Digital Literacy in the 21st Century: Implications for teaching and learning.
We are living in a period of widespread concern about educational quality. Questions are being asked about how students learn and about what they are learning. There is consensus among educators that the traditional classroom model is now outdated and must be changed. At the same time fundamental changes are taking place in the way in which people generate, store and transmit information, in the modes of communication, work and social settings. We have become a knowledge-based society and strategies for improving the quality of education must take account of these issues.
The linked presentation below examines the digital literacy levels, opinions and ideas of young people (aged 15 to 17) on the future of digital media and learning. There is a clear need to open up a dialogue between young people and educators regarding the development of schools’ ICT in the (near)future. To date, most studies in this area have tended to frame this issue in terms of practitioner and institutional concerns over the likely changes that potentially ‘disruptive’ ICT uses may have on classroom practice and curriculum. Whilst this perspective is crucial, there has been a tendency for researchers to overlook the views, opinions and ideas of the pupils themselves. As the ultimate ‘end users’ of ICT in the classroom, it can be argued that more attention needs to be paid by education technologists to the life worlds of learners.
The presentation discusses the following;
Are Irish students digitally literate?
How did they become digitally literate?
Are students’ digital abilities/skills being capitalized upon by the education system?
Audrey,
Let me congratulate you on a wonderful presentation and I was nodding in “violent agreement” to your slides. Your research is the first of its kind, that I know of in Ireland, in relation to how teenagers are using ICT in and out of school. There is a study currently underway in Australia and the Netherlands on this very topic and I can put you in touch with the lead researchers, if that is of interest? Also Don Tapscott’s book, Grown Up Digital, resonates strongly with your findings about how this current generation of teenagers and younger learn. I agree we need to redefine the shape of our education system to meet the needs of our learners and of the world they are entering. Organisations such as the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and others have done great work in this space. This debate is well underway in other countries but here we are still only focusing on infrastructure and not on redesigning our education system at all levels, not just 3rd level. Well done and I look forward to receiving a copy when it is published.
Michael