Literacy instruction in the brave new world of technology

In a famous episode of “The Office,” Dwight Schrute defends the paper industry by arguing that the Internet is a fad that will soon run its course. By 2006, when the episode aired, viewers realized that this contention was absurd. The Internet, together with a host of related digital environments, isn’t going anywhere. Instead, information technologies have caused literacy to evolve with frightening speed in directions that can at times be jarring and unpredictable.

This is why a themed issue of Kappan is so important to educators attempting to gain their bearings amid the welter of change. The contributors offer specific guidance not only in how to weather the flurry of developments but also in how to take advantage of them. They actually continue a discussion that began in earnest in the 1980s with the advent of microcomputers in classrooms. This discussion has never reached closure, nor is it likely to, simply because the ground is continually shifting under the feet of teachers as new applications emerge almost daily.

In some areas, the STEM subjects in particular, tech applications have been warmly welcomed. Indeed, they’ve always presented an overtly good fit, dating back to the 1970s, when inexpensive handheld calculators became widely available. In the language arts, however, the appropriateness of technology is less obvious, and teacher resistance has been higher from the outset, as Melody Zoch and colleagues (p. 32 this issue) has clearly documented. For teachers steeped in the print tradition, digital environments have been viewed by many with suspicion (Leander, 2009), and it is hardly surprising that the integration of technology in the language arts has been slow and tentative. Indeed, at least where schools are concerned, eulogies for the death of the printed page, so commonplace two decades ago (e.g., Birkerts, 1994), seem to have been premature. Print remains the go-to medium for literacy instruction. To an extent, this may still be justifiable in terms of cost, convenience, and availability, but the fact that many teachers continue to prefer print gives one pause.