Transcript 21st-Century Literacies

21st-Century Literacies
1998
1650 Curriculum
(wealthy, male, English)
• Classic (Latin/Greek)
– Drama
– History
– Philosophy
• Law
• Religion
1850 Curriculum
(most whites complete primary)
•
•
•
•
Geography
Foreign languages
English literature
Skills for work
1900 Curriculum
• Students: immigration double the current level
• Subjects:
– Elitist vs. inclusive
– New sciences
– Mass literacy
2000 Curriculum
(87% G12; 23% BA)
•
•
•
•
•
Remember the textbook
Follow directions
Work alone
Solve problems
Complete (“cover”) the curriculum
Growth Laws
Moore: # transistors on each chip doubles
every 18 months
Metcalfe: network value proportional to (#
users)2
Increasing Pace of Change
Digital power = computing X
communication X storage X content
--John Seely Brown
21st-century changes
•
•
•
•
•
Language
Knowledge
Work
Literacy
Technology
(1) Language: Decoding =>
Integrating knowledge from
multiple sources and media
Language changes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Dying languages
New languages, e.g, World Englishes
Merging, e.g., Hindi & English
global internet use
electronic journals
Campus Computing Project
doubling
Course functions
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
syllabus
assignments
research projects
questions
articles
data
interactive software
testing
www resources
Spatial Narrative
I think CD-ROMs imply a new kind of
narrative...Instead of just moving through
time, all of a sudden stories now move
through space, so that architecture becomes
the reigning metaphor.
– Spiegelman, 1995
Stratification
• Language, gender, race, class, nationality,
physical ability
• ASCII
–
–
–
–
0, 1, 2, 3, ...
A, B, C, ...
$ and ¢
No ~, ç, ü
• Netiquette encodes male discourse
2. Knowledge: Remembering
=> Thinking critically
New ways of constructng
meaning
• Internationalization
• Interconnections of knowledge
• Need for collaboration, cross-cultural
understanding
Knowledge vs. information
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys,
which distract our attention from serious
things. We are in great haste to construct a
magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas;
but Maine and Texas, it may be, have
nothing important to communicate.
–Thoreau, Walden
Deep Blue not programmed to accept draw
3. Work: Independent =>
Collaborative
Knowledge work
By the end of this century knowledge workers
will make up a third or more of the work
force in the United States—as large a
proportion as manufacturing workers ever
made up, except in wartime.
–Drucker, 1994
4. Literacy: Solving => Finding
problems
Changing media in life
•
•
•
•
Book sales
Scholarly journals
More reading & writing in work
Rising IQ, educational attainment
5. Technology: Following
directions => Continuing to
learn
New media
•
•
•
•
•
•
Email communities
Digital libraries
Virtual reality
Hypermedia, Web
Robotics
Ubiquitous computing
The computer agent
•
•
•
•
•
•
“Come Practice Now”
=> “Compress, now”
Non-interruptible operation
Hears, initiates, decides, ...?
Can we always pull the plug?
(Asimov’s three laws of robotics)
The computer hybrid
• Vivace (~ Music Minus One)
• Listens, follows, adapts, ...
• New conceptions of practice, performance,
music
• Can it be too adaptive?
Definition of Self
• Barbie & Her Magical House
– Visual discrimination: home decorating
– Cause/effect: select music
– Decision-making: choosing make-up
• Materials-centered
In the future already
X-Files: on-line forum to discuss show’s direction
Science fiction itself has remained the same. We
have caught up to it...We are a science-fiction
generation.
–Ray Bradbury
We can’t think far enough ahead anymore.
–Ron Shusett
Surveillance & Control
The road to freedom via a two-way Information
Highway may turn into a one-way Surveillance
Street, used to condition people’s thoughts and
control their behavior.
– Crawford,1994
Video surveillance is now so ubiquitous that we’re
on television more than we watch it.
CSCW research (program committee)
What will be the 2050
curriculum?
Learning...
•
•
•
•
•
Integrating knowledge
Thinking critically
Collaborating
Finding problems
Learning how to learn
Return to basic questions
•
•
•
•
•
What is literacy? How does it develop?
What is its relation to schooling and life?
What is learning?
What is teaching?
What does it mean to be human?
Closing
•
•
•
•
•
Dramatic changes in our literacy practices
More democracy, liberatory education?
Technologies alone do not produce change
Need to understand & shape these changes
Call for dialogue