Literacy In the Digital Age

Literacy is the foundation for learning. In a digital world it is important that the learner understand how to critically analyze sources of information. In a paper and print world we have editorial boards, peer reviews, and other ways to validate information. In the new digital world information is instantaneous and often not validated. The challenge is how to use these new resources and how to ensure it is accurate and valid. We need to teach learners to be critical users of digital information. The digital world is influencing schools worldwide. Can the United States of America develop electronic learning and export it to other parts of the world? The United Nation reports that there are 130,000,000 children worldwide that have no teachers and no classrooms. Can a model of digital learning allow the United States of America to export high quality education to the rest of the world? Literacy In the Digital Age: Reading, Writing, Viewing, and Computing examines the transition from a book and library world and its influence upon schools to a digital world of electronic text, television, and the Internet. It redefines literacy in that new world and addresses the questions: What does a digital world mean for schools? Can we provide a model of education that allows the learner access to learning at anytime and anyplace? Includes: a glimpse of how students might learn in a digital world, a discussion of national and international digital libraries of high quality curriculum, a model federal law that could provide for the development of a digital resource for schools across the nation and eventually for the world.

Frank B. Withrow is president of ABLE Company, A Better Learning Experience Company. He has been an early childhood teacher, speech pathologist, audiologist, director of research, and a federal program officer. He was the senior learning technologist at the U. S. Department of Edcuation for 30 years.