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A Global Imperative
The Report of the 21st Century Literacy Summit
Adobe Systems, George Lucas Foundation, and New Media Consortium brought together high-end global leaders and thinkers who systematically brainstormed what this new 21st century literacy is, and what our global response should be.
A new language is being born: “rich in ways that extend traditional forms of communication with visual imagery and sound” and it is a global imperative that we understand this far-reaching phenomenon.
We lack a common language with which to discuss this emerging phenomenon, but, as with the learning object dialogue of the past five years, we can begin from a working definition to see where it leads our thinking:
21st century literacy is the set of abilities and skills where aural, visual and digital literacy overlap. 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.
Let's look at just those verbs again:
A brave new world.
Here are six characteristics of 21st century literacy to pique your own thinking skills:
In Part II we will explore the question:
What does a world that values 21st century literacy look like? Stay tuned!