What Digital Literacy Looks Like in a Classroom

What Digital Literacy Looks Like in a Classroom

The Wonders of Technology

In the article, "What Digital Literacy Looks Like in a Classroom", author, Brianna Crowley, shares how she uses the technological advances of today into her classroom to make the connection between education and how to use technology in the classroom to further the education of our students. She addresses the question, "what does it mean to "digitally literate"?" and answers it with the definition of the New York Department of Education definition of, "having the knowledge and ability to use a range of technology tools for varied purposes". Because of the technological advances, everybody is familiar with the internet, smart phones, laptops, tablets, computers, etc, and in some way it is hard not to say that people today are not affected by technology in some way.

A great statement Crowley makes is when she says, "many of us wrestle with how technology is shifting they way kids learn" because it is true. The way younger generations learn has been affected by the way technology has advanced and their high amounts of usage with it. So why not create a classroom with digital literacy where we are using apps that many students are familiar with to relate to their learning in the classroom? In her article supporting digital literacy, Crowley goes on to talk about the various ways she incorporates apps such as Twitter, Google A Day, Instagram, etc into her classroom and the difference she has seen with her students' behaviors towards learning, and she highly encourages for all teachers to create digital literacy in their classroom.

However...

To be honest, I really disagreed with the article on numerous points made. Although I agree that teachers should use more technology in the classrooms, especially with younger generations growing up in a world of advanced technology, I don't think that teachers need to centralize their curriculum around the use of technology. There are many reasons why I believe this, but in short here are the three main reasons why teacher's shouldn't centralize their curriculum around technology:

1. Not all schools have the funding to support a technology-rich curriculum.
2. Not all students have the necessary technological tools to use in the classroom.
3. Creativity in the curriculum will begin to disappear.

As I was reading the article and came across my first reason and second for not liking it, I was pleased to read at the end that someone commented on the same concern I had. I don't know who Ford is or what their background in education might be, but I think they are absolutely right when they say, "Until we ensure that every student has equal access opportunities to technology, every day, digital literacy goals will not be realized by everyone". Even though it is hard to imagine someone without the daily access of a smart phone, laptop, computer, tablet, etc, There are still many students in low-income communities nation-wide that don't have easy access to the internet and their only way is to go to their local public library after school or on the weekends. Schools in low-income areas struggle with funding for basic materials like textbooks, and having to fund enough technological tools (i.e. computers, laptops, and/or tablets) for students is pretty much out of the question.

Another concern that entered my mind as I read the article came after Crowley was explaining how she brings digital literacy into the classroom by saying, "I've used Google A Day challenges to teach my students advanced search strategies". Although it seems that Google A Day is a great app to use, the statement made me think of what future lesson plans will look like. Using technology can be very creative in a curriculum, but after a certain point are teachers really going to be thinking of different apps to use for activities and projects or will everything be copy and paste from the internet? Will the actual lesson plans be individually created by the teacher, or will there be one app that teachers can go on and pick and choose what activities they want to use in their lessons and which outlines and/or presentations to use for their classrooms? The internet is great because so much information and ideas are accessed globally, but too much information can lead to mindless copying and pasting ideas, methods, strategies, etc into a lesson plan to the point where the teacher doesn't need to think of what they want in their curriculum.

I'm not saying that we, as teachers, shouldn't try to find ways of bringing technology into the classroom, but I don't believe that our entire lesson plans should be entirely centered around it. Along with that, a final question came to my mind after reading the article that really bothered me at the end when Crowley asks, "Are you preparing students to use devices and technology successfully?" My final question; Is it every teacher's responsibility to teach students how to use technological devices? Should it?