Becoming Digital

Today we hear a constant drumbeat about the digital world and our need to become "digitally literate". Obviously, the rapid advance in digitization makes it convenient to communicate with one another, 24/7. It also brings the classroom and the library to us, no matter where we happen to be. We can enroll into a class or look up facts from our devices without the need to travel to a location as our parents did. Do I need to say that this changes everything? This change is impacting how we learn and how we teach. But, who are these “digital learners” and what does it mean to be a digital learner?

These learners have cut their teeth on video gaming, that’s for sure. These learners are the first generation of learners that will have access to computer technology from birth-to-grave. They’re social, they live on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook, in fact, it’s their preferred form of communication. Telephones are something their parents and grandparents use, and "mobile" devices are required to check-in hourly. Immediate access to information, factual or otherwise, is a given.

What separates these learners from previous generations of learners is their willingness to share everything about themselves. They live and learn on their devices and indirectly in “the cloud.” That being the case, as educators, what is to be done to engage these learners; where they reside? For me, becoming digital cannot happen outside the sphere of: literacy, competency, citizenship, obsolescence, and open educational resources (OER).

Every learner can text his or her friends, parents, and grandparents. But that doesn't make them digital. Texting is a tool and while a student may be an expert in using "a tool" or type of technology, i.e., messaging, that is a far cry from being digital. Being digital requires a learner to be competent in using a technology, as well as, competent in separating facts from fiction. Look no further than our recent election when debating the need to separate fact from fiction.

As I see it, the problem that we have as educators is that we choose not to engage our students using their preferred forms of communication and learning. So, while our students are literate and competent in engaging one another with technology, we for whatever reason choose not to meet them, at the very least, halfway. To reach these learners we need to become both literate, i.e., discover what tools our learners use to communicate with one another and become competent in the use of these tools or at least fluent in the underlying technology that they use to learn and socialize.

More To Come . . . . .