Digital Literacy is the Norm Now
To be a part of today’s society you must know how to operate the Internet, use social media apps without sounding like another mom trolling Facebook, and use a computer effectively. If there was someone we didn’t know that could not type on a computer or posts embarrassing pictures all day on your Facebook, we would begin to roll our eyes. In the 21st century we cannot just say that being illiterate is in reading or writing but also consists of a larger context of being a social human being. Literacy can take many different forms and includes all types of connotations. It can involve all aspects of texts, not just books, but computers, and other electrical devices, people, or anything that you want to make text that you can read and learn from. Literacy has expanded beyond the local community and times before phones were wireless, to the global economy, and the World Wide Web. Being literate in the 21st century means having a constant supply of information at our fingertips but finding an effective balance, and creating skills that allows, not just students in the classroom, but everyone, ways to differentiate between relevant and important information, how to communicate, and to work successfully in an environment full of technology.
Most would agree that being literate means one who is advanced in the basic skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. These are the fundamentals, yet in today’s world, being literate requires much more than the traditional literacy of yesterday. One must gain proficiency with basic technology, develop relationships with others, form problem-solving skills, collaborate in a global sense or cross-culturally, and manage, analyze, and synthesize multiple platforms of information simultaneously to attain the best ways to achieve knowledge. People in this century dictated around blue screens should also be able to create, or use, critique, analyze, and even evaluate on different levels multimedia texts. In another sense, our meaning of literacy must evolve with our growing world of constant new advancements. If we continue to change so should our standards of college and career readiness. DiBenedetto and Myers (2016) did a study on student readiness in the 21st century and they would agree that learning and thinking skills should include clear communication, curiosity, questioning and problem-solving skills for daily life, innovation, perseverance, creative thinking, and engagement in in lifelong learning.
While the Internet is vast and undoubtedly gives us access to an endless amount of information, making many aspects of our lives easier, it can be misleading, and have half-truths. Like Alber (2013) states, in her article on Deeper Learning: Defining Twenty-First Century Literacy, “it’s urgent that we teach the skill of scoping the websites with a critical eye” (para. 7). We must form the ability to filter through the Internet for credible sources, which is something that is needed not only for college but even most jobs. Talking on the web, using more than one medium of expression, or finding ways to solve a problem involves a great deal of mastery, and communication plays an important role in it. Being literate in the 21st century involves, morphing and continuously keeping up with the certain ways to interact with others, whether that be through images, videos, blogs, instant messaging, or emails. To do so, we must navigate fluently, judge, and create types of sophisticated communication for whatever medium being used. Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat all have different rules and ways to talk with others, which may be way different to students interacting on something like Google Classroom, or employees would through emails.
In this video, one high school student, Rahil, explains a paper he must write that is about analyzing the constitution of the United States, and whether the feudal government or the state government should oversee certain civic issues. Through looking at different texts, like state laws, the constitution, and filtering through credible sources, Rahil could come up with a solution he thought was true. Through collaboration, critical thinking, and decision making, students like Rahil are encouraged to develop deeper learning skills, which they can carry with them throughout life.
A term that can be coined for the aspect of 21st century literacy is digital literacy. It could be described as the use of valued texts and language in cultural spaces to communicate, participate and learn in social practices. Every cultural space has their own norms of practice, that relies on a person’s fluency, or how literate they are in that space. Most people participate in numerous spaces, as well, like Facebook and Tweeter. We should note that reading a printed newspaper or an article online do not share the same experience and often requires different skills, like the ability to move through hyperlinked texts, or have a more dynamic approach towards reading a page versus an article on the web. Boechler and Wasniewski argue that, “Rather than seeing literacy as only a generic set of technical skills, it looks at the social dimensions of acquiring and applying literacy” (Boechler & Wasniewski p. 4). In other words, there is not a single method for individuals to have access to information, but it does depend on how they get it and how they use that information. They so go on to say that trying to define digital literacy is too difficult because it represents a set of complex interconnected skills, which can be measured across different dimensions. Which seem appropriate since our world continues to grow and become more openly diverse and complex.
Preparing students in the 21st century for college and career readiness is a complex thing, and requires a lot of collaborative efforts, with teachers, the community, and the Internet. There just isn’t a way not to use technology in our world today. Our knowledge of the world, communication techniques, and jobs have expanded beyond a local since, it demands skill sets that people must adapt to constantly to keep up. Literacy is a major part of that, and while it still means having a genuine understanding of reading, writing, and listening, it also means being literate with the basic skills needed to work a search engine, know how to tell the difference between valid sources, and communicate effectively on different platforms. This world is large and complex, so it makes sense to have large and multifaceted approach to it.
References
Alber, R. (2013, January 21). Deeper Learning: Defining Twenty-First Century Literacy [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/twenty-first-century-literacy-deeper-learning-rebecca-alber
Boechler, P., Dragon, K., & Wasniewski, E. (2014). Digital Literacy Concepts and Definitions: Implications for Educational Assessment and Practice. International Journal of Digital Literacy and Digital Competence, 5(4). Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.libproxy.clemson.edu/apps/doc/A429759541/AONE?u=clemsonu_main&sid=AONE&xid=317b8fb5
DiBenedetto, C. A., & Myers, B. E. (2016). A conceptual model for the study of student readiness in the 21st century. NACTA Journal, 60(1A), 28+. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.libproxy.clemson.edu/apps/doc/A458803695/AONE?u=clemsonu_main&sid=AONE&xid=eca92a03
