Setting the scene

Language and literacy are dynamic and evolutionary, changes occur on a daily basis to the means and modes of communication as each new tool, toy, program or application is developed. The purpose of this ning is to provide an easily accessible interactive space to share, discuss and evaluate changes to the multitude of literacies that we and our students engage with and how they might be integrated into effective classroom practice. It offers a portal to projects, professional development and resources to stimulate discussion and promote effective practice.

Dramatic change has occurred over the past ten years to the forms of entertainment we experience, expectations for individualised outcomes for education and also to how we live and are perceived as identities within the communities we belong to. Each of these spaces in our lives that make up our persona require a schema of understanding through which we decode the messages conveyed in the multitude of text types bombarding us with information. From the radio as soon as we wake up in the morning to the magazine or comic we read before falling asleep at night, to the music video on YouTube or a friend’s blog sharing overseas adventures each one demands skill to access and understand the message being conveyed.