8/9/2019 Digital Literacy: essential to lifelong learning
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Alannah Jones - Exploring thebenefits of digital literacy
forstudents lifelong learning
I was familiar with the term digital
literacy before embarking on writing
this article. However, I did not give it
much consideration. With the ever-
evolving technologies and ICTs
throughout the last decade, many new
terminologies have emerged. Such as
digital literacy, digital literacy is seen
as essential for the future, for schools,
the work place and everyday life.
However, there is such a vast range of
terminologies attached to the definition
of literacy (Merchant, 2007, p.118).
One definition that I come across is
literacy is the term to use when we
make messages using letters as the
means of recording that message
(Merchant, 2007, p.119). This is a
basic definition of literacy. As Merchant
(2007, p.119) states when referring to
literacy in the educational perspective,
literacy is communication through
written demonstration. However digital
literacy can be seen in a much broader
context, as students are not only
writing and reading texts. By using ICT
technologies students can explore
much larger content via hyperlinks,
enabling them to explore many
different domains (Burnett, 2009, p.23).
Digital literacy requires students to
further analyse images, music and a
variety of multimodalities such as
blogs, personal websites and social
networking sites like Myspace and
Facebook (Burnett, 2009, p.23). I can
see this as advantage to students as
their knowledge is broadening further
than just reading textbooks. As those
with access to new technology are
separate from emerging underclass of
those without (Merchant, 2007,
p.119). It is apparent that people that
have access to a variety of
technologies ultimately have an
advantage over those that do n ot have
as much exposure. As in the 21 st
century it is essential to be digitally
literate.
8/9/2019 Digital Literacy: essential to lifelong learning
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educationseeks toprepareyoung
people to makesenseof theworldand
tothrivesocially, intellectuallyand
economically ague & Payton, ,
p. theyshouldnot ignore thebenefits
of interactionswithdigital technologies
suchashyperlinks, searchengines,
wikisandonline learning
environments. These technologies in
the futurecanhelp in theworkplaceas
well as learningappropriatedigitally
literatecommunication ineveryday life.
It isessential that schoolsbegin to
considerdigital literacyaspart of the
schoolscurriculum as theyare
ultimatelybenefiting theirstudents
future in learning.
References
Black. G This Changing World:Technology, Teaching and
Learning,Teacher Magazine, volume 203, pp. 16 -19.
Burnett. Research into literacyand technology in primary
classrooms: anexploration of understanding generated byrecent
studies. Journal of Research inReading, Volume , Issue , pp
-37.
avies. J .A Space for Play:Crossing Boundaries and Learning
Onlinech. . In V. arrington & M. RobinsonEds. igital
Literacies: Social Learningand lassroom Practices, pp. 7 -
4 ,viewed th July , Universityofanberra E Reserve.
ague. & Payton. S Digitalliteracy across the curriculum, [
ebsite]Retrieved th July, from:Future lab:innovation
ineducationhttp://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/publications-reports-
articles/handbooks/Handbook1706
Merchant. G 007)Writing the future inthe digital age, Literacy,
Volume 41,number3, pp.118 127.
Merchant. G 2009)Literacy in VirtualWorlds, Journal of Research
in Reading,Volume32, Issue1, pp. 38 56.
Siemens. G &Tittenberger.P 2009)Handbook of Emerging
Technologies forLearning. [ ebsite] Retrieved29 thJuly,2010
from:Universityof Manitoba,
anadahttp://umanitoba.ca/learning_technologies/cetl/HETL.pdf
Siemens. G &Tittenberger.P 2009)
Handbook of Emerging Technologies forLearning. [ ebsite]
Retrieved29 thJuly,2010 from:Universityof Mani toba,
anadahttp://umanitoba.ca/learning_technologies/cetl/HETL.pdf
Imagereceived from lip Art 2008)
