Linda Laidlaw | University of Alberta (original) (raw)

Papers by Linda Laidlaw

The Case of the iPad, 2017

This chapter is a comparative study of the policies and provision of mobile touchscreen digital d... more This chapter is a comparative study of the policies and provision of mobile touchscreen digital devices in Canada and Australia. The current environment for language and literacy teaching is changing at an extremely rapid rate as the use of mobile devices becomes embedded into educational practice and expectations rise that children be digitally literate. The emergence of new policies to address these devices has been developing alongside changes in pedagogy in schools, with policies often playing “catch-up” with school and system practices. We consider how the digital technology policies for mobile touchscreen devices in early years school settings are written and enacted in Alberta, Canada and Victoria, Australia. In considering the ways in which policies were impacting upon the everyday practices of literacy teachers in our study, we surveyed documents from education department/ministry websites, school district/board websites, individual school websites, surveyed articles from popular and online media as well as teacher interviews. Rather than engaging with the pedagogical affordances of mobile devices, these texts tended to focus on risk management and “domesticating the devices”.

Bloomsbury Education and Childhood Studies, 2019

Reinventing Curriculum, 2005

Rethinking Readiness in Early Childhood Education, 2015

The rapid changes in digital tools and innovations require increased and different literacy skill... more The rapid changes in digital tools and innovations require increased and different literacy skills (Carrington & Marsh, 2008; Knobel & Lankshear, 2010; Lankshear & Knobel, 2003a, 2003b; Merchant, 2007; Pahl & Rowsell, 2012; Schleicher, 2012). Portable electronic touch screen devices, tablets, and other digital tools are occupying a growing space in contemporary childhood experience, with young children interacting with various devices and technologies in their daily lives and as a part of play (Marsh, 2011; O’Mara and Laidlaw, 2011). Screen-based communication and new digital tools are more accessible to very young children than previous technologies and these children have integrated the technologies into their everyday lives. For example, some children may be using video chat media (e.g., Skype, Face Time, video text messaging) to communicate with faraway relatives from the time they are toddlers, viewing movies on a parent’s smartphone, or using a variety of game applications, including those designed for increasingly younger children.

Child-Parent Research Reimagined, 2020

Language and Literacy, 2021

Children today must navigate an ever-expanding array of mobile electronic devices and digital tec... more Children today must navigate an ever-expanding array of mobile electronic devices and digital technologies that require literacy skills of a different order than in past eras. School systems and educators everywhere have been racing to keep up with the rapid pace of technological change and to respond to these changing learning needs which disrupt existing pedagogical practices. In early 2020, education systems across the globe experienced further disruptions, with the sudden arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many systems shifting to online remote teaching and technologies taking a more predominant classroom focus. Literacy now, for children and society, involves a complex intersection of online and offline practices, and a requirement to adapt quickly to fluid and constantly emerging practices and technologies, as well as changing relationships with literacy and texts. Children's digital lives, in many instances, have also been amplified due to various COVID-19 lockdown or restriction measures. Given such sweeping literacy changes, children, and indeed all global citizens, have urgently needed to acquire knowledge and proficiencies to navigate this complex digital world (OECD, 2018; UNESCO, 2013). A general consensus that classrooms need to shift the models upon which they are predominantly structured and respond to current conditions has emerged across the globe. However, educators often continue to rely on 20th century pedagogical models to guide classroom practices for literacy instruction, and they may also be impacted by bureaucratic push-down on narrow conceptions of literacy, based on limited standards driving literacy curricula across nations. Technology provision continues to be an ongoing issue, particularly for students living in the margins. Ultimately, a key question is how best to support children to develop the literacy skills they will need to fully participate in society and the world, in and out of pandemic circumstances. As such, this gap must be addressed within a context where the disruptions of the digital realm will be ongoing and children will need to continue to develop 21 st century skills, including those that invite response to changing literacies and changing global circumstances that will most certainly be present in the future. This Special Issue aims to respond to this need for updating pedagogical frames, by presenting new research, innovative models, and exploring some alternatives for reimagining literacy education. We bring together a collection of articles shared by international scholars in literacy education internationally, including research from

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education

In the digital era, written communication for children and youth is changing. As texts and media ... more In the digital era, written communication for children and youth is changing. As texts and media include complex intersections of print, image, sound, and other modalities, the ways in which writing is conceived is shifting. The evolution and impact of digital technologies follow a long history of invention, innovation, and change in written communication, with critiques of writing and communication technologies present in both historical and contemporary contexts. A new development in contemporary digital culture is the significant and widespread participation of children and youth in digital media and communication due to the ubiquity, affordances, and appeal of mobile digital devices. In the history of writing instruction, pedagogical approaches and perspectives have continued to evolve, with the teaching of writing at times positioned as subordinate to the teaching of reading, a pattern that has repeated into the digital era in which an emphasis on digital writing production and...

…the nuclear family has, since the mid-twentieth century, been constructed as the natural social ... more …the nuclear family has, since the mid-twentieth century, been constructed as the natural social form in western epistemology and has informed much of the theorizing of the family in the West…. It has become a normative narrative against which others, and ourselves, have been measured. (Carrington, 2002, p. 17) My family is different. Not by any stretch of the imagination do we fit into the "normative narrative" Carrington (2002) describes, nor do we fit into the "severely normal" category described by former Alberta premier Ralph Klein, in reference to the typical Alberta family. I adopted my daughters as a single parent, as a third generation Canadian woman of mixed European and British ancestry, living in a Canadian province where relatively few singles adopt, a place that has been publicly known for being less tolerant of difference (Filax, 2002), and where, more recently, Bill 44 has been passed, allowing parents to have their children opt out (and be notified in advance) of any classroom discussions involving religion, sexual orientation, and sexuality, said to be supported by "severely normal Albertans" (see CBC News, 2009). My daughters are Chinese, one from the south of China and one from a northern Chinese province bordering on Tibet. One adoption is likely related to China"s one child policy and the second likely due to lack of cultural acceptance of visible, physical differences-my younger child has a condition sometimes known as ectrodactly, a genetic issue that affects the structure of her hands and feet. While I never intended for us to be the poster family for diversity, it seems that we cover a number of different categories: single parent, adoptive, transracial, limb differences, and working academic parent. We attract attention as a family, something that can still surprise me until I remember that we do not much resemble the typical family who might enter a library or school or grocery store. As a literacy researcher and someone with deep interest in the texts available to children-including picture books, school related texts, and media and electronic texts-my membership in a diverse family structure has caused me to pay more attention to what my children notice in the world around them, and specifically whether they recognize themselves as in any way reflected in the texts they encounter. 1 I have also queried, through a recent research project, the experiences of a group of diverse adoptive families (SSHRC # G124130428 Changing Families, Changing Schools: A Study of International Adoption and Normative Structures in Education). Within a survey undertaken in the initial phase of the study, participants frequently made comments in relation to the sorts of texts or resources that were available (or not) in their children"s schools. While the surveys addressed broader topics of identity, schooling, and

... TernAs ~H ittifryU ncovet .t-_. _ J 1 / • . -t-LINDA LAIDLAW Page 2. ... Page 4. reinventing ... more ... TernAs ~H ittifryU ncovet .t-_. _ J 1 / • . -t-LINDA LAIDLAW Page 2. ... Page 4. reinventing curriculum a complex perspective on literacy and writing Linda Laidlaw University of Alberta LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS Mahwah, New Jersey London Page 5. ...

Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity in Education, 2016

This article presents and describes how we have used notions and structures informed by complexit... more This article presents and describes how we have used notions and structures informed by complexity thinking to shape new descriptions and approaches to understanding "new literacy" practices with young learners. Using data from two studies: a two year project working with kindergarten children using drama and digital tools to develop narrative, and the other an observational study of preschooler's multiliteracy practices occurring in their home settings, we explore how notions from complexity can offer innovative frames for teaching and learning and options for thinking about pedagogy differently. Our classroom and home observations of children's developing digital literacy practices suggest that using complexityinformed approaches to technology can include both theoretical orientation and practical possibilities for organizing classroom learning structures. …on the iWay to permanent connection… We're on, we're all on-it's what life's going to be.

That is NOT my name!" insisted the child, verging on tearful hysterics. "Your name is Tara, isn't... more That is NOT my name!" insisted the child, verging on tearful hysterics. "Your name is Tara, isn't it?" asked the teacher, puzzled. She glanced at the name tag, which read T-a-r-a. "Yes. But that writing doesn't say it," Tara sniffled. "THIS is how it's sposed to be, like my mommy writes it." She pointed to the label on her lunch kit, "See, T-A-R-A! You only did the T right, the other letters are not my name!" The teacher could see now. Tara needed to be an uppercase girl, a TARA, for a little while longer.. . .

The Routledge International Handbook of Learning with Technology in Early Childhood

Language and Literacy

During the COVID-19 pandemic teachers have been expected to learn new digital literacy skills, of... more During the COVID-19 pandemic teachers have been expected to learn new digital literacy skills, often applying them immediately. While professional development structures within school districts and professional associations are organized to offer supports, teachers may be challenged to gain digital skills within existing professional development models. Within our study, teachers explored technologies with the aim of rethinking frames for teaching and learning literacy. Following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic they shared their experiences, insights and challenges. In our article, we address implications for digital literacy teaching and learning and the need for new ways of approaching teacher development.

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood

Contemporary children are growing up in a post-typographic era, where mobile electronic devices a... more Contemporary children are growing up in a post-typographic era, where mobile electronic devices and digital texts are increasingly present. For parents and educators, shifts into new digital practices and new text forms can create a sense of uncertainty. In response to parent and teacher interest, popular media have frequently focused on topics relating to young children and shifting digital practices. This study addresses popular media accounts of children and digital technologies over five years (2013–2018), looking in particular at the emergence of mobile devices and their impact on children’s changing literacy practices. The authors collected popular media articles over this time period and analysed them for the ways in which children and digital technologies were represented and these media called on teachers and parents to respond. The authors provide an overview of their findings and address key themes from the articles, sharing influential examples and addressing the implica...

English Teaching Practice and Critique, Dec 1, 2013

This article explores and interrogates the common practice of asking students to write personal n... more This article explores and interrogates the common practice of asking students to write personal narratives within elementary English Language Arts classrooms, addressing some of the difficulties that may arise when students are required to share personal details. Using interview and focus-group data from a study of internationally adopted children and schooling, and a number of autobiographical experiences, using a complexity thinking frame, we address some of the challenges such assignments can present for students who have diverse cultural, family or life history backgrounds. We examine some teacher biases that can present difficulties within writing assignments and present some new narrative possibilities and literacy practices that can be more inclusive of all students and acknowledge diversity.

Aera 2013 Education and Poverty Theory Research Policy and Praxis Proceedings of the American Educational Research Association 2013 Annual Meeting, 2013