Welcome again! In this post I will discuss digital literacies. I suppose you don't know what digital literacies are and... Why should teachers take them into account? Well, I will try to answer both of these questions through my words.
The first question that comes up is...
What is digital literacy and what does it mean to be Digitally Literate?
According to the University of Illinois, digital literacies are:
- The ability to use digital technology, communication tools or networks to locate, evaluate, use and create information.
- The ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it is presented via computers.
- A person’s ability to perform tasks effectively in a digital environment... Literacy includes the ability to read and interpret media, to reproduce data and images through digital manipulation, and to evaluate and apply new knowledge gained from digital environments.
This means that being digital literate doesn't mean to have only technical skills to use technology, but other knowledge about its use. "We are not just talking about a checklist of technical skills, but also about the social practices that surround the use of new media. So not just knowing how to create a blog entry, but knowing how to use this to connect with a wider community of readers and writers, and what sort of online persona one projects though one's post. Not just knowing how to upload photos to Flickr ( a photo sharing site), but knowing whether to publish them under a Creative Commons license and what this implies in terms of digital rights and usage."
Source: TeachingEnglish.org.uk
Why are digital literacies important for teachers and students?
After reading a lot of information about digital literacies and its importance to teacher and students, I found this website that contained these 3 main ideas that I think are very clear and useful:
1) Digital literacies promote the acquisition of higher-order skills like analysis of information or cooperation. These are transmutable from the tech world to real word. Integrating digital literacies in the classroom creates opportunities to practice these higher-order skills, ranging from students working collectively via a Google Doc to developing the ability to analyze a web source’s credibility (and everything in between).
2) Another pro is that digital literacies break down the walls of learning and information. By promoting digital literacies, student can break through the pen-and-pencil walls and become producers of knowledge. This could be done by allowing our students to find their own learning resources and analyze the sources, which creates a truly personalized learning environment. They are no longer given a text that dictates how and what they should learn. Instead, they have the ability and possibility to seek out and utilize knowledge resources that help them create a personal learning connection.
3) Last, but definitely not least, digital literacy prepares students for a digital Post K-12 world. It is important to bear in mind the fact that the workplace is becoming increasingly digitalized. It is vital for students to be ready to roll when sat down in front of a digital device. Today, being able to familiarise with new digital devices and their functions is now just as important as learning to read and write.
I totally agree with these 3 points because they reflect the needs and possibilities teachers and students have as regard Digital Literacies. It is very important for teachers to bear in mind the benefits of teaching and integrating digital literacies in the classroom, because these do not only help the process of teaching and learning, but also will be useful for our student's future.
In case you'd like to know more about Digital Literacies, here's a list of links with information:
After reading a lot of information about digital literacies and its importance to teacher and students, I found this website that contained these 3 main ideas that I think are very clear and useful:
1) Digital literacies promote the acquisition of higher-order skills like analysis of information or cooperation. These are transmutable from the tech world to real word. Integrating digital literacies in the classroom creates opportunities to practice these higher-order skills, ranging from students working collectively via a Google Doc to developing the ability to analyze a web source’s credibility (and everything in between).
2) Another pro is that digital literacies break down the walls of learning and information. By promoting digital literacies, student can break through the pen-and-pencil walls and become producers of knowledge. This could be done by allowing our students to find their own learning resources and analyze the sources, which creates a truly personalized learning environment. They are no longer given a text that dictates how and what they should learn. Instead, they have the ability and possibility to seek out and utilize knowledge resources that help them create a personal learning connection.
3) Last, but definitely not least, digital literacy prepares students for a digital Post K-12 world. It is important to bear in mind the fact that the workplace is becoming increasingly digitalized. It is vital for students to be ready to roll when sat down in front of a digital device. Today, being able to familiarise with new digital devices and their functions is now just as important as learning to read and write.
I totally agree with these 3 points because they reflect the needs and possibilities teachers and students have as regard Digital Literacies. It is very important for teachers to bear in mind the benefits of teaching and integrating digital literacies in the classroom, because these do not only help the process of teaching and learning, but also will be useful for our student's future.
In case you'd like to know more about Digital Literacies, here's a list of links with information:
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