The six capacities include inquiry for self, learning and society.
Inquiry in this context includes:
Access to Information
Gathering Information
Organize Information
Process Information(Evaluate, Assess, Validate)
We live in an information based society. There are many claims about how much information we have and how fast knowledge is doubling. (see reference note below). At this point, it is even said that knowledge is doubling in less than a year.
With this wealth of knowledge and most of it being available online, we need (better) ways of inquiring of knowledge. To mimic another phrase, “we are information rich and knowledge poor.”
In the 21st, it has become less about knowing everything and more about knowing how and where to find the information when you need it.
Having access to the internet is a first step, but access to the resources of Google does not mean you will learn anything. Students need to be able to search to find relevant information, then they need to gather and organize what they find. In parallel is processing the information. There is no point in writing down 100 pages of incorrect, misleading or biased information.
To be literate in the 21st century everyone needs to be able to inquire. I accept that not everyone will have this capacity and they will be able to continue in their current capacity even though they may be digitally illiterate. People have lead productive lives for hundreds of years and been illiterate.
I don’t accept that anyone, especially students in our systems, need to continue to be illiterate.
Reference
I could not find an original source for the statistics, but this site refers to knowledge doubling.
Inquiry in this context includes:
Access to Information
Gathering Information
Organize Information
Process Information(Evaluate, Assess, Validate)
We live in an information based society. There are many claims about how much information we have and how fast knowledge is doubling. (see reference note below). At this point, it is even said that knowledge is doubling in less than a year.
With this wealth of knowledge and most of it being available online, we need (better) ways of inquiring of knowledge. To mimic another phrase, “we are information rich and knowledge poor.”
In the 21st, it has become less about knowing everything and more about knowing how and where to find the information when you need it.
Having access to the internet is a first step, but access to the resources of Google does not mean you will learn anything. Students need to be able to search to find relevant information, then they need to gather and organize what they find. In parallel is processing the information. There is no point in writing down 100 pages of incorrect, misleading or biased information.
To be literate in the 21st century everyone needs to be able to inquire. I accept that not everyone will have this capacity and they will be able to continue in their current capacity even though they may be digitally illiterate. People have lead productive lives for hundreds of years and been illiterate.
I don’t accept that anyone, especially students in our systems, need to continue to be illiterate.
Reference
I could not find an original source for the statistics, but this site refers to knowledge doubling.
Appendix D: Report of the Subcommittee on Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age
http://www.emory.edu/TEACHING/Report/AppendixD.html
http://www.emory.edu/TEACHING/Report/AppendixD.html
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