What does it mean to be literate in the 21st century? I’m certainly not the first to ask the question. But here’s the thing: I know a lot of fantastic intelligent educators who don’t place much value on being technologically literate. They almost wear it as a badge of pride. In a “Oh I barely know how to check email!” kind of way. And I kind of get the impression that they think that people who spend a lot of time on line are either looking at porn or finding or staring off into a technological abyss of pretty lights and pop-up ads. I don’t think a lot of them understand that what many of our students are doing on the internet is interacting with other people, communicating, and–dare I suggest–learning.
I’m sure there are lots of reasons for this attitude. I know, there’s an age gap factor, but I’m turning 30 on Sunday and I remember the pre-internet days so this isn’t exactly something I’ve grown up with either. But I really believe like so many other teachers, that we have no idea what the future holds for our students, but we do know that we are currently preparing our students for a future that passed us by 20 years ago (at least!)
This is what David Warlick says about being literate in the 21st century:
“Being literate in this future will certainly involve the ability to read, write, and work with numbers. However, the concept of literacy in the 21st century will be far richer and more comprehensive than the 3 Rs of the one room school house. . . . Our notions of literacy must expand to address a rapidly changing information landscape where information is networked, digital, and overwhelming.”
(Seriously, google this man and be amazed by his awesomeness)
I know this scares a lot of teachers. But I really don’t think it needs to. I was in a computer lab a couple weeks ago with a bunch of teachers, some of whom barely knew how to access their school email, and by the end of the day they were hosting video conferences with teachers in other boards and writing in google docs at the same time.
I think we need to convince ourselves that digital literacy is not a luxury but a necessary part of our definition of literacy in the 21st century.
Where do you start?
Read this article by Vicki Davis. And then subscribe to her blog. She’s awesome too!
As always, you’re blog makes me think.
I work in the software industry, and it’s a pretty safe prediction that online-collaboration skills are going to be more and more important as we move forward. Development teams (and business teams in general) are geographically diverse. The ability to for a team to work on the same project together without ever seeing each other face to face is a key skill.
Here’s an assignment I would love to see done at my son’s Elementary school:
Partner with two or more schools from across Canada. Break the kids up into cross-school groups (for example, groups of three, one from each school). Give them a project to do that requires a combination of collaboration and independent work. Give them access to e-mail, a messaging system, Sharepoint, Gotomeeting, Skype, or any other online collaborative tools (there’s enough free tools that this doesn’t have to be a budget item). Turn them loose and see what they can produce.
Awesome assignment! There is a site called epals that allows teachers to find other classes around the world who are looking to collaborate on projects. Another class in Canada, cool. Another class in Columbia, super-cool! I really like the idea of teacher as facilitator. We don’t need to worry about teaching the kids how to use the technology. They can teach each other. We just give them the problem to solve and see how the solve it. Like a think tank. Thanks for the comment, Steve!