Packaging literacy, new technologies and enhanced learning

Literacy educators need to pay attention to shifts in the perceived relationship between literacy education, the use of new technologies and learning, as exemplified in national and state P-12 policy documents. At the national level, policy statements have reverted to emphasis on basic literacy, with minimal acknowledgement of the cultural significance of emerging digital literacies. By contrast, at the state level, the emphasis is on ʹtechnologisingʹ the curriculum and literacy education, with the promise that technology will ʹenhanceʹ learning. At both levels, literacy has become ʹcommodifiedʹ: an autonomous product to be packaged and consumed. However, if schools are to prepare students for a rapidly changing world, in which technology-mediated literacy practices are integral, then more is needed than reductive notions of literacy and market-driven ʹtechnologisationʹ of the curriculum, accompanied by evidence-free promises of better learning. The conclusion considers the possibilities for critical digital literacy education.