Blog 6: Why should teachers care about digital literacy and childhood in the digital age?

This blog is based on my given reading, Hague, C, and Payton, S (2010). ‘Digital Literacy across the Curriculum’, discussions from seminars and my own observations and experiences.

To be digitally literate is to have access to a broad range of practices and cultural resources that you are able to apply to digital tools (Hague and Payton, 2010).  It is the ability to make and share meaning in different modes and formats; and to create, collaborate and communicate effectively and to understand how and when digital technologies can best be used to support these processes (Hague and Payton, 2010).  As digital technology is now a central aspect in most people’s lives, the skills, knowledge and understanding of digital literacy are becoming crucial as young people grow up in a digital society. Therefore, this implies that teachers and education systems need to help young people to understand and benefit from their engagement with digital technology and digital cultures and provide ways to make subject learning relevant to the society children are growing up in (Hague and Payton, 2010).

Digital technology is a vital part of children’s culture and society therefore, teachers need to make subject learning relevant to this in the classroom. Hague and Payton (2010) suggest that this will provide children with the skills, knowledge and understanding that will help them to take a full and active part in their social, cultural, economic, civic and intellectual life now and in the future (Hague and Payton, 2010).  The Departments for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS, 2009) and Business, Innovation and Skill (BIS, 2009) published the Digital Britain report which argued that the digital skills, motivation and confidence of all citizens needed to be developed in order to enhance their participation in the digital world. This therefore, implies that teachers need to equip children with the skills that are considered essential for their future roles in a digital economy (Hague and Payton, 2010). 

Teachers should promote the use of children’s digital knowledge and experiences from outside the classroom into their learning within the classroom. Hague and Payton, (2010) state that if children see that their outside experiences are valued, then they will be more willing and motivated to learn. By fostering digital literacy in subject teaching, practitioners are not only acknowledging and reflecting young peoples’ lived experiences of digital media cultures, they are supporting their students to extend their knowledge and become critical and discerning participants in their own in-school learning (Hague and Payton, 2010).  A focus on digital literacy in the classroom can help children to expand and extend their use of technology for creativity and self-expression and develop a greater understanding of the complexities of what they’re doing (Hague and Payton, 2010). However, a limitation of this that needs to be considered within my own practice is that the use of technology children experience in schools is sometimes not relevant to the ways they are communicating and discovering information outside of school (Hague and Payton, 2010). Therefore, Hague and Payton (2010) suggest that the learning may have little or no relevance on their lives, concerns, interest and perceived futures.  

 Another reason why teachers should support the use of digital literacy and technologies in their practice is because it can be used to enhance children’s learning of subject knowledge. Hague and Payton (2010) state that teachers and learners need to be able to make sense of the digital media and technology world and the way that it has the potential to impact upon traditional subject knowledge. Due to this, teachers are increasingly encouraged to embed the use of ICT in all subject areas across the Primary Curriculum (DfEe, 1998, 2013). If technology is used effectively within subjects, it can help support young people to be effective, competent, critical students of that subject in the digital age and in relation to their digital society. It provides children with the skills of how to access information and subject knowledge in different forms in order to develop subject expertise. I have seen this used within a classroom setting, where children used ipads to independently access and develop their learning within phonics.

However, a limitation that needs to be addressed in relation to my own practice is that students can find it difficult to work out whether the information they find on websites they do not recognise is trustworthy, with many of them relying on their chosen search engine to display the most relevant and reliable websites at the top of the list of search results (Hague and Payton, 2010). However, teachers can help support this by engaging young children in developing more competent search skills and critical thinking skills that allow them to question and determine the reliability of information they find on the internet.

 A final limitation that needs to be discussed and that could have implications in my own practice, is that there is still relatively little information and guidance on how to integrate digital literacy into the classroom and subjects (Hague and Payton, 2010). This therefore, links to my previous blogs and seminar discussions about teachers feeling they lack in skills and understanding of using technology within the classroom.

 

Departments for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS, 2009) & Business, Innovation and Skill (BIS, 2009) ‘Digital Britain Report’, Surrey, Available online at : http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/digitalbritain-finalreport-jun09.pdf

 

Department for Education and Employment (2013) The National Curriculum for England, ‘Key Stages 1-4’, Qualification and Curriculum Authority: London

Department for Education and Employment (1999) key stages 1-4: The National Curriculum for England. DfE: London


Hague, C, & Payton, S (2010) Digital Literacy across the Curriculum, Futurelab, Available at http://www2.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/handbooks/digital_literacy.pdf