Kiran Khakural: What is digital literacy?

Digital Literacy

Literacy refers to the general knowledge (concept) about something in surface level bit it doesn't mean only that. UNESCO defines literacy as "Beyond its conventional concept a set of reading and counting skills, literacy is now understood as a means of identification, understanding, interpretation, creation and communicating in an increasingly digital, text- mediated, information- rich and fast -changing world". It deals with conscious learning and application of knowledge.

Digital literacy indicates the competency on manipulation of digital technologies and tools which include internet, multimedia and ICT etc. Digital literacy refers to the capability of understanding and handling information presented through computer especially via internet in different formats and various sources (Gilster, 1997). The European Framework for Digital Literacy (EFDL) further explains digital literacy as:

"Digital literacy is the awareness, attitude and ability of individuals to appropriately use digital tools and facilities to identify, access, manage, integrate, evaluate, analyse and synthesize digital resources, construct new knowledge, create media expressions, and communicate with others, in the context of specific life situations, in order to enable constructive social action; and to reflect upon this process” (Martin & Grudziecki, 2006).

Thus, digital literacy is the use of such advanced digitalized technologies and gadgets in the right place and the right way avoiding abuse. It focuses on the ability of seeking and selecting information, analysis, integration and application of the processed information to our everyday life for creative learning and communication under the digitalized system. Gilster (1997) identifies the four main competencies of digital literacy: collecting ideas or data, assessing the information content, seeking the Internet, and navigating hypertext.

Opportunities

· Provide a platform for practical experiment and get feedback.

· Promote the active participation/engagement of students.

· Boost creative thinking.

· Create a useful and competitive learning environment.

· Make familiar with recent technology.

· opportunity for lively experience.

Challenges

· Difficulty for self controlling.

· Content selection problem.

· Lack of technical knowledge.

· Lack of guidance.

· Problem of time management.

· Possibilities of digital division between haves or haves not.

· Lack of reliable infrastructure.

· Abuse of technology

There are both opportunities and challenges of digital literacy. I think, the opportunities should be utilized properly and the challenges can be minimize through supplying enough information handling technologies, creating awareness, providing adequate knowledge about use and misuse of technology, using these technologies in relation to their availability and upgrading the infrastructures.

references:

Duffy, J. (2008). Digital Literacy: Tools and Methodologies for Information Society. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, (55). https://doi.org/10.5062/F4TM782M

Gilster, P. (1997), Digital literacy. New York: Wiley Computer Publications

Martin, A. & Grudziecki, J. (2006) DigEuLit: Concepts and tools for digital literacy development, innovation in teaching and learning in information and computer Sciences, 5:4, 249-267, DOI: 10.11120/ital.2006.05040249