REDEFINING LITERACY
The majority of current “reading tests” are primarily constructed to measure vocabulary recognition.
But, does vocabulary recognition mean very much?
Of course not!
The ability to form opinions from what individuals read is the only valid test of reading ability — and, that depends upon reading comprehension.
What are the facts today?
Only about one quarter of this nation’s fourth graders are able to form opinions from what they read, and only about one-third of our high school seniors can. About half of our blue collar workforce cannot comprehend anything written beyond a fourth-grade reading level.
Whether we like it or not, our learning culture has changed. We must recognize that we are no longer a nation of avid readers. It may be that we never were, but reading today continues to shrink as the most effective way by which the majority of us can assimilate knowledge and form opinions.
But ours is not a stupid nor uninformed society.
On the contrary! Only our primary means for communicating information has changed.
Where then do most of us get the majority of the information we assimilate today?
From tablets, smartphones, computers and television, of course!
And yet, for all of the advances made in linking technology with learning, too many organizations today still rely on the old traditional methods of stand-up lecturing and reading.
The result is that the learning needs of nearly two-thirds of our citizens are being ignored through the use of these traditional methods.
We are sensory beings. The more our senses become involved, the more completely and enjoyably we learn. Even better, the more of our senses that are involved with the learning experience, the greater our retention.
Nobody is trying to exclude the one-third of us who are comfortable in a reading-based learning environment. We’ll respond favorably to multi-sensory learning, too. But for the two-thirds in this nation who have no learning culture choice, the incorporation of video, animations, gaming, and optional full audio into our learning designs and programs will be pivotal.
More on Monday – – –
— Bill Walton, co-Founder, ITC Learning
August 1, 2018
www.itclearning.com/blog/ (Mondays & Wednesdays)
“THE WORLD RELIES ON THE HANDS OF ITS MEN AND WOMEN”