Through a consideration of literacies in theory and international policy, this article pushes at the edges of existing frameworks of functional and sociocultural literacies. In critique of existing ...policy directives, the author explores an approach to literacy that engages in the affective and posthuman relationality of human and environment and in the plurality of literacies globally that are overshadowed in prevailing models of literacy education. The author was motivated by a commitment to literacy education responsive to a world that is unsustainable in its current practices, to a world that faces increasing fragmentation and vulnerability (socially and ecologically) while certain types of expertise, technologies, and global infrastructures continue to proliferate. As a mainstay of education and a tool of social change, literacies are inseparable from policy and practices of sustainability, equity, and development. Pluriversality is a concept emerging from decolonial theory that provides a counternarrative to contemporary Northern assumptions of the universal. Building on a history of ideas around pluriversality gives sociopolitical and ecological momentum to affect and relationality in literacy studies. The author challenges normative constructions of literacy education as Eurocentric and neocolonial, effectively supporting a pedagogy that normalizes certain practices and people and, by extension, sustains inequity and environmental degradation. Through interwoven research projects, the author highlights the contentious aspects of functional and sociocultural approaches to literacy and the possibilities of moving beyond them. In doing so, the author describes and demonstrates the practical and political implications of affect theory and relationality in literacies education in a plural anthropocenic world.
This article examines immigrant adults’ understandings of privacy, risk, and vulnerability in digital literacy practices that involve visual media. Although the benefits of digital media production ...have been explored with immigrant youths, the perspectives of adults remain unexplored. Informed by critical and transnational perspectives to digital literacies, ethical guidelines in visual media research, and social constructions of privacy, the author analyzes interactions in technology workshops for Spanish‐dominant, immigrant adults. Findings illustrate how adults’ understandings of online privacy are shaped by simultaneous affiliations to local and transnational networks. Findings also show differences in adults’ distribution, consumption, production, and presence in visual media published in online platforms, as well as their perspectives about participating (or refusing to participate) in these practices. Implications for practitioners implementing technology projects with nondominant and immigrant communities are discussed.
While it has proved a useful concept during the past 20 years, the notion of 'critical digital literacy' requires rethinking in light of the fast-changing nature of young people's digital practices. ...This paper contrasts long-established notions of 'critical digital literacy' (based primarily around the critical consumption of digital forms) with the recent turn towards 'digital design literacy' (based around the production of digital forms). In doing so, three challenges emerge for the continued relevance of critical digital literacy: (1) the challenge of critiquing the ideological concerns with the digital without alienating the individual's personal affective response; (2) connecting collective concerns to do with social and educational inequalities to individual practices; and (3) cultivating a critical disposition in a context in which technical proficiency is prioritised. The paper then concludes by suggesting a model of 'critical digital design', offering a framework that might bridge the divide between critical literacy models and the more recent design-based literacy models.
In recent years, with the popularity of AI technologies in our everyday life, researchers have begun to discuss an emerging term “AI literacy”. However, there is a lack of review to understand how AI ...teaching and learning (AITL) research looks like over the past two decades to provide the research basis for AI literacy education. To summarize the empirical findings from the literature, this systematic literature review conducts a thematic and content analysis of 49 publications from 2000 to 2020 to pave the way for recent AI literacy education. The related pedagogical models, teaching tools and challenges identified help set the stage for today’s AI literacy. The results show that AITL focused more on computer science education at the university level before 2021. Teaching AI had not become popular in K-12 classrooms at that time due to a lack of age-appropriate teaching tools for scaffolding support. However, the pedagogies learnt from the review are valuable for educators to reflect how they should develop students’ AI literacy today. Educators have adopted collaborative project-based learning approaches, featuring activities like software development, problem-solving, tinkering with robots, and using game elements. However, most of the activities require programming prerequisites and are not ready to scaffold students’ AI understandings. With suitable teaching tools and pedagogical support in recent years, teaching AI shifts from technology-oriented to interdisciplinary design. Moreover, global initiatives have started to include AI literacy in the latest educational standards and strategic initiatives. These findings provide a research foundation to inform educators and researchers the growth of AI literacy education that can help them to design pedagogical strategies and curricula that use suitable technologies to better prepare students to become responsible educated citizens for today’s growing AI economy.
Este manuscrito socializa aspectos de una experiencia realizada como Formadora Regional del Pacto Nacional por la Alfabetización en la Edad Cierta, edición final de 2017/2018, coordinado por el ...Programa de Postgrado en Educación, de la Universidad Federal de Mato Grosso, Campus Universitario de Rondonópolis. Los encuentros formativos ocurrieron a finales de 2017 (octubre, noviembre y diciembre) en Rondonópolis/MT y principios de 2018 (marzo, abril y mayo), en Cuiabá/MT. Los análisis y reflexiones emanan de los extractos autobiográficos seleccionados de los informes escritos por los Formadores Locales al final del último encuentro de formación realizado. Estos evidencian, entre otros aspectos, que el PNAIC fue una política que movilizó conocimientos alfabetizadores y, con ello, provocó reflexiones acerca de la necesidad de repensar el trabajo realizado en el ciclo de la alfabetización.
Digital literacies abound in playing a foundational role in the rhythm and pattern of our lives, yet debates continue about how to harness them to teach and learn literacy. In an effort to humanize ...digital literacies, this department column offers a vast array of topics, from participatory work that pushes educators and researchers to communicate in local and global spaces to ways of redefining core reading and literacy skills through a screen‐based, multimodal logic. This column also provides a venue for research and practical applications that depict technology use as a part of the fabric of being human. The column helps educators reconceptualize the ways that children learn with technology, media, and new communication systems; honors educator success stories and burning questions and issues; and reimagines literacy futures.
Advocates of the science of reading have invoked the simple view of reading (SVR) to justify an approach that foregrounds decoding in early reading instruction. The SVR, which describes comprehension ...as the product of decoding and listening comprehension, also served as the primary theoretical model underlying the Reading for Understanding (RfU) initiative. Research funded under the RfU initiative included direct examinations of the validity of the SVR and the nature of its underlying components and extended the SVR in studies of middle school and high school readers. In this article, the authors use research conducted under the RfU initiative to examine the validity and utility of the SVR, in general, and the appropriateness of its application in the “science of reading” debate. RfU research has provided not only evidence in support of the overall SVR model but also important cautions relevant to the “science of reading” debate. In particular, RfU has provided evidence regarding the significance of the listening comprehension component of the SVR, often overlooked by advocates of the science of reading. This research has documented the importance of early oral language skills, which support both decoding and listening comprehension in young readers and plays a critical role in students’success as readers as they move through school. In addition, RfU research has identified a complicated constellation of skills and knowledge that impact reading comprehension as students advance in school.
There is far more to the digital divide than meets the eye. In this article, the authors consolidate existing research on the digital divide to offer some tangible ways for educators to bridge the ...gap between the haves and have‐nots, or the cans and cannots. Drawing on Aldous Huxley's notion of a “brave new world,” some digital divide approaches and frameworks require debunking and are strongly associated with first‐world nations that fail to account for the differential access to technologies that people who live in poverty have. Taking a closer look at current realities, the authors send out a call to teachers, administrators, and researchers to think more seriously and consequentially about the effect the widespread adoption of technologies has had on younger generations and the role of the digital on knowledge creation and on imagined futures.
Chronic diseases account for a considerable part of the strain on health care systems and are burdensome for each affected individual and their families. In recent years, the concept of health ...literacy has been substantially elaborated on, particularly regarding the development and implementation of interventions at different levels, efforts to improve its measurement, and the role of communities and organizations. While a range of advancements are uncontested, specific challenges still revolve around, for example, a thorough application of modern practices of health literacy that focus on societal support of health literacy strengths and response to health literacy challenges; developing, testing, and evaluating strategies for organizational health literacy responsiveness; and improving the co-design, local ownership, and integration of health literacy actions and interventions in communities experiencing vulnerability and disadvantage. This Special Issue showcases research addressing these and further aspects about developing health literacy - particularly among people with chronic diseases - by which we mean advancements in health practices, organizations, and policies that create enabling environments in which people have the necessary knowledge and feel confident accessing, understanding, and using health information and services.
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