Evolution not Revolution: Promoting Literacy Through Technology

A fundamental purpose of English education is to promote literacy.

Although we can fight about the specifics of what to require of educators and students, pretty much everyone can agree that literacy is at the heart of the conversation surrounding English Language Arts curriculum.
Literacy, the ability to read and write, is critical to communication. Communication affords power and effects change. If we want students to become contributing members of society, they will have more power to do so if they are literate. My point: because the way we communicate in everyday life is becoming more and more dependent on technology, incorporating technology into the English classroom is a matter of promoting literacy. As Swensen put it, 

"An examination of literacy practices involving technologies deserves special attention, not because they are separate, but because they are central to effective English education in a rapidly changing world. . . . Thus, it is not a matter of readers developing either print or digital reading skills; new literacies are in a synergistic, reciprocal, and constantly evolving relationship with older literacies, and the interplay of these processes in support of communication and knowledge construction must be perceived as social acts that build upon prior knowledge, literacy skills, and social literacy practices" (353).

Although the level that we individually interact with technology on a daily basis might exist on a spectrum, technology and ELA are not binaries. It's not about developing the ability to read a physical copy of a book verses a digital copy on a Kindle or tablet. It's not about developing one's ability to construct a piece of writing by hand versus participating in online chats. Developing literacy in order to gain knowledge and communicate is a process of drawing upon prior knowledge. Because of this, the different 'literacies' affording by 'old' and 'new' technologies work together to create literacy skills that allow individuals to effectively communicate.

Found on an article about the way technology is changing the way lawyers work.

It's about evolution not revolution.

As I just mentioned, technology and English language arts are not binaries; the old literacies and social practices need to combine with newer technologies and social practices in order to best equip students with the literacies they need to succeed in this changing world. However, we as educators shouldn't include technology just for the sake of including technology. Rather, we need to explore the ways that technology enhances the learning experience and still accomplishes specific learning objectives.

New literacies include "not only learning about and taking advantage of new materials, . . . but also helping students learn to think carefully and critically about what they read, mass media reports as well as literature" (Webb 88). Specifically in reference to incorporating digital texts into the curriculum, Webb argues that "teaching digital texts as part of the new literacies offers us not so much a revolution as an evolution. We should be applying what we know about good English teaching, about close reading and cultural studies, to these new materials" (Webb 88). Because the way that we communicate is evolving through technology, literacy is evolving and the English Language Arts classroom needs to evolve as well.