Information and digital literacy in education via the digital path

As I spend a great deal of time every year looking at the latest technological advances for the enterprise, I’ve noticed a trend in recent years that’s long been true but is clearly markedly accelerating. That trend is that technology has officially pulled well ahead of the workplace skills of even the most proactive manager or line worker. It’s not that the digital possibilities are getting ahead of our businesses, it’s that high technology itself is proliferating so rapidly in terms of potent and truly transformative new products and services (social software, collaborative economy, wearables, 3D printing, and the whole hype cycle) that it is now very difficult today even for experts working on the subject full time to keep up.

What skills do our students need to be successful in their future? What skills do adults need to be competitive in the job market?

This is a totally free, online curriculum, with engaging videos and practical projects that teach technology skills to students (middle and high school) as well as adult learners.

Oh, email. Whether you’re managing a few people, a large team, or just yourself, it can both help and hinder your success. Because, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, the more people you collaborate with, the more messages build up, and the more challenging it is to get through them in the five minutes you have between back-to-back meetings.

Understanding your way around technology improves your chances in life. Digital literacy doesn’t mean reading a book online. The only difference between reading a physical book and reading online is a page versus a screen. There’s little learning in that because anyone can do it.

Digital literacy means much more than that. It means learning how to research, protect, and perform using digital tools and technology.

The following article is adapted from our upcoming book on future-focused learning. It talks about how to teach learners to build solid research skills for school and for life.
 
How do we help our learners develop research skills that will serve them practically in school and life? Having this set of information location and management abilities in any digital-age survival kit applies equally to students, teachers, and everyday people. In the classroom, we teach it using the process of Information Fluency.