Cultivating Literacies among the Youth

Although in the Western world illiteracy hasn’t been a major problem for a long time, there are still concerns related to the literacy skills of today’s youth, especially boys. Mobile technology can potentially contribute to the literacies of young people. We examine the current position and potential of mobile technology in the literacies of a challenging group of youth: junior ice hockey players, who due to the lack of free time, do not read almost at all. The study invites this group to ideate future learning environments as regards their literacy practices. The study reports on their usage practices and design ideas as regards mobile technology and reading. The study shows that new literacies were thoroughly embedded in the everyday life of these youth. They also identified opportunities for using mobile technology for fostering their literacy practices. Implications for the design of future learning environments for the youth are discussed