Why should
teachers care about digital literacy?
I have been
focusing on ‘Toxic Childhood’ by Sue Palmer who views the modern world to be
damaging children and consequently details what she feels we can do to help and
prevent this effect.
Palmer (2006)
views the pressures associated with having the latest electronic devices as an
“assault on childhood” (p252). In this way she feels it is important for us to
protect young people from the forces of marketing as now more than ever
children associate lack of money with a lack of dignity. Therefore, as myself
and my peers suggested in our seminar discussion, it may be useful for teachers
to educate children on how to identify advertisements which are just trying to
encourage sales against those which are created to raise awareness and will
help others.
A particularly negative
idea which Palmer suggests is how more than ever technology has become the
electronic baby sitter. A consequence of children being exposed to images which
change rapidly through television, is that many young people now expect a
higher level of simulation than was is available in real life. As a result, the
risk of young people having attention problems has increased. However, Audain (2014) expresses the potential
benefits that television can provide children. He explains that educational programs by the BBC such as the ‘Horrible History’ can aid children in their work as it explores
different periods within our history and is aimed specifically at
children. An aspect of digital literacy
which Palmer describes as a risk is the use of the internet as parental blocks
and filters can be unreliable and as a result children can often be bombarded
with violent ideas, explicit sexual references and bad language. However, Smith
(1999) stresses the importance for teachers to educate children on how to access
and use the internet safely and provide them with the knowledge on how to
navigate correctly.
Although Palmer
does focus on the negatives surrounding digital literacy, she does suggest some
potential benefits it can present. For example how technology has dissolved the
geographical and national boundaries as you can feel as close to a neighbour as
those who are in our world community. Walker (1998) also supports the power
digital literacy holds when communicating as she expresses how the links children may have with pen pals could be stronger as a result of video conferencing,
photographs and emails. I have experienced the power that technology can create as a
teacher from my current placement has just moved to teach abroad. For this, the children from the class in England have pen pals from the teacher’s new class and they send photos
and video’s to each other throughout the year. This communication with the wider world is seen by Walker (1998) to broaden children's horizons.
However, Palmer
believes that for children to access the benefits digital literacy can provide,
they need to stick to democratic principles. These are that children still need
to think, learn and behave well enough to get themselves an education; they
also need the security of a real human family with opportunities to experience
and learn about the world first hand. She
expresses that electronic devices have invaded every aspect of our home and
work lives meaning we are surrounded by devices constantly. Therefore, to take
back control and access these benefits, we need to reinvent the ‘off switch’ to ensure digital literacy is used in moderation (Palmer, 2006) (Audain, 2014). This idea of learning through hands on
experiences supports Piaget’s constructivist approach that children need to actively
participate in order for learning to occur rather than being passive receptors
of information (Pritchard, 2008).
Sources:
Audain, A., (2014) The Ultimate Guide To Using ICT Across The Curriculum, London and New York: Bloomsbury.
Palmer, S., (2006) Toxic Childhood: How the Modern World is Damaging Our Children and What We
Can Do About It London: Orien (Chapter 9)
Pritchard, A., (2008) Ways of Learning, Learning theories and learning styles in the classroom (2nd Edition) London and New York: Routledge.
Smith, H., (1999) Opportunities for information and
communication technology in the Primary School, Staffordshire: Trentham Books
Limited.
I was surprised by the negative views that Palmer seems to have as to the use of electronic devices. The reading that I was given i.e. Futurelab, highly contradicts this as it suggests that digital literacy is an integral part of the curriculum. This reading is definitely something that I will look into.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly to Palmer, I read 'Born Digital' by Palfrey and Gasser, and they discussed both the negative and positive implications of technology to give a more balanced view than Palmer, it would seem. Interestingly, Palmer has written about children's overuse of technology, whereas Palfrey and Gasser made little mention of this and were more concerned about what children were doing with digital media (e.g. revealing private information, seeing explicit material etc). I think that the issue of how much time children spend using digital media is an important one, as I suppose both texts infer that it will be teachers and parents responsibility to regulate children's time on digital devices.
ReplyDeleteYes, she was quite negative however, I did find the points raised about how technology can be used as a benefit to be very interesting. I feel similarly to yourself I now feel reading 'Future Lab' would provide me with the opposite view point.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I do totally agree the importance of highlighting what children are using the internet for. As I sometimes believe that children can be left unattended when using the internet and navigation's can lead to a number of places. Even pop ups can display information which may not be age appropriate for the child.