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| 21st Century Literacy Summit | |
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21st Century Literacy Summit |
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| Report of the Summit | |
| Download the final report and recommendations
from the summit: A
Global Imperative (1Mb, 32 pp) 
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| About the Summit | |
In the context of notions like the “Digital Native” and the increasing need for communication forms that translate well across borders, aspects of visual, aural and digital literacy are increasingly seen as critical extensions of verbal literacy (reading, writing, listening, and speaking). The ways in which these skills and abilities reinforce one another and the kinds of interactions that can result are just beginning to be explored, but few would argue that they are not critically important to success in the world today. The NMC, working with Adobe Systems and the George Lucas Educational Foundation, convened a "summit" of thought leaders in visual, aural and digital literacy over April 26-28, 2005, to articulate broad-scale priorities for the areas where these spheres converge, and develop an action list of recommendations to meet those priorities. The meeting, which was an invitation-only event, was held in San Jose, California, and provided a setting for the group to engage in a substantive dialog around emerging trends and issues related to this convergence. The summit, which was facilitated by the renowned visual facilitator, David Sibbet, was intended to spur the expansion of visual, aural, and digital literacy awareness and programs across K-12 and higher education globally. The exchange of ideas at the summit has informed a major monograph intended to further awareness of the importance of visual, aural, and digital literacy and encourage the successful proliferation of related programs, initiatives, and projects on a large scale. The monograph, detailing the outcomes and recommendations from the summit, will be released here in July 2005.Download the Summit Agenda and Participant
List (4.8Mb, 24 pp) Download the Visual Record of the Meeting
(5.9Mb, 19 pp) |
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| Readings and Papers | |
| Download Kristina Woolsey's paper developed for the
Summit, Language Revolution
(1Mb, 11 pp) Download Susan Marcus's paper developed in response to the Summit recommendations,
The New Literacies: What Is Basic Education Now?
(242Kb, 12 pp) |
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| So What do We Mean by 21st Century Literacy? | |
The New Media Consortium, Adobe Systems, the George Lucas Educational Foundation, and others have begun to refer to the subset of abilities and skills where aural, visual and digital literacy overlap and reinforce each other as 21st Century Literacy, in recognition of its immediacy and importance today. These include the ability to understand the power of images and sounds, to recognize and use that power, to manipulate and transform digital media, to distribute them pervasively, and to easily adapt them to new forms. All of us understand, almost on a visceral level, the power and immediacy of imagery and of sound. Art, music, film, photography, drawing — all have the potential to transcend traditional language and evoke an emotional response. These media, and images and sounds in general are powerful communication tools. The ability to understand this power as it relates to imagery, to recognize it, to manipulate it and to put it to use involves a set of skills referred to as visual literacy. Visually literate individuals have an imaginative ability to see the messages communicated with images, and to understand them, as well as to create, modify, and use visual cues and images. Visual literacy implies an understanding and sense of design. It is also a concept that is not yet fully formed, and related areas like visual/graphic representation, visual communication, semiotics, and iconography overlap with it in compelling and interesting ways. Aural literacy involves a similar set of skills related to sounds and music. Digital tools, ever more capable, are playing an increasingly important role in advancing both aural and visual literacy, but these literacies are not limited to their digital expressions. Digital literacy compliments aural and visual literacy, and adds a set of skills that draw not only on creativity, but also design. Digitally literate individuals have the ability to manipulate and transform the images they see and the sounds they hear, to distribute them in new and compelling ways, and to easily adapt them to new forms. These literacies, while increasingly seen as critically important, are not replacements for, but rather extensions of the more traditional verbal literacies -- reading, writing, listening, and speaking. |
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