next-ed

I spent today working with the advisory group preparing for the DEST teacher Summer Schools for January 2008.  My committee is looking at Literacy and Numeracy, to be presented by a Consortium made up of Wollongong University, Edith Cowan University and ALEA.  It was energising to be with diverse people all passionate about teacher professional learning, and we spent a good portion of the day wrestling with ideas about how to sustain the learning after the summer school is over.

There was a diverse array of scholars gathered for this conversation about literacy and numeracy, including Len Unsworth, one of Australia’s pre-eminent advocates for digital and emerging literacies.  His work in the area of eFiction taps into the reading culture of young people and would be extremely relevant for teachers trying to engage a generation of students who have exposure to such a vast range of texts in such a broad choice of media.

So the summer schools will offer learning based on cutting edge research.  My other hope (the one I will be working on with the Advisory Group) is that the summer schools will also be taught using cutting edge pedagogy.  How can we hope to teach writing for an online audience, if we don’t write online?  How can we teach numeracy as a life skill for a digital age if we don’t engage with digital media?  How can we teach contemporary communication as a literacy, if we are fearful of social networking. 

I was a little embarassed by the silence that followed my suggestion that participants should engage in an online social network before, during and after the summer school.  I might as well have suggested that all participants dress up in silly loud shirts and pose for a group photo.  Ridiculous!