There is no doubt that we live in a digital age. The idea of “literacy” as we once knew it only partially covers the communication capacities, competencies and comportments needed in the contemporary world. Digital tools and practices permeate our everyday activities and organize how we work, learn, shop, play, retrieve information, access services and stay in touch with one another. Digital technologies have not only replaced many ways of doing things, but have unlocked new potentials. Now anyone with the tools and know-how can access the world’s knowledge in multiple formats, with devices hardly bigger than a deck of cards, and can produce and disseminate written texts, audio files, videos, images and interactive video games. The dispositions and abilities required by traditional models of print literacy no longer capture the range of skills needed to be literate.
A well-rounded digital literacy incorporates print literacy but adds new capacities, competencies and comportments into the mix. Now included is the technical know-how to create a website, produce and upload a video, edit an image, design a functional information architecture for accessing or sharing knowledge – as well as many “soft skills” such as critical thinking and ethical behaviour. One of the primary transformations of the digital era in the 21st Century has been the introduction of end-users as actors in the world of communication, autonomous (producers and consumers of information) who can access and disseminate content in Web 2.0 domains without the regulatory controls of traditional filters and gatekeepers. Given this development, end-users now need greater critical thinking capacities to manage content: to decide what is valid and truthful and be able to incorporate multiple perspectives and voices into expanding worldviews. Additionally, exhibiting ethical behaviour in what may be said or posted online is essential to contemporary civic mindedness whether in a local context or the broader global village.
Education systems around the world are responding to new challenges posed in the digital era by putting considerable emphasis on the development of digital literacy capacities, competencies and comportments for children and youth. Canada is no exception. Canadian schools are a primary site for the cultivation of the critical thinking and practical skills students will need to thrive in a digital world.