New Literacies in the classroom By: Jack Julsing and Ivanna Fotinos

What are New Literacies?  The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines literacy as the "ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, compute and use printed and written materials associated with varying contexts.”UNESCO  New Literacies are the modern ways in which we learn to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, and compute using a variety of texts.  These new literacies usually have much to do with new technology.  New Literacies have made learning not only easier, but more effective.

Some examples of new literacies are: Internet literacy- having the ability to understand and work with the internet. Computer literacy- having the ability to understand and work on computers. Visual literacy- having the ability to view and understand things at the same time as integrating other sensory experiences. Media literacy- having the ability to understand and interpret the media well.

An example of a part of the new internet literacy would be…  One of the most effective New Literacies of our time are Library Databases.  Most universities, if not every university, has a website for their library which allows students to look up literature at their convenience.  These websites usually have databases that contain everything from online articles, scholarly journals, and encyclopedias. Library Databases

U of A library  Website for U of A library-  To find whatever you need to on this website you go to Search and Find->select from one of the categories, say Articles and Databases->select a category, such as Sociology->from there you can look up an article or journal by entering in keywords for your search.  This tool is very helpful for finding and citing references for an essay or research paper, you can also find books online here and save the time of going to the library by doing this in the comfort of your own home.

Importance of new literacies in the classroom *New literacies are created because of the advancement of technology and the changing of culture through time. *It is important for students to be literate in the different areas that their society prioritizes in order for a student to be successful within their community and the world.

To find out further information on new literacies check out these websites! zed/moayeri_html_2010/ d.htm