How New Literacies are Relevant to Us
This week I chose to read the article, “Digital Literacy” (2019) by Vanek and the article, “Advancing Digital Literacy for a Digitally Inclusive Future” (2023) by Misha. The main takeaway I took from these articles is that digital literacy is crucial for the success of both students and workers; without digital literacy skills, one will have a very hard time being successful in this day and age. Therefore, educators must prepare their students to be digitally literate. According to Misha (2023), digital literacy means one can create, communicate, and consume online content in a digital world (technology, the internet, etc..). Digital literacy requires important skills such as critical thinking, processing and analyzing information, problem-solving, navigating systems, self-awareness, communication, and more (Vanek, 2019). How are individuals supposed to learn these skills? Are students expected to just have these skills without direct instruction and support from the classroom. Of course not! Like any skill that is crucial to the success of learners, teachers need to provide instruction and support in the classroom. However, this is not always an easy task for educators. Luckily, there are tips and support to help educators successfully teach these skills.
Teachers who are overwhelmed with the task of teaching digital literacy are not alone. Personally, I know I have basic computer skills. I am able to pull up videos, open an email, connect to the wifi, etc.. However, if technology isn’t working currently, I lack the problem solving skills to troubleshoot. For example, I recently couldn’t figure out why Blogger wasn’t allowing me to comment on classmates’ posts. A big thank you to Dr. Jones for helping me problem solve. My point being, I do not possess strong digital literacy skills myself, so how am I to teach my students how to be digitally literate? Luckily, the following are ways I can overcome my personal struggles and best help my students: start small, use my colleagues as a resource, partner with parents, embed technology teachings each day, and use the vast amount of resources available to make teaching digital literacy easier (Misha, 2023). Furthermore, educators teaching digital literacy skills should teach vocabulary related to the subject, support the foundational skills through direct instruction and practice, and integrate relevant and accessible technologies (Vanek, 2019). These tips will be helpful to me as an educator (as well as fellow educators) who wants to teach my young and diverse learners digital literacy skills. Furthermore, after reading these articles, I feel more motivated to improve my own digital literacy skills, as I know my workplace requires me to use digital components such as digital problem solving, information literacy, and media literacy frequently.
One thing that surprised me from these articles was how many individuals struggle with digital literacy. Vanek (2019) states, “A National Skills Coalition study concerning the foundational skills required to perform entry-level service work reported that 73% of workers in these positions lacked digital problem-solving skills” (para 8). Furthermore, two out of three workers who are required to use a computer on the job, struggle to successfully do so (Vanek, 2019). Although I know I do not have the strongest digital literacy skills, I thought I was in the minority. However I need to consider the fact that I am likely being hard on myself, as I am a twenty-four year old student who attended college during the peak of Covid, an educator who uses digital literacy with her students, and a professional who uses digital literacy skills daily to complete my work (write annuals, input IEP information, communicate through emails, etc.). Thus, I am not completely clueless! These high percentages shocked me, but reminded me that I can make a difference. By teaching my students about digital literacy, I am creating successful future learners and workers who will struggle less and perform better than current individuals.
Overall, I found these articles very interesting and useful to my work as an educator. If you’re like me and are a bit overwhelmed with the responsibility of teaching your students digital literacy skills because it isn’t your strong suit, please see below for some motivation. Remember to reach for the sky!
References
Digital literacy is your friend. Imgflip. (n.d.). https://imgflip.com/i/4nv7ct
Misha, A. (2023). Advancing digital literacy for a digitally inclusive future. EdSurge, https://www.edsurge.com/news/2023-03-29-advancing-digital-literacy-for-a-digitally-inclusive-future
Vanek, J. (2019). Digital literacy. NCTE,
https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/TSTMDigitalLiteracyBrief-508.pdf
Hi--It's good to know that I'm not alone in my struggles with troubleshooting. When I started at the Museum, I was shocked by how foreign a lot of the admin work was to me (my first career was not in a traditional office). Especially hard for me was redirecting myself from my Gsuite and apple-centric life. Despite the initial terror, I did find that many of the programs I was new to using were fairly intuitive, and there were helpers around--people who had learned on the go, like me, and also the IT person (I told him I was going to be his new best friend). There's an IT department for a reason, right?! Perhaps more surprising to me was that I observed high school interns rotate through different departments who were even more disadvantaged than I. How could I be better with an Excel spreadsheet than 17 year olds in 2023? So while I feel strongly that students shouldn't be taught "toward" a specific workplace environment, this example showed that some knowledge of various professional platforms would be of benefit to young learners.
ReplyDeleteHi, nice post! I enjoyed reading your points on digital literacy and your own experiences with technology. There are a lot of educators out there who still struggle with technology and it is not something to be ashamed of. My mother, who is finishing up her 30th year of teaching, had a very challenging time during covid switching to the digital platforms. I was responsible for showing her how to set up google classroom, start google meets, and record her own lessons. Now she is a pro with google classroom! As you stated in your blog, educators aren't the only ones who need assistance when it comes to technology. 73% of the workforce lack digital problem-solving skills? That is a scary statistic given how digital all field of work has become. This statistic only proves the importance of preparing our students for the modern world where technology is the focal point. Also, nice meme!
ReplyDeleteHi Taryn,
ReplyDeleteI really liked what you said about not having strong literacy skills yourself and feeling like you may not be the appropriate person to teach new literacy skills to your students. I consider myself well versed in various technologies but as a middle school teacher, every day students tell me about an application or game or program that I have never heard of and I have to remind myself that they are likely well ahead of me. Students who have lived their whole lives in this intense digital age began practicing these new skills so young that I think it's hard for them to fathom things that are not digital. That may sound a little cliche, but it is reality from my perspective. As an educator, I think sometimes it's important to remember you do not have to be an expert at everything. Perhaps you could do a fun project where students find a new app or technology they like and teach each other (and you in the process) how to use it. Another idea could be to offer students a project idea where they get to present in some “unconventional” way using technology and see where they go with it. I have done this a few times and gotten some amazing work from students that I never thought of myself.