My IRG Blog - Digital Literacy in Higher Education: December 2011

Ok, so this week I have been researching as to what the definition of Digital Literacy actually is and I figure that it is difficult to pinpoint, as many people have differing views. First of all to help focus this reflection (which is an incredibly long one at that) I believe the term digital literacy is the process of learning to become digitally literate; in the same sense that literacy (learning to read) is the process to become literate. At the beginning we touched on 8 core competencies which were then ordered; but where did it start? Has someone’s interpretation led the current definition down a different path to the one it was originally headed?

Going back to roughly where digital literacy began means starting with Paul Gilster, the author of Digital Literacy published in 1997. Through his book and a conversation between him and Caroline Pool (A New Digital Literacy: A Conversation with Paul Gilster) his definition of digital literacy “is the ability to understand information and-more important-to evaluate and integrate information in multiple formats that the computer can deliver. Being able to evaluate and interpret information is crucial.” (Pool) In my opinion when reading this I see similarities between this and Bloom’s Taxonomy (shown below) the old version was created by Benjamin Bloom, it is “a classification of levels of intellectual behaviour important in learning.” The new version is an updated Bloom’s taxonomy relevant to the 21^st century. (Odu.edu) After all being digitally literate would imply a person who has gone through all, if not, some of these tiers.

The questions from this are (using the new version);

To be digitally literate how far up the pyramid does one need to be?
In what areas would this apply?

Any digital technology from using a computer to a digital camera?
Basic level competencies – Using Word and the internet?
High level competencies – Coding and Programming tasks?

This leads onto, are there differing levels of digital literacy?

How many levels could be defined?

Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced?
Level 1,2,3,4,5..?

As time progressed, other theories emerged as to the definition of digital literacy. Eshet-Alkalai, Y (2004) stated that digital literacy is referred to as “a large variety of complex cognitive, motor, sociological, and emotional skills, which users need in order to function effectively in digital environments.” This links in with Delors, Learning: The Treasure Within (1996) it highlights that “education throughout life is based on four pillars: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together and learning to be.”

The varying definitions lead to uncertainty over what digital literacy means,

· Does it mean a learning process like Bloom’s Taxonomy? or

· Does it mean a more basic level functionality of education like the four pillars shown above?
· Are these theories effectively the same thing or at least overlap?

From a personal point of view, I believe that like with Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, basic level functions need to be addressed to allow higher level functions to happen. These four pillars are necessary, without the ability to know, do, live together and be; the ability to learn on a higher level is diminished. These functionalities also help to survive at a higher level, which becomes a journey through Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Going back to the 8 core competencies and the order in which I applied them in my first post, the first 6 from cognitive to cultural are within the foundations of this model. They stem from what we know, do, are and how we live together. Critical only occurs once the individual has an understanding and is then evaluating the situation. Creativity applies at the final point when an individual is then creating something. The picture below illustrates my viewpoint.

Looking at an example of someone who, in my opinion, is digitally literate is a person who has a Facebook account; they may or may not be digitally literate to a high level. From an offline perspective this person will need to have the ability to learn and do. The individual would need to be able to ‘live together’ as the site is for social interaction; they will also need to be connected on an emotional level. Without the last 2 they are unlikely to be successful on the networking site (i.e. lack of interaction). From these basic competencies the pyramid follows; knowing how to use the computer and navigate to the social networking site by remembering steps, up to the ability to create a Facebook account and socialise; This framework could work with many different digital literacy scenarios.

In summary I feel that the term digital literacy encapsulates more skills than the main learning chain (Bloom’s taxonomy) it goes deeper than that to basic functional levels. The last picture shown above is my interpretation of a ‘best fit’ definition, it includes all 3 of the theories I have spoken about throughout this post and how they interlink. It shows that digital literacy is not unlike proficiency in any other area, a culmination of various generic skill sets are required to learn. The next question to tackle is where is on this model is one considered as being digitally literate?

References:

Pool, C (1997) Integrating Technology into Teaching. A New Digital Literacy: A Conversation with Paul Gilster. Available at: http:// www.namodemello.com.br/pdf/tendencias/tecnolnocurric.pdf

Odu.edu. Bloom’s Taxonomy. Available at: http://www.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm

Eshet-Alkalai, Y (2004) Digital Literacy: A Conceptual Framework for Survival Skills in the Digital Era. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia. 13.1 pp93

Delors, J (1996) Learning the Treasure Within. Available at: http:// www.see-educoop.net/education_in/pdf/15_62.pdf