2 Important 21st Century Literacies for Us to Teach

Once upon a time, literacy encompassed a fairly set concept, including the use of language numbers. However, in today’s world, the concept of literacy has been expanded to include a whole host of new (and often interesting) subjects. Obviously, it’s not hard to notice, especially with how social media and other online tools have come to dominate our way of communicating with each other. Still, even today, there are two areas that could always use a bit of extra attention, especially as knowing them becomes even more vital in the coming years.

Navigating the Information Landscape

Now, it’s always been necessary to be able to identify a quality source when you see one. Yet today, the information landscape is ever more broad, with ever more sources at our fingertips. Think of all those billions of websites out there, from your neighbor’s blog to the biggest media conglomerates. There’s even a certain literacy to using search engines and understanding how they rank content. Recognizing quality information has never been more essential.

Developing Digital Citizenship and Online Identity

From “trolling” to astroturfing, the Internet hasn’t just changed communication… it’s changed how we interact with each other. And through these changes, we’ve had to learn a whole new set of skills for managing who we are and how we represent ourselves. The practice of developing your digital citizenship and online identity isn’t drastically different than it is in real life, but because just about anyone can have a worldwide platform for their voice (and sometimes within a handful of hours), we need to ensure that our students understand the consequences and realities of this new frontier.  

“Obviously, it’s not hard to notice, especially with how social media and other online tools have come to dominate our way of communicating with each other.”

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