Digital literacy and measuring teaching effectivness.

As our culture navigates the changing world of information technology, we also seem to be navigating a shift away from traditional print material. Most parents would hope that their children learn to focus and read printed material for learning and enjoyment, but we may be forced to become facilitators in a new age of electronic reading. We can choose to make those changes, embracing what will surly become the norm for our children, where we work to prepare students to learn effectually in this manner, or we can fight what looks to be a losing battle.
To use the net to learn to read might be something that is inevitable. However, there are ways in which a parent and a teacher might bring print material and the net together. Printed books with companion websites can help to create incentives for students to read. In my house, and with my seven year old, I give my children the ability to earn minutes on the net. One minute of screen time is earned through working for one minute in several traditional ways of learning. They can read, write a book, or play the violin in order to earn a their screen time. Often times the screen time on the computer is just regular home work assignments coming from school anyway (they will figure this out soon, I’m sure).
I think that the use of a test to determine the ability of a student to read effectually on the web might be useful. Today, many of us are overwhelmed with the amount of email and information we must take in. Many of us tend to skim things to the point of not achieving a thorough understanding of the material. Maybe a net literacy component to reading is something that can be useful as we move forward.