The rapid infusion of the Internet into the classroom calls for a fundamental change in our focus. If we are fortunate enough to teach children, we need to include the Internet in our teaching. If we are fortunate enough to prepare teachers for literacy instruction, we need to include the Internet in their preparation. If we are fortunate enough to engage in literacy scholarship, we need to include the Internet in the questions we study. If we are fortunate enough to produce materials for literacy instruction, we need to consider how best to support children and teachers with these new technologies.

Each of us in the literacy community must begin now to integrate the Internet with our work to support children.We should not leave this task to others who specialize in technology; to do so would marginalize the important insights about literacy instruction each of us possesses. If you are a classroom teacher, you can not afford to leave it to the “computer teacher” during time in the computer lab. If you are a teacher educator, you can not afford to leave it to the professor who teaches a class on technology. If you are a literacy scholar, you can not afford to leave it to those who study literacy and technology. If you are an editor for school materials, you can not afford to leave it to your technology department. The technologies of literacy involve each of us; we must change our focus as rapidly as the technologies of literacy themselves change. Anything less will shortchange our children, denying them important opportunities during their journeys through life. Change happens in the technologies of literacy; change must also happen throughout the literacy education community.

Consider this situation: The rate at which the Internet is appearing in school classrooms in many countries far exceeds the rate at which any other technology of literacy has ever appeared in our history. The Internet is entering classrooms at a faster rate than books, newspapers, magazines, movies, overhead projectors, televisions, or even telephones.

Consider this prediction: In 2 years, far more U.S. classrooms will have Internet computers than will have telephones, television sets, encyclopedias, or comprehensive classroom libraries. Moreover, the Internet provides access to far greater information than any of these resources.

Most of us have not yet begun the fundamental shift in focus necessary to ensure our children's success in a world where more reading will take place within networked ICT than within the pages of a book. These changes require all of us to immediately expand our focus beyond the book in classrooms, in publishing houses, and in centers for teacher education and research as we begin to think about literacy in new and very different ways. All of us must begin to expand our focus to include much more than traditional book literacies. It is not that the new literacies of the Internet replace traditional book literacies; instead, they build upon them (Leu, in press-b). Nevertheless, the Internet demands new ways of thinking about literacy and insights that only the literacy community can bring to school classrooms.

It is not just our classrooms that are changing. The world of work for which we prepare our children is also undergoing a fundamental transformation (Bruce, 1997; Drucker, 1994; Gilster, 1997; Mikulecky & Kirkley, 1998). Indeed, it is this change that requires us to make the effective use of networked ICT a central component of the literacy curriculum.

We live in a world increasingly defined by intense global economic competition with economies based on the effective use of information and communication (Reich, 1992; Rifkin, 1995). Previously, a company competed with only one or two other companies producing the same goods or services within national boundaries. In a global economy, companies must compete with tens or hundreds of other companies around the world. The intense competition characteristic of a global economy requires organizations to abandon traditional “command and control” structures and tight hierarchical organization in order to operate more effectively. Instead of decisions always emanating from the top of an organization, teams within lower levels of organizations are increasingly encouraged to identify and solve important problems that lead to better ways of producing goods or providing services. Members of these teams must quickly identify important problems, gather useful information related to them, use this information to solve the problems, and then communicate the solutions to others. In a globally competitive information economy, everyone must be prepared to effectively use new information resources to solve important problems.

The Internet has become central to this process because it provides rapid access to enormous information resources and allows individuals to quickly communicate their solutions to a large audience. In a global economy based increasingly on information and communication, our children's future depends on their ability to effectively use the new literacies of networked ICT such as the Internet (Leu, in press-a).

It is important to understand that global economic competition in an age of information is driving the infusion of networked ICT into the classroom, not an extensive research base demonstrating the efficacy of these technologies for teaching and learning. Only limited instructional research exists to evaluate the effects of the Internet on teaching and learning (Follansbee, Hughes, Pisha, & Stahl, 1997; The State Division of Vocational Education State Department of Education, 1999). These results are generally positive, but the limited number of studies and the methodological difficulties resulting from instructional research cause some to question our headlong and expensive rush to infuse these technologies into the classroom (Oppenheimer, 1997; Rochlin, 1997; Roszak, 1994; Rukeyser, 1998; Stoll, 1995).

Why this infusion of technology without adequate research to justify the enormous expense? Elsewhere, I have argued that this is a moot issue (Leu, in press-a; Leu & Kinzer, in press). The decision to use networked ICT such as the Internet has already been made by the economic realities in which we find ourselves. If it is already clear that the workplace and higher education have become dependent upon such technologies, why do we require efficacy studies in school classrooms? Research time might be better spent on exploring issues of how to support teachers' efforts to unlock the potentials of new technologies, and not on demonstrating the learning gains from technologies we already know will be important to our children's success. Moreover, even if we were to develop this research base over a period of years, the technologies of the Internet would have changed, making whatever results were obtained with older technologies relatively meaningless.

Today, the powerful changes taking place due to global economic competition in an age of information are driving the convergence of literacy instruction and the use of networked ICT, not studies of their efficacy. We see this in the public policy decisions governments are making around the world.

Governments around the world are devoting new attention to their educational systems in response to global economic competition in an age of information. They seek to ensure their children are adequately prepared for their futures. A review of these efforts (Leu & Kinzer, in press) shows three common patterns:

• nations are implementing rigorous systems of national or state assessment as they raise standards, or benchmarks, for reading and writing;
• nations are integrating information technologies (IT) or ICT into the curriculum, often for the first time as a central curriculum strand; and
• nations are developing extensive Internet resources for their children and teachers.

We see such patterns in Australia where the federal government has circulated a document outlining a strategic framework for an information economy, “A Strategic Framework for the Information Economy: Identifying Priorities for Action.” The second of 10 action priorities in this document is “Deliver the education and skills Australians need to participate in the information economy” (Ministry for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, 1998).

In a related decision, a combined group of commonwealth, state, and territory education ministers agreed to a common set of literacy benchmarks (Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs, 1998) initiating a national plan with annual assessments and support from commonwealth, state, and territory governments. In addition, they developed the “Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century.” This document identifies technology use as one of the eight curriculum areas for the nation's schools (Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs: School Division, 1999). Finally, the Australian government has developed a central Internet resource for educators at all levels in Australia in order to support efforts to prepare students for a global economy in an information age; EdNA is available at http://www.edna.edu.au/EdNA.

We see similar developments in the U.K. where the Labour government made education its top priority, and its first “white paper,” Excellence in Schools, outlined how higher standards in literacy were to be achieved (Secretary of State for Education and Employment, 1997). These standards have been developed and are now available at The Standards Site, http://www.standards.dfee.gov.uk/ . The U.K. has also developed several other policy initiatives in an attempt to raise literacy levels: a National Literacy Strategy, available at http://www.standards.dfee.gov.uk/literacy; the Literacy Hour, available at http://www.standards.dfee.gov.uk/literacy/literacyhour/abouttheliteracyhour; and a National Year of Reading, available at http://www.yearofreading.org.uk [moved to the site of the National Literacy Trust as of March 2000]. Information technologies are beginning to be integrated with the curriculum through Schemes of Work, available at http://www.standards.dfee.gov.uk/schemes/it. The government has also set the goal of Internet access in all schools by the year 2002. As with other countries, the U.K. has developed a central Internet resource for educators, the National Grid for Learning, available at http://www.ngfl.gov.uk/ngfl/index.html.

Ireland also follows a common pattern. It established a National Reading Initiative to raise literacy standards at the same time it began a Schools IT 2000 initiative to infuse information technologies into the schools. Both are driven by a concern to prepare Ireland's children for a global information society. Ireland has also developed a central Internet site with resources for teachers, ScoilNet, which is available at http://www.scoilnet.ie/.

Similar policy initiatives are taking place in many other countries. Finland was one of the first countries to begin planning in this area. In 1995, a panel of experts, appointed by the government, presented its report Education, Training, and Research in the Information Society: A National Strategy (Ministry of Education, 1995). This document has shaped many of Finland's recent initiatives: providing computers to schools, connecting all schools to the Internet by 2000, and giving teachers 5 weeks of training in the effective use of IT and ICT (Ministry of Education, Finland, 1997).

In New Zealand, the government has appointed a National Literacy Task force to develop policy initiatives designed to raise literacy achievement levels. It is also beginning to implement a national strategy for infusing technology across the curriculum: “Interactive Education: An Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Strategy for Schools” (Ministry of Education, 1998). New Zealand's new central site for educators and children is Te Kete Ipurangi -- the Online Learning Centre, which is available at http://www.tki.org.nz/.

In the U.S., a national curriculum is less likely due to a long history of local school control and the partisan political nature of this question. Nevertheless, we see policy initiatives similar to those taking place in other countries. The most visible are the many new standards and assessment programs being developed by states to raise achievement levels in literacy and other areas. Less visible, perhaps, at the national level is The Reading Excellence Act (cf. Goodman, 1998), the appointment of a National Reading Panel (Shanahan, 1999), and the development of Standards for the English Language Arts (International Reading Association & National Council of the Teachers of English, 1996).

In addition, the federal government has made available an annual subsidy of up to US$2.25 billion to schools and libraries for telecommunications services, Internet access, and internal connections. This is being provided by the Federal Communications Commission through a program known colloquially as the “E-rate Program.” On the basis of financial need, the money is distributed by the Schools and Library Division of the Universal Service Administrative Company; see http://www.sl.universalservice.org.

Developments such as these are taking place in nations around the world as countries work to prepare children for their futures. It is increasingly clear that the use of the Internet is becoming important as we shift from a focus on book technologies to a far broader vision of literacy. The literacy community has an important role to play in this transition.

Simply having Internet technologies in our classrooms will not prepare children adequately for the new literacies they require. While the technology itself is rapidly appearing in school classrooms, leadership in preparing teachers to use these technologies for instruction is often lacking in nations around the world. The case of the U.S. is not unusual.

A recent survey found that more than 80% of K-12 teachers in the U.S. did not feel well prepared to use technology in their classrooms (U.S. Department of Education, 1999). Undoubtedly, this is due to insufficient staff development since school districts in the U.S. spend, on average, only 20% of the recommended amount of their technology budget on staff development (CEO Forum, 1999; U.S. Department of Education, 1996). This situation is also due to the failure of teacher education programs to adequately prepare new teachers in the use of the Internet. Only half of the states require computer education for licensure (CEO Forum, 1999). In addition, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, the major accreditation body, has noted the failure of teacher education faculty to more rapidly integrate these technologies with teacher education programs, “Not using technology much in their own research and teaching, teacher education faculty have insufficient understanding of the demands on classroom teachers to incorporate technology into their teaching” (National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, 1997).

Where are we to find the leadership to expand our focus? It must come from each of us. In an earlier column (Leu, 1997), I suggested that no one person can know everything there is to know about these new technologies for literacy instruction. They simply change too quickly for any one person to keep up. Each of us, however, has information that is useful to others. I may know something about Internet Workshop, but you may know a great location for conducting literature discussion groups between classrooms around the world.

The connectivity that characterizes literacy on the Internet permits all of us to learn from one another in ways never before possible. As a result, the more members of the literacy community that enter these worlds, the more insights we can bring to central issues of instructional practice. Even if you are just getting started, you have important information to share with others -- questions that get everyone thinking critically about how to best use the new technologies of literacy. In a connected world, good questions are often the most useful information because they prompt thoughtful answers from which others may also benefit.

While each of us needs to assume leadership in the new literacies, teachers who are experienced at using the Internet in their classrooms are likely to provide us with important direction. These teachers have already experienced the challenges others will soon encounter. Most important, they have developed highly effective instructional strategies and resources, tested in the classroom, to solve these challenges (Karchmer, 1999).

There are many teachers who can teach us important lessons and provide useful Internet resources as we work to support children on their literacy journeys (Leu, Karchmer, & Leu, 1999). Those of us on the RTEACHER mailing list at www.reading.org/publications/rt/ recognize their work by awarding teachers who develop exceptional resources the "Miss Rumphius Award" (available at http://www.reading.org/awards/rumphius.html) for their contributions to our own work in classrooms. You may wish to visit some of their locations to gather ideas about how best to integrate the Internet into classroom literacy lessons. Teachers like these are providing important leadership to all of us as we begin to broaden our focus on the technologies of literacy:

• Hazel's Homepage
  Hazel Jobe, a former Title I teacher and currently the vice principal at Marshall Elementary School in Lewisberg, Tennessee, USA, has developed this amazingly comprehensive resource. It contains assistance for getting started on the Internet as well as a host of curriculum material. There are so many resources at this location and so many wonderful ideas about integrating the Internet into your classroom, you simply must pay a visit.
  
  
• Loogootee Elementary West was created by Tammy Payton, a first-grade teacher and Web editor at Loogootee Elementary West in Loogootee, Indiana, USA. This award-winning site is a wonderful model for all elementary schools. It consists of a variety of resources such as educational links, instructions for creating a Web page, lesson plans, Internet projects, student work, and tips on how to evaluate other Web sites and chat rooms. The site also includes several PowerPoint slide shows, which offer step-by-step instructions on how to integrate technology in the elementary classroom. This is the perfect resource for new Internet users!
  
  
• Gander Academy's Theme-Related Resources on the WWW
  Jim Cornish, a Grade 5 teacher in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada, has developed this site for his school containing links to all of the Internet sites they use at Gander Academy. This cuts down on random surfing and supports the school's child-safety policies. It's a wonderful model for other schools and a great resource for everyone.
  
  
• Cinco de Mayo
  Cheryl Cox has developed this exciting example of how the Internet may be used to develop broader cultural understandings. This site helps children explore Hispanic culture through children's literature, important historical events, music, cultural traditions, and even a cooking adventure and fiesta at the end of the unit. It also provides an evaluation rubric for children. Set a bookmark!
  
  
• Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad
  Patty Taverna (a second-grade teacher) and Terry Hongell (a computer teacher) at Pocantico Hills School in Sleepy Hollow, New York, USA, have developed a remarkable location for the study of this important American. Links to many important resources as well as many exciting activities await you and your students at this location.

Teachers like the ones I have pointed out are showing all of us that the literacy community must change its focus to include far more than book technologies if we hope to prepare children for the futures they deserve. Each and every one of us must begin our journeys with these new technologies of literacy today. We simply do not have any time to waste.

Alvermann, D., Moon, J.S., & Hagood, M.C. (1999). Popular culture in the classroom. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
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Bruce, B.C. (1997). Current issues and future directions. In J. Flood, S.B. Heath, & D. Lapp (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching literacy through the communicative and visual arts (pp. 875-884). New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan.
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CEO Forum. (1999, March 1). Professional development: A link to better learning. Available: http://www.ceoforum.org/reports.cfm?RID=2

Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs: School Division. (1999). Adelaide declaration on national goals for schooling in the twenty-first century. Retrieved on August 15, 1999, from the World Wide Web: http://www.detya.gov.au/schools/adelaide/text.htm

Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs. (1998). National literacy and numeracy benchmarks. Retrieved on January 1, 1999, from the World Wide Web: http://www.detya.gov.au/schools/Literacy/Literacy&Numeracy/Benchmarks.htm

Drucker, P.F. (1994, November). The age of social transformation. Atlantic Monthly, pp. 53-80.
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Follansbee, S., Hughes, B., Pisha, B., & Stahl, S. (1997). Can online communications improve student performance? Results of a controlled study. Journal of School Research and Information, 15, 15-26.
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Gilster, P. (1997). Digital literacy. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
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Goodman, K. (1998, December). Comments on the Reading Excellence Act (U.S.). Reading Online. Available: http://www.readingonline.org/critical/ACT.html

International Reading Association & National Council of Teachers of English. (1996). Standards for the English language arts. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
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Karchmer, R. (1999). Teachers on a journey: Examining the changes K-12 educators report as they use the Internet to support teaching and literacy learning. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York.
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Leu, D.J., Jr. (in press-a). Literacy and technology: Deictic consequences for literacy education in an information age. In M.L. Kamil, P.B. Mosenthal, P.D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. 3). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
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Leu, D.J., Jr. (in press-b). The new literacies: Research on reading instruction with the Internet and other digital technologies. In S.J. Samuels & A.E. Farstrup (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction (3rd ed.). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
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Leu, D.J., Jr. (1997). Caity's question: Literacy as deixis on the Internet. The Reading Teacher, 51, 62-67. [Reprinted in Reading Online]. Available: http://www.readingonline.org/electronic/RT/caity.html

Leu, D.J., Karchmer, R., & Leu, D.D. (1999). The Miss Rumphius Effect: Envisionments for literacy and learning that transform the Internet. The Reading Teacher, 52, 636-642. [Reprinted in Reading Online]. Available: http://www.readingonline.org/electronic/RT/rumphius.html

Leu, D.J., Jr., & Kinzer, C.K. (2000). The convergence of literacy instruction with networked technologies for information and communication. Reading Research Quarterly, 35, 108-127. Available: www.catchword.com/ira/00340553/v35n1/contp1-1.htm
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Mikulecky, L., & Kirkley, J.R. (1998). Changing workplaces, changing classes: The new role of technology in workplace literacy. In D. Reinking, M. McKenna, L.D. Labbo, & R. Kieffer (Eds.), Handbook of literacy and technology: Transformations in a post-typographic world (pp. 303-320). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
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Ministry for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. (1998, December). A strategic framework for the information economy: Identifying priorities for action. Canberra, Australia. Retrieved on August 1, 1999 from the World Wide Web: http://www.noie.gov.au/docs/Strategy/strategicframework.html

Ministry of Education. (1998). Interactive education: An information and communication technologies (ICT) strategy for schools. Wellington, New Zealand. Retrieved on January 1, 1999 from the World Wide Web: http://www.tki.org.nz/ict/strategy/index.php3

Ministry of Education (1995). Education, training, and research in the information society: A national strategy. Helsinki, Finland. Retrieved on January 1, 1999 from the World Wide Web: http://www.minedu.fi/infostrategy.html

Ministry of Education, Finland. (1997). The Ministry of Education's information strategies: An interim report. Helsinki, Finland. Available: http://www.minedu.fi/eopm/strategi/alku.html

National Center for Education Statistics. (1999, August 1). Internet access in public schools and classrooms: 1994-98. Available: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs99/1999017.html

National Center for Education Statistics. (2000, February 15). Internet access in U.S. public schools and classrooms: 1994-1999. Available: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2000086

National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). (1997). Technology and the new professional teacher: Preparing for the 21st century classroom. Available: http://www.ncate.org/projects/tech/TECH.HTM

Oppenheimer, T. (1997, July). The computer delusion. The Atlantic Monthly, 280. Retrieved on January 1, 1998, from the World Wide Web: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97jul/computer.htm

Reich, R. (1992). The work of nations. New York: Vintage Books.
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Rifkin, J. (1995). The end of work: The decline of the global labor force and the dawn of the post-market era. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.
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Rochlin, G.I. (1997). Trapped in the net: The unanticipated consequences of computerization. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
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Roszak, T. (1994). The cult of information: A neo-Luddite treatise on high tech, artificial intelligence, and the true art of thinking. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
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Rukeyser, W.L. (1998). Broken promises: Decisions about computer based instruction must be based on data and analysis, not faith, fear and hype. Thrust for Educational Leadership, 27, 23-45.
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Secretary of State for Education and Employ ment. (1997). Excellence in schools. London: H.M. Stationery Office. Retrieved on August 15, 1999, from the World Wide Web: http://www.dfee.gov.uk/wpaper/nindex.htm

Shanahan, T. (1999, August). The national reading panel: Using research to create more literate students. Reading Online. Available: http://www.readingonline.org/critical/shanahan/panel.html

Stoll, C. (1995). Silicon snake oil: Second thoughts on the information highway. New York: Doubleday.
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The State Division of Vocational Education State Department of Education, Bureau of Technology Services. (1999, August 1). The Idaho technology initiative: An accountability report to the Idaho legislature on the effects of monies spent through the Idaho Council for Technology in Learning. Available (PDF file): http://www.sde.state.id.us/vte/services/wktrn/wkpdf/acntrpt.pdf
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U.S. Department of Education. (1996). Getting America's students ready for the 21st century: Meeting the technology literacy challenge. Available: http://www.ed.gov/Technology/Plan/NatTechPlan [1999, January 30]

U.S. Department of Education. (1999). Teacher quality: A report on the preparation and qualifications of public school teachers. (USDE Publication No. NCES 1999-080). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved on August 15, 1999, from the World Wide Web: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs99/1999080.htm

Donald Leu can be reached by e-mail at djleu@syr.edu or by mail at Syracuse University, 203 Huntington Hall, NY 13244, USA. He welcomes reader comments on this column.

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