Technology and Literacy

 Cynthia Selfe's Technology and Literacy in the Twenty-First Century was both a blast from the past and a timely look toward the future. The copywrite is 1999, just after I graduated from high school. I still remember thinking the "world wide web" was tedious and slow, the computers in my classroom were just a new way to torture me with timed math tests, and the best thing about computer research was not having to drag the heavy encyclopedia off the library shelf. Selfe's book gave me a chance to think about my own early attitudes about technology in my classroom, and to think about how I want to work to include it in my future classroom. 

In the front cover of my book, I wrote three bullet points that I think sum up the broad themes I took from the reading:

• Tech had an economic drive FIRST.
• Tech in the classroom de-centralized the teacher.
• Many of the predictions--at both extremes--have proven accurate regarding the impact if technology on our society.

The Economic Drive

When Clinton and Gore introduced their plans to expand the network already used by government and military to create the world wide web, it was first driven by economic and political motivations. America's economy was flagging, and we needed a way to produce a product that everyone needed: information and connectivity within the global market. Selfe does an excellent job of explaining the economic and political situation the Clinton and Gore were trying to address, but it occurred to me that while education was touted as the goal, it wasn't the primary concern. The primary concern was for schools to begin producing "technologically literate" people for the workforce. The world was becoming more mechanized, and we needed people who were ready to run, design, and export the machines. I think Selfe's definition of technological literacy is solid:

...technological literacy refers to a complex set of socially and culturally situated values, practices, and skills involved in operating linguistically within the context of electronic environments, including reading, writing, and communicating...[it also] refers to social and cultural contexts for discourse and communication, as well as the social and linguistic products and practices of communication..." (11). 

While the goals of technological literacy were carried to the public school system for implementation, the issue of school funding failed to be addressed. The rise in technology and literacy was touted to the masses, but it failed to address the fact that--like all educational resources--the funding would fall along racial and poverty lines. Schools implementing the new goals for technology in the classroom would still be limited by the funding their schools received, the financial ability of student's parents to support those goals, and the teacher's buy-in. Poor schools and poor parents would still be getting the short end of the stick while being beaten with said stick for not "valuing" education or being good parents. It was  a new rule for the old game, really. 

Tech in the Classroom De-Centralized the Teacher

In the classroom of the 1980's and before, everyone faced the teacher: the bringer of knowledge. In the technologically updated classroom, everyone faces the computer. I have witnessed this in my own education, but also in watching my children progress through school. The teacher has now taken the role of facilitator more than guru. I think this has good and bad results, especially for teachers of the humanities. Let me explain: when the tech was young, there was a divide between the tech and people. I think this is changing, as educators become more comfortable with how tech and humans cooperate to create meaning in the world. but the divide can still be a challenge. Attitudes about tech's ability to enhance education are still debated. We are learning to use the tech to study and evaluate texts, but I think this is still developing and the divide is still there. In literature, for example, it can be hard to let the STEM into the literature. What is the value of studying texts from such a scientific and data-driven context? Teachers have to value this before students, and humanities can be a very old-school area of study. Selfe points these issues out by illustrating the fact that in order to use tech well in the classroom, teachers must have education and resources to understand it themselves and see the value in it. Clinton and Gore's goals didn't really address this area much, and many teachers were and are plunged into the classroom to add tech to their usual curricula instead of integrating it and seeing its potential. Tacking on tech won't create a technologically literate student. It takes care and the fleshing out of many complexities to make tech more than an awkward add-on. 

Technology: Boon and Blessing

Reading Selfe's book over 20 years after its publication was almost eerie at times. In chapter two, Selfe presents the polemic ideas surrounding technology and education: is it the best thing to happen to human advancement, or is it the destruction of mankind? It is still up for debate. There was early concern that technological advancement and tech education would perpetuate the same cycles along racial and poverty lines, and this is still very much an issue. In this chapter, scholars predicted social media addiction, the integration of technology into every facet of daily life, using connectivity to de-centralize power, computers as a force for false connectivity and the loss of real connection with others and the self, and the shrinking of the world into something that is at one's fingertips. It was a fascinating chapter. Selfe states, "By describing computer technology as either beneficial or detrimental, either good or bad, they limit our understanding. Provided with such a simple, bi-directional representation, readers of such texts (and there are many) are encouraged to take a side--for or against technology--rather than to understand the complex ways in which technology has become linked with our conception of literacy and, possibly, to shape the relationship between these two phenomena in increasingly productive ways" (36-37). Taking a side for or against technology won't help anyone wield the tool. Teachers, students, web users, etc., are challenged to take the complexity of technology and literacy and find a way to hold tension between the two poles, for the truth lies there. 

Selfe's book impacted me as a future teacher in a couple of ways. First, it gave me some helpful background information on the social and political drivers of technological advancement. It summed up the complex arguments surrounding technology and literacy, leaving me better informed on how to view my decisions for its use. Secondly, it brought to the forefront of my mind the ways in which technology can perpetuate the privilege of white, affluent schools, students, and teachers. Technology is a wonderful tool, but it is a tool that was touted to level the playing field while failing to produce the money to get everyone to the field. Selfe's book has given me a lot to think about: How can I use technology and promote this important literacy in any classroom I end up in? How can I hold the tension on technology and see its good and bad sides without becoming blind to either? How can I make the use of technology in my classroom meaningful and useful in my area of study? How can I help both students who have lots of exposure to tech literacy and those who don't? And--importantly--am I tech literate enough to help myself?