Eight Benefits of Digital Media Literacy
A Primary Teacher's Perspective on Digital [Media] LiteracyWhy is important for your students to be digitally literate? Influence on LearningProcessing and Organising Strategies
Examining the influences of technology on learning we discover that students are now required to cope with the exposure to complex information of immense quantities, which are available at incredibly fast speeds Therefore, the way students learn knowledge has changed (Bélisle & Rosado, 2006, as cited in Madigan & Martin, 2006). According to Collins and Halverson (2009) the original goal schools pursue is the ability to cover all the important knowledge that people will need to effectively participate in society. However, research now shows that this is very difficult due to the increased production of knowledge. Therefore, curriculums such as New Zealand's developed the key competencies, a set of skills rather than the knowledge, which assist students in their own acquisition of further knowledge (Ministry of Education, 2009; Hayes, 2010). Learners subsequently require the ability to effectively locate information and tools. They need to evaluate the reliability of their sources, integrate the information, and select the most efficient media tools available to analyse and organise the information in a presentable manner , all skills which digital media literacy teaches (Dede, 2010; Collins & Halverson, 2009). Links to CurriculumNew Zealand's Ministry of Education (2007) envision “young people who will be confident, connected and actively involved lifelong learners” (p. 7). The way they envisage this outplaying is equipping the students with the skills to effectively participate in a changing society, key competencies. Encapsulated within this set of proficiencies is the ability to critically think and make decisions. This skill is taught and directly addressed in a digital literacy framework. For example, digital literacy through the NAMLE (n.d.) framework teaches students to ask specific questions that will enable the learners to gain a more in-depth and refined understanding of media messages . This subsequently requires students to critically think and actively inquire about the messages we create and receive.
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According to Thoman & Jolls (2005)
1. Meets the needs of students to be wise consumers of media, managers of information and responsible producers of their ideas using the powerful multimedia tools of a global mediuea culture. 2. Engages students. . . bringing the world of media into the classroom connects learning with “real life” and validates their media culture as a rich environment for learning. 3. Gives students and teachers alike a common approach to critical thinking that, when internalized, becomes second nature for life. 4. Provides an opportunity for integrating all subject areas and creating a common vocabulary that applies across all disciplines. 5. Helps meet [curriculum] standards while, at the same time using fresh contemporary media content which students love. 6. Increases the ability and proficiency of students to communicate (express) and disseminate their thoughts and ideas in a wide (and growing) range of print and electronic media forms – and even international venues. 7. By focusing on process skills rather than content knowledge, students gain the ability to analyse any message in any media and thus are empowered for living all their lives in a media-saturated culture. 8. Not only benefits individual students but benefits society by providing the key skills needed to successfully participate in modern society” (p. 45). Influences on TeachingAccording to Van Brummelen (2009) in order to embrace and support diverse learners of all abilties teachers are encouraged to offer differentiated instruction or differentiation. A process which technology enriches and makes easier according to Cunningham (n.d.). Therefore, a digitally literate teacher who knows how to effectively utilise technology to help enrich their method of teaching can provide multi-sensory approaches which appeals/addresses all learning styles. For example, computers can respond to students' learning interests and difficulties that students' have; to name a few visual images can be used for visual learners, media devices for tactile learners, and oral instructions for aural learners. Students experiencing difficulties in literacy or numeracy can also receive independent help via online educational programmes specifically devised for their problems such as Numberworks (Hayes, 2010).
This digitally literate ability is highly beneficial for educators because it will build student engagement and it will provide students with alternative forms of motivation by having a greater ability to build upon students' interests. This is because digital media provides easy access to a expanse of diverse sources (Collins & Halverson, 2009). However, the dilemma educators are faced with is the lack of available professional development teaching educators how to use the digital media effectively. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Education has addressed this issue by devising a digital literacy initiative for 2014 (click here for intiative). In this video Craig Cunningham describes how technology can provide multiple approaches for teaching and learning.
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E-learningExamining all the positives associated with the implementation of a digital literacy framework, I was able to recognise that many of these principles are used in the Ministry of Education's "Enabling E-learning" initiative. This resource provides educators with a number of resources to help teachers enable their students to be digital citizens. Nevertheless, New Zealand educators still desire for a digital literacy framework to be designed to collate a number of accessible resources which are proven to effective and successful (Kaye, 2013).
Cross-Curricula IntegrationDue to the flexible nature of the digital literacy skills (assess, evaluate, create, analyse, critique) they can be applied across all the curriculum learning areas . Below is a list of achievement objectives which could be enriched by these digital literacy proficiencies.
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