We live during a time in which new technologies continuously appear online, requiring additional skills to effectively read, write, and learn, sometimes on a daily basis.
This is why teacher's allowing their students to access this information with little regulation is so important. Students need to learn for themselves how to interact and face the challenges of new technology, with teachers there to guide them.
Technology and content knowledge have a deep historical relationship. Progress in fields as diverse as medicine, history, archeology, and physics have coincided with the development of new technologies that afford the representation and manipulation of data in new and fruitful ways.
I believe all of these coincide with pedagogy. As technology advances in medicine in history, new studies can help determine the way children have historically reacted to different stimuli and the like, helping to cater to different pedagogical methods.
Traditional education is failing to engage many students as they enter their middle school, high school, and college years. The culture clash between formal education and interest-driven, out-of-school learning is escalating in today’s world where social communication and interactive content is always at our fingertips. We need to harness these new technologies for learning rather than distraction.
I think this statement and the proof behind it is the main reason why digitally literate teachers incorporating and harnessing the power of technology in the classroom is so important.
Students will use an understanding of the elements of good nutrition to plan a balanced diet for themselves and others
This goes back to the idea of letting students come to their own conclusions, just giving them the tools they need.
Stage 1: Desired ResultsWhat long-term transfer goals are targeted?What meanings should students make in order to arrive at important understandings?What essential questions will students explore?What knowledge and skill will students acquire?What established goals/standards are targeted?
This reminds me a lot of Dr. Lanahan's teachings about vertical alignment. You need to know your destination is Tennesse before you leave your driveway, and you need to map it out so you don't accidentally go to Florida.
Think of the use of social media during the Arab Spring. People used social media in a way that went far beyond knowing how to click and deep into civic uses and navigating ways to communicate with others under the radar of a communication-hindering government. It was a way of both encouraging one another to remain critical and supporting one another through adversity in creative ways.
Digital literacy isn't learning which hashtag to use on twitter, it's understanding the effective use of the platform you are interacting with. Digital literacy helped profoundly with this huge group of activists even when under the watchful eye of oppressive regimes. One can only imagine what students in the west could do with their creative tools if they understand how to effectively use them.
Managing and maintaining the privacy and security of your digital identity through behaviors and digital tool settings.
This is obviously becoming more and more important in today's world, as kids are getting more and more bold on the web and feel less cautious with their interactions.
Understanding basic principles, purpose, and applications of coding and programming languages.
It's so important for anyone to consider themselves web literate to at least understand the foundation of coding. We have access to so much information at the touch of a button but not many have any idea how it works.