Literacy
Information
Technology
Education
About Julie Coiro

The Journey from Access to Competence:
Equity, Internet Inquiry, and Online Reading Comprehension
Julie Coiro
University of Connecticut

Keynote Presentation
NYSCATE, 2005 Albany, New York

Email: jcoiro@snet.net
Webpage: www.newliteracies.uconn.edu

 

How can we best prepare all of our students to effectively exploit the potentials of the Internet for learning?  It is well past time that we looked beyond mere access to the Internet to explore the conditions that lead to higher-level thinking and strategic use of information and communication technologies.  This keynote presentation will share elements of a vision toward achieving equity, diversity, and innovation in classrooms while highlighting promising strategies to support all students as they learn to locate, comprehend, and use quality information on the Internet.  Walk away with concrete examples of how educators, administrators, and school technology leaders cancollaborate to enhance student engagement, online reading comprehension, andcontent-area learning while preparing all students for their futures in adigital information world.

Below you will find the main points and links to all of the websites mentioned in the presentation.

New technologies challenge our understanding of literacy and learning.
Information is growing more rapidly than we can imagine.
The Internet has become an integral part of our daily lives...at work...at home...and at school, but school practices have been slow to respond.
New Internet technologies continue to reshape and transform the way we read, write, learn, and communicate.
Nations are superpowers - people are now superempowered...
"Never before in the history of the planet have individuals been so empowered by the ability to build their own personal supply chain of information, knowledge, and entertainment...searching, informing, creating [with the Internet]...it is empowering for humans like nothing else" (Freidman, 2005, The World Is Flat.)

Superempowered Individuals and Teams
But do ALL students have access to these "superempowering opportunities" to explore new ideas and network with others using the Internet?  Unfortunately, no.  What challenges do we face?
  • Equity and a first level digital divide (unequal "plugged in" access to the Internet)
  • Equity and a second level digital divide (uneven distribution of use and competence among those who already have access to the Internet)
  • When integrating technology, schools often assume a sense of singularity and uniformity.
  • When integrating technology, school decisions are often informed by tradition.
  • When integrating technology, instructional decisions are often made in isolation.
  • Looking out the window...it appears that technology integration is engulfed an an "underempowering" belief system characterized by inequity, uniformity, tradition, and isolation.
A more promising journey.... Equity, Diversity, Innovation, and Collaboration

So, are we there yet?   Here's a plan for next steps on the journey....
This page was created on November 17, 2005.