Literacy in the 21st Century Digital World

Literacy and technology. These two words strike a chord within every educator. They evoke a myriad of emotions, ideas, and dispositions. As pillars of modern education, each stands to be an essential tenet of any educational movement or initiative.

Together, they hold the power to impact not only the educational system but an entire society. This is not a book about building a vision for an idealistic educational utopia. Instead, this book acknowledges the realities and challenges that educators face every day and presents practical strategies for producing real results.

In the business world, results typically focus on customer satisfaction, return on investment (ROI), and of course the bottom line. In education, the bottom line is student learning. Realizing an increase in student performance indicators requires a strategic, concerted effort toward instructional improvement. This usually involves teacher professional development.

This article describes a framework for planning and implementing an authentic, job-embedded professional development program for in-service teachers that focuses on incorporating digital literacies into the comprehensive curriculum of a school or organization. The framework is modular and highly adaptable in order to meet the unique needs of diverse contexts. It capitalizes on personnel and resources that are already available internally, and it is within reach of anyone who is willing to put the necessary time and effort into implementing it within his or her institution.

Defining Digital Literacies 

Digital literacies represent in whole the essential skills for managing information and communication in the rapidly changing and increasingly digital world that is the 21st century. The term digital literacies is plural (e.g., literacies) because it encompasses a broad spectrum. There is not merely one single digital literacy. Furthermore, digital is the most appropriate descriptor because it acknowledges the irrevocable impact that technology has made—and will continue to exert—on literacy.

The term new literacies is being used increasingly in a similar context to that which is being described here. However, to replace the word digital with new would risk implying that something might fall off the list at some point when it is no longer on the cutting edge. Any other substitute would only narrow the scope of literacy and further exclude essential elements that cannot be overlooked in a comprehensive treatment of literacy.

Digital literacies are not merely about gaining new technology skills, learning to use new tools, or even simply applying those tools in teaching and learning. Instead, digital literacies are the highly adaptable skills that actually enable us to leverage those technical skill sets and navigate the information superhighway. Rather than locking us into skills and techniques that are relevant now but may change tomorrow, digital literacies make us ready for the present and the future, regardless of what it looks like.

Indeed, digital literacies are not static benchmarks that can be arrived at and maintained. The ability to constantly adapt existing skills and develop new ones when appropriate is essential in a rapidly changing society with technologies that are advancing at an unfathomable pace.

Computer Literacy

Computer literacy refers to the ability to use computers and related technology—such as software and hardware devices—with a certain level of efficiency. Just as competency requirements for any type of literacy are typically defined differently by various entities, so are the exact skills and abilities that are deemed necessary in order to be considered computer literate. Some views of computer literacy focus on software skills related to Microsoft Office and performing basic computer functions.

However, a more complete definition of computer literacy acknowledges not just one’s ability to operate computers and use specific programs. Instead, it identifies individuals who have the fluency required to learn to use new software and hardware with considerable independence by employing appropriate methods of learning such as hands-on exploration and locating and obtaining relevant learning resources.

It makes sense that an individual’s level of computer literacy might be correlated with the degree of hands-on computer experience that he or she is afforded. Those who have access to modern technology—and those who do not—are separated by a so-called digital divide. Schools are faced with the challenge of bridging the digital divide in order to instill computer literacies and ultimately digital literacies into their students.

Cultural Literacy 

Decades ago when the push for the arts in education began in full force, there was an emphasis on encouraging the development of well-rounded students through exposure to and participation in music, art, theater, and the like. This was an early push for the expansion of traditional literacy—a sort of cultural literacy—much like these other forms of literacy are today in our digital society.

Game Literacy 

Individuals who demonstrate game literacy are familiar with the conventions of games and are able to assimilate gaming concepts into otherwise distant contexts, such as academic and professional scenarios. Whereas basic literacy involves decoding and interpreting texts within a broad range of contexts, game literacy encompasses the ability to decode the content of a game and interpret it within the context of human culture, the game itself, other games and genres, and the gaming technology.

While discussion of game literacy often focuses on videogames, a more comprehensive definition might also touch on the use of badges and other game mechanics for the gamification of learning and other experiences that would otherwise bear no resemblance to a game.

Media Literacy 

Media literacy is first and foremost about being a savvy consumer in terms of how media and marketing messages are received. It is the ability to identify, interpret, and analyze the seemingly endless array of messages conveyed through increasingly diverse media that have become pervasive in today’s society. A list of examples could span many pages but would include television commercials, billboards, magazine ads, graphic tees, robocalls, product placement in films, door hangers, and even those sponsored Twitter and Facebook posts that are pinned to the top of your social media feed.

While media literacy is primarily about how messages are perceived, it also encompasses the ability to strategically produce and distribute media messages using appropriate channels of communication (and these channels may or may not be digital).

The Internet, social networking, and new online niche entrepreneurs have enabled the average citizen to become a media-literate producer by launching YouTube videos that become viral, advertising products through Facebook pages, and having custom T-shirts screen-printed for pennies and posted for sale online at the click of a button. Media literacy is sometimes discussed in combination with critical literacy, although critical literacy certainly expands beyond the realm of media.

Multimedia Literacy 

Multimedia literacy might be used synonymously with media literacy, but multimedia literacy can also be applied with greater specificity to the use of multimedia tools such as video, audio, animation, and slideshows to convey information and manage communication. Too often is the poorly authored slideshow or haphazardly assembled video used in the classroom, on stage, or online to convey otherwise legitimate information to an audience that will be swayed more significantly by the multimedia than by the content.

Like so many of the other literacies described in this section, multimedia literacy certainly involves the skilled use of technology tools, but its overarching idea is in how those tools are used and the messages that are conveyed and perceived.

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