Lesson 7: Developing Basic Digital Skills

               Technology has pave its way in the educational system, with this advancement teachers need to shift and to make adjustment with how they teach in order to cater the new learning styles and intelligences of the digital learners. Teachers should not merely the traditional way of teaching but also to consider the modern ways of teaching which are technology-based ones.  This is in order to bridge the gap between the old and new generation learners. Aside from the modern strategies, new skills are also developed. We are not only focused on the 3R’s (reading, writing and ‘rithmetic) but we are also welcoming the innovation of the new literacy skills namely; Solution fluency, Information fluency, Collaboration fluency, Media fluency, Creativity fluency and Digital fluency. With these new literacy skills, it does not mean that we will ignore the 3R’s but instead we will complement the six new skills and the 3R’s to equip students for success in the millennial world.

              

1.      Solution fluency

               This is the capacity of the learners to act and think critically. As the name suggests it refers to the ability of the leaners to solve problems which involves the whole brain. Also, it requires students to be systematic in solving problems. They must execute the following in coming up with a solution, define the problem, design appropriate solution, apply the solution, and assess the process.

2.      Information fluency

               This refers to the ability of the students to gather information not only through the libraries but also with the use of the internet.

3.      Collaboration fluency

               This refers to the ability of the students to work in groups not just in the typical classroom scenario but as well as communicating in the online environment.

4.      Media fluency

               This refers to the skills of the students in using media or digital sources in communicating ideas. Medias may include radio, television, magazine, advertising, graphic arts. The role of the teacher is to evaluate the message in a chosen media, as well as the creativity of the published digital messages.

5.      Creativity fluency

               This refers to the artistic proficiency of the learners in using digital sources in presenting ideas. Font, color, patterns, layout are elements to creative fluency.

6.      Digital ethics

               As the name suggests, ethics refers to the “moral code” of the digital citizens. The digital citizen is guided by principles of leadership, global responsibility, environmental awareness, global citizenship, and personal accountability.

Higher thinking skills

               Entering the new world of information and communication technology opens the way for complex and higher cognitive skills.

              

 The following taxonomy may be proposed:

1.      Remembering- recall information

2.      Understanding- explain ideas

3.      Applying- use information in a new way

4.      Analyzing- distinguishing different parts

5.      Evaluating- justify stand or position

6.      Creating- new product/ point of view

I am very new to the basic digital skills. I never even thought that they exist. For that, I am very thankful in this course- Educational Technology-2 because it had made me aware of how should digital learners be taught and on what are the points to be targeted in order to equip them with the necessary skills and to have a meaningful learning. With the reporting, it was good because they have employed strategy which is role playing that have better explained how the six fluency works in the classroom. These new literacy skills will also be of great help especially in bridging the generation gap brought by technology. Teachers can also decide on how to evaluate these digital learners since they possess different learning styles and techniques in learning things. They will also be guided about the necessary competence to be developed in the learners so that they will become globally competitive individuals.

               What is good in this lesson is that, it really emphasized that there’s no need to eradicate the 3R’s in the educational process but instead it is better to complement these 3r’s with the new literacy skills in order to come up with globally competitive students. Indeed, these innovations are good because as we all know we are not only after on the development of the digital skills but we also need to develop the other skills of the students for holistic learning. Remember that our end goal is- HOLISTIC LEARNING.

               As a future teacher, I will make use of these new literacy skills together with the 3r’s because these will really help me in teaching especially that my future learners are technology-oriented. These will guide me on how to deal with my future learners and will keep me on track on the things that should be taught and to be developed to my learners so that they will become globally competitive individuals. Learning will become an outcomes-based one since these new skills are after on the total development of the learners not just on knowledge but also how to use that knowledge in the real word situation.