Educational Technology and Mobile Learning: The 33 Digital Skills Every 21st Century Teacher should Have

Educational Technology and Mobile Learning: The 33 Digital Skills Every 21st Century Teacher should HaveDigital literacy

Digital literacy is the ability to locate, organize, understand, evaluate, and analyze information using digital technology. It involves a working knowledge of current high-technology, and an understanding of how it can be used. Further, digital literacy involves a consciousness of the technological forces that affect culture and human behavior. Digitally literate people can communicate and work more efficiently, especially with those who possess the same knowledge and skills.

Research around digital literacy is concerned with wider aspects associated with learning how to effectively find, use, summarize, evaluate, create, and communicate information while using digital technologies, not just being literate at using a computer.

Digital literacy encompasses all digital devices, such as computer hardware, software (particularly those used most frequently by businesses), the Internet, and cell phones. A person using these skills to interact with society may be called a digital citizen. Read more ……

Every single teacher is concerned about his/ her teaching practices and the skills involved in this process. How many times have you wondered about a better way to teach the same lesson you have delivered to an eariler class? How often have you used technology to engage your students and improve their learning ? These are some recurring questions we keep regurgitating each time our teaching skills are put to the test.

It is amazing how technology has changed the whole world giving rise to new forms of education we never thought of. Our students are more digitally focused than any time before. They spend more time interacting with their mobile devices than they do with their parents or close relatives. Admittedly, this digital boom has both  positive and negative impact on our students. Lack of concentration, short attention span, distraction, visual  stimulus overload, identity theft, lack of real world socializing, privacy issues, depression, and many more are but a direct result of the growing exposure to this technology. Studies have even proved that multitasking, which some educational technology experts brag about in relation to the use of today’s technology, reduces the power of our concentration to the half.  We should not, However, only look at the empty side of the cup, the other side is way bigger.digital-literacy-digital-skills

There are  actually several pluses for the use of technology in education and to try and list them  all here is way beyond the scope of this short post. Generally speaking,  no two argue over the fact that technology advantages in education ( and in our life at large ) way  outnumber  its downsides. It is thanks to technology that you are now reading this post and will probably share it with your colleagues.

  • Create and edit  digital audio
  • Use Social bookmarking to share resources with and between learners
  • Use blogs and wikis to create online platforms for students
  • Exploit digital images for classroom use
  • Use video content to engage students
  • Use infographics to visually stimulate students
  • Use Social networking sites to connect with colleagues and grow professionally
  • Create and deliver asynchronous presentations and training sessions
  • Compile a digital e-portfolio for their own development
  • Have a knowledge about online security
  • be able to detect plagiarized works in students assignments
  • Create screen capture videos and tutorials
  • Curate web content for classroom learning
  • Use and provide students with task management tools to organize their work and plan their learning
  • Use polling software to create a real-time survey in class
  • Understand issues related to copyright and fair use of online materials
  • Exploit  computer games for pedagogical purposes
  • Use digital assessment tools to create quizzes
  • Use of collaborative tools for text construction and editing
  • Find and evaluate authentic web based content
  • Use of mobile devices like tablets
  • Identify online resources that are safe for students browsing
  • Use digital tools for time management purposes
  • Learn about the different ways to use YouTube in your classroom
  • Use note taking tools to share interesting content with your students
  • Annotate web pages and highlight parts of text to share with your class
  • Use of online graphic organizers and printables
  • Use of online sticky notes to capture interesting ideas
  • Use of screen casting tools to create and share tutorials
  • Exploit group text messaging tools for collaborative project work
  • Conduct an effective search query with the minimum time possible
  • Conduct A Research Paper Using Digital Tools
  • Use file sharing tools to share docs and files with students online

Read more ……

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