Literacy in The 21st Century
Literacy today means so much more than being able to read a novel or write a paper. To be literate in the 21st century, an individual should be literate in many more areas than just reading and writing. Being literate in social norms and digital literacy as well as many other areas is just part of what makes 21st-century literacy.
To make sure that the definition of literacy is clear when reading this article, I am going to utilize the definition proposed by Merriam-Webster which states literacy is “the quality of being literate” and they define literate as “educated, cultured; being able to read and write; having knowledge or competence” When I say that someone is literate, I mean that the person has the capacity and knowledge to fully succeed at the task they are trying to achieve.
Being literate in the 21st century definitely means being socially literate. “Social literacy is the development of social skills in a social setting, which helps people to communicate in a respectful manner, as well as becoming involved in a community” (2008). This means that people are able to “..be respectful to one another and be able to express our thoughts and emotions. It’s through nonverbal and verbal cues that students begin to learn about themselves and others” (2008). Being socially literate today is becoming a challenge for students because so many of their interactions with others is happening over the computer screen or a cell phone. Students are not interacting with each other through direct conversation as much, so there are pieces of information lost through not seeing the nonverbal cues. When students are talking to each other, the nonverbal cues are sometimes read wrong since they are not actively apart of the normal conversations that students are having, so knowing how to respond and act when communicating with others face to face is becoming a life skill instead of what used to be just manners.
Digital literacy is defined as “the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills” (2016). This means that being considered literate in digital technologies, one must have the cognitive ability and the technical skills to maneuver a digital space. For students this may mean using Google drive, Google slides, a Chromebook, a cell phone app, Kahoot and many, many other apps that are being designed to use in the classroom setting. Being digitally illiterate in today’s time means that you are typically seen as a slow learner, you may not be considered as smart as others, and many more negative things. So how can teachers help students be digitally literate? Teachers can make sure they are using a wide variety of resources provided to them with their students, and teaching students how to use the resources as well. Teachers can also make sure students know the proper ways to respond to others in the digital space they are using. This being in the social literacy mentioned earlier.
If someone poked you on Facebook ten years ago, that was considered the norm. If someone pokes you on Facebook now, they may be considered a creepy person. How does a person know that if they were not on Facebook for ten years though? This is the cross section between being socially and digitally literate that many people need help navigating. It is perfectly normal to comment on people’s statuses and posts on social media, but what is appropriate for each site and how can you tell if you are doing something wrong? This is where teachers at some point should have a conversation with their students about how to appropriately act on social media. What is posted on the internet now can be saved in various ways, and that brings to question if what we delete is ever truly deleted. To make sure students have this kind of digital literacy is just as important to me as if they know how to use Google Drive. Students are losing the soft skills needed to thrive in the workplace and in their communities because the majority of their interactions with others is happening online. To make sure students know how to type a professional email, make sure their Linkedin profile and Facebook profile look presentable to employers, and how to fill out an application online are all important skills that students may need to be taught since they are not skills we are born with.
This aspect of being digitally literate is not often taught until it is too late for individuals, so when teachers are introducing a technology that could be helpful in the future for students, I believe it is important to point that out the to the students. This video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0poR8zfAls, produced by Z. Nicol (2014) provides great arguments for why being socially and digitally literate in the 21st century are so very important.
Generally speaking, reading and writing are the foundational aspects of being literate, but in the 21st century, we have to be literate in other areas as well the survive and thrive. Most importantly I believe are social and digital literacy and making sure that we as teachers point of the cross section to students is very important to their success in finding jobs and going to college.
Resources
Heitin, L. (2016). What is Digital Literacy?. Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/ew/ articles/2016/11/09/what-is-digital-literacy.html.
Literacy. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster online. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literacy.
Literate. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster online. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literate#h1.
Melanie. (March 25, 2008). Social Literacy. Retrieved from http://socialliteracybendick. blogspot.com/2008/03/what-is-social-literacy.html.
Nicol, Zachary. (August 10, 2014). What is Literacy in the 21st Century?. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0poR8zfAls.
