Ruminations on our relationship with technology
To understand how technologies affect our minds and lives, we may ask: How do technologies shape the way we think? That is, what types of tools, machines, or media work best for what kinds of thinking? Functional literacy, which makes up part of the Educational Topics on this site, can help shed light on this question.
So, what is functional literacy? In essence, it refers to the mental or cognitive skills needed to function successfully in our technological society. Without it, we can’t have a functional society. In other words, functional illiteracy means living in a dysfunctional society. To explore this topic, select an article below.
Marshall McLuhan’s speculations on post-literate technology Marshall McLuhan was well known for his almost prophetic speculations about technology, culture, and literacy. In the book The Gutenberg Galaxy, he thought about how newer forms of multimedia would affect traditional modes of literacy. At times, he described this interaction as being “caught between the Scylla of a … Read more
VR schools: the future of education? If you’re a parent, teacher, or student, you may have noticed that the implementation of virtual reality (VR) in schools has gained ground lately. In fact, there are now VR schools in elementary education that are entirely online. For many people concerned about the future of education and literacy, … Read more
What is the digital divide? Summary: The state of education following the COVID pandemic helped illustrate why we can’t bridge the digital divide simply by giving every student a laptop or tablet. To bridge the digital divide, we’ll require serious social investments as well. For instance, we’ll need to invest in infrastructure for local communities, … Read more
Literacy vs. functional literacy Literacy is usually defined as the ability to read, write, and do math. But what do we mean by reading? People may be able to read the words in a document, but can they grasp its arguments or analogies? How about writing? Students may be able to write or type sentences, … Read more