Importance of Digital Literacy for students and teachers in 21^st century

M.Gayatri

Faculty of Education, Kalinga University

m.gaytri@kalingauniversity.ac.in

Humankind has progressed so much over the decades giving us many innovations and advancements. Digitalization has ensured that today, we have every piece of information we need at a single touch. Adoption of digitalization in our day-to-day life has changed how we function as humans in less than a decade. One such implication is digital literacy. Per say, how we inculcate education in our coming generation and what the students imbibe in them to synthesize digitally transferred information.

Digital literacy refers to an individual’s ability to find, evaluate, and communicate information through typing and other media on various digital platforms. This encompasses their play, participation, socializing, searching and learning through digital technologies. Students today do need to memorize when a battle was fought or which element is more reactive than the other because they can just search it and know the answer in a few seconds. Education has progressed from theoretical knowledge to practical implication and using digital platforms can really be helpful in bridging these gaps. A textbook, though the ultimate source of knowledge, falls behind on one aspect, that is, imagination. Since we are visual creatures, it may become difficult for students to understand and imagine the actual use of theories and formulas in real life. But encouraging them to do research, building models, using 3D diagrams through digital platforms can help them to be prepared for the coming years. Digital literacy has become vital for both teachers and students.

Teachers are the ones who shoulder the country’s future by imparting wisdom to the impressionable minds. In the current scenario, most of the educators were born at the time when digitalization was not at its peak. Hence, some of them must have faced several issues to instantaneously adapt to technology during the onset of the pandemic. And yet again, they overcame this challenge so smoothly ensuring that children do not end up losing important years of their young life. Using digital platforms will also help them in several ways. They can easily collaborate with their peers in different regions and exchange information to provide the best methods for their students. They can help the students to think more critically and reasonably. They can create trackers for the students’ performance and create improvement plans accordingly. Another important aspect to notice here is their guidance on making the right use of technology by the students. We have all the information we need, good or bad. Hence, it becomes extremely important for teachers to teach students how to use these platforms responsibly.

Students of today are leaders, artists, entrepreneurs, innovators of tomorrow. Since our life has shifted to online methods, students also need to become well versed in using these platforms. It is very evident that our reliance on digitalization will further increase. Only when they have honed their digital skills, will they be able to handle the pressure and threats they will face in their career. It will help them to become not only better thinkers but also better applicators. Gone are the days when only engineers were using technology for their work. Now, careers in medics, banking, research, visual arts, accountancy, and so many more are heavily relied on computers. Using technology will also give them the opportunity to establish themselves beyond geographical and demographics boundaries. They can find themselves the best resources to learn and add up to their skills. Though technology can be a cause of distraction for the students, they should understand that it is a powerful tool and should be used with accountability.

To sum up, the progress made by us in the digital field is commendable. Just like any other innovation, it has two facets to it, utility and diversion. It always comes down to our decision of how we use it. Another thing about technology is that it is transient. The skill we learned this year may become obsolete after two years. Rather than seeing it as a hassle, we should be focused on upskilling ourselves at every opportunity we get because learning never stops.