I created this from a recent article in the New York Times as part of my continuing development of an interesting quotes set. Reading the article fully illustrates the value of creating web presence. It may not be for everyone, but it does have value.
Is this a new literacy? Do we need to understand this form or communication? Or is this just pure fluff?
Dean,
My initial reaction to Twitter was, why? Then, I started following you, and some of my other “Heroes” in the Ed Tech world, and developed a personal learning network. While not as big as yours, I’ve had some positive results.
I do believe that this is a new literacy that needs both further study and inclusion in curriculum dealing with communication. Students need to be aware of the differences between real world and virtual communication, and how the information they put out on Facebook or Twitter could be read by college admissions directors and future employers.
micwalkers last blog post..Ustream.TV: PowerPoint Extreme
Mic,
While following me, may not have been your best move 😉 I think you’re bang on about understanding these new literacies. Part of what concerns me is our tendency to try and equate these new communications forms with ones we’re familiar with. It doesn’t work that way. These are new and different. That’s the challenge we have as educators.
I am teaching a session on PLNs this week, and my co-presenter and I have been debating back and forth if 1) We should talk about Twitter and if so 2) Can someone “get” twitter in just an afternoon session? I think you have just given me a better way to not just explain it – but given them homework 🙂
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No not a new literacy.
Teachers business leaders marketing all need to understand this new form of communication.
I’ve been out of the classroom for just over a year, but using twitter and blogging has made me feel more connected to the education world then I ever felt as a teacher.
Sometimes it feels like I am constantly studying for a professional development class.
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Brendan,
I’m not sure if it’s a new literacy or not. My gut says it is but I could be wrong. What I’m concerned about is our tendency to equate new with old to say, “it’s just like….” I think in some ways it’s brand new. We’ve never used microblogging or web presence before. I can’ think of any communication that it is similar to. In this way, it’s a new literacy that requires new guidelines, understandings and implications. Not all good, not all bad but different. You and I see the good, and for the most part that’s my focus. But understanding it’s various nuances is what I’m dealing with.
Dean
Dean,
Just got invited to a Leadership Institute this morning that I would not have known about except for the fact that I was tweeting about <a href=”https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=93681&sessionid=1&key=3367A64A3713AF80F16E00C495E33B3C&sourcepage=register”this Webinar. My PLN at work!
By the way, reading your tweets about what you’re eating is great entertainment!
Micwalkers last blog post..Ustream.TV: PowerPoint Extreme
I don’t think that is a new form of literacy, although text/print literacy is a necessary prerequisite to participate in a social environment that is connected primarily by text. Maybe that’s why you feel a gut instinct to call it a form of literacy. My reading of the article is that all these new tools are about social connections. These social connections might be mediated in novel ways because of the affordances of the underlying technologies, but we’re still dealing with social connections. These don’t require a form of literacy, do they?
I’m starting to feel like literacy is being overused. If we let the meaning spread out like a river flooding over its banks, it ends up being a meaningless term.
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I haven’t been on twitter much lately or even blogging much and I feel like I am losing that connection to the edtech world. Trying to focus on what is good and needed for my teachers (BABY STEPS) has caused me to step back. I am not sure that is good. I like the quote because it is so true and so powerful. I am not so sure its the new literacy but its a new way to communicate. I find that being connected on sites like twitter helps keep me abreast of new technologies or ideas. I don’t get “fed” with technology at work I have to “feed” the immigrants. Twitter keeps full and I need to get back to using it!
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