LITERACY

Understanding Literacy in The Digital Age

15 June 2024/ By Zineb DJOUB

In this digital world, communication has evolved beyond mere transcripts and words. Understanding and connections now take on new dimensions through various modes and diversified goals. This transformation has expanded the notion of literacy, which for decades was limited to the ability to read, write, understand, and work with numbers. So, besides basic literacy and numeracy, what other kinds of literacy do we need to thrive in this ever-changing world?

This post describes the specific types of literacy that are essential to thrive in today’s world and should be the focus of education.

# Health literacy

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), health literacy refers to how individuals can obtain, process, and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate health decisions.

So, it’s about having the ability to critically analyze and use health information to make decisions that have a significant impact on one’s life (Nutbeam, 2001)

However, health literacy encompasses not just knowledge and abilities but also the motivation to understand and apply health care, prevent disease, and improve quality of life.

In this rapidly evolving world, making healthy lifestyle choices and managing personal and family journeys are increasingly difficult to navigate. This has resulted in a health literacy crisis all over the world.

Studies have shown that weak health literacy competencies result in fewer healthy choices, riskier behaviour, poorer health, less self-management, and more hospitalization.

As educators, we need to be health literate. Especially for our mental health, it’s necessary to learn how to avoid burnout and improve our well-being while doing this challenging job.

Developing students’ health literacy is also essential in improving their health, their family’s health, and the health of their communities.

Education programmes should, therefore, address health literacy from early childhood development by providing a wide range of learning approaches. These include, for instance:

Health-promoting school approach: students learn about health and wellness and practice healthy behaviours within a supportive environment.

Experiential learning: Students engage in hands-on activities to practice health skills.

SEL programmes: These help students develop emotional self-regulation skills, build healthy relationships, and make responsible decisions. They also include collaborating with community health organizations to engage students with real-world insights and experiences related to health and wellness.

# Ethical literacy

Ethics concern the moral principles that guide our practices. They include knowing what’s right (values) and doing what’s right.

Yet, in teaching, we often encounter ethical dilemmas when our values conflict.

For instance, how can I support a student whose needs conflict with the rest of the class? Do I have to show compassion and bend the classroom rules because of the student’s circumstances? How can I balance the curriculum requirements with my passion to foster students’ creativity, autonomy, and lifelong learning?

Making such values-based decisions requires ethical literacy (also known as moral literacy). This goes beyond a collection of facts, but rather a level of competence in both moral judgment (interpretation of facts) and action (behaviour) (Vogt, 2008).

Our effectiveness as educators depends not just on the quality of our instruction and interaction, but also on our ability to manage the classroom and positively affect the character development of our students.

So, we can’t help raise ethical literacy in students (e.g. telling them how they should behave) if we struggle to manage prevalent social-emotional issues within the school environment and beyond.

As practising educators, we must develop the skills and practices of ethical literacy to manage the classroom and preserve our well-being.

These skills help us distinguish between social conventions (rules that facilitate societal operations), moral concerns (principles of justice and human welfare), and personal preferences.

# Financial literacy

Financial literacy is the knowledge, skills, and confidence to manage financial resources and make financial decisions independently to promote financial well-being. Four qualities of financial well-being have been identified as follows (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 2015):

• Having control over day-to-day, month-to-month finances
• Having the capacity to absorb a financial shock
• Having the ability to remain on track to meet financial goals
• Having the financial freedom to make the choices that allow one to enjoy life

 

This implies that financial literacy does not only include financial know-how, but also the skills to navigate effectively through real-life financial decisions such as budgeting, credit, debt, and planning for the future.

Developing financial literacy can help us make sound financial decisions that improve our overall financial situation.

With the advancement of technology, and the increase in digital financial products, services, and also frauds over the internet, financial literacy is required to become more financially savvy consumers who can manage expenses, save, invest, and protect their financial future.

# Digital literacy

The concept of digital literacy emerged in the 1990s to refer to the lists of information-handling skills.

Yet, digital literacy’s definition was extended beyond Internet searching and accessing information to include the ability to critically analyze and evaluate information, the ability to create information in sophisticated ways, the ability to reflect on information and communication from an ethical perspective, and the ability to share information with others in different contexts (Hobbs, 2010).

It follows that besides possessing computing or technical skills, digital literacy requires the ability to engage in reflection and ethical thinking to handle digital information effectively.

This implies that digital literacy does not encompass only abilities or competencies, but it also includes awareness and attitudes to make effective use of digital tools as Martin’s (2006) definition highlights:

Digital Literacy is the awareness, attitude, and ability of individuals to appropriately use digital tools and facilities to identify, access, manage, integrate, evaluate, analyse, and synthesize digital resources, construct new knowledge, create media expressions, and communicate with others, in the context of specific life situations, in order to enable constructive social action and to reflect upon this process (p. 19).

As digital media and information have become part of our daily interactions, developing digital literacy is more than essential.

Digital literacy is listed as one of the most literacies critical for survival in the twenty-first century (American Library Association, 2012).

UNESCO emphasized the importance of digital literacy in enhancing employability and lifelong learning which are essential tools for human economic and social development.

Therefore, education needs to cater to both teachers’ and students’ digital literacy by providing PD programmes, access to necessary educational technologies, and support for their effective integration and use.

# Environmental literacy

As environmental problems increase, ranging from water quality to ecosystem management, there is a pressing need for environmental education to protect the environment and ensure sustainable development.

Environmental literacy is considered the most important component of environmental education. It is defined as “the capacity to perceive and interpret the relative health of environmental systems and take appropriate action to maintain, restore, or improve the health of those systems” (Disinger & Roth, 1992, cited in Tuncer et al., 2009, p. 2).

Environmental literacy includes:

–Knowledge: A basic understanding of the environment and its associated problems.

–Attitudes: A commitment to actively participate in environmental improvement and protection.

–Skills: The ability to identify and solve environmental problems.

As educators, we must be literate about environmental issues, showing awareness and positive attitudes towards sustainable development. We can develop such literacy by reading and learning from the media.

Moreover, incorporating environmental education into the curriculum can serve as a valuable learning source for both teachers and students. We can engage students in outdoor and classroom activities.

Outdoor activities: Conducting projects, surveys, and observation to investigate environmental issues and participating in practical environmental actions such as ecological management, persuasion, and consumerism and collaborative efforts to improve environmental issues

Classroom activities: Engaging in reading, writing, and exploring environmental topics, participating in classroom discussions, and workshops, and analyzing case studies.

Health literacy, ethical literacy, financial literacy, digital literacy, and environmental literacy are essential to our personal development and effective participation in society.

Education’s mission is not only to impart knowledge but also to develop literate citizens who are capable of making a positive impact on society. Therefore, these literacies should be prioritized in education.

References

American Library Association. 2012. Digital literacy– ALA Digital Literacy Task Force draft report. Retrieved from https://alair.ala.org/items/9131ea5e-bf78-4021-a513-e0d120507c64

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. (2015). Financial well-being: The goal of financial education. Retrieved from https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201501_cfpb_report_financial-well-being.pdf

Hobbs,R. (2010). Democracy and media literacy: A plan of action. Boulder, CO: Aspen Institute.

Martin, A . (2006). Literacies for the digital age. In A. Martin & D. Madigan. D (Eds.), Digital literacies for learning (pp.3-25). London: Facet.

Nutbeam, D. (2001). Health literacy as a public health goal: A challenge for contemporary health education and communication strategies into the 21st century. Health Promotion International, 15, 259–267.

Tuncer, G., C. Tekkaya, S., Sungur, J., Cakiroglu, H., Ertepinar, M., & Kaplowitz, M. (2009). Assessing pre-service teachers’ environmental literacy in Turkey as a means to develop teacher education programs. International Journal of Educational Development, 29, 426-436.

Vogt, K. (2008, July). Moral literacy. Ethics, 118(4), 726-730.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2010). National action plan to improve health literacy. Washington (DC).