LiterateOnline

· Online literacy is helping kids develop into good citizens in the 21st century. · What does literacy look like in the 21st century? o It's not completely different from what has been done in the past. The skills are very much the same, but the stakes are higher and the range of skills kids need is broader in scope. o "Growing up assuming you can publish whatever you want to say, to whoever you want to say it, is going to make people different" - Russell Davies o Reading through hyperlinks is like reading a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book. Kids are used to following their inclinations toward what they want to read, sometimes coming into a 'story' in the middle and following it back or forward. o Language and reading is multi-modal o Text has been changing through history. The act of reading is always changing from early historical times. o The future of the desktop is more interactive, with touchscreens and smartboard-like interfaces becoming the norm. Eg: "Bumptop" desktop. The Internet as a 3-D webspace (Aurora). o This is the first time in history that our literacy with be defined by corporations that are seeking to bring us the Internet through their medium. Whether it's good or bad, w need to be aware of it and make our students aware of it. o Text in the Internet age is not static. It never really was (case in point, university textbooks that have minor changes year after year to undermine the second-hand book market). Blogs, wikis, news sites, etc are constantly being updated and revised. o Electronic media is much more interactive and social. Even the CBC has comments after each article. Collaboration is made possible over the Internet with people far away through resources like Google Docs.
 * iT Summit 2009 - Literate Online?: Reading and Writing are Different On The Internet - Clarence Fisher**

· "Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from the fire hydrant" - Mitchell Kapor · The problem with the Internet isn't information overload, it's filter failure. · Using blogs for acquiring information - RSS feeds, iGoogle accounts. · It's important to educate students how to determine what's worth reading. This also improves the students awareness of the quality and value of their own writing. · Internet filtering does not teach responsibility. A responsible use policy is preferable to the acceptable use policy. · If a student comes across something that could get them in trouble, they should: o Hit the back button o Tell the teacher what happened. o Explain how they came to the questionable site. · Information is personal and mobile. · "The good new is that they're hyper-connected. The bad news is that that's **all** they are." - The students' activities need to be directed toward educational. · Students know about technology and how to use it in one area (recreation, communication), but they really don't know how to use it in our classes. · Wikipedia is an excellent first stop in research. Wikipedia should be backed up by other sites. · Students need to be able to identify ads and discern between reliable and unreliable information. **·** Online, readers can compose their own beginnings, middles, and ends. · There are countless opportunities to share student work. · Students are motivated by the idea that thousands of people may read their work. They suddenly become more aware of their grammar and language skills. · It can be very scary for students to have that kind of accountability, but some will really turn it into something special. · Remixing allows students to get a sense of how things were put together (Ex: The MIT program Scratch has animations that enable users to remix other people’s work in order to understand how the program works. ·  Communities of users provide supportive learning environments for users. ·  “You don’t have to be a rich old guy from New York to have a voice anymore.” ·  Technology does not fix everything in the classroom but it can lead to new ways of doing things.
 * 1. Access**
 * 2. Evaluate**
 * 3. Comprehend**
 * 4. Share**

· Safety is important, but real problems are few and far between. · Blogging guidelines and acceptable use policies are in place **and enforced**. · Use common sense and give good guidelines.
 * Safety?**

Clarence Fisher glassbeed@gmail.com remoteaccess.typepad.com twitter.com/glassbeed
 * Contact Info for the Presenter:**