The future. It seems like such a foreign, unreachable place where dreams and 'one days' live. As educators we need to give students the knowledge and tools to be literate members of society who are able to produce and consume information. We need to empower our students to design their own futures. To no longer look at it as a far away place but to reflect on where they want to be, what they want to do, what they want to create; and work towards setting goals and building a road map to get there.
The world is changing. Students today are growing and learning in a technology infused society. One where information is quite literally, at the end of their fingertips. In a culture where the world's information is so instantaneously accessible, we need to now shift our practices towards valuing questions, and not answers. Teaching students to be innovative, critical thinkers who are empowered to do better; to change the world.
So how does technology and this ‘future ready’ learning fit into literacy? The actual definition of literacy itself seems to have shifted from the ability to read and write, to the ability to understand information however presented. Digital literacy is a trend that is rising to support the 21st century learner. Digital literacy is much more than knowing how to operate a device; it involves a variety of cognitive, critical thinking, technical, and social-emotional skills that students need to develop to be able to function in today’s digital era.
Digitally literate people are quick on their feet in moving from one kind of medium to another… know what kind of expression fits what kind of knowledge and become skilled at presenting their information in a medium that their audience will find easiest to understand. (Lankshear & Knobel, 2008)
Even at an early age, technology and digital literacy is proving to be a crucial component of 21st century learning. We need to prepare are students to be ready for the society in which they live, and that means changing our teaching practices to support it.
Shifts in mindset are something that needs to happen first and foremost. Students need to embrace struggles and celebrate successes. Negative associations with failure should be replaced with positive ones. Teaching students to ‘fail forward’ and that it is okay to take calculated risks, even if you don't succeed the first time. Take a look at this video below.
These people may not know what they are doing, but they are trying. They are taking a risk, they are putting themselves out there, they are being real learners in the real world. Being a transparent learner and taking risks is a learned behavior. These positive connections can be made by modeling risk taking and celebrating attempts in learning.
We do not want students to be fragile in their thinking and their learning. In fact we want them to be the complete opposite of that, we want them to be antifragile. In Nassim Taleb's book Antifragile, he explains that antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. “The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.” (Taleb, 2014).
Students in the 21st century need to be able to read and understand information across mediums. “With new technologies and cultural shifts, the traditional literacies and competencies that dealt with making sense of words, images, and other content on a printed page are no longer sufficient.” (Beach & Hall, 2012). For example, the skill of being able to ‘read’ and interpret pictures or graphics. This is a branch of digital literacy called photo-visual literacy, which “helps users to intuitively and freely "read" and understand instructions and messages that are displayed in a visual-graphical form.” (Alkalai & Aviram, 2004) Not all information is being displayed in traditional formats such as books; people are producing and consuming information in different and unique ways. Students ability to interpret information in different mediums like photos, videos, presentations, and podcasts is an important skill for future learners in the real world.
Another subset of digital literacy is socio-emotional literacy which focuses on online collaborative learning. The literacy skills that are required to digitally communicate are both social and emotional. Students need to understand how to communicate appropriately and work collaboratively both in person and digitally to achieve a common goal. One excellent way to get student to digitally communicate and engage in digital conversation is through the use of blogging, which is without question one of the most powerful ways to communicate in the 21st century. Blogging is a way for students to build their digital literacy skills, collaborate and connect with each other and the world, and have a digital space that they could call their own. Blogging can also mirror the writing process and can provide students with an authentic audience. It can be an extremely meaningful learning experience that can give students a voice.
Students (and teachers) need to learn to use technology to accelerate their learning. "The revolution of technology has transformed how people find one another, interact, and collaborate to create knowledge." (Beach & Hall, 2012). We want to allow our students to not only function in a digital environment, but flourish in it. We need to not think of ourselves as the primary source of information, but as a facilitator of learning. Access plus inquiry equals opportunity; and we want to give them the opportunity to create, design, build, be, anything that they want. Helping students to grow and create their stories. Just like this one.
References
Alkalai, Y. & Aviram, A. (2004). Towards a Theory of Digital Literacy: Three Scenarios for the Next Steps.
Beach, S., & Hall, L. (2012). The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading in a Digital Age. Solution Tree Press.
Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2008). Digital literacies: Concepts, policies and practices (Vol. 30). Peter Lang.
Taleb, N. (2014). Antifragile: Things that gain from disorder (Random House Trade Paperback ed.).
