Donald J. Leu

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THINKING ABOUT OUR FUTURE AS RESEARCHERSNEW
LITERACIES, NEW CHALLENGES, AND NEW OPPORTUNITIES

• Donald J. Leu
• University of Connecticut

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The New Literacies Research Team at UConn
Julie Coiro Athena Lentini Jill Castek Erica Berg
Laurie Henry Teri LeBel Kent Golden Amber Hovland
Don Leu Pam Worthy Doug Hartman
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Literacy is All About Change
We change the world one child at a time, as we
teach each one to read, write, think, and learn.
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Today, The Very Nature of Literacy Is, Itself,
Rapidly Changing

• Globalization has produced other nations and
  states who are racing the U.S. to the top in
  the effective use and integration of ICT into the
  workplace and our daily lives (Friedman, The
  World is Flat)

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Consider

• Graduates started their school career with the
  literacies of paper, pencil, and book
  technologies but will finish having encountered
  the new literacies demanded by a wide variety of
  ICT
• word processors, World Wide Web browsers,
  e-mail, spreadsheets, presentation software,
  instant messaging, video editors, plug-ins for
  Web resources, listservs, bulletin boards, web
  logs (blogs), avatars, Web editors, virtual
  worlds, and many others.

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Literacy as Deixis

• As the technologies for reading and writing
  change so, too, does the very definition of
  literacy and what it means to be literate.
• Literacy, reading, writing, communication all
  have become deictic terms. (Leu, 2000)

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The Internet drives the deictic nature of
literacy in the 21st Century. It is this
generations defining technology for literacy and
learning
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Just as literacy skills are required to use book,
paper, and pencil technologies effectively, new
literacies are required to effectively use the
Internet and other ICTs.
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What are these New Literacies of Reading
Comprehension?

• The new thinking and reading comprehension
  skills required to use the Internet to
• identify important questions
• locate information
• critically evaluate that information
• synthesize information
• communicate the answers to others.
• Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, and Cammack (2004)

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New Literacies Define a New Vision of the Reading
Comprehension Curriculum

• Identify Important Questions
• Locate information
• Critically evaluate the usefulness of that
  information
• Synthesize information
• Communicate answers to others

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Three Examples of New Literacies
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An Example of Online Reading Comprehension
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New Literacies Contested Space

• Literacy as social practice (Street)
• Literacy as Discourse (Gee)
• Literacy as multiliteracies (New London Group)
• New Literacies (Lankshear and Knobel)
• New Literacies (New Literacies Research Team)

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New Literacies (The New Literacies Research Team)

• The Internet is this generations defining
  technology for literacy and learning.
• Literacy as deixis
• Focus on informational text, comprehension,
  learning, communication
• Focus on classroom contexts
• Draw upon multiple theoretical perspectives and
  constructs discursive, social practice,
  constructivism, reading comprehension, learning
  theory, and communication frames of reference.

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Observations About How The Internet Is Changing
The Nature of Literacy
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From 2000-2001, use of the Internet at work among
all employed adults 25 years of age and older
increased by nearly 60, from 26.1 of the
workforce to 41.7 (U.S. Department of Commerce,
2002).
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In 2005, 93 of workers in companies with more
than 100 employees used the Internet and online
information resources in the workplace.
(Websenses Sixth Annual Web_at_Work Survey, 2005)
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In 2004, nearly 75 of all households reported
they had Internet access. (Neilson/NETRatings,
2004)
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87 of all students between the ages of 12 and 17
in the U.S. use the Internet, and 78 of these
students (nearly 11,000,000 students) do so
daily.(Pew Internet American Life Project,
2005)
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In 1994 only 35 of public K-12 schools in the US
had an Internet connection.Today, 99 do.
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In 1994, only 3 of all K-12 instructional rooms
in the U.S. had access to the Internet.Today,
93 do.
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Ireland manufactures more software than the US
or any other nation.
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Finland provides teachers with five weeks of
paid, release time, professional development at
integrating new literacies into the
classroom.(Leu,Kinzer, Coiro, Cammack, 2004)
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Japan has broadband in nearly every home that is
16 times faster than the broadband in US homes,
for only 22 per month.(T. Bleha, Foreign
Affairs, 2005)
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Companies in India provide online tutoring for US
students in reading, math, and science.(NY
Times, September, 2005)
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Mexico is investing more than 1,000,000,000 to
install an Internet computer in every every
primary grade classroom by 2005 as part of its
e-Mexico Program(Education Week, 2004)
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Australia, the U.K., Finland, Ireland, Japan, and
most developed nations have Internet portals for
educators, far superior to anything the US has
produced.
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Why Are These New Literacies So Important?

• Economic Arguments
• Democratic Arguments
• Individual Empowerment Arguments
• Global Peace and Diversity Arguments
• Reading Skill Development Arguments

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The Current State of Affairs in the US
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We continue to assess student performance with
paper and pencil assessments of largely factual
information based on traditional literacy and
learning skills, ignoring

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• globalization and economic competition
• the changing nature of the workforce
• the digitalization of information and
  communication
• and the changes taking place to learning,
  reading comprehension, writing, and communication
  as the Internet enters our lives.

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No state permits all students the opportunity to
use a word processor during their state writing
assessment.
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No state assesses the ability to read search
engine results.
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No state currently assesses the ability to
critically evaluate information online.
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NCLB has taken us back to our literacy past, not
forward to our literacy future.
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And, it is important to understand online
assessment DOES NOT necessarily mean the
assessment of online skills.
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While some states are moving assessment online,
no state assesses, online learning.
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The Irony Of Our Time

• The organization in our society charged with
  preparing students for their future has, because
  of NCLB, invested in the assessment of their past.

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Research Projects at the New Literacies Research
Lab

• National Assessment of Adult Literacy (ETS,
  NCES)
• 50 States Assessment Study
• Somers Study of Science Instruction and the New
  Literacies of Online Reading Comprehension
• US Dept. of Ed - Online Reading Comprehension
  with Priority Schools (Clemson)
• Nila Banton Smith Research Award - Reading during
  Online Searching
• Carnegie Grant

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Reshaping the Doctoral Experience

• High expectations for scholarship and teaching
• Working as colleagues
• The essential nature of conference participation
• Making transparent all that professors do.
• Working shoulder to shoulder
• Developing a common commitment to one another

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Rethinking Our Work 10 Steps We Might Take
Together To Change Our Literacy and Learning
Worlds
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Step 1Recognize That Literacies are Multiple
New Literacies Do NOT Replace Traditional
Literacies
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Step 2Realize That Systemic Change is Necessary
in Order to Include the New Literacies of the
Internet into the Classroom.
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Systemic change is always the most challenging
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but produces for the most important results.
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Step 3 Many Hands Make Light Work.

• Whatever you study, whatever you teach, we need
  your voice, your perspective, and your insights
  to help the field better understand the changes
  that are taking place.

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Step 4 Recognize That Each of Us Is On a
Journey and That We Each Have Something to Both
Learn and Teach
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Step 5Recognize That In An Age of Change,
Knowing How to Solve an Informational Problem May
Be More Important to Measure Than Knowing
Factual Knowledge
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Step 6Look To Our Future, Not To Our Past

• Expect rapid continuous changes to reading and
  literacy.
• Comprehensively and continuously redefine all
  standards to include the new reading and literacy
  skills the Internet demands.
• Educate the public.

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Step 7 Take a Calculated Risk!
Lets be honest. Change IS risky business.
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Step 8Work To Redefine Reading Assessment to
Include the New Literacies of the Internet and
other ICTs
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Step 9Keep a Patient Heart
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Step 10Begin Now!
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THINKING ABOUT OUR FUTURE AS RESEARCHERSNEW
LITERACIES, NEW CHALLENGES, AND NEW OPPORTUNITIES

• Donald J. Leu
• University of Connecticut