Information communication and technology are now considered necessary for students to become fully literate. Litteracy can no longer operate in a vacuum of only books. Donald J. Leu, Jr. the author of What Research Has to Say About Reading Instruction, chapter 14, defines new literacies as including “the skills, strategies, and insights necessary to successfully exploit the rapidly changing information and communication technologies that continuously emerge in our world.”
IRA Position Paper on Technology Integration
The Internet and other forms of information and communication technology (ICT) are redefining the nature of literacy. To become fully literate in today’s world, students must become proficient in the new literacies of ICT. Therefore, literacy educators have a responsibility to integrate these technologies into their literacy curricula.
The Association believes that much can be done to support students in developing all the forms of literacy they will require. We believe that students have the right to:
* Teachers who are skilled in the effective use of ICT for teaching and learning;
* A literacy curriculum that integrates the new literacies of ICT into instructional programs;
* Instruction that develops the critical literacies essential to effective information use
* Assessment practices in literacy that include reading and writing with technology tools;
* Opportunities to learn safe and responsible use of information and communication technologies;
* Equal access to ICT
