Digital literacy is an important aspect of our lives as teachers, but also of our students. The digital world requires skills beyond using softwares and operate digital devices. Alkali et al. (2004) states that digital literacy requires us to have cognitive, motoric, emotional, and sociological skills which are complex and it would allow us to use the digital environment effectively. I spend most of my time in the “digital world”, both on my free time and at work (especially during the Covid-19 pandemic). I use multiple different system to, for example communicate, learn new things, and develop systems. The scenario reflects some aspects of me, I do not mix my personal life with my work life and the last time I used a blog was 13 years ago. This blog is basically completely new for me. I do not really share anything from my private life either. Facebook is something I have used frequently, but I have never posted or shared anything on it.
During our meetings in the PBL group we chose to follow a model created by Hague and Payton (2010) that lists 8 different components of digital literacy. We focused on two important components based on the scenario, functional skills and cultural and social understanding. It was very interesting to see different perspectives on how we perceived digital literacy. I feel like these two components are quite important for students especially at the early stages of a university education.
I have always thought about students that might not be familiarly with the digital world and some of them have never use a computer before. During the two weeks we worked together I also “found” out that it is not only the functional skills keeping students back, it is also the cultural and social understanding. We have to view all studies, not only from their functional skills, but also from their cultural and social understanding. I knew that this existed, but I never really thought about it in any of my courses.
I might be blind in the sense that I use a lot of digital media and tools which could be the result that I believe that everyone should at least know how to use a computer, as well as some common programs. From the discussions we have had in the PBL group I realised that I could use different techniques to make sure my students feel comfortable with different digital tools. My personal suggestion to help the student and teacher in the scenario based of our discussions. For students:
- Explore the digital world if you are not used to it
- Be willing to learn new things
- Learn to work collaborative
- Understand what type of culture does the “classroom” have
- Communicate with other students (and teachers)
For teachers:
- Be prepared and have a broad knowledge about different system (not only the one you will use in your course)
- Introduce yourself and spend time with the students. Get them all to the same level of digital literacy
- Give a lot of information and suggestions about the tools in advanced.
- Tell the students something personal about yourself (connect)
- Do not take your cultural beliefs for granted, allow everyone to express how they want and think of it as “normal”
As Alkali et al. (2004) stated, digital literacy requires more than just the concept of a computer. The students and teachers must be prepared in many way, because we live in a world where almost everyone uses the digital world. We need to understand it to be as effective as possible in life.
Alkali, Y. E., & Amichai-Hamburger, Y. (2004). Experiments in digital literacy. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 7(4), 421-429.
Hague, C., & Payton, S. (2011). Digital literacy across the curriculum. Curriculum Leadership, 9(10). Retrieved from http://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/FUTL06/FUTL06.pdf
March 26, 2022 at 11:23
This was a good read, i found a lot of issues came up when i assumed students would know the tech. When the pandemic hit, I was quickly made aware just how may of my students were actually digitally illiterate. Barely any of them knew they even had a Google drive, but they had a gmail, for their phones access, but that was it. they had no connection to using the tools as intended or unintentionally. I teach in a country where access to the internet is more of a privilege rather than a given, it is mostly used for socializing and rarely research or info seeking, so it was refreshing to see someone else also notice that one does not necessarily understand a tool just because they have it. Thank you for the read.
March 27, 2022 at 18:41
Such great ideas for both students and teachers to embrace the digital literacies! I found it interesting that you share about your experience and what you learned during this first topic, such as how you earlier thought about students digital skills. I’m quite new in teaching and I have believed that every student (and other teachers) are more familiar with digital tools after the pandemic, but I certainly will take your word that it isn’t so! Thanks for great reading!
March 28, 2022 at 08:02
A great read about your learnings and reflections from topic 1. Understanding the literacy levels of both the teachers and students is a vital aspect to consider, as you rightfully mentioned, this is not a given skill for everyone.
And as Damien mentioned in his comment, coming from a country where internet resources are not a ‘normal’ occurrence, it certainly does add a difficulty element to the whole concept of being digitally literate!
March 28, 2022 at 08:04
Always good to be reminded that what we took for granted might only be achieved by other people with lots of endeavours, spending time, energy, and money. Interesting post and suggestions! It made me think of how careful we should be when it comes to online learning and choosing different tools and ways of communication for our courses. However, for a student who comes from a less privileged society and has cultural and social understanding which can potentially make frictions for online learning even following the suggestions are tremendously hard. Learning how to work collaboratively will take lots of time and you need to be mentally ready. Also, communication with others cannot easily be done just by being told that you have to communicate. I think although online learning can be a means to improve inclusiveness, it may act as a factor to undermine different groups of students if not carefully designed and maintained.