Slowly I am getting through the readings. Today I started on the last page of Topic 1 - Digital Citizenship. Some of the the things that struck me as interesting, useful or new to me are discussed below.
The article by Stripling appears to be a very useful one for Teacher Librarians, looking at digital literacy and inquiry skills in the context of the 'inquiry/learning process'. With a focus on the things teacher librarians can do to support their students, it would make a good resource to refer to to ensure that students are supported in their learning appropriately at every stage of the learning process.
Stripling, B. (2010). Teaching Students to Think in the Digital Environment: Digital Literacy and Digital Inquiry. School Library Monthly, 26(8), 16-19.
(Note, the link to the Stripling article will only work for those who have access to the CSU Library database, or the EBSCOhost database.)
Showing posts with label topic 1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label topic 1. Show all posts
Friday, March 18, 2011
Transliteracy
Quite the new buzz word. Or is it? The impression I got from the readings is that it has the potential to become one. It is a new word, for what seems to be an old concept. A concept that has taken place for years, but perhaps has not been put in a box like the term transliteracy tries to do. It is something that we do without realising, to different extremes, and is now coming to the fore because of the myriads of new platforms that we are using as a society, and thus the vast range of things we apply our literacy skills to.
Thomas et al describe transliteracy as:
“the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks”
So as you can see, only recently has 'transliteracy' become so widely relevant, and perhaps this has made it worth pulling apart and creating a word to describe it.
It is relevant to teacher librarians because it is something that we can support with our knowledge, resources and skills. Meredith Farkas writes of fears that it will become a buzz word that is only associated with teacher librarians, when in fact it needs to be applied school wide so that students are gaining transliteracy skills for life. I can see her logic, and feel that as teacher librarians we must make sure we are promoting these things (the important concepts we learn about, information literacy being a prime example, as well as transliteracy) as school wide endeavors where we are there to support everyone, but are the leader of a school wide team, rather than the only instigator.
It does seem a lot to think about, but then really transliteracy involves things we already do (or plan to do in my case) - ensuring that students have access to a range of literacies as listed in the description above, and supporting them in gaining the skills to tranfer their understandings between these different platforms.
References:
Farkas, M. (2010). Transliteracy from the perspective of an information literacy advocate. In Information wants to be free blog.
Thomas, S., Joseph, C., Laccetti, J., Mason, B., Mills, S., Perril, S., and Pullinger, K. (2007). Transliteracy: Crossing Divides. First Monday, 12 (12)
Thomas et al describe transliteracy as:
“the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks”
So as you can see, only recently has 'transliteracy' become so widely relevant, and perhaps this has made it worth pulling apart and creating a word to describe it.
It is relevant to teacher librarians because it is something that we can support with our knowledge, resources and skills. Meredith Farkas writes of fears that it will become a buzz word that is only associated with teacher librarians, when in fact it needs to be applied school wide so that students are gaining transliteracy skills for life. I can see her logic, and feel that as teacher librarians we must make sure we are promoting these things (the important concepts we learn about, information literacy being a prime example, as well as transliteracy) as school wide endeavors where we are there to support everyone, but are the leader of a school wide team, rather than the only instigator.
It does seem a lot to think about, but then really transliteracy involves things we already do (or plan to do in my case) - ensuring that students have access to a range of literacies as listed in the description above, and supporting them in gaining the skills to tranfer their understandings between these different platforms.
References:
Farkas, M. (2010). Transliteracy from the perspective of an information literacy advocate. In Information wants to be free blog.
Thomas, S., Joseph, C., Laccetti, J., Mason, B., Mills, S., Perril, S., and Pullinger, K. (2007). Transliteracy: Crossing Divides. First Monday, 12 (12)
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