Ch. 1: Critical Digital Literacy... What does that mean?

Everywhere you look digital media is impacting our lives in one way or another and if this rings true, should we not, as teachers include digital media teaching in our classrooms? These past couple weeks I have spent some time delving into this topic of ‘critical digital literacy’ and what that really means for me as a teacher. What I have discovered through a reading of pages 4-6 of Mapping Digital Literacy Policy and Practice in the Canadian Education Landscape, was that critical digital literacy is the parts of digital media that are essential for one to learn and become familiar with in order to interact in society. To become digitally literate, people must be able to use technology and all the tools and components of it, be able to understand the content of it that they are viewing and be able to create and communicate in an informed manner via those technologies. What I think this means for me as a future teacher, is that I need to educate my students on digital media so that they are able to effectively function in our modern society.

I have included a mindomo mind map to try to help distinguish what critical digital literacy is, based on my research, because I think this is a topic that encompasses a lot. As a future teacher, I want to set up a classroom environment that really allows my students to grow along with the society they are in. I don’t want my teaching to be outdated in any way. Hence why I believe it is important to teach with critical digital literacy in mind. To teach in this manner means that my students will be able to use, understand, and create & communicate with digital media, rather than just know what it is, and I think that is essential to their success in our society.

So now that I’ve established the importance of teaching my students to be digitally literate, I need to ensure that I have the resources and knowledge I need, as a teacher, to be able to follow through with that goal. I spent some time looking into various frameworks of which two really spoke to me. I examined the ISTE Standards for Educators framework which perfectly illustrates a progression of how an educator can bring technology into the classroom. From learner, all the way through analyst, there are various steps that an educator can take to ensure that their students are becoming critically literate when it comes to digital media. This framework intrigued me because it appears to outline, very clearly, steps for me to be able to introduce technology in my future classroom. I feel like I can use this framework and adapt it to what fits with my teaching style to ensure that I’m not just teaching my students about technology, but am actually bringing them into the digital media world. Knowing about this framework now, while I’m still in school, ensures that I will be able to reference this resource when I actually start teaching to build that digitally literate classroom right from day one. 

Another framework I paid special attention to was the Competencies for 21st Century Skills document. This framework outlines, in specifics, all the different types of technologies teachers can use, as well as the learning practices, and competencies that are associated with using each technology. This framework seems so essential to me as a future teacher because it gives me a direct reference for what types of skills my students will be gaining by introducing these technologies. It is very easy to say that digital media should be used in our classrooms, yet when you pair that with the extensive curriculum we are to follow, it can be hard to find ways to include those technologies into our lessons for fear that it won't give our students the same skills that more traditional teaching methods would. This resource allows us to view all of these competencies and skills associated with each range of technology making, I know at least myself, feel more comfortable including these technologies because I can justify the outcomes my students will have from using them. 

‘Critical Digital Literacy’ is a huge term, that is comprised of so many components that are everchanging. I have only flipped a few pages of the many more pages, if not chapters, I have to continue understanding and exploring on my path to being the kind of informed and progressive teacher I aspire to be. So grab yourself a cup of coffee, or maybe a glass of wine, before we continue into the next chapter of this crazy journey.


~ Megan



References

Competencies for 21st Century skills. (n.d.). Retrieved September 21, 2018, from

Hoechsmann, M., & DeWaard, H. (2015). Mapping Digital Literacy Policy and Practice in the
Canadian Education Landscape. Retrieved September 21, 2018, from http://mediasmarts.ca/sites/mediasmarts/files/publication-report/full/mapping-digital-literacy.pdf
ISTE Standards FOR EDUCATORS. (n.d.). Retrieved September 21, 2018, from
Koetzle, M. (2018, September 21). Critical Digital Literacy - Mind Map. Retrieved September 21,



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