:)

English 'must reflect technology'

We've got another report on our side! While I am a proponent of teaching writing to students with and without an emphasis on technology--whatever meets their needs and gets them to think critically about what they read and experience--it looks like the UK schools are acknowledging that "schools should take advantage of the range of texts now available to teach the language, including online." Full BBCNews article is here.

That might be obvious to some of us who rely heavily on technology as students and teachers, but it's always good to have the big name reports behind you. Hawisher and Selfe's work has been advocating technological literacy in the US for years now but this looks like a national curriculum change in the UK. And it's a curriculum that describes its aims as to give "'substantial weight to personal, social and emotional education,' and value knowledge which falls outside traditional subject boundaries." Can we say party hearty time for the narrative? ;)

What I found interesting, especially with Ryan and me being in a course in the History of Rhetoric, is that "the report also said English needed to take account of the higher profile of the oral language in society. Speaking and listening skills are vital at work and should no longer be given second place." I sure as hell know that I didn't receive much training in speaking, so I would have loved this, although I kind of prefer winging it in an extemporaneous setting rather than giving a formal presentation.

Anyway I thought it was a good news piece to share on the blog because it brings us back to a pragmatic discussion. All of the readings we've done have emphasized the theories of new media and [a la Zuboff’s Smart Machine], how the computer “has now become a universal media machine—a tool used not only for production, but also for storage and distribution” (Manovich 4). This BBC article is evidence of the education system paying attention and reacting to this “media machine,” so I am looking forward to more of those types of discussions tonight!

posted by phdaisy @ 11:14 AM