Technology-Infused Instruction: A New Paradigm for Literacy

Abstract

This chapter introduces a model of technology-infused literacy instruction that implements a constructivist approach to teaching and learning that defines a new paradigm for the classroom of the twenty-first century. It argues that in the face of the constant change process that is redefining literacy instruction today, it will be necessary to rethink our curriculum and redesign our instruction to infuse new technologies. In this new paradigm it will be necessary to not only ask different questions, but also to redefine the context in which the questions are posed. Students learning must focus on exploration, investigation, paradoxes, and inquiries. We must teach students to start their inquiries with “essential questions” in mind, and to seek not answers but rather new questions, new theories, and new ideas. The technologies of literacy in the future will need to function as cognitive tools that guide students in the generation of the concentric circles of lifelong learning.