Syracuse-area students recognized at SU for projects to improve literacy through technology

Syracuse-area students recognized at SU for projects to improve literacy through technologyMay 17, 2007Margaret Costello Spillettmcostell@syr.edu

On Friday, May 18, about 250 students from six Syracuse area schools will be honored for their participation in the 4th Annual Center for Digital Literacy E*LIT (Enriching Literacy through Information Technology) competition during an event on the Syracuse University campus. Award-winning children’s book author Myron Uhlberg will deliver the keynote, “Living with Disabilities,” at 10 a.m. in Grant Auditorium. Following Uhlberg’s presentation, student group winners will be recognized at 11:30 a.m.

All student participants have read Uhlberg’s work “Dad, Jackie, and Me” (Peachtree, 2005), in which he discusses growing up in a household with two deaf parents. The competition challenges teams of students, grades K-12, working with their schools’ media specialist, to create an educational project on Uhlberg’s life and works that incorporates technology. That technology can take the form of PowerPoint, video footage, digital camera photos, sound clips, slideshows or a wide range of other information and communication technologies.

Graduate students from SU’s School of Information Studies, School of Education, and Newhouse School; classroom teachers; school and public librarians; and other professionals in related fields served as judges. They ranked the students’ projects on such qualities as originality, depth and breadth of content, and the use and integration of technology.

Winning teams will receive such technology as a digital camera, an iPod or webcams for their home schools, and all teams will receive a set of autographed books for their school libraries.

“What is making this event even more special is the presence of Vladimiro Hart-Zavoli, who works in the IT department of the Syracuse City School District and who is blind,” says Meredith Professor Ruth Small. “Vladimiro visited three of the participating schools (Bellevue, Fraser and Seymour) to share his experiences as a person with disabilities. The children were so touched by his generosity in sharing his story that they invited him to ride the bus with them and attend E*LIT. We will make special recognition of Vladimiro at the event.”

The competition is sponsored by SU’s Center for Digital Literacy, a collaborative research institute involving the School of Information Studies, the School of Education and the Newhouse School.

For more information, contact the event’s organizer, information studies professor Ruth Small, at drruth@syr.edu or (315) 443-4511.