Hi Gavin,

Are we not overlooking the fact that many teachers do not have the chance to be 'fluent' in a their teaching contexts? Most teachers probably have the basics of digital literacy in terms of personal life but then have little opportunity to put into practice in the classroom due to  schools not being able to afford technology. I mainly work in the private language sector around eastern europe and train people in using online resources, IWBs and so on and time and time again I am met with 'nice ideas' but...' As with any language in order for people to become fluent we need to allow opportunities for practice.

 Shaun 

Hi Gavin,

Shaun makes a very good point, but there are also large numbers of teachers who do have the opportunity, but don't use it. There are lots of reasons for that, but I generally find teachers as a body to be quite resistant to IT use, both in their professional and personal lives.

To address the question, I think being digitally literate mainly involves awareness. I don't even try to keep up with all the developments in the digital field. Not only would it be impossible for me to do so and also earn a living, but I consider it unnecessary. I am perfectly happy to find solutions when I need them. To be specific, having an awareness of how wikis could be used in a language-learning context is more important than knowing how to use them at the detail level. If I find a situation where it would be a good thing to use, then I need to work out how to use one. Awareness also means having a feeling for what should be possible. So I might think, "wouldn't it be good if we could..." and then I go off with my friend Google and find that solution. That is how I learned how to use the standard Office programs.

I can see the rambling alarm about to go off, so I shall stop there. At this time of night I could write some real rubbish :-)

Regards,

Kevin

Kevin is right in that the important thing for teachers to focus on is how any given technology or application is pedagogically useful... finding technology to satisfy needs rather than use technology for its own sake.

We do not need to be experts in wikis or any other applications to figure out how to use them for our students... most of the time, we can have our students take care of helping us with the details of the application!!!! As I tell my students "Time to teach the teacher!"  Theyre college students but they still love the role-reversal... not to mention they are teaching me something in English. (I do this for things other than technology, too)

For those teachers who dont have access to a given technology or application, it is understandable to not use it, but the a very large number of us DO have access to some kind of Internet-based technology. Kevin is right that many English teachers are resistant to technology (technophobia) and pleading poverty worked as an excuse for many for a long time. But sooner or later, that excuse falls by the wayside. It is simply not a luxury for the vast majority of the world, it is a need. And there are a number of creative initiatives out there to try to bring computer and Internet technology to where it still isnt.

The best way I have found to stay aware is to make connections with people through the Web. Online conferences is one way but teachers' blogs, nings and twitter have been very very helpful to me to try to keep up. For beginnings I have a page to start with (needs recommendations from you old-timers!) at a page titled "Teacher Development: Good Places to Start"  http://virtuallanguagelaboratory.wikispaces.com/TeacherDevelopment

Hi

For me where it all breaks down is when teachers and students are using online tools and facilities via laptops and internet in the classroom - and for homework - and then the students are examined on a pen/paper test.

My students have laptops, we have wireless, IWBs, all manner of tec, software, internet, etc and our college ethos is very very pro-technology. So, we do writing assignments in class (we are supposed to supervise these so as to encourage 'own work' ... ) and students use mobiles or laptops for vocabulary, spelling, editing, and (when my back is turned) online translators - and then sometimes they pull up their old files and I guess copy in bits and pieces, etc. The end result may be printed off - or more often the initial draft is supposed to be handwritten (this is the agreed system to minimize mindless copy-paste ...). We correct this by hand and then students type up a final version. So, they have created something using various tools, we have corrected it - and the corrections are usually in full rather than of the 'go off and figure it out type' as experience has shown that using error codes etc does not result in our students going off and checking on their own - and that's a story for another day. In typed projects and reports as coursework students get decent grades through this process - however, when they are required to take a pen/paper test at the end, the results can be abysmal with horrendous basic grammar errors, bizarre spellings, etc., etc.

Somewhere the system is obviously breaking down - and before I get jumped on, please note that I am following the 'party line'. It seems that all is well provided we remain in a digital environment - but that much gets lost, is not taken on board, internalised, integrated or simply not learnt - and my students, without their props (which we/they have been encouraged to use) are at a loss in a traditional paper-testing environment.

Gavin, I'm actually not sure if this is relevant to your original question - but the quandry is are digital literacy and traditional literacy mutually supportive - is it one or the other - do they run parallel, operate in different spheres - and how can they interconnect - and I wonder for how long they will need to interconnect?

Regards,

Heather

Hi Gavin,

I think it may be useful, even if you are trying to avoid it, to give some clues about what you mean by digital literacy. I don't really know what the term might mean, so I can't really respond. I suspect that applies to others.

Regards,

Kevin