William Cope
Reda Sadki
May Thet Khine Nyein
Eugenia Arvanitis
Pinakini Shah
Jonathan deHaan
Alessandra Coutinho Fernandes
Ketan HeinLiteracy Teaching and Learning MOOC’s Updates
Section 2c: Literacies for Contemporary Community Life
The nature of the literacies used in everyday community life has also changed dramatically since the classical literacy teaching of the nineteeth and twentieth century school. For one thing, whereas we were mostly consumers of texts and media (readers of newspapers, viewers of television, liteners to radio), we have now become in equal measure writers (on social media for instance), image makers (the images and media we upload online, for our friends or everyone), and curators or makers of audio (in online playlists or podcasts). We call this a 'change in the balance of agency'.
To explore these themes further, read the texts in the 'Literacies for Contemporary Community Life' section of our supporting materials website.
Comment: What are the implications of new media for literacies learning? How do we need to change or adapt our practices?
Make an Update: Choose an example of a new social practice—in the workplace, as a citizen, or as a person using new media in their everyday life. Describe the new practice, analysing its communicative features. What are its implications for literacies pedagogy? Read and comment on others' updates as they come through into your activity stream.
One new social practice I’ve noticed is how people now use messaging apps—like Facebook messenger, TIktok, YouTube, etc. not just for chatting, but for organizing work, sharing resources, and even teaching. In my own experience, group chats have become mini learning hubs. Teachers send lesson plans, parents ask questions, students submit outputs, and admins give reminders—all in one thread. It’s fast, informal, and multimodal: you see emojis, voice notes, PDFs, photos, and even reactions like thumbs-up or heart icons.
For literacies pedagogy, this means we need to prepare learners to navigate these spaces. It’s not just about grammar or spelling anymore—it’s about understanding tone, audience, and multimodal cues. We should teach students how to communicate clearly in digital platforms, how to manage information flow, and how to be respectful and effective in group settings. These everyday practices are shaping how meaning is made, and our teaching needs to reflect that.
Inanimate Alice is a digital, transmedia storytelling resource.it uses a mix of text, images, sound, games, and interactive media. Students follow a character named Alice through episodes that change location and context. The resource includes embedded games and problem‑solving tasks, cultural elements in different settings, and emotional/social dimensions.
what makes it innovative is this literacy makes learning more interesting by the use of interactive problem-solving and gamification. That embedded games to provide tasks for students to solve that became part of the narrative.
REFERENCE:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inanimate_Alice
This is a great example of how storytelling can evolve with technology. I like how you highlighted the mix of media and problem-solving, it really shows how Inanimate Alice turns reading into an active, immersive experience. You could strengthen it by briefly mentioning how students respond to this kind of learning—do they feel more engaged or curious?
Description of the New Practice
One significant new social practice in the modern workplace is the use of Slack (or similar messaging platforms) for real-time digital communication in remote and hybrid work environments. Slack has evolved beyond a messaging tool into a dynamic workplace hub that replaces many traditional modes of communication—emails, meetings, and even informal hallway chats.
Implications for Literacies Pedagogy
Digital + Multimodal Literacy:
Educators must prepare students to read, write, and communicate across digital platforms that mix text, images, and interactive elements.
Genre Awareness:
Slack messages are a hybrid genre—part memo, part chat, part performance. Students need to understand how to adjust tone and formality depending on audience and purpose.
Platform Navigation:
Literacy now includes the ability to use platform-specific tools effectively—tagging, threading, linking, and integrating apps to support communication.
Critical Media Literacy:
Students should be taught to think critically about digital presence, attention economy, and how communication tools shape power and visibility in workplaces.
Collaborative Communication:
Teaching should focus more on dialogic writing and collaborative composition—skills crucial in Slack-like environments where multiple voices shape the outcome of discussions.
New media—such as social platforms, collaborative tools, video-based content, interactive apps, and AI tools—have dramatically shifted what it means to be “literate” in the 21st century. Literacy is no longer just the ability to read and write printed text; it now includes a range of multimodal, digital, critical, and participatory literacies.
A common social practice in today’s workplaces is the use of social media platforms like Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Workplace by Facebook. These tools let employees communicate instantly through chat, video calls, and file sharing, even if they work in different places. This kind of communication changes how people interact at work because it allows quick, flexible conversations and teamwork.
Some important features of this communication practice are real-time and delayed messaging options, mixing text, audio, and video, and having group channels for different projects. These platforms also help create social connections and a positive work culture by making communication more open and transparent.
For teaching literacy, this means students need to learn more than just reading and writing on paper. They must develop skills to use digital tools for communication and collaboration. It’s important to teach critical thinking about media messages and how to effectively participate in online discussions and group work. Overall, literacy education should prepare students to navigate and create different types of digital content in their everyday and professional lives.
And to adopt to the fast changing world, it is important that students must also learn these tool to ensure they are not left behind. Employers nowadays, especially those who hire off shore assistants are looking for people who are already proficient with these tools to avoid long training and can be productive the soonest possible time.
I like the phrase “change in the balance of agency” because it perfectly describes our active role in communication today. We have the chance to participate, share ideas, and even start conversations that can reach a wider audience.
This makes me realize how powerful literacy has become today. It’s not just about reading and writing anymore — we can now express ourselves through videos, images, and even podcasts, which can influence others and shape opinions.
I agree with this idea because it shows how we are no longer just passive receivers of information. Social media and online platforms allow us to create and share our own content, giving us a bigger voice in society.
I agree with this idea because it shows how we are no longer just passive receivers of information. Social media and online platforms allow us to create and share our own content, giving us a bigger voice in society.
Presently, new media is changing the world of literacy learning so drastically that it is beginning to change what we teach and how we teach it. If traditional literacy is regarded as the ability to read and write print text, it needs to expand to embrace digital, visual, multimedia, and networked forms of communication. The students are increasingly called upon to negotiate complex digital environments, critically assess online sources, create content across various media, and engage in collaborative participatory cultures. As a response, classroom instruction requires that teachers incorporate digital tools into their teaching, empower and foster critical digital literacy, and stress multimodal composition. The very nature of teaching will therefore evolve into a more dynamic, interdisciplinary, and student-centered approach that captures the fluid yet interactive essence of new media. This development not only broadens the definition of literacy but also prepares learners for an ever-changing communication environment.
The Arrival of new media has significant implications for literacy learning. To prepare students for a rapidly evolving digital landscape, educators are required to adapt different practices because media literacy involves skills that differ from traditional literacy, emphasizing the ability to create, analyze, and navigate digital content effectively.
I agree with this one.