eArticle review: Digital literacy crucial early in life, educators say

Faith Rogow, the founding president of the National Association for Media Literacy Education, which we looked at a little here made a presentation recently at an Early Childhood Education conference put on by the Pittsburg Association for the Education of Young Children.  The Tribune Review wrote a nice little article about it here.

In this new world, "what does it mean to be literate?" Rogow asked the 200 teachers attending the daylong symposium on Friday. 

Reading and writing are part of the answer, she said. But so is the ability to navigate the new media landscape. For early education teachers, it means preparing youngsters "for the world they actually live in," Rogow said -- the world of interactive, instant communication and information-gathering.

This conference was aimed at early childhood educators, but many of the programs were presented by librarians.  Check out the conference brochure.  I wish I could have been there!  I am contacting a few of the presenters to pick their brains and find out when they will next be speaking somewhere on my side of the continent. 


Programs I would have loved to have sat in on:
There's an App for That: Selecting Quality Children's Books in E-book Format by Tess Reismeyer
The Library Online Playground by Caralee Sommerer & Megan Fogt
Using Media & Technology Tools in the Early Childhood Classroom by Michael Robb