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Digital literacy is one component of being a digital citizen - a person who is responsible for how they utilize technology to interact with the world around them.

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Digital literacy is one component of being a digital citizen - a person who is responsible for how they utilize technology to interact with the world around them.

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Purposeful Technology-Constructing Meaning in 21st Century Schools

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Digital Literacy is one component of Digital Citizenship.

Literacy skills have always been important. In centuries past, people communicated via letters. These letters soon turned into telegraph messages. From there we advanced to the telephone, internet and then text messaging via a phone. Today's options for communication far outweigh the one or two of generations pasts. "Children learn these skills as part of their lives, like language, which they learn without realizing they are learning it." ( N. Andersen, New Media and New Media Literacy: The Horizon Has Become the Landscape-New Media Are Here,; report produced by Cable in the Classroom, 2002, pp. 30-35) Students today learn in ways that their teachers could not even imagine decades ago when they were in school. Students learn technology just like they do the spoken language, by doing and today it is not uncommon for a 3 year old to have some basic knowledge regarding how to get on to the computer and load a game (hopefully educational). The way students learn and their abilities to showcase their learning has surpassed the years of book reports, posters, and shoe box representations. "We will not be able to achieve a liberating, collective intelligence until we can achieve a collective digital literacy, and we have now, more than ever, perhaps, the opportunity and the technologies to assist us in the human project of shaping, creating, authoring and developing ourselves as the formers of our own culture. To this end, we must create the conditions for people to become wise in their own way." (Poore, M. (2011). Digital Literacy: Human Flourishing and Collective Intelligence in a Knowledge Society. Australian Jouranal of Language and Literacy, 19 (2),20-26.)

Digital literacy is one component of being a digital citizen - a person who is responsible for how they utilize technology to interact with the world around them.

Digital technology allows people to interact and communicate with family and friends on a regular basis due to the "busy constraints" of today's world.

Not only do white-collar jobs require digital literacy in the use of media to present, record and analyze data, but so do blue-collar jobs who are looking for way to increase productivity and analyze market trends, along with increase job safety.

Students now learn in a new way, never seen before!

Students in this modern world need to utilize all of the higher order thinking skills taught to students in previous times. As the illustration at the left illustrates, the one missing component in how teachers view students' learning today is the internet and its' endless possibilities in motivating and intriguing the young mind. Students for centuries have been taught and encouraged to evaluate, apply, analyze and synthesize knowledge. Today's students are able to use the internet to research and find text sources, videos, pod casts and presentations related to anything they would like to learn about. The big catch is, can this "Google, yahoo" part of the brain begin to differentiate what resources they consume online are valid or not. Can this "goggle, yahoo" part of the brain create new meaning from the authentic sources they read? Will this "goggle, yahoo" part of the brain lead to great innovations and discoveries that help humans understand their place in the world and make life easier for all our world's citizens? Technology is a lovely asset to any classroom, but in a global community, will students transfer their learning beyond their community? Educators around the globe will be tuned in to find the answers to these questions in the years ahead.

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Digital Literacy is one component of Digital Citizenship. Literacy skills have always been important. In centuries past, people communicated via letters. These letters soon turned into telegraph messages. From there we advanced to the telephone, internet and then text messaging via a phone. Today's options for communication far outweigh the one or two of generations pasts.

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Literacy is "the ability to read and write," or so I thought. This is a definition that has spanned many generations, and is still being taught in schools to this day. However, the latest technological advancements have brought about a new kind of learning, one that is not dependent on just books and writing. The 21st Century is distinguished for its new innovations and dependency on technology, in all parts of life. Therefore, digital literacy has become an increasingly important skill to possess. According to the American Library Association (2017), "digital literacy is the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills." In this day and age, it is important to understand that technology is everywhere around us. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly necessary, or almost required for people to stay up to date with the technological advancements surrounding them. Whether it is working at a fast food restaurant, a school, a hospital, or even an art studio, it is important for people to be digitally literate.

Important Information about Digital Literacy, 2018

However, digital literacy is just one of the many types of literacy that is being acknowledged today. Literacy is not just the ability to read and write, or even the ability to thrive in today's technological world. To be literate in the 21st century, a person must be willing to constantly learn about and adapt to many different areas of life, subjects, and environments.

If I were to say that understanding and knowing many details about the Japanese anime, Naruto, made someone literate, many people would find me wrong. However, there are many different definitions of what it means to be literate. The Oxford Dictionary (2018) states that literacy is: (1) the ability to read and write, but also (2) competence or knowledge in a specified area. Therefore, someone who is able to "have a complex discussion about characters, levels of play, and chakra within the genre of anime" is literate in this context (Rowsell and Burke, 2009).

The RSA Animate video above opened my eyes. Although a college degree might have been able to guarantee a job twenty years ago, in the 21st century employers require a vast many skills that may not be taught in college classes. For example, someone who receives a degree in Veterinary Medicine may not be able to find a job out of college because they may lack conversational skills or the ability to empathize with customers. A college degree can only get you so far. To be literate in these areas, one must have prior experience. Experience is necessary for people to grow and become literate in a great many areas, making them desirable to employers.

Some employers will also look at prospective employees Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts. These affinity spaces let the employer see what kind of person the applicant is and how they interact socially over an online global platform. Becoming literate in these affinity spaces is important. However, even if someone does not understand how to post and comment in these spaces, they are not illiterate. Through experience with these applications, they will be able to expand their knowledge and skills in this area.

As technological advancements and new forms of literature come to the forefront of everyday life, it is crucial for teachers to include these large influences in their classroom. Technology can be used to encourage teamwork, which the video above states is necessary because "learning is not an independent process" (Burnell, 2012). It is also imperative for teachers to include lessons that are not just reading and writing, but also include technology and other forms of literature. For example, teachers could ask their kids to "make a movie trailer, design a map, write a song, or make a political cartoon" (Curwood, 2013). This allows children who are literate in other areas, such as music or art, to create something that is meaningful to them.

The definition of literacy has truly evolved. It is no longer accurate to say that being able to read and write defines an individual as being literate. Instead, it is more accurate to look at the bigger picture. Competency and experience in different environments will allow people to become considered literate in today's standards. It is important for teachers to educate their students on the new definition of the word literate and "to try new things, and work with students to find where learning is most comfortable for them to succeed" (Lynch, 2018). Literacy is an ever-changing concept which people must dedicate themselves to understanding in order to become literate in the 21st century.

References:

Burnell, B. (2012, November 05). Language & Literacy - Teaching Students in the 21st Century. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTtkAB28lxw

Curwood, J. (2013). The Hunger Games: Literature, Literacy, and Online Affinity Spaces. Language Arts, 90(6).

Digital Literacy. (2017, July 17). Retrieved September 22, 2018, from https://literacy.ala.org/digital-literacy/

Important Information About Digital Literacy [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved September 22, 2018, from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/743797694681004938/

Literacy. (2018). In Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/literacy

Lynch, E. (2018, July 18). Elements of a Literacy-Rich 21st Century Classroom. Retrieved September 22, 2018, from https://www.sadlier.com/school/ela-blog/3-elements-of-a-literacy-rich-classroom-environment

Naruto [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved September 22, 2018, from https://vrv.co/series/GY9PJ5KWR/Naruto

Robinson, K. RSA Animate: Changing Education Paradigms. (2010, October 14). Retrieved September 7, 2018. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

Rowsell, J., & Burke, A. (2009). Reading by design: Two case studies of digital reading practices. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(2), 106-118.

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Literacy is "the ability to read and write," or so I thought. This is a definition that has spanned many generations, and is still being taught in schools to this day. However, the latest technological advancements have brought about a new kind of learning, one that is not dependent on just books and writing.

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"Digital literacy is the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills."

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"Digital literacy is the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills."

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While the word "literacy" alone generally refers to reading and writing skills, when you tack on the word "digital" before it, the term encompasses much, much more.

Sure, reading and writing are still very much at the heart of digital literacy. But given the new and ever-changing ways we use technology to receive and communicate information, digital literacy also encompasses a broader range of skills-everything from reading on a Kindle to gauging the validity of a website or creating and sharing YouTube videos.

The term is so broad that some experts even stay away from it, preferring to speak more specifically about particular skills at the intersection of technology and literacy.

The American Library Association's digital-literacy task force offers this definition: "Digital literacy is the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills."

More simply, Hiller Spires, a professor of literacy and technology at North Carolina State University, views digital literacy as having three buckets: 1) finding and consuming digital content; 2) creating digital content; and 3) communicating or sharing it.

Finding and Consuming

In some formats, "consuming" digital content looks pretty much the same as reading print. Reading a novel on a basic e-reader requires knowing how to turn the device on and flip pages back and forth, but other than that, it isn't so different from reading a book. A PDF of a New York Times article looks a lot like the page of a print newspaper, except that it appears on a screen.

Donald Leu, an education professor at the University of Connecticut and a recognized authority on literacy and technology, describes this sort of digital reading as "offline reading."

"It's not interactive, ... there's one screen, and you just have to read it," he explained. "It's the same as reading a [paper] page."

The added skills needed for this kind of reading take just a few minutes to teach.

In comparison, what Leu calls "online reading," in which a digital text is read through the internet, requires a host of additional skills. For instance, a New York Times piece viewed on the web may contain hyperlinks, videos, audio clips, images, interactive graphics, share buttons, or a comments section-features that force the reader to stop and make decisions rather than simply reading from top to bottom.

"The text is designed so that no two readers experience it in the exact same way," said Troy Hicks, a professor of literacy and technology at Central Michigan University.

The reader determines, among other things, when to click on videos or hyperlinks, how long to stray from the initial text, and whether and how to pass the information along to others.

The process of finding digital content to read also necessitates different skills than finding print texts. In seeking print materials, students might flip through magazines or head to the library and search through stacks of books. They learn to use a table of contents and an index to locate information within a book.

But part of digital literacy is learning to search for content in an online space. Students have to query a search engine using keywords and navigate those results, including assessing the reliability of particular authors and websites.

Creating Content

Digital literacy also refers to content creation. That includes writing in digital formats such as email, blogs, and Tweets, as well as creating other forms of media, such as videos and podcasts.

Renee Hobbs, a professor of communication studies at the University of Rhode Island, talks about digital authorship as "a form of social power." At a weeklong professional-development institute on digital literacy held at URI this past summer, she showed examples of student activists sharing their messages about the Black Lives Matter movement through YouTube videos.

Creating digital content is a "creative and collaborative process that involves experimentation and risk-taking," she said. There's more risk-taking than in print writing because digital writing is so often meant to be shared.

Sharing and Communicating

While traditional writing can be a personal endeavor, digital writing is generally intended to be communicated with others. And digital-writing tools are designed to make that easy to do.

As North Carolina State's Spires and her co-author, Melissa Bartlett, wrote in a 2012 white paper about digital literacy and learning, "Web 2.0 tools are social, participatory, collaborative, easy to use, and are facilitative in creating online communities."

That makes digital writing a potentially powerful lever for social good, allowing students to "actively participate in civic society and contribute to a vibrant, informed, and engaged community," as the ALA notes.

It also makes digital writing a potentially dangerous tool-decisions about when and what to share online can have repercussions for a student's safety, privacy, and reputation.

For that reason, learning about appropriate internet behavior is also a part of digital literacy, many say.

"We need to help kids see they can use digital tools to create things and put things out into the world, but there's responsibility that comes with that," said Lisa Maucione, who attended the URI institute and who is a reading specialist for the Dartmouth public schools in Massachusetts.

Evolving Technology

Because the term "digital literacy" is so wide-ranging, it can cause confusion. What exactly is someone talking about when he or she refers to digital literacy? Is it the consumption, creation, or communication of digital material? Or is that person discussing a particular digital tool? Do technology skills like computer coding fall under the digital-literacy umbrella as well?

Some experts prefer the term "digital literacies," to convey the many facets of what reading and writing in the modern era entails.

"The concept should instead be considered plural-digital literacies-because the term implies multiple opportunities to leverage digital texts, tools, and multimodal representations for design, creation, play, and problem solving," Jill Castek, a research assistant professor with the Literacy, Language, and Technology Research Group at Portland State University, wrote in an email.

Leu of UConn avoids the term altogether.

"Is someone who is 'digitally literate' equally literate when searching for information, when critically evaluating information, when using Snapchat, when using email, when using text messaging, when using Facebook, or when using any one of many different technologies for literacy and learning?" asked Leu in an email. "I think not."

He prefers the term "new literacies," which he said better conveys how rapidly technology is changing. Other experts have used terms like "literacy and technology," "multiliteracies," and "21st century literacies."

But for now, digital literacy seems to be the prevailing term among educators. "I understand this is the term that is popular today," Leu said, "just as I understand a newer term will appear in the future that will replace it."

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While the word "literacy" alone generally refers to reading and writing skills, when you tack on the word "digital" before it, the term encompasses much, much more. Sure, reading and writing are still very much at the heart of digital literacy.