Proposed!

Last Sunday, I submitted the chapter proposal entitled: Multiliteracy and Technology: A Mandate for K-12 Education to Dr. Stephen D'Agustino at Fordham University in New York. I don't entertain high hopes that it will be accepted, particularly since I am quite the "emerging" scholar and haven't had a chance to really develop a track record of publications. My professor's name will, of course, be on the manuscript, to lend more credibility to the offering. I also think that the proposal has merit, and it would be a very interesting read, particularly for those involved with school reform and looking to technology in ways that will increase student engagement and boost literacy scores. Will it contribute to this goal? Well, I cannot claim that reading my chapter will do anything to help teachers raise their student's reading and writing scores on standardized tests. I'm really only hoping that it will but plant a seed of thought, which given time to germinate could nurture a new model of literacy instruction in a handful of schools. I might even volunteer to write an editorial in eSchoolNews on this topic, and publish the model there. But, at the very least, it does satisfy a course requirement and having this off my desk allows me to focus a bit more intensely on the other things needed to be completed, like this blog. Next week, I am off to San Diego to AERA, and hopefully will have a chance to meet some of the folks whose research and theories I have been reading for the past several years, particularly some of the more prominent names in academia. It is an exciting time, I think, to be an educational technology scholar in the U.S. I am optimistic for the future, book chapter or not. And it certainly won't be the last book chapter I will write - perhaps even next time I will be invited to the melange.