How New Literacies are Relevant to Us
Before these readings I was not very sure what Digital literacies or multiliteracies were but now I feel like I have a good base of understanding. There were a lot of things that surprised me while reading these reports. I think that's because I grew up learning or teaching myself a lot of what is being discussed and a lot of it comes as second nature.
Something that stood out to me is the idea that anyone can create content, even our students. For example, “In the modern society, large amounts of information online, such as YouTube videos, is not produced by monopolies but by ordinary people who only have cell phones or cameras that are connected to the internet.” (Yang, 2017). I use a number of YouTube videos in my classroom, whether it be a multiplication skip counting song, or a video about nouns and adjectives. It is interesting to think about how finding these videos is a digital literacy skill. Anyone could make a video about anything, teaching students incorrect facts or incorrect ways to compute so it is important that we as teachers teach them how to screen these videos for those that are beneficial.
These articles made me start to think about creative ways to engage my students in different digital skills. In my district, students have iPads up until third grade when they get their computers. As a third grade teacher, much of the first half of the school year is teaching my students how to physically use the computer. The second half of the year, most of the students have a good handle on the basics and we can start using their skills to do more creative things. In the article, Advancing Digital Literacy for a Digitally Inclusive Future, it states, “Adebiyi recalls when her third grade students realized the website they were building could influence the world around them.” (Misha, 2023). What struck me about this is that she has third graders creating a website. This is such a unique opportunity she is affording her students and it is teaching them so much about Digital Literacy, Citizenship, and their personal digital footprint.
I have learned that we need to teach our students positive ways to use and create on the internet. In the report written by the International Literacy Association, it discusses the limitations of digital resources and how schools need to support educators who are teaching these resources rather than supporting just the technology itself. Literacy is still both offline and online and teachers need to help students become literate in all areas of their lives.
International Literacy Association. (2018). Improving digital practices for literacy, learning, and justice: More than just tools [Literacy leadership brief]. Newark, DE: Author.
Misha, A. (2023, March 29). Advancing Digital Literacy for a Digitally Inclusive Future . EdSurge. https://www.edsurge.com/news/2023-03-29-advancing-digital-literacy-for-a-digitally-inclusive-future
Gracie,
ReplyDeleteI realized throughout these readings regarding digital literacy, that many aspects of digital literacy simply come as 'second nature' to me. I am regularly scrolling through different social media platforms, having to detect what I consume as reliable or unreliable. I too, show my videos to my students with the hope that providing a different modality will reach different learners (I love a good educational song). With that being said, you are right, these are just regular people creating this content and we must be wary of that as we are using it to teach the next generation.
The first time I remember having a conversation about digital literacy was in elementary school when we were introduced to the 'horrors of Wikipedia' and how anyone could change the information. I remember how absurd that seemed to me; that people could falsify information on the internet. But now, it seems a lot more realistic. Creating digital content can be both a blessing and a curse.
Thank you for sharing,
Claudia