Week 5 (1) - Should teachers care about digital literacy?

Why should teachers care about digital literacy?  

In this blog entry, I will be referring to several BBC articles to support my discussion concerning whether or not teachers should care about digital literacy.

Mark Ward (2013) argues that online computer games, however much time children spend on them, ultimately have a large contribution to children’s increasing computer skills and control. This idea is supported by Hudson (2013) who states that interactive computer games help children to build their understanding of giving a computer basic instructions to follow. Research (Ward 2013 and Hudson 2013) outlines that having frequent contact with computers and similar technologies educates children to be able to appropriately use the internet, search for information, open and send e-mails, download and install new software, upload and edit videos and pictures and communicate with others on software such as Skype. All of these skills are essential in the modern age, as technology is a large part of every-day life.

Teachers should give serious thought to including digital literacy in their classrooms as it gives a different, more practical dimension to education and provides an enjoyable relief from experiments and textbooks that are commonly associated with the classroom environment (Hudson, 2013). In addition, children are presented with an opportunity to solve various problems using their knowledge of programming, which teaches children to continuously save their work and keep back-ups. In turn, children learn a variety of issues that can arise from managing server-type systems. As well as this, using technology in the classroom can help children that are lacking confidence both academically and socially, to build relationships online and produce work that they would not write down.

However, many parents are highly concerned that their children are spending a great amount of their free-time engrossed in a computer screen, tablet or mobile device, which is believed to not be massively educational (Ward, 2013). Another concern that parents have is that their children have a decreasing desire to explore new environments and play outdoors. Being an active user of the Internet means that children can be contacted by millions of people from across the world (Harrison, 2013). This means that teachers, parents and guardians need to be fully aware of what children are doing when they are online and should be sure to inform them of the dangers of the Internet, whilst also educating children about Internet safety.

In every primary school that I have worked in, the teacher outlines the safety precautions of using the internet to the children, before allowing them to use a computer. This was particularly effective, as all children knew and understood how to appropriately use the internet and what to avoid. As well as this, there were posters displayed on the walls around the computer rooms to remind children of the rules that they were asked to follow, in order to protect themselves online. Research (Hudson, 2013) explains that different forms of technology at home surround children, as a result of their parents using certain devices. As a result of this, teachers should make sure that children are aware of Internet safety, so that they are careful online in school and at home.

To conclude, teachers should encourage children to be digitally literate, as this presents them with plenty of opportunity to develop their computer skills and work in a different media. As well as this, children learn that cognitive skills which can support the learning in the classroom across the curriculum.

Bibliography

- Harrison, A. (2013) Cyber-bullying: Horror in the home. BBC News Magazine, Saturday 17 August 2013

- Hudson, A. (2013) Angry Birds game fires into the classroom. BBC News Magazine, Friday 27 September 2013

- Ward, M. (2013) Why Minecraft is more than just another video game. BBC News Magazine, Saturday 7 September 2013