Literacy in the information age (LIS 491)
chip bruce
(chip@uiuc.edu)
(ready to use)
ASK
Subject Areas
Grade Levels
Unit Keywords
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literacy, information age, digital technologies, visualization, writing, access, history, credibility, communication, newlit, 450nl, lis391, nlfa1, liasp2, lis491, class |
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Rationale of the Unit
The advent of video, the web, online communities, virtual reality, and other new technologies has given rise to the concept of new literacies such as computer literacy, visual literacy, and information literacy. This course explores these literacies and their relation to traditional concepts. The focus is on literacy as situated practice. Major themes include the history of literacy technologies, digital divides, web site credibility, privacy, freedom of speech, and community.
In the course students will--
- Learn from readings and discussions about changing notions of literacy and their relation to the technologies of representation and communication.
- Study new literacy practices through an individual or small group research project.
- Learn from each other through discussions about current events and personal experiences with new information and communication technologies.
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Background and Resources
BACKGROUND
We don't notice the technologies of literacy because we treat our literacy technologies as natural and inevitable: How else could one write except with a pen and paper, or a typewriter? But when we look at literacy cross-culturally, or historically, it becomes difficult to ignore the means and the media by which people communicate. That we often conceive literacy without mentioning its technologies tells us mostly that these technologies are deeply embedded in our daily practices. --Bruce, 1998, "New Literacies" What then are we doing when we teach children to read and write? We have taken this for granted for so long that it seems strange to question it. --Martin Hoyles, The Politics of Literacy, p. 22.
As we enter the twenty-first century, a central question is how literacy practices are evolving as they become ever more central in our lives. One aspect of this is to examine the changing nature of texts, as they are re-presented through online communities, web sites, video, hypermedia, virtual reality, and other new technologies. Another is to re-visit enduring questions about readers, writers, and texts, whether these texts be oral, traditional books, or new media. We also need to consider the impact on young people: how they make meaning as they both respond to and create texts; how cultural meanings are re-created within each new generation.
These questions call for scholarly inquiry, building upon the traditions such as reader response, folklore theory, and writing studies. They also call for a variety of research methods, including discourse and textual analysis, web site analysis, interviews, and ethnography. Throughout, there is an emphasis on studies situated in the direct experiences of readers and writers.
READINGS
The course is organized around major themes or units, each comprising two or more weeks. Each of these is important for society generally and raises questions about the future of literacy. Each generates real controversies, and radically different opposing perspectives. Each also poses some deep challenges to conventional understandings and practices. As the semester goes along, you will see more and more interconnections among these issues.
Each course unit will feature readings, audio lectures, and exploratory activities related to a theme. Assigned readings should be seen as just the starting point for your studies. Additional materials in the course bibliography, and loads of additional material can be accessed through web searches. There are no assigned readings or texts apart from the web-based materials.
In general, the first week of each topic will introduce the basic issues at stake; the second week will push these issues further, uncovering additional layers that may not be immediately apparent. Specific activities are shown on the course schedule:
Fall 2002, LIS 391/COM 391: Literacy in the Information Age
Spring 2002, LIS 391/COM 391: Literacy in the Information Age
Fall 2001, LIS 450 NL: New Literacies |
Activities and Open-ended problems
Dialogues, Discussions, and Presentations
Students will use, learn through, and critique a variety of new literacy technologies . There will be asynchronous discussions in the LEEP bulletin boards on the theme of the unit, the readings, the lectures, the activities, and discussion questions suggested by the class participants. We may also have synchronous chat sessions and Video conferences .
Other forms of computer-mediated communication include Class notes in which a record of the class activities will be posted to the inquiry unit for the course and Inquiry units for project work and shorter investigations.
Face-to-face discussions play a central role. These include Discoveries (sharing findings each week from popular media and the workplace), Project updates (regular reports on project work with collaboration in solving problems that arise), and General discussion of readings and issues . |
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