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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Emergent Literacies: Raising Questions about the Place of Computer Technologies in Education and Society in a Developing Country: The Case of Zimbabwe |
Author: | Hungwe, Kedmon Nyasha |
Year: | 2002 |
Periodical: | Zambezia (ISSN 0379-0622) |
Volume: | 29 |
Issue: | 2 |
Pages: | 121-141 |
Language: | English |
Notes: | biblio. refs. |
Geographic terms: | Zimbabwe Southern Africa |
Subjects: | education computer science Development and Technology Education and Oral Traditions science and technology Computer technology literacy developing countries Educational technology |
External link: | https://d.lib.msu.edu/juz/759/OBJ/download |
Abstract: | This paper discusses the meaning of literacy in a technologically changing world. The rapidly expanding use of computer technologies in society has prompted calls for the reorientation of education and training curricula. The dominant conception of the 'digital divide' between poor and affluent societies has been in terms of access to hardware and connectivity. The question of content has been peripheral. The paper argues that this is a major oversight, as the digital divide is also a content divide. The advent of computer technologies has not made traditional skills of reading and writing redundant. Proposals that give unqualified support for computerization as a developmental tool should, therefore, be viewed more critically. In this context, the paper focuses on the role of educational institutions, using Zimbabwe as a case study. It concludes that there are no reasons for introducing Zimbabwean children in the primary school to computer technologies. In secondary schools the use of computer technologies should be encouraged, but there is a need to use these technologies across the curriculum, as tools for solving authentic problems, rather than teaching isolated skills that have no clear applications. Notes, ref., sum. [ASC Leiden abstract] |