After having read David Buckingham’s “Defining Digital Literacy” I am somewhat confused as to what exactly Buckingham was trying to argue throughout his essay. I, like my fellow classmate David Koch, expected a definition of what Buckingham believed digital literacy to be, however, was left feeling nearly insulted, filled by thoughts that I should not even be using a computer or checking my e-mail without knowing how my clicking of the keyboard could cause letters to appear on the screen, not to mention how I am able to send those letters to a computer at a completely different location to be accessed for someone else’s viewing pleasure.
What I am trying to say is that I think Buckingham’s expectations for what literacy needs to be are a little bit outrageous and over the top. I do understand that in order to incorporate new digital media and technologies into the classroom we “need to provide students with the means of understanding them” but I do not think that it needs to be taught to the extent that Buckingham suggests in order for it to qualify as a form of “literacy” (Buckingham 1).
I believe that such technologies and digital media can, and should, be incorporated into the classroom as a matter of informing and educating students. I believe that by including such aspects of technology in the classroom we truly are building our students competence and literacy in those areas. When incorporating such media in the classroom it is very important to introduce students to this media through a framework similar to Buckingham’s conceptual, four criteria framework (representation, language, production, audience), but I do not think that this needs to be done in such a tediously unnecessary manner (5).
I believe that students can learn to use these digital media and new technologies to further their education, and I also believe that students can be “scaffolded” to analyze these media in a critical manner. It is a developed and learned skill very similar to the ability to intellectually and critically analyze print; an ability obtained by individuals whom many would consider to be “literate”.
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After both reading your post and discussing it in class last week I definitely agree with what you're saying about literacy...Where do we draw the line? Although I did not read the Buckingham article, I do agree that students should understand new technologies but not to the extensive amount that he appears to be talking about.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I think that there is a line that needs to be drawn when dealing with technology and how much our students need to know.