and make lists to read later
• Read information to be learned
• Learn from books, videos, and handouts
• See a demonstration

Spatial

Spatial literacy is the ability to understand spatial relationships, the knowledge of how geographic space is represented, and the ability to reason and make key decisions about spatial concepts.

Spatial thinking is used every day in the workplace and in science to solve problems using concepts of space, visualization, and reasoning. We can visualize relationships of spatial structures based on patterns, directions, shapes, locations, and distances. (The National Academies)

Students with poor spatial literacy skills have trouble with:

• Visualizing/mental moving or translating between 2D, 3D, and 4D
• A sense of location on a map with respect to the real world.
• Recognizing translated shapes and patterns

Multimedia

This form of literacy includes text, audio, graphics, animation, video, and interactivity in regards to electronic media. It can also include virtual reality, computer programming, and robotics.

Multimedia literacy can be found in print, television, radio, movies, advertising and theater. (Multimedia Literacy)

Ways students can use media literacy in the classroom include:

• Software (Such as the program Scratch)
• Digital Cameras
• Video

Gestural

When speaking to a person, one gives off certain meanings based on the gestures he or she makes. This is a non-verbal form of communication. Most people use gestures and body language in addition to when they speak. Some examples include eye rolling, nodding, or giving a "thumbs up". (Gesture)

People also communicate through using the American Sign Language. Sign language is a language in visual-manual modality. It has been primarily developed and used by culturally Deaf people.

Gestures play an important role in the classroom. Teachers can tell if a student understands a lesson or a classroom behavior all due to gestures. Teachers can also gesture to his or her students to gain their attention. Teachers can point to where they want their students' attention or make a signal to cue the students to perform a particular task.

Linguistic

Linguistic literacy is meaning making derived from written or oral human language. This literacy is commonly taught in schools in the forms of:

• Reading aloud
• Grammar
• Spelling
• Dictation
• Reading literature, poetry, and textbooks
• Composition

Computer

Computer skills and knowledge are just as important as any other type of literacy. People must have the knowledge and ability to use computers and technology efficiently. Basic computer understanding includes:

• Basic files such as word processing
• Using the internet
• Navigating through files on the computer

In this day and age, it is even important for people to know how to:

• Navigate the operating system
• Perform diagnostic checks
• Run virus protection software
• Install hardware
• Navigate through menus
• Use help menus
• To properly clean monitor, keyboard, and tower
• Troubleshoot

Multiliteracies and Cognition

Unlike other education initiatives where educators are exposed to a variety of research-based strategies to help students gain knowledge, multiliteracy opportunities present a different challenge. It is the teachers and school leaders that need to gain the knowledge about the tools ingrained in today’s student population. Before the emergence of digital learning modes, educators led students on a path of educational enlightenment, dictating the content and delivery. Today, that trip must be traveled hand-in-hand with educators sharing knowledge via modes of learning in which students are already well-versed. According to Considene, Horton & Moorman (2009) “Today’s teenagers bring to school a rich and different set of literacy practices that are often unacknowledged or underused by educators”(p. 471). It underscores the argument that it is not always the student that needs the education. In today’s digital word, it is often the educator that needs to be better informed. The educator needs to be a student of multiliteracies to better connect to his or her students and capitalize on the opportunities afforded by multiliteracies to improve instructional delivery. This involves understanding the relationship between students and technology - what technology does to students and what students do with technology (p.472).

Howe and Strauss (Brownstein 2000) refers to this generation as the Millennials in part to the fact that they have been immersed in information technology their entire lives. Prensky (Scherer, 2006) refers to them as digital natives. Millennials or Digital Natives use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) allows them to access just about any information desired at any moment of the day from almost anywhere they desire. Although they have more access to data than any generation before, access alone is not equivalent to a better education. Considine (2009) warns that students can’t just be hands-on; they also need to be heads-on to fully benefit from the availability of print and non-print texts.

Although they are fully capable of operating in the digital world, most students are cutoff form their primary learning tool when they enter the education sphere. MySpace, Face Book, and YouTube are often restricted in most schools, failing to build a bridge between the technological world in which Millennials exist and the education world in which they learn (Considine 2009).

The affect of the technology world on learning is best summed up as "Millenials are self-taught but not well-taught" (Considine, et al, 2009, p. 475). It is then the expectation of the educator to take what students know and bring them to a higher level of understanding via multiliteracies.

Affects on the Brain/Mind

What are the affects of the new high speed technologies – computers, digital video streaming, Blackberries and iPhones, video games and search engines such as Goggle – on our brains? Are we, as Nicholas Carr claims, in his provocative article in the Atlantic Monthly, being made stupid?

Carr invites us into the inner workings of his own brain, intimately sharing with us a suspicion that has been gnawing at him:

“Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle…I’m not the only one. When I mention my troubles with reading to friends and acquaintances—literary types, most of them—many say they’re having similar experiences. The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing.”

The science underlying Carr’s observation is based on the concept of brain plasticity or neuroplasticity, understood as the ability of the brain to reorganize neural pathways in response to learning and environmental input. Gary Small, M.D. and Gigi Vorgan, authors of the book, iBrain Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind, claim that “as we use digital technologies, and discard traditional print reading, our brains adapt to the shift in technologies, stimulating “brain cell alteration and neurotransmitter release, gradually strengthening new neural pathways in our brains while weakening old ones.”

Carr supports his thesis by telling the reader the story of Frederich Nietzsche’s encounter with the new technology of his day, the typewriter. Through his use of the typewriter, apparently, Nietzsche’s style was degraded, “changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style,” a claim credited to – supposedly - the German scholar Friedrich Kittler. Unfortunately, Carr, moving along at digital warp speed, never stops to reflect on what he has asserted.

If it were true that Nietzsche’s aphoristic style was indeed influenced – or caused by – the use of the typewriter, than it is open to interpretation whether or not that demonstrated an ascetic degradation in his style, as Kittler supposedly contends.

Just two years prior to Nietzsche’s encounter with the typewriter, Mark Twain voiced his frustration with the German language in his essay The Awful German Language, by claiming, tongue-in-cheek, that: “An average sentence, in a German newspaper, is a sublime and impressive curiosity; it occupies a quarter of a column; it contains all the ten parts of speech -- not in regular order, but mixed; it is built mainly of compound words constructed by the writer on the spot, and not to be found in any dictionary -- six or seven words compacted into one, without joint or seam -- that is, without hyphens; it treats of fourteen or fifteen different subjects, each enclosed [sic] in a parenthesis of its own, with here and there extra parentheses which re-enclose [sic] three or four of the minor parentheses, making pens within pens: finally, all the parentheses and reparentheses [sic] are massed together between a couple of king-parentheses, one of which is placed in the first line of the majestic sentence and the other in the middle of the last line of it -- after which comes the VERB, and you find out for the first time what the man has been talking about…”

Nietzsche probably would not have disagreed with Twain’s humorous statement. Walter Kaufmann, the eminent Nietzsche scholar, pointed out, in his book Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist, that “Nietzsche’s ceaseless experimenting with different styles seems to conform to the Zeitgeist which was generally marked by a growing dissatisfaction with traditional modes of expression…Nietzsche is not trying now this and now that style, but each experiment is so essentially Nietzschean…that the characterologist experiences no trouble in recognizing the author anywhere. Involuntarily almost, Nietzsche is driven from style to style in his ceaseless striving for an adequate medium of expression.” (93)

In his 1888 work, entitled Twilight of the Idols, Nietzsche claimed, “…it is my ambition to say in ten sentences what everyone else says in a book – what everyone else does not say in a book,” a goal that aphorisms lend themselves to.

Commenting on Nietzsche's use of aphorisms, Kaufmann points out that “the elusive quality of [his] style, which is so characteristic of his thinking and writing, might be called monadologic to crystallize the tendency of each aphorism to be self-sufficient while throwing light on almost every other aphorism.” (75)

Nietzsche’s aphoristic style is strikingly beautiful in both its original and translation, taking the German language to new heights. If it were true that his aphorisms arose from his use of the typewriter, than one could argue that the technology allowed him to seek out these new heights in style, thus undermining Carr’s contention.

The fact is that Kittler is mistaken, and Carr left without his support. Rüdiger Safranski points out that “Nietzsche wasn't totally satisfied with his purchase [of the typewriter] and never really mastered the use of the instrument.” According to Monika Disser, the truth is that Nietzsche’s typewriter was usually broke and he was unable to get it repaired. Moreover, Nietzsche's use of his typewriter was limited to about six weeks between February 11, 1882, where he celebrated its arrival, and March 23, 1882, where he eulogized its demise. Finally, and more importantly, in his work “Daybreak,” written in 1881, one year prior to his purchase of the typewriter, Nietzsche makes ample use of aphorisms, breaking any supposed correlation between his style and the media he used to write in.

Despite Carr’s mistake in using Nietzsche to bolster his case, research does support the idea that technology is reshaping our brains. In fact, in response to the new digital environment, the human brain is developing increased performance in several areas crucial to our high speed information age. Research conducted by John Gee, professor of learning sciences at the University of Wisconsin, indicates that individuals who play video games have superior pattern recognition and are capable of rapid decision making in comparison to non gamers. Learning in simulated game environments requires rethinking ones strategies in order to advance, which seems to indicate, according to Gee, that gamers may be able to better re-conceptualize goals in comparison with non gamers.

The evidence in support of gaming led the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) in 2006 to endorse “video games as a potential means for teaching ‘higher-order thinking skills, such as strategic thinking, problem solving, plan formulation and execution, and adaptation of rapid change.” (Johnson)

The research also indicates that using search engines such as Google may actually increase the brain’s ability to rapidly assess information and make quick decisions. For example, research conducted by Pamela Briggs, a cognitive psychologist at Northumbria University in England, indicates that “Web surfers looking for facts on the Internet on health spend two seconds or less on any one site before moving on to the next one.” (Small)

This is not to say that there are no negative affects to the use of these technologies. Games involving violent shooting appear to desensitize men to violence and encourage aggressive behavior in youth. Additionally, according to Gary Small, director of the U.C.L.A Memory and Research Center at Semel Institute, over exposure to new technologies may result in a troubling decline in social skills “such as reading facial expressions during conversation or grasping the emotional context of a subtle gesture.”

Carr’s trepidation should not be entirely disregarded. As one engages in the multitasking that appears so easy with new technologies, e.g., the monitoring of twitter, talking on the phone, checking emails, receiving and responding to incoming instant messaging, and surfing the Net all at one time, the body enters a state of heightened stress and one is thrown into a feeling of constant crises. In this state, called “Continuous Partial Attention,” the individual finds that he or she, according to Small, may “no longer have time to reflect, contemplate or make thoughtful decisions.”

An alternative to simply rejecting new technologies in fear that our adaptation to them is having a negative effect on us includes considering how the new technologies may be included as part of a broader approach, one that includes a balance of interpersonal face to face human interaction, and maintains print material and literacy, as part of our communication media. Ultimately, it is we, the people, who determine what direction to take technology. To vilify a technology, such as video games as essentially determining our behavior is mistaken. For example, although certain violent games may lead to aggressive behavior, other games, are said to promote relaxation and altered state of consciousness. To seek balance in the use of multimedia is to explore the possibility that new technologies, coupled with traditional media, may open up further possibilities of human cognition, and that we may be able to rethink and reconstruct, in the process, the very concept of intelligence and what it is.

Multiple intelligences

"It is of the utmost importance that we recognize and nurture all of the varied human intelligences, and all of the combinations of intelligences." - Howard Gardner 1987

Howard Gardner, a Harvard psychologist, questioned the belief of the first intelligence tests, believing that intelligence was not a one-size-fits-all proposition. He developed a framework of seven basic intelligences and introduced them in his 1983 book, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. His theory of multiple intelligences (MI theory) questions the validity of taking a person out of his natural learning environment and asking him to do isolated tasks (like an intelligence test) that he would have never done before, and probably wouldn't choose to do again. Garner did not believe intelligence to be a singular phenomenon, and in 1999 he added another category for intelligence - naturalist. He continues to propose more intelligence categories such as moral and spiritual as he makes observations of knowledge and "ways of knowing" as described by Eisner (1985) in his work, Learning and Teaching the Ways of Knowing.

Armstrong (1994) describes Gardner's intelligences as well as individuals who exemplify them:

1.) Linguistic - the understanding of the phonology, syntax, and semantics of language. People can use language to convince others of a course of action, to help one remember information, explain or communicate knowledge, or reflect upon language itself. Individuals who exemplify this intelligence would be storyteller, orator, poet, editor, and novelist.

2.) Logical-mathematical - the understanding and use of logical structures and patterns and relationships. Individuals who exemplify this intelligence would be the scientist, mathematician, logician, computer programmer, and statistician.

3.) Spatial - the ability to perceive the visual world accurately, to perform transformations and modifications based upon ones initial perceptions, and be able to re-create aspects of one's visual experience. Individuals who show this intelligence include architect, mapmaker, surveyor, inventor, and graphic artist. [1]

4.) Bodily-kinesthetic - the ability to control one's bodily motions and the capacity to handle objects skillfully. Individuals would include the actor, mime, craftsperson, athlete, dancer, and sculptor.

5.) Musical - the ability to understand and express components of music, including melodic and rhythmic patterns, through figural or intuitive means (the natural musician) or through formal analytic means (the professional musician). Individuals would include the composer, pianist, percussionist, music critic, and singer.

6.) Interpersonal - the ability to notice and make distinctions among other individuals with respect to moods, temperaments, motivations, intentions, and to use this information to persuade, influence, manipulate, mediate, or counsel individuals or groups of individuals toward some purpose. Individuals would include the union organizer, teacher, therapist, administrator, and political leader.

7.) Intrapersonal - the ability to access one's own emotional life through awareness of inner moods, intentions, motivations, potentials, temperaments, and desires and the capacity to symbolize and apply these understanding in one's own life. Individuals include the psychotherapist, entrepreneur, and creative artist.

8.) Naturalist - the ability to recognize and classify flora and fauna in ones environment as well as co-exist and interact with living creatures and whole ecosystems. Individuals who display this intelligence are the zoologist, biologist, veterinarian, forest ranger and hunter (p.13-14).

It seems that there is scientific proof to support Gardner's theory [2], and his most recent book, Five Minds for the Future, describes the types of knowledge and skills sets necessary as a result of technology and the changing world.[3] Is it possible that a new intelligence should be added to Gardner's original list? Are multiliteracies the new intelligence? Gardner's own definition of intelligence as "the ability to solve problems or fashion products that are significant in a particular cultural setting or community" makes multiliteracies a possibility for the list.

Adams (2004) supports the idea of a new intelligence - digital intelligence. She contends that digital technologies have become an "extension of man" and that this new intelligence is a response to how we communicate, our economic practice, and our life styles. Technology has allowed us to become fluent across cultures. Digital technologies have increased our ability for information gathering, storage, and retrieval. "Intellectual skills have begun to depend on our ability to interact in a digital environment" (pg. 96).

Teaching Literacy in the Classroom

Every subject requires a different type of literacy in order for students to learn and understand a concept. Students can be taught using many different methods including but not limited to images, charts, web pages, tables, and picture books. Integrating technology in specific subject areas can make meaning through authentic experiences. It can also support curriculum objectives, such as reading challenging texts. (Borsheim)

Mathematics

As educators, we are always trying to find new ways to keep students engaged and form a deeper understanding of mathematics. In mathematics, students must have multiliteracy skills in order to solve contextual problems. Multiliteracies in mathematics include the necessary critical skills to understand the mathematics fixed in various representations such as the numerical, symbolic, algebraic, and graphical. (Afamasaga-Fuata'i) In order to be mathematically literate, one must know and understand quantity, space and shape, changes, relationships, and uncertainty. The goal of mathematics is to construct meaning by applying skills such as questioning, predicting, examining, discussing, describing, and rationalizing.

Mathematics is a language all its own and therefore students must be able to understand the symbols associated with mathematics. Students must also understand syntax, or word order, when working with word problems. These concepts are very similar to any other language, such as English being spoken/read. Therefore, while working with mathematics students must understand both their native language and the language of mathematical symbols.

Also in mathematics, another literacy difficulty deals with vocabulary. There are several words used in mathematics that have English language phonetics but have different meanings. Such examples include "plane", "difference", "odd", and "radical".

In order to teach literacy in mathematics, teachers must focus on the presentation of questions, vocabulary, and the answer format. Students need to be able to read tables, understand various types of graphs and charts, know how to understand and answer multiple part questions, and read, interpret, and use graphic organizers. (Kester Phillips)

Competencies Needed for Math Literacy include:

• Mathematical thinking and reasoning
• Mathematical argumentation
• Mathematical communication
• Modeling
• Problem posing and solving
• Representation
• Symbols
• Tools and technology

(Mathematics for Literacy)

Picture from [Mathematics for Literacy]

Social Studies

According to Perry M. Marker, author of The Future is Now: Social Studies in the World of 2056 (2006) most experts in social studies education agree that contemporary social studies curriculum has its beginnings in 1916. In that year the National Education Association on Committee on Social Studies "produced the scope and sequence of courses that has defined" the primary curriculum that still exists today (Marker, p. 78). The focus of this group was to design a curriculum geared towards the transition of society from the one-room schoolhouses and agricultural lifestyle into the new industrial age. Included in this new age came the modern conception of the public school system. From 1916 through today the focus of social studies curriculum has been the arranging of historical facts in chronological order and incorporating lists of dates, names, and significant events related to political, diplomatic, and military history. The goal has remained the same: to provide students with the historical facts necessary to function as an effective citizen (Marker, p. 79).

More and more, leaders in social studies education are polarizing into two camps with ideas on transitioning social studies into the 21st century. On one side is a push to keep a history-based curriculum that centers on textbook knowledge. This conservative view of social studies maintains that curriculum should emphasize "patriotism" and concepts of government, history, and citizenship. On the other side are the reform efforts that suggest that social studies embrace deliberation, the development of critical thought, and citizenship as a role in social reconstruction instead of social reproduction (Marker, p. 78). Regardless of where scholars fall on this spectrum, few dispute the idea of technology becoming more a part of a social studies curriculum built for the future. According to Marker (2006), "the history-centered social studies curriculum, created in 1916 for a factory model of teaching and learning, is no longer adequate to address the challenges of our twenty-first century society."

Much of the criticism towards the traditional social studies curriculum has been focused on its dependency on textbooks. According to critics, textbooks are failing to connect a chronological, history-centered curriculum to the lives of students. Furthermore, the use of textbooks deny access to the multiliteracies that are a fundamental part of the lives of the Millennial generation. In order to be successful in the future the new generation of students must be able to perform tasks with and within new technologies for their own purposes and for the public good. Reformers argue thus that in order for a social studies curriculum to connect to this new generation of students, teachers must move away from textbook-focused teaching where students are passive receivers of historical facts. Instead teachers must be willing to develop curriculum and instruction around the multiliteracies that are found in electronic text, hypermedia, and even unimagined inventions which this generation will use into the future.

Beyond the criticisms of which social studies methodology will work most effectively for the future, there are increasing numbers of school districts eliminating social studies content time or eliminating social studies altogether in their elementary curriculum in order to free up more time to prepare for the testing mandated by No Child Left Behind legislation. According to "The Teaching of History-Social Science: Left Behind or Behind Closed Doors," (2006) a recent study conducted by Lisa A. Hutton of California State University, Dominguez Hills, and Joyce H. Burstein of California State University, Northridge, there is an increased and continued trend of eliminating social studies to make more time for the drill of mathematics and language arts skills in hopes of increasing standardized test scores. According to the authors, who interviewed teachers over several years, there was a "minimal amount of time teaching history-social science compared to reading/language arts and mathematics. Teachers are pressured to focus on reading/language arts and increase test scores on standardized tests and history-social science is being marginalized in the elementary curriculum." The research goes on to state that teachers were still committed to teaching social studies, but had to find more creative ways of infusing it into the curriculum.

Although social studies content time tends to be declining in schools, an increasing number of educational theorists and organizations are advocating the development of global educational frameworks that have at their foundation skills and knowledge primarily based in social studies content. One of the most prominent organizations in the forefront of "infusing 21st century skills into education" is the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. The Partnership acknowledges that success in the 21st century will be dependent on youth having a wealth of multiliteracies. Through research and consultation with experts in the fields of business, education, politics, etc., the Partnership idenitfied core subjects and themes that are essential in developing these multiliteracies for student success in the future. Of the nine core subjects identified, four--economics, geography, history, and government and civics--are social studies related. In addition, the Partnership identifies four 21st century themes that they suggest will promote "understanding of academic content at much higher levels by weaving 21st century interdisciplinary themes into core subjects." Of these themes, three--global awareness, financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy, and civic literacy are social studies related.

Thus it seems counterintuitive to eliminate social studies from K-12 schools to meet the perceived needs of standardized tests when, in fact, a growing number of educational theorists and professionals in the field determine the skills and literacies developed through social studies instruction are building blocks for survival and success in an increasingly globally competitive future.

Science

The growing role of science, math, and technology in today's world means science skills are important for all students, not just those looking to a career in the sciences. This is a break from the past, when school mathematics curriculum was focused by the need to provide the foundations for the professional training of a small group of engineers, mathematicians, and scientists.

Science learning involves doing things and interacting actively with knowledge. These actions include observing, measuring, communicating and discussing, investigation, watching and monitoring, and recording results. While science is a practical discipline, it is also a theoretical subject (Panizzon, 2005). Students need high level thinking skills - the ability to infer, hypothesize, and comprehend abstractions. "A wide body of research suggests that learning to solve problems in a variety of contexts fosters the development of a general problem-solving ability that can be transferred to new contexts. Without practice in applying science skills in real problem-solving situations, transfer is unlikely to happen" (Valentino).[4]

Science Literacies:

Observing - determining the properties of an object or event by using the senses

Classifying - grouping objects or events according to their properties

Measuring/Using Numbers Skills - describing quantitatively using appropriate units of measurement- estimating, recording quantitative data, defining space or time relationships

Communicating - using written and spoken words, graphs, tables, diagrams, and other information presentations, including those that are technology based.

Inferring - drawing a conclusion about a specific event based on observations and data; may include cause and effect relationships.

Predicting - anticipating consequences of a new or changed situation using past experiences and observation.

Collecting, Recording, and Interpreting Data - Manipulating data, either collected by self or by others, in order to make meaningful information and then finding patterns in that information that lead to making inferences, predictions and hypotheses.

Identifying and Controlling Variables - identifying the variables in a situation; selecting variables to be manipulated and held constant.

Defining Operationally- defining terms within the context of one's own experiences; stating a definition in terms of "what you do" and "what you observe".

Making Hypotheses - proposing an explanation based on observations

Experimenting /Investigating - manipulating materials, and testing hypotheses to determine a result

Making and Using Models - representing the "real world" using a physical or mental model in order to understand the larger process or phenomenon (Valentino)

Scientific Literacies supported by ICT's:

- Collecting and storing large amounts of data

- Performing complex calculations

- Processing data and displaying it in a variety of formats

- Presentation and communication of information in a visually stimulating way

Language Arts

"The impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is changing the nature of literary narratives for children and the contexts in which they experience and respond to such narratives outside of school contexts. However, in the main, teachers do not feel confident or comfortable in the world of digital multimedia. Children's literature can bridge this intergenerational digital divide in the English classroom"(Unsworth 2008). This statement resonates with educators around the world - the continuous struggle between the learning patterns of students outside the classroom and the reality of the instructional styles practiced in the classroom. Bridging that gap in the language arts arena is the focus of this section.

The key to making this connection is to target the literacy skills students employ in their social world with the practices of the classroom. "Students today live in an environment in which reading and writing, through digital media as well as traditional texts, are pervasive. The challenge for teachers is to connect the literacy skills that students develop in their social environment with the literacy environment of the school" (Considine, Horton & Moorman 2009). The authors suggest that educators need to understand not only what media and technology do to today's youth, but what they do with it (p. 472).

Considine, Horton & Moorman (2009) propose several ideas on how to make the connection across disciplines in the form of a Text, Audience and Production (T.A.P.) model. The literacy model considers the three facets of media. In this activity, students question the medium and genre of the text, the individuals, industries or institutions that created the text, and the target audience for the text. It has roots in the traditional sense of a book report or literary criticism, but it affords students an opportunity to engage any type of print or non-print text and requires them to employ the same critical and analytical skills. The submitted piece can be print or non-print; it is dependent on the desire of the student. If a teacher keeps to the traditional 7-10 page written report, then he or she is keeping students from engaging in endless multiliteracy possibilities. Students will respond accordingly.

Another argument for traditional print texts is that their vocabulary and comprehension levels are geared toward a students' achievement level. Stone (2007) addresses the issue of reading rigor and online literacies. In the findings, students tend to gravitate toward sites with higher levels of vocabulary and syntax structures based on their interest levels. It substantiates the argument that students will achieve at higher levels of achievement when afforded with opportunities to choose their own text, whether it is print or non-print.

Additionally, Frey and Fisher (2004) suggest using graphic novels to further help develop vocabulary development skills, in addition to teaching inferencing skills and addressing audience. This mutliliterary structure again focuses on students interests (comics, drawings) while using a traditional text as the medium. This approach can easily extend beyond the bound format to include digital components such as videos or SIMS. Lawrence, McNeal and Yildiz (2009) have taken on just that. Based on a summer reading program emphasizing student choice, final projects included a multimedia comic strip utilizing images from the internet and digital in the final structure of the strips. The piece also included an element on promoting social justice by having students construct the cartoon to highlight and invite change on a current social issue.

The National Council of Teachers of English released a policy research brief about 21st century literacies. In this brief, the authors state: "English/language arts teachers need to prepare students for this world with problem solving, collaboration, and analysis - as well as skills with word processing, hypertext, LCDs, Web cams, digital streaming podcasts, Smartboards, and social networking software - central to individual and community success." (p. 1) The brief goes on to explore common myths about English education for the twenty-first century, define key terms, and make research-based recommendations for effectively integrating twenty-first century technologies into instruction.

Shelbie Witte provides an example of effective use of multimodalities in the article "'That's online writing, not boring school writing': Writing with blogs and the Talkback Project". In this article, Witte outlines the use of multimodalities (blogs, in this case) in language arts and argues that it is essential for our students to have meaningful experience with a variety of literacies. Witte writes: "The Talkback Project should serve as an example of how schools can shrink the technology gap and better prepare students to become citizens of a global society" (Witte, 2007, p. 96). She goes on to quote a students to whom she refers in the article: "As Cassandra's words so eloquently put it in perspective, 'any teenager in the world with a computer' will continue to become a part of global society, with or without the guidance of schools and teachers, by using blogs to share writing with the world" (Witte, 2007, p. 96). Witte concludes: "Through the Talkback Project, I know that we have provided opportunities for students and future educators to develop their digital fluency while also strengthening their traditional literacy skills" (Witte, 2007, p. 96). This combination of strengthening multimodalities and traditional literacies will be essential for our students.

Fine Arts

The National School Boards Association (2007) advocates that multimedia texts be incorporated into curriculum to promote creative thought. The association argues that "Students use words, music, photographs and videos to creatively express themselves in online environments" (Considine, Horton, and Moorman, 2009). With that reality, it is imperative that the instruction in the classroom reflect the realities of students outside the classroom. Not only will educators be able to engage students more effectively, but educators may very well teach less aware students how to actively engage in their social contexts by providing those who lack technology capital with opportunities to participate accordingly.

Considine, Horton, and Moorman (2007) promote the fine arts in a multimedia exploration of the titanic. Not only do the researchers engage multiliteracies in teaching about the tragic event, but they also require a multiliteracy final project. "The focus of the exercise and activities promotes greater student engagement and richer readings of the diverse type of texts available to them, including still images, sound, music, video and print" (p. 477).

World Languages

World Language literacy is very similar to the literacy of Language Arts. Students must also be prepared with problem solving, collaboration, and analysis in different languages. They must know and understand:

• Vocabulary
• Grammar
• Speaking
• Listening
• Writing
• Communicating, Creating, and Collaborating with others

Some ways that students can become literate in other languages include using vocabulary tools such as Quizlet to take vocabulary quizzes or creating their own vocabulary flashcards. Students could also use the internet with LangoLAB for video and text or My Language Exchange to interact with a native speaker. Another way for students to speak with people from other countries would be to create blogs or podcasts.

Literacy in the World Languages Classroom

Special Education

Technology can be the global gateway to literacy for students with disabilities. However, this population of people is often overlooked. New assistive technologies are available to give access and promote multiliteracy. People can access social networks, assistive devices, and communication devices. Assistive technologies incorporated in the classroom can promote learning. These technologies give people with disabilities a mode to connect to an ever-changing, fast-pace world.

According to the Arizona State School for the Deaf and Blind, "Augmentative Alternative Communication is any system that allows information to be transmitted from one person to another without verbal communication." Communication devices give a person with disabilities a way to communicate with the world. As we are becoming a technological society, these devices help students as well as adults keep up. There are many different devices, some more advanced than others. Students can have a simple board with simple picture systems used to communicate. PECS (picture exchange communication system) is growing in popularity within the Autism Network, but can also be used for a wide range of students. Each word is represented as a picture symbol. Students use these symbols to communicate. Many times in classrooms the symbols are used for picture schedules, calendar terms, literacy components, and many other various subjects throughout the day. This is known as a low-tech device because it does not cost very much and does not require a power source. Other types of assistive technology used in communication are simple switches. Switches can be hooked up to many devices such as tape recorders, toys, lights, and computers. Messages can be recorded on switches allowing students to hit the switch and communicate a message. Then there are the more high-tech devices. These devices are costly. Communication devices are one example. The Vantage is a brand of communication device. It has a capacity to hold up to 84 words on a page. Students simply choose words to make a sentence and the device repeats the sentence back. Also, for people who may not have good muscle control or use of their arms, there are now options for access to communication devices using eye gaze!

American Sign Language is a language that is embodied in the physical. As an actual language it does not utilize written script, and thus provides a strong challenge to those who would limit "literacy" to the written text. To be literate in ASL is to sign. For students who are Deaf-Blind, tactile signs are used. This is where you teach the student to sign by physically manipulating his or her hand to sign and having the student feel you hand.

Braille is another literacy component for students who are blind or visually impaired. This written language is composed of raised dots representing letters.

These technologies are not only used for communication, they encompass learning, also. There are books on tape and writing programs on the computer to help children access our curriculum. Classrooms are becoming differentiated to help facilitate the learning of each and every individual student.

Special education is a growing phenomena of technological advances. With each new advance, we are globalizing learning for each and every student. These devices give students access to education and learning. These devices are not just used in the educational setting. These technologies span across social settings and throughout years. Literacy is becoming less about textbooks and writing and more about access to learning and information, communication and voice.

Differentiating Instruction According to Abilities

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

"Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework for designing educational environments that enable all learners to gain knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm for learning." Students come into the classroom with different strengths and needs. For many students, especially those with special needs, the learning environment is full of roadblocks and educational barriers. With UDL students can access educational opportunities according to individual strengths. Instead of making the students adapt to the curriculum, UDL turns the tables and makes the curriculum adapt to the students (CAST). UDL incorporates the following:

Provide multiple and flexible methods of presentation to give students with diverse learning styles various ways of acquiring information and knowledge.

Provide multiple and flexible means of expression to provide diverse students with alternatives for demonstrating what they have learned, and

Provide multiple and flexible means of engagement to tap into diverse learners' interests, challenge them appropriately, and motivate them to learn (CAST).

Bilingual Education and English Language Acquisition (Literacies and Culture)

When teaching English Language Learners, teachers must provide meaningful, engaging and relevant instruction through a wide variety of multiliteracies and content. Literacy practices should support a student's first language and culture. Globalization has resulted in cultural hegemony; students are losing their cultural backgrounds. Teachers must maintain a diverse classroom and environment to prepare students for a globalized world.

How Multiliteracies are Impacting Other Areas of Life

Multiliteracies are having a profound affect across the spectrum of human endeavors. The release of the pictures of torture committed at Abu Ghraib points to the power of imagery. Despite the fact that most people can imagine torture, or that those who have been tortured have gone on record describing their ordeals, the world anxiously awaits the release of images of U.S. soldiers’ mistreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo and other secret CIA prisons around the world. Until then, little public reaction, other than condemnation, denials and deliberation has occurred, highlighting the waning influence of ideas communicated through print media to affect events and policies.

The use of multiliteracies in a number of key areas is becoming commonplace. Barack Obama, remaining in constant touch with his constituency rode a wave of bloggers to the White House. Obama’s use of new technologies crossed generations and drew a striking comparison to his opponent’s technophobia and lack of being able to write emails. "Digital immigrants" (“Boomers – Jones -Gen X”) and "digital natives: (“Millenials”) connect technical savvy to relevance in other fields.

Social marketing is another key area where multiliteracies are being employed. The Center for Disease Control, for example, uses blogs, Second Life, twitter and other new communication tools to reach the public on issues from issues of influenza to food poisoning. Other government agencies, such as the State Department and the General Services Administration (GSA) are also employing new technologies such as You Tube and Flickr to reach audiences, writes Chris Snyder, in his article playfully sub-titled: "Web 2.0, meet dot-gov. Dot-gov, this is Web 2.0."

Psychologists, counselors and teachers are also discovering the power of new media to reach youth on issues related to mental health. Suzi Boss, commenting in Edutopia on the use of the online virtual world Teen Second Life ("Avatars Teach Teens About Self-Image"), points out that teens can experiment with identity and other issues in low risk settings, share their thoughts with other peers via their avatars, where they can practice building interpersonal trust and peer support. Boss claims that “students typically bring the same good habits [back] into their real-world conversations. This virtually acquired respect, peer support, and trust help to build self-esteem, the key to helping kids thrive during adolescence.”

Ohio State University has taken the lead in developing a Second Life campus. At McDaniel College, a four year liberal arts college located in Westminster, Maryland, a project funded by the United States Department of Education Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, called “Late Nights,” developed a Second Life "building" to assist college students to explore information and reflect on the issue of binge drinking. The site incorporates a variety of media, including visual images, print, online assessments, blogs, and student developed art as part of its outreach efforts.

Today’s digitally immersed youth / tomorrow’s leaders are reading print less while engaging ever more in new forms of literacy. To reach them society must turn to other media, including social networking sites, Twitter, blogs, You Tube, Second Life, etc.

Likewise, adult "digital immigrants" are also turning to the Net for information critical to themselves, specifically to address their medical and health concerns. Today there is a superabundance of information on health and wellness available, from professional sites to chat rooms and online support groups. As individuals turn to the Net for information, and value the authentic voice of those who have experienced - or are experiencing - a health crises, the absolute authority of the physician to make decisions for the patient is waning. Increasing numbers of patients are turning to the possibility of self-diagnosis and medication, along with alternative treatments, undermining established orders of medical power.

The widespread use of new technologies and multiliteracies is, thus, reconfiguring power relations and hierarchical structures of communication and relationships.

Implications for Curriculum and Instruction

The nature and process for curriculum will need to change to ensure that multiliteracies are incorporated meaningfully into the curriculum. Similarly, instruction will also need to shift in order to integrate multiliteracies in a meaningful way for students.

Background

Nancy Walser in "Teaching 21st Century Skills: What Does It Look Like" states: "Teaching 21st century skills doesn't necessarily mean using a lot of technology, although projects may involve computers, software, and other devices, like global positioning systems (GPS). Sometimes it's simply a matter of approaching an assignment differently to allow students to demonstrate skills like teamwork, collaboration, and self-directed learning." (Walser, 2008, p. 1-2) Walser lists several critical skills essential for the new century. The list includes: critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, written and oral communication, creativity, self-direction, leadership, adaptability, responsibility, and global awareness. (Walser, 2008, p. 2) It is critical that both curriculum and instruction incorporate multiliteracies and reflect these critical skills.

In "Learning for the 21st Century", a report by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, the authors outline six core elements of 21st century learning: emphasize core subjects, emphasize learning skills, use 21st century tools to develop learning skills, teach and learn in a 21st century context, teach and learn 21st century content, and use 21st century assessments that measure 21st century skills. http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29&Itemid=185 These six elements have enormous implications for curriculum and instruction.

The partnership for 21st Century Skills has developed specific goals for both curriculum and instruction in order to incorporate multimodalities meaningfully for students. For curriculum, the stated goal is:"to adopt a 21st century curriculum that blends thinking and innovation skills; information, media, and ICT literacy; and life and career skills in context of core academic subjects and across interdisciplinary themes"; for instruction the stated goal is: "to employ methods of 21st century instruction that integrate innovative and research-proven teaching strategies, modern learning technologies, and real world resources and contexts". http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/documents/21st_century_skills_curriculum_and_instruction.pdf. The balance of this gives suggestions for successfully modifying curriculum and instruction to meet these goals.

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) discusses several myths about 21st century literacies and multimodalities. These myths, which NCTE argues against are: - 21st-century literacy is about technology only; - The digital divide is closed because schools provide computer and Internet access; - Teachers who use technology in their personal lives will use it in their classes; - Teachers need to be experts in technology in order to use it effectively in instruction. (NCTE, 2007, p. 2-3) The discussion of these myths and resulting recommendations will help educators to better understand the curriculum and instruction implications of multimodailites. http://www1.ncte.org/store/books/tech/128510.htm

Tony Wagner, co-director of Harvard Garduate School of Education's Change Leadership Group, has also advocated for a change in the process of teaching and learning to promote core competencies for the 21st century. His research has identified a global achievement gap that will only widen in the future as schools spend more time, energy, and resources preparing students for No Child Left Behind mandated state tests. In his book, The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don't Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need - and What We Can Do About It, Wagner identifies seven "survival" skills that schools need to teach and students need to learn: --critical thinking/problem solving --collaboration across networks/leading by influence --agility and adaptability --initiative and entrepreneurship --effective oral and written communication --accessing and analyzing information --curiosity and imagination

His list was developed from interviews and workshops with business, educational, and political leaders and what they see as the basic necessities for students to succeed in the future. These skills echo those from the Partnership for 21st century Skills, reinforcing the importance of multiliteracies for student in a world that is changing faster than educational systems can adapt to meet those changes. In a July, 2008, keynote address ([5], Wagner not only suggests that schools adopt the seven survival skills, but also that schools prepare teachers to teach a 21st century student with different skills, competencies, and world views than many of the teachers had been originally trained and prepared for.

Frameworks

A number of frameworks have been developed to assist educators in meeting the challenges of 21st century skills in curriculum and instruction. For example, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills has developed "a unified, collective vision for 21st century learning that will strengthen American education. The Partnership created the Framework for 21st Century Learning, which describes the skills, knowledge, and expertise students must master to succeed in work and life. Only when a school or district combines the framework with 21st century professional development, assessment, and standards, can the American public be sure that high school graduates are prepared to thrive in today's global economy" (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2009) http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/documents/framework_flyer_updated_april_2009.pdf

The Metiri Group has developed a complete framework of skills, rubrics, and assessments to assist districts and schools in implementing 21st century skills. http://www.metiri.com/features.html This group divides the learning into four major areas: digital-age literacies; inventive thinking; effective communication; and high productivity. Each of these major areas is developed and defined and examples of rubrics and assessment options are included.

Assessment

One of the challenges of implementing 21st century skills and multimodalities meaningfully is assessment. The Education Sector has published a document ("Measuring Skills for the 21st Century") to support the work of schools in this challenging area. The document outlines a number of options schools and district can use to develop meaningful assessment. http://www.educationsector.org/research//research_show.htm?doc_id=716323

Globalization, the New Technologies and Multiliteracies

A 2004 study by the Kaiser Foundation, entitled “Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8 – 18 Year Olds,” found that youth are spending less time with print material and increasing time with new technologies. In 2008 Facebook drew over 200 million world wide users while MySpace drew 125 million visitors [6]. Worldwide 1.5 billion people access the Internet (ref). The BBC reported that “at the end of 2008, the number of net users in China, which has a population of 1.3 billion, was almost the same as the entire population of the United States” (ref). And, dramatically, the recent popular uprising in Iran has highlighted the role of Twitter in both maintaining communication between protesters and with the outside world (ref).

The Internet and new technologies are essentially transnational. Internet users now have access to news sources, blogs and opinions outside of their own national borders. Users can also engage with people living outside of their nation-state, forging new alliances between peoples, influencing trends, or strengthening relations with - and the influence of - Diaspora communities. Not long ago our understanding of other peoples was shaped by special interests. In the new digital age individuals have the opportunity to challenge preconceived and often media, corporate and government constructed images of the “Other.” Andrew Sullivan, commenting in the UK Times Online, as he monitored the "tweets" coming out of Iran, wrote: “As I did so, it was impossible not to feel connected to the people on the streets, especially the younger generation, with their blogs and tweets and Facebook messages - all instantly familiar to westerners in a way that would have been unthinkable a decade or so ago. This new medium ripped the veil off "the other" and we began to see them as ourselves. All the accumulated suspicion and fear and alienation from three decades of hostility between Iran and America seemed to slip away. Whatever happens, the ability of this new media to bring people together - to bring the entire world into this revolution on the streets of Iran - has already changed things dramatically.” (ref)

This is not to say that the new post-national digital age will evolve without pressures to maintain national control of information. The battle lines over culture are being drawn. The world watches as the "old guard(s)" frantically build dikes against the rising global tide. As national frontiers become increasingly porous to the flows of information, examples abound of nations attempting to curtail the free flow of communications. For example, the day after the election in Iran, the state attempted to halt Internet communication with the outside world, unplugging from the Net (ref). In 2006 Amnesty International launched a campaign against Internet repression, called “Irrepressible.Info,” pointing out that: “From Iran to the Maldives and Cuba to Vietnam, governments are both cracking down on those who use the internet to communicate their views and denying their citizens access to its wealth of information. Web users are locked up, internet cafes are shut down, chat rooms are policed and blogs deleted. Websites are blocked, foreign news banned, and search engines filter out sensitive results.” (ref)

The global e-tempest surging across borders has the real potential to destabilize, or even washout, traditional beliefs and local "common sense" notions. The scholar Grace Jantzen, drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, underlined the importance of the idea of a “logic of practice,” or habitus. “The habitus is the ‘common sense world’ as it appears to, and is inhabited by, its participants. As human beings learn the language of their society and are socialized into it, they acquire a sense of how to behave in all sorts of practical situations. We learn how to behave to different sorts of people; what to wear in different contexts. A whole range of attributes, tastes, and values acquired through upbringing and training develop within us a sense of ‘how things are done’ in multiple situations, trivial and complex.” Jantzen points out that this acquired “habitus” is internalized, and that we react to situations spontaneously, feeling the rightness or wrongness of our actions based on the structures and dispositions of thought we have acquired since childhood.

The new digital age allows for experimentation and play of identities, roles, attitudes, etc. thus challenging the sphere and development of habitus. For example, “residents” of Second Life, a virtual 3-D web, can experiment with other identities, slipping in and out of various guises, transforming their online avatars within minutes. A visit to the online Second Life "Mecca" exemplifies this as online “hajis” dressed in Western clothes pray at the cyber "Kaaba," or sit reflectively on the steps of the "mosque" in contemplation. It is this very fact, this free play of identity, that threatens to undermine the hard lines between civilization that Samuel Huntington and others mistakenly identified as essential, true, fixed and permanent.

In addition to experimentation and play, the global transformation that is taking place has as much to do with how people are reading as what they are reading.

Motoko Rich, in his article entitled “Literacy Debate: R U Really Reading?” points out, and as will be elaborated on in the following section on the future of literacies, that readers approach print and electronic media differently. “Clearly, reading in print and on the Internet are different. On paper, text has a predetermined beginning, middle and end, where readers focus for a sustained period on one author’s vision. On the Internet, readers skate through cyberspace at will and, in effect, compose their own beginnings, middles and ends.”

The new media allows for experimentation in the construction of narratives. All peoples have created national meta-narratives of themselves and others, stories that attempt to define themselves and their place in the world. In fact, colonialism was founded on a myth of the “White Man’s Burden” and the project of Enlightenment. Albert Memmi, writing at the time of the French occupation of Algeria, conjures a popular picture of the French colonizer “as a tall man, bronzed by the sun, wearing Wellington boots, proudly leaning on a shovel – as he rivets his gaze far away on the horizon of his land. When not engaged in battles against nature, we think of him laboring selflessly for mankind, attending the sick, and spreading culture to the nonliterate. In other words, his pose is one of a noble adventurer, a righteous pioneer.” In today's digital era, images and myths of power/subjugation can be pushed back against.

Michel Foucault famously linked knowledge and the regime of power. For Foucault knowledge “not only assumes the authority of 'the truth' but has the power to make itself true.” (ref) Knowledge of the “Other,” as produced by the human and social sciences, with their narrative structure and focus on the printed text, provided a platform to marginalize and dehumanize peoples and cultures of oral traditions as part of the project of colonization.

The Kenyan philosopher Henry Odera Oruka, in his book Sage Philosophy: Indigenous Thinkers and Modern Debate on African Philosophy, argues that the regime that excluded African wisdom is based on the false premise that philosophy requires written literacy. The Western narrative, according to Oruka, created a story whereby philosophy – and hence critical thought and intellectual engagement - became the limited domain of certain races, and particularly white males within those races. Oruka’s project attempts to open the boundaries of philosophy to include African sages and, by extension, other wisdom traditions (i.e. indigenous Americans and Australians, etc.).

The new technologies, with their move towards multiliteracies, transnational communication and decentered and multiple narratives, have the potential to facilitate a new globalization, allowing global users to tear down, like the Berlin Wall, concepts such as “Self and Other” and “margin and center.” The revolution that is taking place is no less important, though perhaps less dramatic, than the wave of decolonizations that took place in the 1960s. To rephrase Fanon, in his infamous work, “The Wretched of the Earth,” we the people are also being decolonized, that is to say the colon in each of us is being slowly removed. Let us hope that it continues to unfold in the playful sphere of cyberspace than through “bloody operations” on the streets.

Future of Literacies

Because new technologies are rapidly being produced, and, more importantly, the meaning ascribed to these technologies in subject to flux, it is difficult to predict the direction in which literacy will evolve. In attempting to do so, though, we will comment on current trajectories by looking at three specific questions: (1) How are the means by which ideas are being developed and exchanged using new technologies different from traditional print? (2) How is the construction of knowledge in the digital age unfolding? And (3) is there a new hermeneutics and, if so, what will that require from “readers”?

Before we take up a discussion of the aforementioned three points, we should keep in mind that any discussion of the future of literacy is filtered through two positions: (a) technical determinism, and (b) social constructivism. The former position, put forward by Langdon Winner and others, maintains that technologies, such as Google, are autonomous from their intended use, and influence or determine, social change. For example, one would argue that the widespread use of the printing press produced European civilization’s emphasis on literacy. The latter position, social constructivism, in contrast, maintains that technologies are essentially value free, and that their meaning is determined by social agents. For example, gunpowder can have a variety of meanings, from use in weapons to holiday festivities to 9th century Taoist alchemy. There is nothing intrinsic to gunpowder that determines its use in any one way.

The communication and development of ideas. First, the current trajectory seems to indicate a move away from the idea of a single author, or set of authors, who develop and own a textual work and the ideas contained therein towards greater textual collaboration and openness, where multiple contributors, often unknown to the original author(s), continue the project. Wikipedia is perhaps the best example of a seismic shift that has taken place. The attempt to gather knowledge of the known world within a series of volumes has always rested in the hands of a vetted and highly educated elite class. Wikipedia has revolutionized this by allowing anyone interested to participate. Secondly, ideas and concepts are moving away from a letter only based representation to other forms of representation, including film images, graphs, photos, pictures, anyone of which may stand alone or be combined with print or other forms. Thirdly, the mode of conveying ideas is moving from an objective distant third person voice, where a position is backed up with facts and reason, to one of acknowledged subjectivity, where the author does not flinch from making clear that an idea is based on one’s own point of view.

The construction of knowledge in the digital age. Since the time of Aristotle, humans have sought to create taxonomies that clearly configure the relationship between one thing and another, one branch of knowledge and another. In the modern digital age the user, through a procedure of tagging, determines the relationships. An item or idea, thus, is freed from a strict taxonomy of relationships and is free floating alongside multiple other items and or ideas. David Weinberger, in his talk at the Library of Congress, embedded below, likens this as a shift from the dream of a universal all encompassing tree of knowledge to something more akin to a vine, stretching forth in untold directions. Rather picturesquely, he describes this new free floating relationship of things and ideas to each other as being set in a giant pond of water, with the user/seeker discovering them in his or her own fashion, rather than as part of a predetermined and preprocessed structure of meaning. Moreover, the new digital age appears to be significantly undermining the role of the expert. As exemplified by Wikipedia and weblogs, anyone with an interest can contribute to information. Thus, the emphasis, no longer on the single or group of experts, is now centered in an open ongoing conversation about a topic that is continually taken up and revised by multiple contributors. The “truth,” ever shifting and moving, appears and disappears, not in the person or argument, but in the ongoing and unfolding conversation.

The new hermeneutics. Traditional non-fiction is based on propositional truth, which is subject to verification or falsification. At its core is the argument, made up of premises and a conclusion. Students are taught to critically analyze an essay or book by identifying the structure of an argument and determining its validity and soundness. In weighing the value of an argument, students have traditionally been trained to assess the author and his or her authority to make expert statements. In the new digital age the argument no longer reigns supreme. What is it, then, that is presenting the challenge?

The average Web surfer does not spend the requisite time on any single Web page to work through complex arguments. Instead, each page usually contains hypertext and hypermedia which provide links to other pages or websites. As the user links from page to page, or switches media, he or she freely explores information through associations.

The literacy of tomorrow, as it moves away from deconstructing arguments, will require that “readers” are able to associate ideas or things in the same context, identify them in multiple contexts, and to create one’s own categories using tags. In addition, the individual who is literate will need to develop the skills necessary to quickly identify the relevance of a source, and the degree of reliability of the information contained therein without easy recourse to the author or site’s authority beyond what is being presented on the screen. As educators begin to adapt to the new technologies, there will be a move towards pattern recognition, requiring readers to develop and understand holistic perspectives. This, in turn, will drive a move from disciplinarity and towards inter and post-disciplinarity. The future of multiliteracies lend themselves to systems thinking, a prerequisite if we are to engage global issues such as climate change, environmental degradation, water shortages and mass migration, all of which transcend national boundaries.

[7]

Conclusion

The rapid growth of multiliteracies has guided us into a realm of opportunities where digital technology plays an essential and critical part in our everyday lives, but to be fully utilized, it must be embraced by our education system. As educators, we need to see the opportunities afforded by technologies not for its own sake, but as part of the fabric of everyday life. It is important for communities at all levels to become multiliterate. It can create positive interactions with the global community; it can open up new possiblities at the local level; it bridges learning gaps that were once uncrossable. Most importantly, it equips us to think differently about the labels we put on others and ourselves to give us a more democratic lens in which we see the world. It is therefore critical that educators make our students stronger in this area so that they will be able to compete in a global environment and foster positive relationships in communities that never existed before the emergence of such technologies. Integrating these mutliliteracies into the classroom will intensify and strengthen student learning and relationship building.

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