The BC Ministry of Education under Digital Literacy Standards define:
Digital Literacy is “the interest, attitude and ability of individuals to appropriately use digital technology and communication tools to access, manage, integrate, analyze and evaluate information, construct new knowledge, create and communicate with others in order to participate effectively in society”.
Even UNESCO stresses the importance placed on educators within the process of digital literacy,
In order to develop adequate 21st century skills among students, educators should be authentic ICT users and integrate digital literacy with other core competences in their professional and private lives. Young teachers born in the digital age may be good models of diverse, enjoyable, and empowering ICT use, but are not necessarily literate in the educational utilisation of ICTs. Teachers’ digital literacy must involve knowledge and skills about educational policy and ethical use of ICTs, and they must keep abreast of innovation in digital pedagogy. Teachers’ digital literacy must incorporate the ability to use ICTs effectively in teaching, learning, professional development, and school organisation – different sets of skills are required in each of those areas.
These quotes work as an initial starting point to define digital literacy, but the complexity of this subject requires us to go further and consider practice. Everybody needs to develop different skill sets to move forward with Information Literacy but the framework needs to be more than a list of PLO’s. When I read the BCTLA’s Points of Inquiry, A framework for Information Literacy and the 21st Cenrtury Learner I became excited. Here was a document that provided a framework that resonnated with my connected self and aligned itself with Will Richardson’s work. The points of inquiry explains,
| There are six phases in this model: students, when engaged in inquiry learning, will be expected to con-nect, wonder, investigate, construct, express and re-flect. Embedded in this model are many positive as-pects understood to be part of the inquiry process. |
In the past three days I have never spent this amount of time so intensely in front of a computer screen and been exposed to so many new ways of sharing information with colleagues through blogs, forums, twitter and pearltrees etc. At times it has felt overwhelming as well as exhilarating, but I feel that it will take more time than the three weeks of this course to process what modalities will be most productive and inform my practice in my life. I do believe that the way forward for educators is collaboration and the exchange of knowledge and ideas.
I always find it interesting that the technology may be provided, as behind as it may be, but yet there is little to nothing provided in terms of Pro-D. How much technology goes unused because the teacher is not comfortable with it and so it sits?
I love the way you articulate your learning from this week. It definitely illustrates there are districts with different ICT policies as well as differerent levels of economic wealth. This weighs on how much and how well (support etc.) we are able to use technology in school.
Doni
Thanks so much for sharing Dextrocardia Situs Inversus. Your discussion about having to work with outdated computers made my complaints about slow wifi into perspective. It is really difficult when you do not even have the baseline technology to do teach students to use ICT. It sounds like you have a lot of heart though. Do not give up!!!
It is almost as if we need to articulate digital literacy in terms of our capacities to perceive what we are capable of accomplishing with the ICT resources we have, it is also the capability to articulate and lobby for ICT resources that are needed and necessary. I have been thinking about the historical structure of power in the education system, biased toward gendered characteristics. The majority of teachers have been women, and the majority of administrators and policy-makers have been men. These positions have become engendered, in that the characteristics of the teacher have been to follow policy dictates, nurture, persevere, and make the most of limited resources. The characteristics of the administrator have been to lead, impose policy, and inspire teachers to make the most of limited resources. Perhaps part of the biggest change in education in the knowledge-era is re-defining the characteristics of teachers – to lead, to nurture, and to argue for sound ICT policy.
I really enjoyed your talk yesterday. Your honesty was greatly appreciated. Two points really resonated with me. The first was how overwhelmed you felt by the amount of things we have signed up for and the amount of time you have spent in front of the computer this week. I feel exactly the same way. It is a huge adjustment and I am unsure how many of these apps and resources will become part of my regular practice. The second point that really stood out to me was your districts need to upgrade their operating systems but being prevented by out-of-date hardware. I believe that it is essentially impossible to really keep up with the digital world of students, as Richardson suggests, when we do not have the basic technological pieces. I really enjoyed your presentation and think you had a busy and productive first week!