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!

[Terry Freedman]

Matt, I think the trouble with making access difficult (500 passwords) is that it only stops the good guys. The bad ones would just go out and buy a program that would crack the 500 passwords in seconds. I agree that the internet is, or should be, just one of several sources of information. But why do you say it is bad most of the time?

[Jocelyn D]

I agree with you, and how you said, "A digital-literate person will be able to use software applications in elegant and efficient ways..." Digital Literacy is the concept of being taught how to be intelligent with technology. A literate person will be able to completely understand how to complete things online, and how to communicate online as well. I also agree with you when you said being digitally literate may even perhaps make you understand it more than the program's creator.

[Terry Freedman]

Thx, Jocelyn. Just to clarify what I said though. I didn't mean that someone could understand the program better than its creator, but that they might use it in ways that the creator hadn't thought of. For example, Facebook was created in order to enable college students to make friends online, but it has also been used to organise protests and even to promote businesses.

[Jeremy S]

I agree with what your saying. I like how you explain what people do that you shouldn't do like selling hard disks containing data on eBay. I liked this because people who do this probably aren't that knowing of digital literacy.Another part I really like was when you used the term "garbage in, garbage out". I think people shoulded be more knowledgeable when creating things so people don't get rotten results.

[Terry Freedman]

Absolutely, jeremy. Thx :-)

[Tommy H]

hello, I agree with you 174% on the digital literacy. I think that some of the teachers are teaching us only on what they know. I like how you said about a person that would be able to express them self as a presentation, at least I no I would like it better that way, and for my own definition of digital literacy I would probably say its about working with technology.

[Terry Freedman]

174% Is that all? ;-) There was a study done in the UK recently which found what you said, ie that many teachers limit the kids because they only teach them up to the limit of their own knowledge and understanding.

[Kayla S.]

Digital Literacy is when learning with technology and i feel you have said it all.
"There are, or should be, lots of opportunities for pupils to apply and practise their digital literacy skills, right across the curriculum" I agree there should be a lot of opportunities for us to apply our skills on technology use. Digital literacy is very important to us.

[Terry Freedman]

Thx, Kayla, I agree with you about opportunities.

[Dane Y]

i agree with your last three paragraphs, some teachers aren't specialists and make learning harder for us even with the use of technology. some times wish i could just read the book and maybe do a work sheet. thats help me learn, not trying to do everything with computers when some teachers don't even know how to use power point correctly. I understand that schools want us to pay more attention in class and be entertained, but the only thing i find entertaining is when the teacher kneads help with something as easy as the internet. Now not all teaches are like thins only a few are in my school but it seems that they are the ones that get all of the cool "toys" or class room gadgets. I think thats if they were to earn more about it, it would be much easier.

[Terry Freedman]

Your post made me smile, Dane. I think the point is, to use the right tool for the job. Sometimes if I want to make a note about something, for example, I use a pen and paper; I don't start using a word processor. In just the same way, reading a book is fine. But it would be good if the teachers who can't use the technology were to change that situation, I agree.

[Stephen k]

I agree with you about sexual predators, finance, racist, and other types of predator because most people do not realize that they are not safe online. I feel most people think that are safe because they don't talk to strangers, but there not. they need to learn how to be more literate online