Reflections on Digital Literacy

Having just read an interesting book about using Web 2.0 in the classroom called 'Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms' by Will Richardson I have a few reflections as it raises some excellent points about the justification for using web 2.0 in the classroom. I recommend it as a good, quick read.

My fairly random ideas here are based on a reading of the 'Big Shifts' Richardson thinks are happening in education at the moment

1. 24/7 anywhere access to all knowledge. Knowing things no longer as important, no barriers to finding out knowledge when it is needed. Problem though that there is so much knowledge how do you filter it for relevance? How will you find what you need and how will you check its veracity? What will you do with the knowledge?
Skills needed: Evaluation, analysis, advanced web search
Government is going to make broadband an entitlement, bridging the digital divide, learners as digital natives (Prensky), home access program.

2. The Social Web. Everything is published for an audience. No editors to check truth and moderate content. How do you check if a page or video is suitable for you? What do you do if it isnt? How do you build productive networks of friends? How do you stay in control of what the web says about you?
Skills needed: eSafety

3. Teaching has become learning. 'Ideas are presented as the starting point for dialgoue, not the ending point' (Siemens 2002). Learners are becoming and encouraged to be active participators in the design of their own learning. Self-aware, self-motivated learners who know their preferred learning styles and who have independent as well as social learning skills. A shift from lecture to conversation.

4. The Need for Online Learning Spaces - where do we store the info that we have chosen that is relevant to us? Where do we put our contributions, podcasts, blogs, wikis. Where is our central stopping off point to all the services out there we want to use? We need our own online space. For that to be easy is the justification for the VLE or learning platform. Not a teaching platform. To be successful has to meet the learners need, be learner owned and orientated and to some extent policed and controlled. Otherwise they will not be developing the skills they need to be digital citizens.

5. Communication is still vitally important - but so is creativity. Writing is no longer the canonical way to express ideas. Video, audio, visual arts can be done to a high standard very easily and shared very easily therefore they become just as pervasive. Competence in these technologies will become just as important as being ale to write and an essential component of digital literacy along with eSafety.

6. But writing and literacy is still important. As it is the means of primary delivery on the web.

7. Formal Testing is out, demonstrating competence or skill is in. Evidenced by recent changes to KS4 curriculum and diplomas and teacher training and OT training etc.. Development of ePortfolios to bring together all the evidence to show competence.

8. Purpose. All a students work is part of the conversation. The purpose is not just to get a mark to pass the test, it is to add to a body of knowledge that is always developing. It is to be a part of the conversation not to have the final answer. Not to become finally qualified for anything but to be developing as a learner.

I think this is the only way we will prepare our current students for the world they will face. Future prediction is difficult but just looking at the ideas yesterday in the news something resonated with me. The story about teaching professionals having to do regular MOT's to prove their competence to teach. All professions will soon be like this. Unless this self-review and evaluation process becomes a natural feature of life it will increasingly cause a form of cognitive dissonance for people who believe they are being subjected to a barrage of imposed external assessment - a situation many teachers and students find themselves in at the moment.