EDUC 7718 - Critical Literacy Praxis

Prerequisite: admission to the Sixth Year Certificate in Instructional Technologies & Digital Media Literacy. Beginning with the critical approach that views illiteracy as a consequence of unequal social environments that limit access to economic and educational opportunities, this course investigates how learning to read and write - with all kinds of technologies and tools - is part of the process of becoming conscious as historically constructed within specific power relations. Students will reexamine what they know about literacy in their own instructional practices and institutional contexts; they will identify ways in which they can use required instructional materials as well as challenge standard school literacy practices. They will also investigate how current technologies reify and challenge particular notions of literacy and power.
3 credit hours.