3 literacy challenges of today?

In reading Laptops and Literacy (Warshauer, 2006) he separates literacy into two different literacies: academic literacy and digital literacy. As he says " literacy is not a singular, but rather a plural construct. There are many types of literacy for different situations" (Warshauer, 2006, p.3). While certainly this point agrees with others that I have read thus far, by naming digital literacy as a different set of skills. However, after he breaks apart these different forms of literacy he also suggests that " learning cannot be reduced to skills and competencies, it must be centered on content. But mastery of content is best achieved through collaborative critical inquiry and in-depth analysis of challenging problems related to that content" (p. 9). He believes that "how schools can become more relevant by teaching the kinds of literacy thinking, communication, and productivity skills as well as academic content, needed in the 21st century" (p.9) is the first literacy challenge for today's schools. He also argues that the disconnect between home and school, although with the digital divide between rich and poor represent the other major challenges to literacy in our school's now.

These challenges resonate with my experience, and the other readings I have been doing. I look forward to reading more from him and discovering how he see technology (specifically laptops) as having the potential to meet these challenges. Although I believe that the hardware and tools represent a crucial element to meeting these challenges, I also think that educators need to build TPCK to better use the tools we have available to meet these challenges. I think only by building capacity in the intersection of technology, content and pedagogy can we begin to address these concerns.