Digital Literacy Skills for FE Teachers

Jonathan White, Author

• Publisher: Learning Matters
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781473904583, 9781473904576
• eBook ISBN: 9781473908284
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Adult Education

Effective digital skills are essential for all teachers and tutors in the Further Education (FE) and Skills Sector.  This text brings together important theory and research around digital literacy and outlines what this means for teaching in the sector.  It is a practical guide that:

• introduces different types of web-based technologies and explores how they can be used in teaching
• provides guidance on the digital skills teachers and tutors need and how they can be developed
• examines issues of digital safety, security and responsibility and how online learning communities can be accessed
• applies critical thinking, creativity and responsibility to the processes of using digital technologies inside and outside of the classroom

Providing a comprehensive framework, underpinned by the standards through which to develop digital literacy skills, this is an essential resource for those teaching or training to teach in the FE and Skills sector.

1 Introduction

In this chapter you will learn:

• What is meant by the word ‘digital’ and how it is used in this book.
• The significance of the word ‘digital’ and related terminology for UK education sectors.
• Whom this book is aimed at and how it links to the Sector Professional Standards.
• About the acronyms and key terminology used throughout this book.

What do We Mean by ‘Digital’?

The meaning of the word ‘digital’ has evolved over the past two decades as the Web and other Internet-connected technologies have become part of everyday life. The word ‘digital’ was originally used to refer to the expression of electronic data as 1s and 0s in computing processes (Oxford English Dictionary, 2014). Predominantly in the 1990s, the word ‘digital’ came to be synonymous with media and entertainment as music, video and television became available in higher-quality digital forms which replaced the old analogue systems.

In the twenty-first century, the word ‘digital’ can be found everywhere, with much of what is computer, Web and Internet-based being referred to using the word. We use it to describe:

• Internet-connected hardware and software – ‘digital technologies’, ‘digital devices’, ‘digital tools’, ‘digital services’.
• Information and media available online to download or stream – ‘digital content’, ‘digital media’, ‘digital video’, ‘digital audio’.
• Online and virtual environments and the ‘world’ we have created online – ‘the digital world’ and ‘digital environments’.
• The interconnected and technologically advanced period we are living in – ‘the digital age’ and ‘digital society’.
• The identities and personas we have online – ‘digital profiles’, ‘digital citizens’, ‘digital learners’, ‘digital teachers’ and ‘digital workers’.
• Access and equality issues regarding the Internet – ‘the digital divide’, ‘the digitally excluded’ and ‘digital inclusion’.
• The skills, knowledge, understanding, experiences and capabilities we each have with digital technologies – ‘digital literacy’, ‘digital skills’, ‘digital capabilities’, ‘digital natives’ and ‘digital immigrants’.
• The process of learning, teaching and researching with digital technologies – ‘digital learning’, ‘digital teaching’, ‘digital scholarship’.
• The changes to society and the ‘real world’ (referred to as the physical world in this book), which have occurred with the advancement of the digital age – ‘the digital revolution’.

The word ‘digital’ is used in all of these contexts throughout this book and many of them will be examined, discussed and challenged.

Our Digital Lives

We are surrounded by, and immersed in, digital technologies. From surfing the Web, using apps and services, to communicating through social networks and interacting with digital content, digital technology usage forms part of our everyday lives, learning and work. The digital world allows us to do everything; from watching, reading or listening; sharing, discussing and organising; through to editing and publishing, and increasingly we can do it all from one device. These interactions could increase our knowledge and understanding, develop our skills, capabilities and confidence, enable us to get a new job or open the door to more opportunities. However, if we do not understand our interactions in the digital world, they could lead us to inadvertently break the law, acquire incorrect or false information and cause problems for us in the physical world.

A range of devices are available to us through which we can access and contribute to the digital world, but traditionally the most commonly used device has been a personal computer (PC). During the last decade, however, a wide range of digitally connected mobile devices have become part of our everyday lives. This includes smartphones, tablets, computers, e-book readers and digital media players. Statistics show that we are purchasing more of these devices than desktop PCs and laptops (Arthur, 2014) and almost sixty per cent of us are choosing to access the Internet in this way (Ofcom, 2014).

Now, in the second decade of the twenty-first century, devices we do not generally think of as computers are able to access the Internet and upload and download data. A new generation of smart-watches, personal health and exercise monitors, home heating systems, smart televisions, set-top boxes, digital video recorders (DVRs), home surveillance systems and even light-bulbs are part of our digital world, in what is being labelled the ‘Internet of things’. This means that as well as communicating with humans we now also communicate with our objects and they can communicate with each other. Unimaginable amounts of data and information about us flow through the Internet, recording everything from details of financial transactions through to how many minutes we spend playing online games. As this data flows, it is collected and stored in numerous places to be used by individuals, companies, governments and other organisations.

The multifaceted nature of our use of digital technologies raises a number of questions, not only about how we understand and control our use of the Internet (although that is an extremely important question we will explore), but also, how we understand our lives and our place in the physical world in relation to what we do online in the digital world. It also questions what we as teachers can do to facilitate this understanding and the learning of relevant digital skills.

Education and the Digital World

Across sectors of education, the digital world is having a profound effect, with the very notions of learning and teaching being questioned and redefined. Many have sought to bring the digital world into the classroom with the intention of improving traditional learning and teaching, engaging learners and aiding acquisition of new skills. This has mainly been through the addition of information and learning technologies (ILTs) such as interactive whiteboards (IWB), virtual learning environments (VLEs) and a wide range of digital technologies. Others have sought to question the very notion of traditional learning and teaching in the digital age, and seek to turn the digital world into a classroom. The rise of massive open online courses (MOOCs) and the use of digital media and content as learning resources being key examples. Wider debates on learning and teaching methods, the application of sound pedagogy and the practice and role of the teacher have as a result become key areas of discussion.

In recent times, the focus of educational debate around digital technologies has moved to pay more attention to the needs of individuals and specific groups, in order to identify best practices and the levels of fluency required to carry out a range of digital tasks. Teachers are then able to identify, understand and teach the knowledge, skills and abilities required in order to become an engaged, critical thinking and creative citizen of the digital world. This is how the idea of becoming ‘digitally literate’ has developed.

This book aims to enable you to understand and develop your own digital literacy and to apply it to your practice. This begins in Chapter 2 with a thorough introduction to what digital literacy means in the context of the Further Education (FE) and Skills sector and provides a basic framework for personal and professional development which will be referred to throughout this book.

Who is the Audience for this Book?

This book is aimed at anyone working to teach, lecture, tutor, assess, coach, facilitate or support learners in the FE and Skills sector. The term ‘teacher’ is used throughout this book to refer to all in these groups. The content is also applicable to those in middle and senior management posts, who may wish to consider some of the approaches discussed when planning staff development.

This book can be used as a basis for professional development in digital skills for those currently practising as teachers or those undertaking initial teacher training (ITT) in the FE and Skills sector.

You may have different reasons for using this book, but whatever your starting point, you should find it useful and applicable. The book is not written with particular levels in mind, as these are relative, but you should approach each chapter with your own starting point in mind. You will then be able to develop at your own pace and based upon your own needs. Here are some of the possible starting points you may currently be at:

• You feel that your digital skills are low and/or you do not use digital technologies very often. You can use this book to gain new understanding and knowledge of digital technologies and frame this around your current practice. You should focus on developing your knowledge, understanding and confidence as you work through this book.
• You are comfortable with your digital skills and/or are a capable user of digital technologies, but are struggling to embed them within your practice. You can use this book to consolidate what you already know and understand, and put your skills into action to improve your professional practice and learning and teaching. You may need to map your current knowledge and skills in digital technologies against the elements of your professional role. This may help you to become more creative and innovative in your use of digital technologies.
• You consider yourself to be a ‘power user’ of digital technologies, very adept in digital environments and have embedded digital skills and technologies into your professional practice and learning and teaching. You can use this book to plan for the next stage in your development and to consider new ideas, theories and practices. You may want to pay particular attention to the theory mentioned throughout the book, which allows you to build upon your current knowledge and skills and allows for deeper thinking about your own and others’ usage of digital technologies.

Links to the Sector Professional Standards

The UK government bodies with responsibility for setting standards within and supporting the UK's FE and Skills sector are currently undergoing unprecedented changes. With this, the professional standards for FE and Skills teachers are also changing. In 2013, the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) was given the remit to take over the work previously carried out by Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK) and the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS), as well as the responsibility for setting a new set of sector-wide professional standards. In late 2014, the Institute for Learning (IfL), which was the FE and Skills sector professional body and awarding body for Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS), ceased to exist and passed their remit to the ETF. In May 2015, the ETF created the Society for Education and Training (SET), as the professional body for the FE and Skills sector.

In 2014, the ETF published a new set of sector professional standard for the FE and Skills sector which replaced the sector professional standards set in 2007 by LLUK (Lifelong Learning UK, 2007). The new Professional Standards for Teachers and Trainers in Education and Training – England are available to download from the SET website (ETF, 2014; SET, 2015), which has taken over development of the Sector professional standards from 2015 onwards. Th...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Publisher Note
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Author Statement
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction
• 2 What is Digital Literacy?
• 3 Developing your Digital Practice
• 4 Assessing and Responding to Digital Needs
• 5 Selecting and Using Digital Tools
• 6 Being Critical with Digital Information and Media
• 7 Forming and Managing a Professional Digital Identity
• 8 Digital Safety, Security and Citizenship
• 9 Copyright, Licensing and Ethical Use of Digital Content
• 10 Future Development Planning
• Appendix 1: The Digitally Literate FE and Skills Teacher Framework Mapped against the Sector Professional Standards
• Appendix 2: Links to Digital Tools, Resources and Systems
• Index