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You
are here: Layering Literacy
It is a fact that to be literate today, it is essential to be comfortable in accepting technology as a part of one's literacy. In The Disappearance of Technology: Toward an Ecological Model of Literacy, Bertram C. Bruce and Maureen P. Hogan warn that, "an important part of literacy education now is to consider a range of options for learning in a wide range of technologies" 1
Defining technology literacy is both straightforward and complicated, like the very nature of technology itself. The difficulty in discussing technology literacy is it cannot stand alone, nor would we want it to be separate from an overall analysis of literacy. I believe there is a comprehensible method for placing technology literacy within contemporary definitions of literacy; I call this model Layered Literacy. The skills of today's literate individual integrate mutually dependent layers of literacy-- communication, information, technology (tools) and culture. The structure of the model accounts for an unprecedented state of change in educational pedagogy. Simultaneously, this model clearly supports diverse environments for literacy development, one that considers different levels of existing literacy, access and use of technology innovation, economic and cultural factors and an increasingly connected global community.
The new literacy is a layering of skills that encompasses four key literacies (at least for now) brought together to create a fluid and flexible environment for functioning in the 21st century.
Tool Literacy –Ability to use tools and hardware to facilitate all other literacies
Information Literacy –Ability to access, sort, comprehend, integrate
Communications Literacy – Ability to read, write and comprehend
Cultural Literacy - Ability to understand the ethical, social, group and personal impacts of the above.Former NCLIS Chairperson Martha Gould defined information literacy as the ability to locate, retrieve, evaluate, organize, understand, and utilize information. In a letter to UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura suggesting an international information literacy meeting, Gould stated,
It is not enough just to learn how to use computers and connect with telecommunications networks. Those skills are often called computer literacy and media literacy. While learning about computer literacy and media literacy is a necessary pre-condition to information literacy, they are insufficient for the Internet Age. In short, a million hits from a World Wide Web search is not going to get you very far. Every country in the world is quickly coming to the conclusion that the key to dealing with the so-called Digital Divide is to address the challenge of ensuring that every individual learns basic information literacy skills. 2
The important works of professionals in the field of literacy are too numerous to note in this article, although I have listed several important online resources. There are two papers that have provided key definitions that are certainly part of any layered literacy. To a great extent, layered literacy does not redefine what literacy is but rather helps to organize the expanding skills and expectations to be literate.
In an article for Educom Review (now called Educause), Jeremy Shapiro and Shelley Hughes explored information literacy as constituting both a liberal and a technical art. 3 Their analysis is an excellent segmentation of the skill sets needed for seven critical dimensions of literacy. Click here to jump to definitions.
Layered Literacy must finally be open to the influences of media and entertainment. A concept developed by Professor Toni Carbo called "new mediacy" recognizes the need to bring the literacy of the media to the table as media's influence is increasingly relevant to a comprehensive approach to literacy:
What does mediacy encompass? It refers to the knowledge and skills needed to be successful in exploring information space; discovering; learning; finding, evaluating, analyzing, using, organizing, managing, preserving, synthesizing, and creating information; and, especially importantly, understanding the ethical implications of all of these, and, ideally, behaving in an ethical way in doing all of these. Out of all of these should come new knowledge. This ongoing series of processes is very much dependent upon and related to context, culture and tradition, and to each individual uniquely. 4
The Innovate project presents a model for integrating tool, information, communications and cultural literacies. Innovate is a bimonthly, peer-reviewed online periodical published by the Fischler School of Education and Human Services at Nova Southeastern University. The journal focuses on the creative use of information technology (IT) to enhance educational processes in academic, commercial, and government settings. The journal content is the launching point for experiencing the multidimensional exploration of a topic or subject matter. The reader can delve into a matrix of discussions, related resources, visual and audio media and live collaboration, which elevates the written article to an open-ended journey. The path the reader takes through the article is largely left to the individual, however frequent opportunities are presented for technology/tool-supported experiences.
For each article, the journal provides a "discuss" feature that allows readers to post comments about the topic or article and respond to the comments of others; a "read-related" feature that links visitors to articles on similar topics; an "easy print" function; and a forwarding option that allows readers to share the article with colleagues. Innovate also offers an RSS (really simple syndication) feed.
Innovate-Live facilitates the collaborative, media and content library layers of the participants' experience. Each article has an interactive Innovate-Live webcast, which connects authors and readers. The online community provides an open collaborative environment, resource library including all webcast archives, and participant contributions and structured collaborative activities, such as Innovate-Live forums which currently serve as an experimental call for papers.
Consider the core Layers of Innovate and Innovate-Live as the foundation for an ever-changing package of literacy layers. The value of the literacy layers is the flexibility they provide to support content and other pedagogical objectives. This model presents a non-linear experience, allowing the participant to find the most comfortable or appropriate point of entry. The centralized location for live and virtual activities facilitates increased user access and interaction, while supporting new tool skill development.
Layer One - The Journal
Tool, Information, Communication
Journal article
Read-related
Print and share
RSS feedsLayer Two - The Interactive Portal
Tool, Information, Communication, Cultural
Web cast
Forum discussion
Resource access (print, live and recorded media)
Collaboration and communication via text chat, VOIP audioLayer Three - Distribution & outreach
Information, Cultural
Open access for Information/knowledge distribution
Global ParticipationThe power of this model is to generate creative re-layering of the content as well as new layers of knowledge or tools to be shared with all users. The next stage is to develop blueprints for using the Innovate and Innovate-Live model for teaching, training and instructional design modeling. Finally, there is the potential to shuffle the layers for global distribution and audience reach that begins to deliver on "the promise" of technology and the Internet to facilitate literacy expansion.
References
1 Bruce, B. C. & Hogan, M. P. (1998). The disappearance of technology: Toward anecological model of literacy, in D. Reinking, M. McKenna, and R. Kieffer (Eds.),Handbook of Literacy and Technology: Transformations in a Post-TypographicWorld. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
2 U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, Press Release, October 30, 2001. Viewed on the World Wide Web, retrieved March 12, 2005: http://www.nclis.gov/news/pressrelease/pr2001/infoliteracy.html
3 Shapiro, Jeremy and Hughes, Shelley, "Information Literacy as a New Liberal Art: Enlightenment Proposals for a New Curriculum," Educom Review 31, no.2 (March/April 1996).http://www.educause.edu/apps/er/review/reviewArticles/31231.html
4 Carbo, Toni. (1997) Mediacy: Knowledge and Skills to Navigate the Information Highway. The International Information and Library Review, vol. 29, number 3-4, September 1997, pp. 393-401.
Related links
Angeley, Robin and Purdue, Jeff, "Information Literacy: An Overview," http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~dialogue/issue6.html
Association of College and Research Libraries, "Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education," http://www.ala.org/acrl/ilcomstan.html
Association of College and Research Libraries, "Standards, Performance Indicators and Outcomes," http://www.ala.org/acrl/ilstandardlo.html
Florida International University Libraries web site, "Information Literacy at Florida International University Libraries," http://www.fiu.edu/%7Elibrary/ili/iliprop1.html
The Internet Archive web site, http://www.archive.org
National Forum on Information Literacy web site, http://www.infolit.org
National Forum on Information Literacy web site, "Member Organizations," http://www.infolit.org/members/index.html
National Forum on Information Literacy web site, Haycock, Ken, "What all librarians can learn from teacher librarians: Information Literacy a key connector for libraries", http://www.infolit.org/documents/librarians.html
The University of Arizona Library web site, "The Information Literacy Project," http://dizzy.library.arizona.edu/library/teams/InfoLit2000/infolit.shtml
The University of British Columbia Library web site, "Information Literacy Resource Centre," http://www.library.ubc.ca/infolit/welcome.html
The University of Calgary Library web site, "Information Literacy Definitions," http://www.ucalgary.ca/library/ILG/litdef.html
Jeremy Shapiro and Shelley Hughes' skill sets for seven dimensions of literacy:1) Tool- the ability to understand and use practical and conceptual tools
2) Resource- ability to understand form, format, location and access methods of information resources, including networked ones
3) Social-structural- knowing that and how information is socially situated and produced
4) Research- ability to understand and use IT-based tools relevant to the work of the researcher and scholar
5) Publishing- ability to format and publish research and ideas electronically
6) Emerging technology- ability to continuously adapt to, understand, evaluate and use emerging IT and make intelligent decisions about new information technologies and their human, organizational, and social contexts
7) Critical- the ability to evaluate critically the intellectual, human, and social strengths and weaknesses, potentials, and limits, benefits and costs of information technologies
Denise Easton is chief executive officer and Founder of www.uliveandlearn.com and www.LCcubed.com . ULiveandLearn is a Learning Marketplace, offering cost-effective "Layered Learning" programs for producing, delivering and accessing flexible and interactive learning solutions, including online courseware, live Web casts, face-2-face programs, teleclasses, collaboration and learning object resources (video, audio and print materials).
Ms. Easton is actively involved in educational and technical industry programs and serves on the editorial board of Innovate, a peer-reviewed journal for technology and education and VideoPop, a software company. Ms. Easton received a BS from The College of William and Mary and holds a graduate certificate in Public Communications from Boston University. Contact Ms. Easton at deaston@uliveandlearn.com.
©March 2005 New Horizons for Learning
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