Is it okay to be technically illiterate?

Are you literate with the language in the image? Do you need to know what it says?

I sort of get the same feeling today about technology. It's acceptable to say "I don't really get computers"

If a teacher today is not technologically literate - and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more - it's equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read and write.

Quoted from Karl Fischís FischBowl Blog
http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/09/is-it-okay-to-be-technologically.html

Do we accept teachers not being able to read and write? It is not acceptable in society.

Is it acceptable to be technologically illiterate in todayís society?

A favourite story that I share from a previous principal relates to my work with a fantastic primary math teacher. This teacher was incredible teaching math. Students were engaged, exploring ideas, and learning beyond most other primary math classes. In sharing with said principal, I said, "I think it is OK for this teacher to not integrate technology into her lessons. She is already a fantastic teacher that is doing amazing work and students are learning."

His response was priceless. "Think of how much more her students could learn if she was able to incorporate technology as well."

That has continued to challenge me over the past 5 years. I look at situations with different glasses. I do ask the question as to what the value added parts of integrating technology really are. There are some activities that donít add value but these activities should be planned to scaffold the ones that will take the learning that much further.

While we donít need to be exceptional readers to teach students the basics of reading or the joy and love of reading, teachers do need to have the basics of Information and Media Literacy to meet the BC Ministry of Education Prescribed Learning Outcomes.

The Value of the term "Digital Native"

"I'm sorry, but I don't go for all this digital natives and immigrants stuff when it comes to this: I don't know anything about the internal combustion engine, but I know it's pretty dangerous to wander about on the road, so I've learnt to handle myself safely when I need to get from one side of the road to the other.

The phrase may have been useful to start with, but it's been over-used for a long time now. In any case, after immigrants have been in a country for a while, they become natives. We've had personal computers for 30 years, and I was using computers in my teaching back in 1975. How long does it take for someone to wake up to the fact that technology is part of life, not an add-on?
Quoted from Karl Fischís Blog on
http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/09/is-it-okay-to-be-technologically.html

I understand the push to have digital immigrants learn and speak as a digital native. I think the value of the terms remain in needing digital immigrants to be willing or want to learn to speak "digital."

I like the analogy of knowing how to behave safely even if you don't understand the internal workings. †As adults and especially as parents we need to know to behave safely ourselves and how to teach others to behave safely.

A personal pet peeve is watching parents of young children either drag or push in a stroller their children across streets while not at an intersection. The habits we teach from our modeling impact children.

I argue that while digital immigrants can learn the language they may always have differences between digital natives, but those differences (or accents) do not need to stop communication or learning.

Kevin