"Not all young people are digitally competent, nor are they all interested in every aspect of the new media"-Ola Erstad (Livingstone, 2009 as cited in Thomas, 2011 p.99)I agree with both parts of this line. Not all young people/students have the same opportunities so how can we expect them to all be digitally competent? Technically, I am a digital native, yet there are many apps and forms of technology and digital/social media that I know nothing about, nor do I have the desire (at least right now) to learn about them.
Chapter 8:
"It [the Internet] has fundamentally changed the ways in which activities and exchanges are carried out across sectors as divers and important as commerce and banking, entertainment, the arts, and education." -G. Kennedy and T. Judd (Thomas, 2011 p122)This is true for my life, so I am sure that it is true for many other people as well. On-line banking has changed my life! As stated in a previous chapter, thanks to technology, we have changed the way we view television, movies, and music. In my Math class, more aspects than not are on blackboard and MyLabsPlus program, both online.
Chapter 9:
"In Sweden more than half of five year olds are using the Internet and there are almost no non-users among teenagers and young adults." (Findahl & Zimic, 2008 as cited in Thomas, 2011 p.137)This quote really surprised me. I have no knowledge of people in other countries use of technology, so to think that almost everyone (teens and young adults) in the entire country uses the internet was shocking. I think of people in America, and even just the people that I know... Not even close to all of us have or even use the internet.
Teachers & Digital Literacies:
The text mentions that "it is important to stress that digital literacy is related to situational embedding, that is, that use of technology with life situations" (Thomas, 2011, p.106). This seems to be especially true in my opinion. If a student's parents are able to provide them with technology at home at a younger age, then their life situation allows for them to be more acclimated to learning new things. If a student doesn't have this particular life situation, then perhaps they aren't introduced to any new technology until they make it to elementary school.
So to answer the question should teachers be responsible for developing digital literacies, I think both yes and no. Yes, because for some students, a teacher is the first person to introduce technology to them. So I do feel it is the teachers' responsibility to make sure that the students have the opportunity and the knowledge they need to be up to par with the technology used in their classroom for their grade level. I don't, however, think that it is up to teachers to teach students how to use Facebook, or Snap chat, or whatever the latest app happens to be.
I do think that developments in digital literacies can support the development of reading practices. Since not all reading is done via a text book, students can pick what they read based on their interests. This has the possibility to make students want to be a better reader because they are interesting in what they are reading. When it comes to writing, I feel that nothing is really going to beat the practice of actually writing to improve. Practice makes perfect, and this especially holds true when it comes to writing.
Resources:
Thomas, M. (Ed.). (2011). Deconstruction Digital Natives: Young People, Technology and the New Literacies. New York, NY: Routledge.
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI can honestly relate to your meme, too! It was a couple of years ago, but I had never heard of Google Docs and all the lovely features that came with it! I was constantly emailing myself papers and notes. It was extremely aggravating. Knowing about new and helpful technology can save us time and headache and it's a wonderful thing. Digital natives feel this way about their new apps and get bored of the old "emailing yourself" apps. Someday the rest of us will catch up! ha!
Amanda - your meme is my favorite part of your posting. It really reflects what the text was talking about in terms of students using to learn the internet academically. Instead of teaching them to "Google It!" they need to learn how to use the tools OF Google. Google Docs is a great application of google.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the reaction to your first included quote, and to add to that, many students do not have the technology available to them at home in order to be adequately skilled.
Being a digital native myself, I still used a flash drive this past year for all my lesson plans, and worried about losing it everyday. I do have google docs and use it, it just did not occur to me to use it for school purposes. Just goes to show you that just because I was born at a certain time, that does not make me an expert on all things technology. I agree with you that it is up to teachers to instruct on proper technology use. You made a good point if students do not have access to the internet, then the teacher is the first person to expose them to it. I know that was true for myself, when I was in elementary school having the internet in your home was brand new, and my first experience with computers was in a specialists computer class.
ReplyDeleteThe quote you chose for chapter 7 was the same one I chose. I agree with you that not all young people are digitally competent. Not every young person has the same opportunities at home or at school. Some get to experience more than others. Some young people may not be interested in digital media like others are. I am considered a digital native, but I feel like I would rather do other things than play with digital media growing up. I am better with it now, but mostly why is because of school and being a teacher. I have to keep up on digital media for my students.
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