21st century literacy Essay

What is 21st century literacy? 21st century literacy is demanding a literate person that has a wide range of abilities. These abilities must be multiple and forceful. â€Å" The active, successful participants in this 21st century global society must be able to develop proficiency and fluency with the tools of technology; build intentional cross-cultural connections and relationships with others so to pose and solve problems collaboratively and strengthen independent thought; design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes; manage, analyze, and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information; create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multimedia texts; attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments† (NCTE). This all depends on understanding the difference in media that can make up our high-tech reality and producing the skills to use them forcefully. Literacy then and now has changed a lot. History provides multiple examples of societies trying to make a connection to go into their communication infrastructures two centuries ago. Using the technologies in the past, people pursued methods by which they might be able to communicate faster, easier, and better. To this day we still look for better communication methods, only now we have countless choices, along with new gears and tactics with greater knowledge of effective communication. â€Å"Digital and visual literacies are the next wave of communication specialization. Most people will have technologies at their fingertips not only to communicate but to create, to manipulate, to design, to self-actualize†(digital dots). Kids are learning this with technology even when they don’t realize it. The lack of education is a problem and the situation is impaired in the field of education. . A common situation today is a classroom filled with digitally well-educated students being led by linear-thinking. There has been a mutual void in professional development for faculty this needs training to increase the necessary computer skills to mix technology into the curriculum effectively. Children now a day learn everything about technology and use technology every minute of the day. We have to change the way technology is used to teach learning across all departments. This change will slowly come however, without vision combined with practical, familiar goals and motivations that inspire people to grip a new digital and visual literacy skill independently and collectively. Future literacy is a thought experiment about the demise of literacy and the upcoming of other skills, capacities or tools that will effectively and advantageously displace reading and writing. Literacy is a capability we privilege above all others. It is a universal good. It is widely viewed as a prerequisite for success and personal development. By contrast, illiteracy is understood to be an impairment. 21st century is changing everything forever. Work cited â€Å"The NCTE Definition of 21st Century Literacies. † NCTE Comprehensive News. N. p. , n. d. Web. 12 Sept. 2013. â€Å"Connecting the Digital Dots: Literacy of the 21st Century (EDUCAUSE Quarterly) | EDUCAUSE. edu. † Connecting the Digital Dots: Literacy of the 21st Century (EDUCAUSE Quarterly) | EDUCAUSE. edu. N. p. , n. d. Web. 12 Sept. 2013.