Before I became a full time teacher, I spent two years as a substitute. My time as a sub allowed me the opportunity to visit nearly every school in my district. During my visits from school to school, one thing that became immediately obvious was the sheer quantity of technology. Whether forbidden or encouraged, today’s students are clearly accessing technology at school. Many schools and teachers have come to this undeniable conclusion and therefore, have attempted to embrace this new digital paradigm. This transition has lead to many changes to the traditional classroom. Teachers are now supplied with laptops, digital document cameras and projectors, even smart-boards. Students are also provided computers or encouraged to bring their own devices. A second, more important change that this paradigm transition has lead to, is the skills required by students to succeed in class.
During my short years as a teacher, I have also realized that many educators, myself included, have given students a generous benefit of the doubt with regards to technological proficiency. Admittedly, today’s youth is highly experienced with digital devices. There is a whole generation of children who have grown up with screens in front of them. But are our students truly digitally literate? They have experience using devices for texting and posting to social media and are of course avid gamers. However, their experiences are primarily as consumers. The average student does not necessarily have experience with utilizing technology as creators. Students do not typically use their devices to innovate so much as for entertainment purposes. Students have been lead to believe they know everything about technology when in fact digital literacy is something they must be explicitly instructed. How are educators supposed to teach students how to utilize technology responsibly and successfully? The same way we teach them everything else. Through engaging activities and assessments. The first step is to determine what skills your students will need in order to be successful. Will they need to conduct research? Will they need to cite their sources? Will they need to communicate and collaborate with others from far away? How will they create and present their various products? The skills that students will need for their future jobs are the skills they should be practicing in class every day. At the start of each school year, teachers should explicitly communicate to their students all the different skills they will eventually acquire and perfect. Then, different skills should be introduced through engaging activities that allow students the opportunity to explore freely and come back with their findings. For instance, I like to begin the year by reminding students how important their Email and Google Drives are. I challenge students to send me professional emails, share Google Docs with proper share settings, and create mini lessons to teach their peers how to effectively utilize various digital resources. Still, more must be done. Throughout the year, it will become evident which skills students are developing, and which they are lacking. It is the teacher’s responsibility to track student progress and present them with challenging opportunities to further develop their abilities. It is not enough to use technology simply for replacing other tools, it should be used to enhance learning. Students typing their drafts as opposed to writing them is minimally different, unless the teacher requires that students truly master all that modern word processors have to offer. An example of this might look like requiring that students share their rough drafts with three other students with the commenting feature, and give critical feedback on each draft. The teacher could then access drafts containing feedback, project them for all to seec, and together discuss the quality of the feedback as it pertains to the assignment. This is but one small way teachers can strive to teach digital literacy alongside their content. Obviously much more can and must be done. The demands our students will face in their future careers are unknown to us today, and thus we must prepare them as best we can.
2 Comments
Nai_Saelee
6/18/2017 04:37:28 pm
Jimmy,
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Dan
6/19/2017 11:25:49 am
Are our students really digitally literate? That is a great point. They do know how to follow and use social media and text, etc. but create and build and use in other ways, many of them probably do lack skills in those areas unless they are specifically taught.
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