Digital literacy in Norway and beyond (2006-2015)

Ola Erstad

Structure

1. Shifts in overall discourse

2. ‘Knowledge promotion’ and beyond

3. Diversity and challenges

4. Recent developments

5. The next ten years

1. Shifts in overall discourse• From technology to pedagogy

• Standardization (testing, curriculum perspective) vs Digital generation (youth perspective)

• Knowledge society challenges– DeSeCo vs PISA

• The problem of the school system (MOOCs++)

2. ‘Knowledge promotion’ and beyond

• An important change for Norway– Focus on use and implications for learning– How did the Ministry see this in 2005-6 vs the community?

• Also, The Programme for Digital Competence 2004-2008. Too ambitious?

• Norway on the international map. (EU, internat.)

• Focus on skills, less on more complex competencies

10 years with ‘Knowledge promotion

• A 5th key competence area. All subjects and levels. – In 2011 “basic skills in the use of digital tools” were changed to

“digital skills”. Progression matrices for the skills were developed stating differences between levels.

• Problem has been the research and knowledge base for this area compared to the others. Leaves uncertainty.

• Lost momentum. Given space for more critical voices

10 years with ‘Knowledge promotion’

• In general:– More focus on ways of using ICT in schools– Variation according to subject domain– Major differences between levels and municipalities

(Monitor)– Challenges of including new technological developments

(social media++)– Digital competence reach beyond the tech enthusiasts

3. Diversity and challenges• The Journal represent a constant focus on:

– Understanding the concept of digital literacy/competence (Søby editorial comments, Lankshear & Knobel 2006; Buckingham 2006; Thomas 2011; Johannesen, Øgrim & Giæver 2014)

– Examples of using digital media in educational settings

• Digital literacy with complex and multiple meanings

• ‘information literacy’; which has been used by librarians as ways of handling information and sources as part of media developments,

• ‘visual literacy’; especially by P. Messaris (1994) as a discussion of ways of interpreting visual representations,

• ‘multimodal literacy’; especially by G. Kress (2003) and C. Jewitt as more complex representations.

• ‘computer literacy/ICT literacy’; focusing more on skills in dealing with computers.

Digital literacy on different levels

• Personal skills and competences – Access, Skills, Understand, Production and creativity

• Media systems and content – Content, Aesthetics, Systems, Institutions

• Social interactions and practices – Participation, Citizenship, Creation, Emancipation

Definitions - digital literacy

• Digital transformations report (2002):– “the ability of individuals to use ICT appropriately to

access, manage, integrate and evaluate information, develop new understandings (create), and communicate with others in order to participate effectively in society”

• Ofcom (2005):– “the ability to access, understand and create

communications in a variety of contexts”

DigComp

• Digital competence is the set of knowledge, skills, attitudes (thus including abilities, strategies, values and awareness) that are required when using ICT and digital media to perform tasks; solve problems; communicate; manage information; collaborate; create and share content; and build knowledge effectively, efficiently, appropriately, critically, creatively, autonomously, flexibly, ethically, reflectively for work, leisure, participation, learning, socialising, consuming, and empowerment. (Ferrari, 2012, pp. 3-4)

Building on J. Tornero, 2008

The Journal as an expression of developments

• Diversity in approaches reflecting the term– Multimodality, transformative digital literacy…

• Literacy studied as social practices

• Norway in a Nordic and international perspective

• National and international surveys/tests (Monitor, ICILS)

• Still, many of the same issues in 2006 are still valid

Core challenges• In connecting policy – research – practices

• To grasp the multi-level aspects of digital competence

• Assessment system

• Teacher education.

• The research base. – In subject domains and digital learning resources (ARK&App) – Systematic reviews.

4. Recent developments

• Teacher education

• The younger age groups– COST Action on years 0-8

4. Recent developments

• Teacher education

• COST Action on years 0-8

• Related to 21st century skills

4. Recent developments

• Teacher education

• COST Action on years 0-8

• Related to 21st century skills

• In and out of school, digital generation

Girl West (ethnic-Norwegian) Monday: I got up around 6.30. I was awakened by the terrible sound from my mobile. The first thing I did was to get dressed and make breakfast before I sat down with the breakfast in front of the PC. I then checked Facebook, even though I know that very few updates came during the night or that early in the morning, but it has become a habit. A bad habit! I went into by blog to update it. At school today, we visited the “Clinic for Health and Sexuality Education” with the class. At the clinic, I took a number of photos of my friends with my camera that I later might use for my blog or just as nice and funny memories. When I came back to school after the main recess at noon, I sat in the computer lab to find some information about the Cuba crisis for a test in social sciences tomorrow. When I arrived home from school, I uploaded the photos I took during the school day to my PC and edited some of them with Photoshop. Since I have problems to leave things aside that I think are fun, I continued making some web designs in Photoshop, because it is one of my hobbies. In addition, I am a bit upset because my MSN does not work after a crash with Windows Vista and the newest MSN. Ahh, I should pull myself together… It is just an awful small luxury problem! Later on, I sat down and read in the social science book and wrote notes on the computer because of a test tomorrow. When I finished the notes, I printed them out in order to read them again. At 18:00, I have extra math. At this teacher’s, I get help with assignments I believe are difficult and to understand the connection between different themes better. Before I went home after extra math, I bought Costume, a magazine I read every month. This magazine I read in bed before I lie down to sleep. When I came home, I put on a TV series that I like a lot. It runs on MTV and is called The Hills, but I have several season packages (DVDs) at home, which I put on when I am tired or do not have anything special to do. I have also downloaded some music to my iPod and it is charged now, tonight, because I like to listen to my iPod when I am going to sleep. Now I have some new music! Goodnight

5. The next ten years• Continuing development of perspectives/terminology, studies of

digital literacy on different levels and more systematic knowledge base

• A new interdisciplinary field (Søby 2015)– Inclusive media literacy (Drotner & Erstad 2014)– Different methodologies

• How digital literacy links to other issues and domains (21st century competencies)– Green Paper on School of the Future (Ludvigsen-committee)