Issues And Personal Interest In Digital Literacy

There are so many issues or interests that I anticipate arising in my teaching career especially in the near future. I currently work in the public sector in Alberta but within that sector I work in an alternative program. My school program emphasizes on Traditional Learning with a focus on daily homework, character education, global citizenship, literacy and students wearing school uniforms. The province of Alberta is updating the curriculum; by 2018 the new curriculum for kindergarten to grade 4 will be released. Some anxiety or potential issues of the new curriculum could arise, with the communication that I have received with the new curriculum only math, literacy and support for First Nations will be updated. There is no emphasis on technology at all, which I find surprising being the 21st century, maybe that will be something released at a later date.

Some topics that I am really interested in would be Digital literacy. My current school has a big focus on literacy, with the early literacy program called literacy MAP (meaningful Applied Phonics). This program uses the approach of teacher-directed, whole group instruction, with a multi-sensory approach and sequential development moving from graphemes to spelling to writing to reading. I have also in the past used the program Handwriting Without Tears, which uses developmentally appropriate, multi-sensory instructions as well, very similar to MAP. I would be interested in how can I as a teacher continue these programs in a digital format, or enhance these programs with a digital format for literacy.

There are so many topics to research and understand when it comes to Digital technologies especially technologies that you can use in the classroom. I feel with the transformation into the 21st century it is my duty to learn about the possibilities of different digital technologies available and how I can use these technologies in a grade one class. With that said, I also need to understand the technology policy framework from the provincial standard, to the school board stand and my school standard. With the transformation of our traditional libraries into learning commons this is an area I need to be proficient in to help guide my school with the transformation.

All of these key words (Digital literacy, Digital Technologies, Technology policy framework) and interests will guide me to help develop or research a scope and sequence of what my school and students can learn through digital technologies. More importantly how to enhanced there interest and foster both the teachers and students learning through digital literacy. I plan to go through UBC library to find more sources and support to guide me, as well as Alberta government education website and the Calgary School board insight platform.


Sites and Sources to use

Learning and Technology resources. Retrieved Sep 15 from: https://education.alberta.ca/learning-with-technology/overview/?searchMode=3

Learning and Technology Policy Framework. Retrieved Sep 15 from: https://education.alberta.ca/media/1046/learning-and-technology-policy-framework-web.pdf

Media Smarts. Retrieved Sep 15, from: http://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy-fundamentals/digital-literacy-fundamentals


C.Kosnik, S.White, C. Beck (2016). Building Bridges: Rethinking Literacy Teacher Education in a Digital Era. Retrieved from https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-94-6300-491-6.pdf



Comments

  1. Aaron Mueller18 September 2017 at 07:13

    Great first blog post that clearly outlines your context, school, interests, directions and potential challenges. Your topics will be very useful for exploration to better support your students and school community. You've gone ahead and found a few potential resources and also some ideas on where you plan on searching next. Overall, a very good start.

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