Digital literacy is a term that is synonymous with advancement in global society. Teenagers have it, teachers want more of it, and policymakers are just starting to uncover its advantages. Open Digital Networks (ODN) are the highway that will take society into the future of technology, but, like any road, even if it is paved with good intentions, cracks and potholes deter some from getting there. This article examines the current benefits and barriers of ODN and offers a primer for education stakeholders to consider when planning future curricula.
The role of digital networks in today’s educational system depends on teachers accepting the role of digital-age literacies. One cannot emphasize enough how important teacher buy-in is to create educational reform that reflects today’s “always on” learners (Baird, 2005, p. 10). Youth spend two or more hours daily on social media (Mbevi, 2019), so the question is, how can teachers extend skills used in the real world using additional digital networks?
The answer to this is the key to creating and maintaining supportive learning in today’s digital age. Breaking down the barriers to digital literacy will help today’s learners gain an edge in the world’s ever-changing online landscape.
Benefits of ODN
While it should be an ultimate goal to use open digital networks to “build a utopia for all” (Mbevi, 2019), this is not realistic unless teachers, as the conduit of society’s direction for education, recognize the importance of creating “a technologically literate, critical thinking workforce, [who] are prepared to participate fully in the global economy of the 21st century” (Ghavifekr & Mohammed Sani, 2015, as cited in Ghavifekr, 2015, p. 39). This starts with the recognition of the “always on” culture of today’s youth and the need for this generation to multi-task, as they are “hardwired” already to learn using multiple stimuli (Baird, 2005, p. 10). In a survey of teachers’ perceptions of interactive communication tools (ICT), over 65% of teachers already recognize that information and communications technology tools help students concentrate more on their learning and try harder in what they are learning (Ghavifekr, 2015, p. 47). When teachers respect ODN as part of their own value system and create lessons for learning, students are able to make decisions based on their own value systems as well (Mbevi, 2019).
Another benefit of ODN is that it drives students to construct new learning styles that mirror their real-world activities outside of school. Working as a collaborative team with their classmates, “students can use social networking to create their own learning and social communities…[that] provide[s] a network of knowledge transfer (Baird & Fisher, 2005, p.14). This connectivism-type learning starts with the student who feeds information to the network, “which feeds into organizations and institutions, which in turn feed back into the network, and then continue to provide learning to the individual” (Siemens, 2005, p. 6). This learning then becomes a real-world reflection of their experiences (Driscoll, 2000, as cited in Siemens, 2005). Learning becomes authentic; derived from meaning created from other perspectives and the remaking of their own perspectives, as demonstrated in Jocius’ Neighbourhood Stories Project wherein Grade 5 students engage in real-world political issues via online debates (Jocius, 2016).
Barriers to ODN
While there are certainly benefits to learning with ICT and ODN, the barriers that teachers and students face can be overwhelming and stop both in their tracks. While teachers perceive student engagement to be higher with ICT, they face other challenges. Over 60% of teachers report that there are insufficient numbers of computers, insufficient bandwidth and/or speed, a lack of technical and pedagogical support, and that learning through ODN and ICT are not prioritized in their schools (Ghavifekr, 2015). These barriers disengage both students and teachers from effective learning, causing frustration for both.
Insight into one of the biggest barriers to ICT literacy comes from a study out of Norway, which reveals a strong link between socio-economic status (SES) and ICT literacy (Siddiq, 2017). In their ICT testing of Grade 9 students, students with high SES outscore those with low SES by more than 10% (Siddiq, 2017, p. 30). This connection comes under a microscope with today’s youth, as it plays to their insecurities in the “highlight reels” they experience through social media (Mbevi, 2019). Youth are always comparing their own struggles to the boastings of others on social media (Mbevi, 2019). This is exacerbated when SES limits or impacts an individual’s ability to play the social media game because they lack the means to access it, like the latest iPhone or high-speed Internet. It limits youth without social currency, like access to Instagram or the Internet, in making social connections that are so imperative for learning in social networks.
Until governments recognize and provide the funding required to break down barriers of access to ICT and ODN, students will continue to float between ICT-driven learning and traditional learning. Teaching neo-millennials, who always have devices on and running, should be the underlying need for educational reform. Social networks are no longer confined to bricks and mortar, rather they are fluid both online and offline. Ignoring one of these networks, either due to lack of financial support, poor pedagogical support, or simply the inability to access ODN, tears a hole in the middle of educational reform. Society cannot afford to stand still when the leaders of tomorrow need their collaboration to advance into 21st-century learning.
References
Baird, D. E., & Fisher, M. (2005). Neo millennial user experience design strategies: Utilizing social networking media to support “always on” learning styles. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 34(1), 5-32.
Ghavifekr, S., Kunjappan, T., Ramasamy, L., & Anthony, A. (2015). Teaching and learning with ICT tools: Issues and challenges from teachers’ perceptions. Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Technology, 4(2), 38-54.
Jocius, R. (2016, May). Telling unexpected stories: Students as multimodal artists. National Council of Teachers of English, 16-22.
Siddiq, Gochyyev, P., & Wilson, M. (2017). Learning in digital networks – ICT literacy: A novel assessment of students’ 21st century skills. Computers and Education, 109, 11–37.
Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 21(1), article 1.
TEDxTalks. (2019, November). Impact of social media on youth. Katanu Mbevi. YouTube. Retrieved February 11, 2022, from https://www.ted.com/talks/freddy_muli_impact_of_social_media_on_youth
Mberi, K. (2019). Impact of social media on youth. Retrieved from Ted Talks.
Volpi, C. (2020). Cognitivism & Connectivism. Studio Celeste. https://www.celestevolpi.com/post/cognitivism-and-connectivism
Wilson, Gochyyev, P., & Scalise, K. (2017). Modeling data from collaborative assessments: Learning in digital interactive social networks. Journal of Educational Measurement, 54(1), 85–102.
Adrienne McEwen
Adrienne McEwen is a former high school teacher of fifteen years from Smiths Falls, ON, and is currently the Teacher Bargaining Unit President for the Upper Canada District of the Ontario Secondary School Teacher’s Federation. She is also completing her Master of Education degree from the University of Ottawa with a focus on educational policy and remote learning.
This article is featured in Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Winter 2024 issue.