Digital Literacies

Within the National Curriculum for Computing (2013), it indicates that student's are to be "active participants in a digital world", therefore teacher's are to prepare their pupil's to become digital literate.

Being a computing and ICT specialist, I need to be digital literate. Growing up with new, evolving technology I was able to discover for myself how to use these technologies and gain the knowledge and skills needed to become digital literate. As most children are digital natives they possess a certain amount of digital literacy (Ng, 2012). Before they step into a classroom they are most likely to have used mobiles, ipads and laptops (Ng, 2012). School's should ensure that these children develop and build on these digital literacy skills.

The Guardian (2012) coined digital literacy as, "digital tool knowledge + critical thinking + social engagement". By integrating technology through all aspects of the curriculum, such as using interactive whiteboards, iPads and laptops, the student's are exposed to a wide range of technology and the use of the internet. This exposure will build on their knowledge, skills and behaviour towards different technology and they will discover how to use the internet to create, share and utilize content. Not only teacher's should prepare the student's to become digital literate but the learning environment should also provide them opportunities to develop these skills (Meyers, Erickson and Small, 2013). These learning environments which could include a space where children can freely use different types of technology and a place to collaborate with other students, which will provide opportunities for the student's to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to become digital literate.This could be during class time or potentially as a club in the student's free time. 

However there are some barriers and constraints to becoming digital literate in schools. These include school's not having a wide range of digital access, resulting in the student's lacking particular skills needed in the digital world (Meyers, Erickson and Small, 2013). If this is the case, teacher's can still expose the student's to certain technologies and teach them basic skills on how to use the internet. Another barrier to becoming digital literate within school, is the teacher's lack of expertise and support to be able to effectively teach their students. It is therefore the Universities and school's duties to provide guidance and support for these teacher's to ensure they are confident in teaching ICT.

REFERENCES

Anyangwe, e. (2012) "20 ways of thinking about digital literacy in higher education" , The Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2012/may/15/digital-literacy-in-universities (Accessed: 18 March 2016).

Department of Education, (2013). Computing programmes of study: key stages 1 and 2.

Hinrichsen, J. and Coombs, A. [image] Available at: https://sites.google.com/site/dlframework/

Meyers, E., Erickson, I. and Small, R. (2013) "Digital literacy and informal learning environments: an introduction", Learning, Media and Technology, 38(4), pp. 355-367. doi: 10.1080/17439884.2013.783597.

Ng, W. (2012) "Can we teach digital natives digital literacy?", Computers and Education, 59(3), pp. 1065-1078. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2012.04.016