Digital Literacy

Reflecting on what Prensky and Boyd have written, as well as my own experiences, I think the term digital native needs to be revamped in some way. There are definite problematic undertones to the use of the terms immigrant vs native, as pointed out when Boyd attended with Genevieve Bell. Additionally, technological advancements are still being made constantly. What might be considered literate in technology is ever changing. I remember sitting in so many classes (both high school and college) and thinking about how some of my teachers and professors had trouble doing tasks that I would consider "easy". But now, I am in the same place my former educators were in, as I also fail to use technology or ask my students for help. 

This is not always the case though, and as brought up in Boyd's reading, "most formal educational settings do not prioritize digital competency, in part because of the assumption that teens natively understand anything connected to technology" (180). I am definitely guilty of not covering technological skills when it comes to using google classroom, and I operated under the idea that my students knew more about using technology than me. I am still learning what is essential to go over, and I mostly learn based on the mistakes or problems I've come across with other students. One skill that I do make sure to show my students, is how to use the "translate page" feature, as most of my kids will need to use that at some point. Other skills, such as turning in a google doc, or attaching a project to an assignment in google classroom I don't always cover as well, which resulted in one girl both turning in assignments and sharing every single document with me using the "share" feature".

However, I do feel like teaching students to be critical consumers of media is embedded in most ELA courses (this is solely based on planning I've done with my department members and conversations I've had with other English teachers). I think this became especially true after the 2016 election, as there was a plethora of inaccurate information being spread by news sources and even the President at the time. I even found myself questioning if there were ANY sources I could trust. Now I show my students websites like AllSides, which gives students articles that include various perspectives on the same topic. I teach them to find what these articles have in common, and pick out what the biases might be. Lessons like these were easier to do when I ignored the curriculum and created my own units (no one told me there was a curriculum for the class I taught my first year of teaching until March of that year). I have also told students that wikipedia can be a good starting point for finding sources and getting basic information on a topic. Similarly to the story Boyd told about Corrine, I was also told throughout my schooling to never use Wikipedia. Then I had Professor Hawk, and he talked about the ways it can be used, so now I do the same for my students.

I also agree with Boyd's point surrounding censorship, and it is even something I've talked about with my students. I actually have a sample essay discussing censorship in schools that I wrote with my students in 2020 that you can check out here!

Now that I have completely strayed from the initial question (sorry), I do think that Boyd and Prensky are saying different things about youths. Boyd brings up how we cannot assume that youths are digitally literate just because of their age, while it seems Prensky believes that younger people who grow up with technology are automatically digitally literate. Which I do not believe is fully true. I think that anyone who practices using technology, and has enough experience can have the qualities that Prensky lists for digital natives. I've had students who know both more and less than me about digital literacy, and I know people much older than me who are digitally literate. It all depends on if/ how you have developed your digital skills, and if you continue to do so (as previously mentioned technology is always changing, so there is always something new to learn)!