The 21st Century Fluency
Project (21st CFP) outlines that today’s children are different to
any other past generation due to their constant exposure and use of digital
media (21st CFP:2). Palfrey and Gasser (2008:3) mirror this view
stating ‘this is the most rapid period of technological transformation ever’.
‘Teachers are on the front lines’ (Palfrey
and Gasser 2008:10) and they have a responsibility to ensure digital literacy
is part of children’s lives. However, the project states that there is a gap
between pupils learning preferences and educator preferences. Schools tend to
accept new technology only when it reinforces old conventions of teaching which
presents that teachers are not aware of the benefits of using digital literacy
in the classroom (McDougall). The project suggests that to be a good teacher is
not to be a good disciplinarian, but to teacher for engagement and motivation
(21st CFP:2).
‘Educators must become learners themselves,
and discover the digital world’ (21st CFP:5) and there are many
benefits of having knowledge of this world.
The project states, one valuable benefit is having digital media resources in
school as they are effective as an alternative to standard resources and can
help lower achievers. This is something I observed working well within school,
especially to assist children with SEN, to motivate them to learn through the
use of iPads.
The project also notes that ‘schools may
be missing a huge opportunity to leverage digital and social networking tool as
powerful learning resources’ (21st CFP:9). Currently, new digital
technologies are ‘primary mediators of human-to-human connections’ for young
people, and the project believes social online communities, are beneficial to
schools, pupils and parents for aspects such as homework and integrating
technologies they are interested in and use at home (McDougall). The
connections that people can make are ones that they would never had chance to
make in the offline world (Palfrey and Gasser 2008:5).
In conclusion, the project states to
bridge divide we need to ‘meet the digital generation half way and embrace
their world as we expect them to embrace ours’ (21st CFP:12). Therefore,
the implications for teachers are to balance their current teaching whilst
integrating digital literacy to motivate and interest children’s learning further.
Bibliography
McDougall, S. One table or two? Opportunities for change in educational provision in
the next 20 years. Futurelab: http://archive.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/discussion_papers/One_tablet_or_two.pdf
(accessed 23/01/13)
Palfrey, J. & Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital: Understanding The First
Generation of Digital Natives New York: Basic Books
The 21st century Fluency
Project Understanding Digital Kids II
This is a really interesting summary it means rather than a divide it's more like a melting pot with digital natives and teachers learning from each other
ReplyDeleteI really like this idea of collaborating and working together to create a better curriculum that supports both a digital, and trradition world.
ReplyDeleteI found this interesting, as I also found the same view when reading about the topic. It seems to be an agreed advantage to integrate the traditional literacy world and the new, however it is evident that teachers are still hesitant in making the necessary changes.
ReplyDelete