Research horizons: what now, what next? An evening with UBC’s newest University Killam Professors
Professor Bonny Norton’s seminal research on identity, language learning, and social change is internationally renowned. To promote multilingual literacy for children and youth worldwide, she leads the Global Storybooks project, which harnesses the scalability of digital technology to provide free online reading materials in over 50 languages across five continents. Professor Norton is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and was selected BC 2020 Academic of the Year.
More than 750 million youth and adults do not know how to read and write, and 250 million children struggle with basic literacy skills, according to UNESCO figures. In response to this global educational challenge, a UBC team led by Professor Norton leveraged free digital stories from the African Storybook to develop the multilingual Global Storybooks project (globalstorybooks.net). The project hosts sites for over 50 countries worldwide, with stories translated into local languages, in print and audio. Of central research interest is the extent to which Global Storybooks is a decolonial project that promotes literacy, expands identities for students and teachers, and democratizes global flows of information and resources.
Photos from the event:
Dr. Bonny Norton with Asma Afreen (left) and Monica Shank Lauwo (right)
From left to right: Drs. Margaret Early, Jan Hare, Bonny Norton, Maureen Kendrick, Patsy Duff