Kathaleen
McDonald
Dr.
Wielgos
Senior
Seminar
14 September 2017
Response Five: Digital Literacy & Information
Competency Inside & Outside the Academy
The passages I found the most
interesting in Hartley’s The Uses of
Digital Literacy were “Repurposing Education for Innovation,” “Educating
Teachers,” “Creative Educators?” and “’Those Who Tell
Stories Rule Society’—Narrative Science.” As a future educator, I want to
know the ways that I can incorporate digital literacy in my classroom. As we
delve deeper into the twenty-first century, it is imperative that students
learn how to navigate the internet, as well as know how to use technologies
such as iPads and tablets. These things are being used in their everyday lives,
so it is extremely important that those technologies are included in the
classroom.
I think one of the most important
quotes I found in the section “Repurposing Education for Innovation” is this,
“the teenager is intuitively oriented to the future. Public policy needs to think
of the daydreaming mischievous teenager not as a threat but as an opportunity,
even though actual manifestations of teenage-led creative innovation may not
always present such a pretty sight” (27). Teenagers are extremely focused
toward the future—where they will go to college, what classes they will take
next year, when the new iPhone will come out—and emerging technologies need to
be included into their instruction. We need to stop “fearing” the teenager, and
recognize that they are the main consumers of technology. What is working in
the world of technology is because of teenagers, and educators need to be
mindful of that.
Another quote that really hit me was
in the section “Creative Educators?” taken from Sir Ken Robinson, “we need
different styles of education and different priorities. We cannot meet the
challenges of the 21st century with the educational ideologies of
the 19th” (33). This is absolutely true. We cannot purely lecture
anymore. We can teach Hamlet, but we
must incorporate different and useful technologies when we teach it. When we
incorporate technology in the classroom we are not just teaching a literacy
skill, we are also teaching a life skill (34), which I think is so important.
Finally, the section “’Those Who
Tell Stories Rule Society’—Narrative Science” reminded me why I’m an English
major. Hartley says near the end of the section that “stories are a social technology for passing on a model
for how to navigate complex adaptive networks to succeeding generations. Stores
are about how it feels and what it
takes for a new ‘node’ to connect to a network, to navigate its topography, and
to develop sufficient links to become a hub” (119). We read literature and see
film because it helps us understand ourselves and the world around us. We teach
the classics because they are valuable (and classics for a reason) and we teach
young adult literature because it helps teens understand themselves and the
world around them just a little better (but young adult literature can be read
and enjoyed by adults as well). If we are to teach literature and show the
importance of storytelling, technology needs to be involved, whether it is a
YouTube video or a particular app that helps students understand complicated
works.
I thought Hartley had a lot of
helpful insights and suggestions as to help teachers incorporate technology in
the classroom. I will definitely hold on to these insights and suggestions as I
go into the education world, and make sure to incorporate technology as often
as I can. After all, technology is extremely important outside school, so it
should be important inside school as well.
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