Words to plan schools by–and libraries, too
Turns out that John de Jong, a coauthor of the literacy report mentioned by the BBC, saw the TeleRead blog directly from his computer in Holland–without the BBC having forwarded our request for his email address. Oh, the wonders of Google. Meanwhile, from his contribution to the e-book Reading for Change, here is some wisdom for librarians, educators and policymakers in countries everywhere:
“Reading has pervaded human life for centuries, but the set of skills required for successful reading changes continuously. Looking up information on the Internet is becoming an everyday activity for a growing number of people and provides a clear example of a context in which reading requires skills that go far beyond decoding. Traditionally, printed material goes through a process of scrutiny and editing by a number of persons before it reaches the reader. Information on the Internet, however, shows a more diverse quality. Though some of it has been edited, a significant proportion has not, and readers will have to rely on their own critical skills in deciding whether and how to use the material. Furthermore, the sheer volume of the information available necessitates the use of selection criteria. To gather information on the Internet requires the ability to scan and skim through large amounts of material and immediately judge its merit. Critical thinking has therefore become more important than ever in reading literacy (Halpern, 1989; Shetzer and Warschauer, 2000; Warschauer, 1999). Warschauer (in press) concludes that overcoming the ‘digital divide’ is ‘not only a matter of achieving online access, but also of enhancing people’s abilities to adapt and create knowledge using ICT’. The correlation between data on the proportion of national populations in OECD countries using the Internet (CIA, 2001), and overall PISA 2000 reading literacy scores for those countries, is 0.53. As people consult the Internet more frequently, they will probably become more adept. Education systems can, however, boost the process by equipping students with the appropriate reading skills.”
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