The International Literacy Association’s (ILA)
Board of Directors and executive leadership
are working diligently together to improve our
communication with you about all that we do
as an organization and to support you in your
everyday work to advance literacy worldwide.
In today’s age, that means harnessing the
power of digital technologies. Just as we
set the standard for how literacy is defined,
taught, and evaluated, we also strive to set
the standard for how association leadership
should communicate with each other and with
members.
It’s a constantly evolving process, but here are
four ways ILA is using digital tools to enhance our
communication and efficiency:
Using Technology to
Enhance Our Community
ILA UPDATE
2. Virtual meetings
During the last year, we held two of our Board
meetings as well as several committee and task
force meetings virtually. Using virtual meetings
does not hinder communication and it allows
the Board to reallocate the cost savings from
travel expenses to other projects that benefit
members. Virtual meetings also allow us to
assemble more frequently between quarterly
Board meetings for important conversations and
decision making.
We know that you are also using virtual meetings
more often in the work that you do. Through virtual
meetings, our work is more fluid, rather than waiting
for face-to-face Board, task force, or committee
meetings to conduct critical work.
3. Literacy Daily
Hopefully you’re already visiting our blog, Literacy
Daily, which is updated five days a week with posts
that support teachers, coaches, principals, and
district and state/country leaders. There are several
categories on the blog, including one about digital
literacies. In fact, I recently learned about apps that
connect literacy and special education thanks to a
blog written by Kristine E. Pytash, Richard E. Ferdig,
Enrico Gandolfi, and Rachel Mathews.
Along with its daily updates, new sections have
been added and new regular columnists have come
on board, which leads to the most important point:
The blog offers everyone an opportunity to join
the conversation on literacy rather than being just a
consumer.
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November/December 2016 | LITERACY TODAY
1. An improved website
Our website, literacyworldwide.org, underwent a complete redesign and reorganization last year when
we introduced you to the new name and look of our organization. We hope you visit often, because it is
updated regularly.
In the last few months alone, updates have included a new, user-friendly marketplace, where you can
view and edit your membership information and access all of your ILA resources from Literacy Today to
journals; a new ILA Updates section on the homepage, where you can find important bulletin-style briefs
about executive announcements; and new resources such as our International Literacy Day Activity Kit
(literacyworldwide.org/ild) and our ESSA Advocacy Toolkit (literacyworldwide.org/essa).
When approaching the redesign, we took into account your feedback, which consistently told us
that locating resources was difficult. Improving the organization of the site became a priority of the
first revamp last year.