Future Role of Technological Literacy in Education

In the article, Toward a vision of the Future Role of Technology in Literacy Education, Labbo exposes how technological innovations play a role in Literacy Education. This article began by introducing the definition of literacy, exploring learning theories and classroom communicative technologies. Finally it provided an explanation of the future development of computer literacy.
This article clarifies that in an era when computer-related communicative literacy abilities are proliferating through all aspects of life in American society and throughout the global market place, it is crucial to explore a vision of the role computer-related literacy should play in defining children’s literacy development in the near future. There is an implication that predominant learning theories are important to consider because they provide insights about underlying instructional frameworks that allows us to understand the nature of literacy instruction. The writer notes that curriculum guides should be guided by the most current and widely-adopted learning theories and if one of the goals of literacy education is to better all students to function as literate beings in society, it is crucial to weigh how well the use of communication technologies present in the class coincides with the use of these tools in the larger society.
In her article, Labbo also portrays how many teachers view their content instructional role as that of a facilitator and guide who provide children with the support and practice that allows them to socially construct knowledge about conventional literacy. The teachers mediate children’s cognitive processing, opportunities, and learned literacy-related skills and strategies through the whole direct instruction, small group instruction, and individual conferences. Labbo makes a point of reference that according to Leu and Kinzer, educators of the 1990s were faced with the enormous task of preparing students to be literate in a future that was unclear and prepare them for a level of computer-related literacy that many educators themselves had not yet grasped.
The conclusion and implications made by this study propose that the paradigm shifts need to occur from an understanding of literacy as totally print-based to literacy as both print and digitally based. It is also implied that curriculum writers may attempt to superimpose a new scheme on an older, traditional developmental scope and sequence. The article clearly concludes that problem with such organizational frameworks is a lack of a research base or an experimental base to support it. Whether we are ready for the paradigm shift about literacy education that is sure to occur, or the societal forces for integrating digital literacy into the local workplace. Popular culture, and global marketplace are up on us. It is up to us to figure out how to best prepare for the inevitable changes that are sweeping the informational internet across our nation.

References
Labbo, L. D. (in press b). What will classroom and schools look like in the next millennium? Reading Research Quarterly.

Labbo, L.D., & Reinking, D. (in press). Negotiating the Multiple Realities of Technology in Literacy Research and Instruction. Reading Research Quarterly.