GALA Literacy Learning Series #29

Have you thought about how reading and technology has changed what it means to be literate in your lifetime? Multimedia, digital tools, and the Internet have increased the complexity of strategies needed to be an accomplished reader in today’s society. Reading printed texts differs significantly from reading in a digital environment. When students read digital text, they must not only decode words, but they must also navigate the electronic device and interpret icons, visuals, and codes that are not required when reading the same information from a book. In this session we will explore the new literacy processes, tools, and considerations which are continually emerging hand in hand with technological innovations. Join us as we consider:

• How is technology creating a need for new literacy processes?
• How is the internet and artificial intelligence impacting education?
• What is the impact of children and adolescent’s use of digital tools and social media?

GSU’s College of Education & Human Development Professor Joyce Many is the Ferrer Endowed Professor of Multiple Literacies. The intent of this professorship is to enable all students to navigate within and across literacies in the 21st century.

Over her career, Many has focused her teaching and research on children’s reading, writing and research processes and the ways teachers can scaffold literacy development in interdisciplinary settings. Her publications have appeared in Reading Research Quarterly, Reading Psychology, the Journal of Literacy Research, the Journal of Computer Science Education, the Journal of Online Learning and Research and the International Journal of Technology in Education. Her leadership has resulted in the development of two state-wide consortiums: the University System of Georgia’s Reading Consortium, which she directed from 1999-2009, and Georgia’s Teacher Education Research Consortium, which she facilitated from 2014-2019. These consortiums led to the creation of curriculum (Georgia’s reading endorsement), the development of online coursework for teachers, state-wide research projects, and the establishment of a center to support literacy teaching and learning.