The importance of digital literacy skills for all is becoming more and more apparent as technology continues to surround the daily lives of both children and adults.
As someone that is invested in the education sector to support our diverse learners, I have started to notice the impact technology is having on our learners learning and having the confidence in the digital world in this day and age I believe will take you a long way Furthermore I believe without digital literacy, the opportunities of the digital world turn into obstacles” (Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, 2017a).Technology is moving faster than ever before and we as educators need to keep up. Along with having the understanding that digital literacies have an array of different titles ‘digital skills, digital influence, digital capabilities, digital competencies, digital intelligence and, so on. However, understanding content creation and having a critical mind in how the digital world is made up is the overarching of the cultural and cognitive thinking of digital literacy (Brown, 2017b).
With reflecting on my own journey and the difference technology has had on the way we learn, socialize interact and work dramality changed over the last 4 decades since the introductions of computers in the home. With technology being the way forward, I listened to my children discuss what they get up to at school and thinking of the contrast of when I was at school (many moons ago), they are talking about computer programs that help them with their learning and the games that they play. However different it is now along with how we communicate with our friends, long gone is the phone in the hallway and at times this gives me the feeling that I am out of my depth in understanding their way of being educated.
This is also how I feel regarding my own education going forth, the activities and assessments that are being assigned to the students are all technology based be it from this paper ‘Learning within the digital world’ which requiring us to set up a word press account to post weekly blogs to setting up a twitter account (or should I say ‘X’) account to another paper that requires me to do an online poster.
However, as I preserved, and connect with my online community by reading other students blogs and find technology to be powerful element in making the world an easier place to navigate as we are all connected and have the world at our finger tips. I start to feel not so alone on this learning journey. It changes my attitude which is confirmed by netsafe (2018) “the attitudes towards others are the underpinning of values that support personal integrity and positive connection with others”, and “understanding and having the knowledge of the digital environments and contexts in which they are working, and how they integrate on/offline spaces”.
I will keep going as the content is of interest to me and I can see the larger picture of success.
References:
(Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, 2017a). Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development. (2017a). Working group on education: Digital skills for life and work. Available from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0025/002590/259013e.pdf
Brown, M. (2017b). Critical review of frameworks for digital literacy: Beyond the flashy, flimsy and faddish – part 2. Retrieved from http://blog.ascilite.org/a-critical-review-of-frameworks-for-digital-literacy-beyond-the-flashy-flimsy-and-faddish-part-2/
Netsafe. (2018). From literacy to fluency to citizenship: Digital citizenship in education. New Zealand. Retrieved from https://netsafe.org.nz/the-kit/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/From-literacy-to-fluency-to-citizenship_July-2018.pdf
Nikki Burnell 
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