What is digital literacy?

[Terry Freedman]

Here are my views about digital literacy. Challenge me.

Digital literacy should be one of the key parts of any curriculum.

What is digital literacy? Let's express this in behavioural terms.

I believe that it should not be possible for young people to leave school without being knowledgeable enough to be safe online (not just from sexual predators but from financial, racist, and other types of predator too).

It should not be possible for anyone to leave school and then leave laptops in the back of cars, usb sticks containing sensitive data in pub car parks, or sell hard disks containing data on eBay. All of these kinds of actions are undertaken by digitally illiterate people in my opinion.

Digital literacy should not be seen only in defensive terms:

A digitally-literate person will be able to express herself by creating a presentation, a podcast or a video. She will be able to validate data before putting it into a model, and then verify the results of the modelling process in terms of the accuracy and plausibility of the data.

A digitally-literate person will be able to use software applications in elegant and efficient ways, and even perhaps in ways that could not have been foreseen by the program's creators.

There are, or should be, lots of opportunities for pupils to apply and practise their digital literacy skills, right across the curriculum. However, in order to do so, they need a deep, not a superficial, understanding of the processes involved. These are not trivial. Take, for example, the concept of data validation. It's quite sophisticated, and quite necessary. It's summed up in the adage, "garbage in, garbage out", meaning that if you put rotten data into a computer you'll get rotten results. Someone has to be able to ensure that the data going into the computer is not full of errors, or of the wrong type.

It's been found recently , by the government inspection body in England, that teachers tend to teach technology up to the limit of their own knowledge, and that this effectively holds children back. In my experience, where technology is taught by non-specialists, this kind of "dumbing down" goes on as a matter of course. It's not deliberate: teachers don't know what they don't know. It's therefore not a criticism as such. If I taught English, it would almost certainly be superficial, because I'm not an English specialist, even though I've been speaking the language for over half a century. Why should we assume that if we send someone on an interactive whiteboard training course and give them a laptop for producing their worksheets, and they book their vacations online, that they're qualified to teach technology?

In fact, if we are really serious about embedding technology in the curriculum, the answer is not to get rid of it as a subject and farm it out across the curriculum, but to do the precise opposite and increase the amount of time spent teaching it. That would give pupils a much firmer skills base to employ in other subjects. It would also give non-tech teachers more confidence in using technology in their classrooms because of the knowledge that the youngsters pretty much know what they are doing.

Thoughts? Comments? Let me know!

[Uzair 9D]

Digital literacy is the idea of everyone being smart when using technology. Being digitally literate means that you are able to be safe on the internet. It also means that you can be very intelligent while using technology. A literate person will know how to express their feeling while using technology in an efficient way. Being digitally literate is very important.

[Terry Freedman]

Uzair, I like your idea about being smart when using technology. A lot of people aren't. It's almost as if they become lazy because they think the technology is doing the thinking for them!

[Mohammed]

I Think the digital literacy is..The ability to use technological equipment efficiently and without fault. Of course nobody is perfect so the can never be complete digital literacy. That is what i think.

[Terry Freedman]

Mohammed, I suppose in a sense that is the same for 'ordinary' literacy: I mean, presumably nobody can learn all the words in the English language. What is important, though, maybe, is achieving a level of literacy which makes you able to take part in an activity in a reasonably safe way, and in a way that helps you get the maximum value from it.

[Bryan 9D]

Digital literacy is to teach and assess basic computer concepts and skills so that people can use computer technology in everyday life to develop new social and economic opportunities for themselves, their families, and their communities. it affects these people in the families and communities by benefiting them with the knowledge of social trends, keep up with friends, and even sell their wares. It is also useful in the workforce, those who are literate are more secure in the economy many jobs require a working knowledge of computers and the Internet to perform basic functions. According to HotChalk, an Online resource for educators: "Nations with centralized education systems, such as China, are leading the charge and implementing digital literacy training programs faster than anyone else. For those countries, the news is good." That is how it is useful in a country.

[Terry Freedman]

Bryan, I really like "so that people can use computer technology in everyday life to develop new social and economic opportunities for themselves". I can't recall the exact statistic, but in the UK something like 80% of jobs aren't advertised. I'm sure it must be similar in the USA and elsewhere. In the 'new economy', people get jobs either through their networks, or by creating their own opportunities (or both). I'm impressed that you have picked this up.

[Aya El Zoheery]

In my opinion digital literacy is the ability of being able to express and present any form of information or any project that is possible to be presented in any other way to be presented through something digital related, such as videos, powerpoint, awareness. this should be done efficiently and successfully as-long as the person doing it is digitally-literate.
I do believe digital literacy is important it should be taught more efficiently however, i don't think it is the most important form of presentation.

[Terry Freedman]

Hi, Aya, that's a great reply, but I wish you had gone further. You say that digital literacy covers any form of presentation, but bthen end up saying that it's not the most important form of presentation. What else is there? Do you mean that it's not just digital literacy, but other forms of 'literacy' too? I don't wish to put words in your mouth, but I think 'social literacy' ie being able to converse with people is important too!

[Dareen Iskandar]

i liked your part on Digital Literacy. I think everything you said and wrote down is actually true. Students that are Digitally literate are able and capable of making videos, power points and movies by using the computer. embedding technology in the curriculum might actually be just a good idea.There are lots of opportunities for pupils to apply and practise their digital literacy skills, right across the curriculum as you said. Some students are even smarter than any of us really think they are. And in order for them to do so they do indeed need a magnificent and deep understanding of the process that is involved.

[Terry Freedman]

Hi, Dareen. Thanks for liking what I said ;-) I think you have put your finger right on the buton when you say people need a deep understanding of the process involved. That's the thing: it isn't just a case of learning some steps, but of actually understanding what is going on under the hood. That way, they will always be able to transfer their skills and knowledge to a different (and unfamiliar) situation.

[Lulwa 9D]

Digital literacy is being able to understand and use information from different sources when presented on or by a computer. it it also the ability to locate, organize, understand, evaluate, and create information using digital technology. This is why everyone should be digitally literate.

[Terry Freedman]

I think you've covered it all, Lulwa! I agree with you that everyoneshould be digitally literacte. I get pretty annoyed when I come across teachers who aren't. I suppose I should not say that, but I do!