Digital literacies are not solely about technical proficiency but about the issues, norms, and habits of mind surrounding technologies used for a particular purpose.
—Doug Belshaw, educational researcher
When having third grade students create Google Slides about things they are passionate about, it seems obvious that the first step should be to teach them how to use Google Slides and walk them through the interface using direct instruction. When training teachers on Go Guardian, it feels like standing in front of a PD and talking them through the steps of the software is the logical way to introduce the software. When teaching students digital literacy, it always appears that instructing students about specific tools is the best way to go. However, is deep learning and transfer of knowledge actually occurring when pedagogy is solely focused on direct instruction? How can we ensure that students and colleagues are becoming experts in their technology skills?
Learning skills and directly teaching softwares and programs (such as Google Slides, Blockly, and GoGuardian) is an important aspect of teaching, but it is our job as technology educators to dig beyond that and make learners who are able to apply those skills to new softwares and programs without the need of direct instruction. We want to create learners who are able to take the skills, understand them, and transfer them to a new area of knowledge. If a student has learned to make a presentation in Google Slides, are they able to transfer those skills to Powerpoint? To Google Docs? To Prezi? Without the ability to transfer the knowledge, students are lacking a deep understanding of the knowledge. Digital skills focus on completing tasks and doing things, but digital literacy focuses on complex understanding and answering questions of why.
So, the question becomes: how do we shift our teaching from digital skills-based learning to digital literacy? Exploration is at the heart of learning and understanding, for learners of all ages. When faced with a new platform, software, tool, etc., it can be overwhelming, and many times I will hear my students say, “I don’t know what to do,” or “I don’t know where to start.” Trial and error is an important part of the learning process, and if students possess the skills necessary to learn a software or tool on their own, they will be better able to transfer those skills and learn another new software or tool in the future. When teaching students about Google Slides, you don’t need to stand up front and walk through each tool in the toolbar one by one (a mistake that I made in my first year of teaching). Instead, give them time to explore and try things. You’ll find that many are able to figure things out on their own. This makes them better learners, as well as giving you a break from those “I don’t know what to do,” comments in the future.
In addition to exploration, choice is incredibly important for learners. Being given one option to do things does not fit the needs of all students, and it can often make them resistant to learning. Sometimes it is necessary to give students only one platform option: for example, when I am teaching Google Slides as a platform. However, you can still give students choices about what to create their slides about it. Tell them to make a presentation about something they are passionate about, instead of giving specific instructions to create a 10 slide presentation about themselves with prompts for each slide. That will cause them to not explore as much within the Google Slides platform and will not be as beneficial towards improving their digital literacy.
If your aim is about content and not platform (such as students creating presentations about a specific topic like the Revolutionary War), give students the freedom to choose their own tool to create with. Some will gravitate towards Google Slides if they are familiar with it, but others may want to try something new or learn a new tool like Prezi. This freedom will cause a transfer of knowledge between platforms and deepen their understanding of presentation platforms and the affordances and constraints of different ones. Learners will begin to notice patterns between tools: each platform has a text box button and a way to insert photos. Learners will also begin to notice differences in each tool and why some may work better than others for specific purposes. While true digital literacy expertise may not be obtainable in our time with our students, we can help them grow on their journey.
Teaching a student or colleague a skill is not the hard part of teaching. It’s relatively easy to lean over a Chromebook and show a student how to code a robot’s sensor so that it spins when you clap. It’s harder to create a curious learner who tries all the buttons on their own and learns the patterns of coding languages to determine how to code an entirely different robot’s sensor so that it turns green when you say its name. Post pandemic, many educators have found a lack of independence in their students, often complaining in the break room about how students seem to be needier than ever. It is our job as educators to help them become more independent in their learning and understanding by shifting away from a skills-based mindset. We need to give chances for students to explore and choose things for themselves in the classroom, in order for more transfer of knowledge and expertise to occur.
Bali, M. (2016, February 3). Knowing the Difference Between Digital Skills and Digital Literacies, and Teaching Both. Literacy Worldwide. https://www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-now/2016/02/03/knowing-the-difference-between-digital-skills-and-digital-literacies-and-teaching-both
National Research Council. 2000. "How Experts Differ from Novices" Chapter 2 of How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/9853.
Hagerman, M. S. (2017, July 28). Six Ways to Plan for Digital Literacies Learning. Literacy Worldwide. https://www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-now/2017/07/28/six-ways-to-plan-for-digital-literacies-learning