What do other people think?
First stop: Twitter, naturally, to see what some of my followers thought. Click on the tweet I posted (below) to see what the raw responses were, and I'll summarise underneath it. Any more responses (either in reply to this tweet or using the included hashtag) would be very welcome.
What does "digital literacy" mean to you?#digitalliteracymeans pic.twitter.com/VRpL0xMpgB— Tommaths (@TeaKayB) June 15, 2019
Some common themes from these responses (and from chatting to people about it elsewhere):
- Digital literacy isn't necessarily about knowing how to do things with technology, but knowing how to find out how to do things when you want to (paraphrased from @CantabKitty).
- Part of this is being able to navigate technology (whether an app, website, or device) by recognising common features such as icons and menu structures (paraphrased from @RJS2212).
- On a similar theme to these is @neilnjae's suggestion that digital literacy is the ability to use computer-based tools to do the things you're actually interested in.
- @Loumeracy summed things up nicely with the idea that it's all about "understanding the digital environment and how to navigate it competently and effectively."
- A number of responses were along the lines of "not believing everything you read online," which I hadn't considered before asking this question of others.
How about the literature?
There's a wealth of writing and research out there, and we were given some links to browse as part of this task. Some of these include:
The Welsh Digital Competence Framework
Find it here: https://hwb.gov.wales/curriculum-for-wales-2008/digital-competence-framework/framework/
This is a full framework covering all stages of school education in Wales (which is practically the same as for the rest of the UK) and has been structured to be familiar to anyone who has seen the National Literacy and Numeracy Framework. It's massive, and the whole thing can be viewed in parts online or downloaded as a spreadsheet from the link above, but in summary it splits key skills into four strands with elements summarised as follows (table reproduced from https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/hwb-live-storage/6e/7f/33/19/c3494e069deaeab755d4c156/digital-competence-framework-guidance-2018.pdf):
| Citizenship | Interacting & collaborating | Producing | Data & Computational Thinking |
|---|---|---|---|
| - Identity - Wellbeing - Digital rights - Online behaviour |
- Communication - Collaboration - Storing - Sharing |
- Planning & sourcing - Creating - Evaluating & improving |
- Problem solving - Modelling - Data and information literacy |
In case you're interested, there's a draft available for an updated framework due to begin implementation in 2022. It's here: https://hwb.gov.wales/draft-curriculum-for-wales-2022/digital-competence-framework-draft-curriculum-for-wales-2022-version/
A similar idea to the Welsh framework, I've summarised the information at the link above into the table below ordering the columns to facilitate comparison between the two:
The main difference is that the European framework splits its elements into five categories, with the final two columns in this table being the final column from the table summarising the Welsh framework split into two. The other headings match up quite well, with a few elements appearing under different columns. An important difference is that "use digital tools to innovate" and "keep up to date with the digital evolution" from this framework don't appear to have an analogue in the Welsh one. They may well be covered in the detail of the Welsh framework, but I think they're important enough that they should be a "top level" skill.
Jisc, formally JISC (which stood for the Joint Information Systems Committee) is a not-for-profit organisation providing digital services and solutions to the UK Higher and Further education sectors. They do a lot of research and development work into educational technologies, and have a number of interesting things to say about what they're calling "Education 4.0", the educational aspect of "Industry 4.0", or the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
This document starts off by quoting the UK Government: "within two decades, 90% of jobs will require some digital proficiency, yet 23% of adults lack basic digital skills." Jisc believes that digital skills are "non-negotiable" for future generations of students to be successful. They argue that strategies must be put in place alongside staff (and leaders) with appropriate skills. A digital capabilities framework is proposed, with lifelong learning an important part of updating the skills of the current workforce.
They contributed to the development of the Welsh Digital Competence Framework discussed earlier and seem to be advocating that the UK Government develops something similar. As it stands, the UK Government's Essential Digital Skills Framework is much less comprehensive.
There's not much here about what Jisc means by "digital literacy" but they do list a few benefits to increasing it generally. Jisc.ac.uk has a wealth of information
The European Digital Competence Framework
Find it here: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/digcomp/digital-competence-frameworkA similar idea to the Welsh framework, I've summarised the information at the link above into the table below ordering the columns to facilitate comparison between the two:
| Safety | Communication & Collaboration | Digital Content Creation | Information and Data Literacy | Problem Solving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| - Protecting devices, content personal data & privacy - Physical & psychological health - Social well-being & inclusion - Environmental impact of digital technologies |
- Interaction - Communication - Collaboration - Awareness of cultural & generational diversity - Citizenship - Identity & reputation |
- Creating & editing - Improving & integrating content into an existing body of knowledge - Understanding copyright & licensing - Giving understandable instructions for a computer system |
- Articulate information needs - Sourcing information, data & content - Storing, managing & organising |
- Identify needs & problems - Resolve conceptual problems - Use digital tools to innovate - Keep up to date with the digital evolution |
The main difference is that the European framework splits its elements into five categories, with the final two columns in this table being the final column from the table summarising the Welsh framework split into two. The other headings match up quite well, with a few elements appearing under different columns. An important difference is that "use digital tools to innovate" and "keep up to date with the digital evolution" from this framework don't appear to have an analogue in the Welsh one. They may well be covered in the detail of the Welsh framework, but I think they're important enough that they should be a "top level" skill.
Jisc Fourth Industrial Revolution Response
Find it here: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/digital-skills-crucial-to-the-success-of-fourth-industrial-revolution-28-jun-2018
| Industry 1.0 | Industry 2.0 | Industry 3.0 | Industry 4.0 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Much greater mechanisation; steam and water power | Mass production on assembly lines; widespread use of electricity | Modern computers and automation | Robotiocs & biotechnology; ubiquitous use of digital networks; artificial intelligence; the Internet of Things & "smart" technologies; 3D printing |
This document starts off by quoting the UK Government: "within two decades, 90% of jobs will require some digital proficiency, yet 23% of adults lack basic digital skills." Jisc believes that digital skills are "non-negotiable" for future generations of students to be successful. They argue that strategies must be put in place alongside staff (and leaders) with appropriate skills. A digital capabilities framework is proposed, with lifelong learning an important part of updating the skills of the current workforce.
They contributed to the development of the Welsh Digital Competence Framework discussed earlier and seem to be advocating that the UK Government develops something similar. As it stands, the UK Government's Essential Digital Skills Framework is much less comprehensive.
There's not much here about what Jisc means by "digital literacy" but they do list a few benefits to increasing it generally. Jisc.ac.uk has a wealth of information
What does "digital literacy" mean to me?
The idea of "digital literacy" clearly spans a vast array of skills, but which are the most important? If I had to list just a handful of prerequisite skills to master before being confident that one is digitally literate, I'd probably pick:- Ability to recognise problems which may be solved using digital technologies;
- Ability to seek out digital tools which may help to solve these problems;
- Ability to develop personal skills in using these tools, through a mixture of experimentation, research and the experience of others;
- An awareness of the potential risks associated with using digital tools, and steps to take to reduce them.
Whilst clearly of paramount importance, the "not believing everything you read on the internet" skill is not, to me, a specific requirement of digital literacy, but part of a broader and crucial life skill. In many situations this would be covered in specifically "digital" situations by my final bullet point.
What do you think? Comment/ tweet away!
