Baltimore City's Digital Citizens

Digital Literacy Education & Technology

Education in Baltimore City presents a challenge because of the distribution of poverty. The resources are scarce and the student performance is alarmingly low due educational needs that include: student materials, teacher salaries, management problems, and especially technology. As a result, Baltimore City faces a huge issue in trying to promote digital literacy in its schools. Digital literacy is the process of teaching and learning technology and the use of technology.

Today, focus is on what technologies must teach as well as how it should be used. Workers in many different occupations need to be digital literate, however new technologies are generally not being taught in schools. For instance, videoconferencing and online sharing spaces such as wikis are mostly taught in specific technology degree programs in higher education. Nevertheless, all citizens should be taught how to learn in a digital society. In other words, people must be taught to learn anything, anytime, anywhere. As new technologies emerge, individuals need to learn how to use that technology quickly and appropriately. Digital Citizenship involves educating people in a new way and these individuals need a high degree of information literacy skills.

Digitally literate people can communicate and work more efficiently, especially with those who possess the same knowledge and skills. In addition, these skills help individuals the ability to locate, organize, understand, evaluate, and analyze information using digital technology. This involves knowledge of current technology, and an understanding of how it can be used. Plus, digital literacy helps a person in society because they are more conscious of the technological forces that affect culture and human behavior. Digital literacy entails not only being literate at using a computer, but is concerned with wider aspects associated with learning how to effectively find, summarize, use, evaluate, create, and communicate information while using digital technologies. It encompasses all digital devises such as: computer hardware, software, the Internet, and cell phones. Consequently, a person using these skills to interact with society may be called a digital citizen.

References:

Mutula, S. M., & Wamukoya, M. J. (2007). Web Information Management. Oxford: Chandos Publishing.

http://www.library.illinois.edu/diglit/definition.html

http://khokanson.blogspot.com/2007/09/define-digital-literacy.html