Reflection of EDUC 6712

Upon reflecting on the EDUC 6712 course, I find that I have once again discovered how much more there is for me to learn. While some of the concepts in a course about information literacy and online inquiry may appear to be common sense, a closer look reveals a deeper truth about the way we teach and how we integrate technology into the classroom.

I think the most striking revelation I found in this course relates to the teaching of new literacy skills to our students. While the old literacies of reading, writing, language, etc., are still a foundation of education, it is now crucial that our students receive instruction with additional literacy skills that build on the old, but incorporate the skills they will need in today’s modern workforce (Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, & Cammack, 2004). After completing the 21st Century Fluencies Quotient Insta-Audit by Ian Jukes (2007), I was surprised to find that the 21st century literacy skills were not all about technology like I had anticipated they would be. Instead, most of them deal with being able to work cooperatively in a group and reading and communicating effectively in a variety of mediums (written, in a group, electronically, etc.). There are also fluencies that relate to seeking and presenting information in the problem solving process. While these literacies may have surprised me at first, I suppose they really should not have. Technology integration has never been about making sure the classroom is stocked full of the latest and greatest technology, but in how seamless the technology is integrated into the curriculum and making it personal (Laureate Education, INC., 2009).

Keeping that fact in mind, the information and experience I gained in this course will influence the way I teach from this point forward. It is easy enough for me to have my students use the Internet to find information about the subject they are researching, but after this course I now know this needs to be a taught process. Students need to be taught how to do an Internet search. I need to teach them how to expand or narrow their searches to find the most relevant information. I also need to teach them to look critically at the information they find. With anybody able to publish nearly anything, students have to have the skill of finding and analyzing good information. Finally, students need to learn how to communicate the information in an effective way to a varied audience.

One of the professional goals I would like to pursue after taking this course is working the new literacies seamlessly into the total curriculum. There are so many things we are required to teach our students, that the idea of adding anything else seems overwhelming. However, these new literacies differ from the old ones because they lend themselves well at working with the curriculum instead of adding to it. It will take some work though. The next Walden class we take is about integrating technology across the content areas, which should offer some great ideas. I also will look through the curriculum and see what areas lend themselves to project-based learning, and working cooperatively with peers (both within the room and around the world). This is not a small goal, but with some hard work, it is a doable goal. The reward is well worth the price; preparing our students for life in the 21st century.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). It’s Not About the Technology. Baltimore: Author.

Leu, D. J., Kinzer, C. K., Coiro, J. L., & Cammack, D. W. (2004). Toward a theory of new literacies emerging from the internet and other information and communication technologies. In Ruddell, R. B. & Unrau, N. J., (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (5th ed.). (pp. 1570-1613). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.