In yesterday’s CITL session we discussed what it means to be literate, and to be digitally literate. During the session most people defined the term ‘literate’ as the ability to read and write. This blog post will explore the development of literacy and the extent to which digital literacy is needed to function fully in society in the 21st century.
Firstly, it is interesting to look at how the concept of literacy has evolved over time. In the 18th and even some of the 19th century, societally the most common method of communication was spoken. Many people did not possess the skills of reading or writing, and these were not deemed as vital skills to communicate in society. In 1880 The Elementary Education Act was introduced with compulsory education for 5 – 10 year olds. Due to this act and others preceding it in the 19th and 20th centuries, being literate in society developed from being able to speak and listen to also being able to read and write. But how is the concept of literacy developing in our society today?
Policy changes are continuing to affect how being ‘literate’ is developing. The new national curriculum, which comes into effect in 2014, has a change from ICT to Computing. The Computing purpose of study states that pupils should “become digitally literate – able to use, and express themselves and develop their ideas through, information and communication technology – at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world”. One of the aims of Computing in the new National Curriculum is for pupils to be “responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology”.
If this is the case then it is important to look at the implications of this for teachers and the skills that pupils need to have mastered by the time they move to secondary school. Mitchel Resnick (2013) has been influential in the development of ‘child friendly’ technologies that will allow primary school children to essentially become digitally literate in his view. Resnick makes a distinction between engaging in digital media, for example playing games online, and creating with digital media. Put in very simplistic terms, just as previous generations have been literate when they could both read and write, Resnick suggests that in order to be ‘digitally literate’ in the 21st century, people will need to be confident in creating digital media as well as engaging with it.
In the video above Doug Belshaw states that the ability to ‘remix’ is “at the heart of digital literacy”. This ability to remix is a key part of becoming digitally literate. Belshaw states that generating digital literacies is not a sequential but progressive. We begin with a basic understanding and this becomes more detailed as we learn, just as the ability to read and write develop gradually, not sequentially. We don’t learn all words beginning with a, then b, then c. Nor do we read only one genre until we have a full understanding of the literary tools and techniques that characterise it, then move on to another genre. When learning to read and write, we submerge ourselves in literature and gradually build up a relational understanding of literary characteristics and effective literary tools. Once we start to understand these, we can begin to try these tools out ourselves in writing, slowly understanding how to create effective writing and what it is about that style or tool that make it effective. This progressive learning approach is also necessary to become digitally literate and to have a relational understanding of digital technologies. Understanding a technology is not only understanding how to use it, but understanding it’s benefits, it’s potential weaknesses, how to engage with it and to create with it.
In order to be able to teach digital literacy to the next generation, teachers need to be confident interacting with technology and with effective strategies in place to learn how to use new technologies quickly and effectively. To do this, teachers need to do the very things they are constantly encouraging children to do; to learn, to be open to new ideas, and to be resilient in doing these things until they have a concrete understanding of the tools, effectiveness and limitations of different technologies. Once teachers have more of a relational understanding of technologies they will be in a much better position to teach the new computing curriculum effectively. This may sound daunting to some in the teaching profession, this short article by Sarah Bryne gives some useful tips to teachers on how to teach the new computing curriculum.
Resnick, M (2013) Mother’s Day, Warrior Cats and Digital Fluency: Stories from the scratch community.