Procedural literacy

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This page has been written during a seminar at Tecfa: Semactu 2010-2011, Author: sugarch0

Introduction

Beyond the questions about a New Millenium Learner (NML), digital natives (see also natifs numériques), a digital divide (see also Fractures numériques) and educational technology in the web 2.0 era is a questionning about changes in our educational culture and its social implications. What should be part of a basic, common knowledge base in the 21st century? Should there be an alternative approach to the knowledge society in times where knowledge is available from many different sources(Pedró,NML conference)? What skills should be acquired?

In 1990, the United Nations General Assembly declared an "international literacy year" and started a 10 year program to reduce illiteracy (Bawden 2001). This has raised the interest and awareness on the meaning of literacy in an information-rich society.

More precisely, what kind of literacy is needed in a culture where information technology - and technology itself - is ubiquitous?

First interesting views were found in the article "Procedural litearcy: educating the new media Practitioner" by Michael Mateas who calls for procedural literacy as being part of the general culture a new media practitioner should have. Several other authors (Sheil 1983 and 1993, Proulx 2002) join the idea and propose that procedural literacy should be part of the basic culture of any digital device and/or web 2.0 user if he is to be truly literate in the present time, stating that his education is not complete without an “understanding of the interplay between the culturally embedded practices of human meaning-making and technically mediated processes”(Mateas 2005).

History

The term "procedural literacy" is one of the latest expression of a long series of definitions of literacy that include information-, computer-, media- or digital literacy (Badwen 2001). Although the expression "procedural literacy" is recent, calls for a true literacy of computation have been made already in the sixties, at the very beginning of computer development (Mateas). Papert's work on the programming game logo (Papert 1980) is only one of many educational programs and research projects that still develop today and that are intended to transmit a general understanding of the programming language. This language should be treated as “a universal representational medium for describing structure and process” (Mateas 2005). This call is echoed for example in France where in the eighties there was a discussion around "numeric alphabetization" (Proulx 2002). Finding a realistic model with defined educational objectives is the central question for teaching computer literacy. These issues are discussed from the eighties on and are the subject of an agenda of cognitive science research (Sheil 1983 and 1993). The development of internet gives these consideration a new dimension and again has driven discussions on how to teach general computer or procedural literacy.

Definitions

Literacy

Literacy is the condition of being able to read and write, being learned, having a commpetence in or with something (Bawden 2001). Thus, literacy means being able to receive, sort, understand, and transmit information and it is closely linked to eductation as well as to the skills and competencies for a successfull social life in a particular culture.

Defining literacy as opposed to illiteracy often carries the concept that illiteracy can be "cured" and that literacy can be measured accurately. But the concept of literacy is a relative concept since it is progressive ans has a close relation with a particular culture.(Bawden 2001).

Literacy was born with the first sumeric alphabet, it has followed the development of languages, of hieroglyphs, of books, and it has spread together with printed media to a greater part of our society. In the web 2.0 age, literacy has many names: Media literacy, digital-, network-, IT- or computer literacy. There seem to be a consensus among most researchers that 'information literacy' is a more general expression that encompasses different competencies linked to searching, finding, evaluating and transmit information. Using digital devices is part of these competencies as well as understanding how the information is processed, being able to find and sort information and at a higher level of literacy, snthetise and reuse it.

Thus, literacy has to do with a person's role and competencies in his culture an society and thus always has a political dimension. Today, literacy implies the ability to search and find the right information (wherever it is), to collaborate but also "having a competence" with technology in general and information technologies in particular.

Procedural literacy

Procedural literacy means going beyond "black box programs" and programming languages themselves to develop an understanding that “the space of computation is bigger than the particular view of it embodied (enforced) by any particular programming model”(Mateas 2005). Being literate in computation or acquiring procedural literacy means an awareness of the constraints of specific tools (or programming languages) and being capable of considering a larger space of computational possibilities.

Web 2.0, open source and procedural literacy

Unlike some authors like Prensky seem to state, digital natives, even immerged in web 2.0, are not more literate in computational or digital competencies than any other user of information technologies (Wecker 2007). Their use of computers is varied and often unspectaculer (Selwyn 2009). On the other hand, an interesting outlook is the open source movement. Unlike any setclosed program structure ("black box software and programs"), source code is accessible and can be modified. A community of programers of different levels interacts around these programs, allowing "beginners" a kind of apprenticeship through exchanges with more experienced programmers and/or users. This movement develops a true cultural and social significance, creating bridges between users and programers and gaining political significances inside the world of information technology (Proulx 2002). This community could be one way to acquire procedural skills and procedural literacy in its competency- but also social and critical thinking- or political dimensions.

Educational issues

Lack of understanding of a computer's underlying conceptual structure alienates users from their environments and hinders any effective use of information processing devices. Procedural reasoning though is not widely appreciated as a basic cognitive skill and there is still some research to do on how procedural literacy should become a part of todays multi-literacies (Sheil 1993, Proulx 2002). One issue here is the question wether the computer himself should be used as a cognitive tool to acquire procedural literacy and to identify the level of computational knowledge necessary to acquire literacy in these technologies.(Proulx 2002).

Examples

games as the vehicle for transmitting computer literacy as well as span the culture divide humanistic - artistic and scientific-technical and for learning procedural literacy (mateas 2005)

Bibliography

Badwen, D.: Information and Digital Literacies: a Review of Concepts. Journal of Documentation, vol. 57, No2, pp 218-259, March 2001

Mateas, M. : Procedural Literacy: Educating the New Media Practitioner. On the Horizon, Vol. 13, No1, 2005

Papert, S.: Children, Computers and Powerful Ideas, Mindstorm, New York: Basic Books, 1980.

Prensky, M.: Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, On the Horizon, MCB University Press, Vol. 9, No5, October 2001

Proulx, S.: Trajectoires d'usages des technologies de communication: les formes d'appropriation d'une culture numérique comme enjeu d'une socuété du savoir, ANN. Télécommun., 57, No3-4, 2002.

Selwyn, N.: The digital native - myth and reality, Aslib Proceedings, Vol. 61 Iss: 4, pp.364 - 379, 2009

Sheil, B.A. : Teaching procedural literacy, Presentaion abstract, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, 1983.

Sheil, B.A. : Coping with complexity, information technology and people, Vol.1, Iss.4, pp295-320, 1993.

Wecker, C.: Computer literacy and inquiry learning: when geeks learn less, Journal of computer assisted learning, 23, 133-144, 2007.

Webography

Buck Institute for Education: 21st century skills

The new millenium learners: a project in progress Pedró, OECD/CERI 2009

The new millenium learners Conference 2009