New Literacies and the Challenge of Mindsets PDF

MODULE 9 NEW LITERACIES AND THE CHALLENGE OF MINDSETS Introduction The 'new' literacies are related to an emerging and evolving mindset and that the idea of 'new' literacies is a useful way to conceptualize what might be seen as one component of an unfolding 'literacy dialectic'. By a dialectic we...

MODULE 9 NEW LITERACIES AND THE CHALLENGE OF MINDSETS Introduction The 'new' literacies are related to an emerging and evolving mindset and that the idea of 'new' literacies is a useful way to conceptualize what might be seen as one component of an unfolding 'literacy dialectic'. By a dialectic we mean a kind of transcendence, in which two forces that exist in tension with one another 'work out their differences', as it were, and evolve into something that bears the stamp of both, yet is qualitatively different from each of them. Lesson 1. 'Mindsets' and 'The Contemporary Fracturing of Space' The idea of a mindset usually refers to a point of view, perspective, or frame of reference through which individuals or groups of people experience the world, interpret or make sense of what they encounter, and respond to what they experience. Mindsets can be thought of as sets of assumptions, beliefs, values, and ways of doing things that orient us toward what we experience and incline us to understand and respond in some ways more than others. In addition, however, the 'set' in 'mindset' usually refers to the sense of someone's mind being set or fixed -- as in 'set in stone' -- in the way they approach the world. For example, the definition of 'mindset' provided by Roger Caldwell in a course offered at the University of Arizona states that a mindset is 'a person's frame of reference that is fixed'. Moreover, someone can have a particular 'mindset' that is so strong in a specific outlook that they do not see other perspectives, even though they might hear them and believe they have been given consideration. This prevents looking at new options in a realistic sense (Lankshear  Knobel, 2006). Lesson 2. Elaborating the Mindsets The scale of difference that can arise between interpreting and responding to the world from a physical-industrial perspective and a non-physical informational/postindustrial perspective has already been illustrated by reference to Negroponte's anecdote about the monetary value of his laptop computer. It is sobering to reflect on the profundity of the gulf that separates the two valuations, and what this represents in terms of who and where one is in the contemporary world (Lankshear  Knobel, 2006). From a physical-industrial perspective, it is perfectly 'natural' to think of the computer as a material commodity of a particular brand and to estimate its monetary value accordingly. From the perspective of 'being digital', however, the first thing that is likely to spring to mind in terms of value is what is on the hard disk and how much it would 'cost' to lose that (e.g., ask someone who has lost the data set for a doctoral dissertation to a hard disk crash about what a computer is worth) (Lankshear & Knobel, 2006). A similarly wide gap in perspective is apparent from a very different angle in the way Barlow discusses the issue of censorship on the internet and, specifically, in the different kinds of responses he mentions about how to address pornography on the web. There are very different ways of looking at such concerns depending on whether one comes from the physical space mindset or from an alternative mind-set associated with understanding cyberspace (Lankshear & Knobel, 2006). Lesson 3. The Mindsets at Work within Educational Settings The standpoint we are adopting here -- our working hypothesis -- is that the world is now significantly different from how it was two or three decades ago, and that this difference has a lot to do with the emergence of new technologies and changes in social practices associated with these. In part, this is a matter of what we have called the contemporary fracturing of space. Besides living in and reckoning with physical space, we are now increasingly called upon to reckon with cyberspace. Besides a mechanical world there is also a digital electronic world to be reckoned with, at least on the part of those inhabiting the social mainstream (Lankshear  Knobel, 2006). As in any age, one can choose to withdraw from a mainstream. But anyone wanting to attach themselves to the contemporary mainstream will be called upon to reckon with digital-electronic ways and with cyber spatial ways. In addition, the changes are in part a matter of a move from what we have called 'industrial' values and ways of doing things toward an increasing embrace of 'postindustrial' values and ways of doing things. To repeat, we are not talking about a displacement here. Cyberspace has not and will not displace physical space (Lankshear  Knobel, 2006). The mechanical has not been displaced by the digital-electronic, and will not be in any foreseeable future. Industrial ways have not been displaced by post-industrial ways. The balances, however, are shifting significantly. To some extent 'industry' has been displaced geographically -- from the 'First' world to pockets of the 'Third' world -- yet we still find many industrial principles operating in 'First' world sites. It would be a brave person, however, who would maintain that the industrial mode has not lost a very significant amount of ground to the post-industrial throughout the urban 'First' world, and this trend will most likely continue at a strong rate in the decades ahead (Lankshear  Knobel, 2006). The idea of a mindset usually refers to a point of view, perspective, or frame of reference through which individuals or groups of people experience the world, interpret or make sense of what they encounter, and respond to what they experience. Mindsets can be thought of as sets of assumptions, beliefs, values, and ways of doing things that orient us toward what we experience and incline us to understand and respond in some ways more than others. The scale of difference that can arise between interpreting and responding to the world from a physical-industrial perspective and a non-physical informational/postindustrial perspective has already been illustrated by reference to Negroponte's anecdote about the monetary value of his laptop computer. The standpoint we are adopting here -- our working hypothesis -- is that the world is now significantly different from how it was two or three decades ago, and that this difference has a lot to do with the emergence of new technologies and changes in social practices associated with these.