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Interesting in this 2006 essay on digital literacy that it assumes that all students are by definition digitally savvy as "digital natives". More recent insights such as reported in "Kids Closer Up: Playing, Learning, and Growing with Digital Media" by Lori Takeuchi, International Journal of Learning and Media, Spring 2011, Vol. 3, No. 2, Pages 37-59. point to more complex, multi-layed levels of student digital literacy.

A new report focussed on students' research skills identifies some major teaching and learning gaps in the use of digital technologies. Teachers are strongly of the view that the use of digital technologies is positive although research skills need to be expanded beyond just the use of search engines. Teachers also indicated that there are some disadvantages to using online technologies and some barriers that impede their use. However, today's students have fundamentally different cognitive skills, state teachers, and so inclusion of digital technologies with learning activities and programs is essential to develop sound research skills.

"Scant data exists on the effects of newer digital media on children and adolescents, experts say. The growing ubiquity of mobile digital devices-and the videos, music, games and other online content they provide-seems to beg a re-examination of the roles and responsibilities of parents and children in all of this."

Contains an exclusive video interview with cultural anthropologist Michael Wesh in which he discusses the tools today's students need to be good digital citizens.

""One of the challenges and important priorities for K-12 today has to be broadening our understanding of what it means to be a digital citizen," says Joseph Kahne, Davidson professor of education at Mills College in Oakland, CA, and chairman of the MacArthur Network on Youth and Participatory Politics, "so that we're talking about young people as producers and managers of information and perspectives, and not simply as people we need to keep safe and civil.""

Schools have always been charged with the task of producing good citizens. But how has our definition of a "good citizen" changed over the ages?

"The eighth big idea is we are entering a digital world where knowing about digital technology is as important as reading and writing. So learning about computers is essential for our students' futures BUT the most important purpose is using them NOW to learn about everything else."

There are digital tools that can help achieve the goal of educational transfer, writes Kristen Swanson, an education consultant. Educational transfer occurs when students are able to use what they've learned in the classroom in new, real-life situations, she writes in this blog post. She also offers three goals for the new year, including the use of less text when designing and consuming multimedia

1. Computer labs are a bad idea 2. ICT literacy classes are a bad idea 3. Don't expect test scores to improve 4. What students do outside the classroom with technology is more important than what they do inside it 5. Digital citizenship and child safety will become an important part of what schools teach 6. Most kids aren't 'digital natives' 7. You will never 'catch up' (technological innovations will always outpace your ability to innovate on the policy side) 8. 'Cheating' may well increase 9. Like it or not, mobile phones (and other mobile devices like tablets) are coming (fast) 10. _____

'The Essential Elements of Digital Literacies' on Slideshare: 3949 views, 24 favs, 23 embeds http://j.mp/qKSr9x :-)

"The following are excerpts from from "Kids Closer Up: Playing, Learning, and Growing with Digital Media" by Lori Takeuchi, International Journal of Learning and Media, Spring 2011, Vol. 3, No. 2, Pages 37-59. To protect the children's identities, all names are pseudonyms, and location details have been altered."

"This address briefly traverses the successes and failures of the past before examining the evidence that may give some clues to the future challenges of using digital technologies and digital media in education. However, is Australian education and training in a position to address these challenges? The capacity of education to meet the future challenges of using technology for teaching and learning is the focus of this presentation."

More administrators say they are leading by example by encouraging educators to use more digital technology in the classroom. They say this type of leadership will become increasingly important as districts work to implement the Common Core State Standards. "Modeling is crucial. If you want your kids and teachers to be users of 21st-century tools, ... you have to show that you can do it too," said Spike Cook, principal of an elementary school in Millville, N.J. "It shows that I'm still a teacher -- I can still instruct and still learn."

"Jenkins (2009) lists eleven digital literacies which he argues are needed to be part of what he terms today's participatory culture. They are: play, collective intelligence, judgment, transmedia navigation, networking, negotiation, distributed intelligence, multitasking, appropriation, simulation and performance. I would add a twelfth, creativity."

12 dig literacies

A new and comprehensive research report reviews the literature about young people in the digital environment in order to provide a framework for interacting with quality information. Information quality is important today because the traditional gatekeepers and intermediaries that provided mechanisms for quality content standards have been replaced by the internet and media convergence. The need to understand how young people interact with information and use it has never been more important because information access and online social communities affect their social and cognitive development.

research on information evaluation values and approaches by today's youth

"Technology offers an opportunity to improve students' learning within a context of authentic, challenging, and complex tasks. Schools throughout the world are making strides in accomplishing this common goal. However, it is important to recognise that it takes more than dedicated teachers to really implement change in any educational environment - it takes everyone working to achieve the same vision - technology-enhanced teaching and learning to prepare students for work and life in the 21st century."

A good overview of the big picture - future happening now...

Good one Sarah. Only problem is to paraphrase the Riddler in Batman and Robin, "so much information, so little time"

Cultural [Cu] Cognitive [Cg] Constructive [Cn] Communication [Co] Confidence [Cf] Creative [Cr] Critical [Ct] Civic [Ci]"

"Epistemic games are computer games that are essentially about learning to think in innovative ways. They're designed to be pedagogical tools for the digital age where the player learns to think like professionals by playing a simulated game of such professions as management, engineering, journalism or urban planning."