For the post 3 of my Edci 569/572 class, I wanted to consider the above question and wanted to discuss what educators need in regards to digital literacy. First of all, my belief is that not all educators are well equipped to teach digital literacy. Ultimately there are many factors and experiences of educators and some may be very well prepared and others less so. This comes down to many aspects including previous experiences, education, districts, funding, access etc. Notably when I think of this question, I think about my last 3 years of teaching and how that only in my second year of my master was I introduced to BC’s Digital Literacy Framework. This framework may have been mentioned or linked in previous courses but was never discussed, nor were we as learners able to critically think about it. With technology constantly developing, I believe that this framework and curriculum such as ADST, should of been explored in my undergrad when becoming a teacher. Should it only be ADST curriculum that uses technology… no but for many educators that is the case as they do not feel equipped to teach technology.

Another key example, is this year all our district desktops got replaced with a little page explaining how to connect the new monitors to the projector, dual screen etc. This is just one example of how technology changes and how educators are thrown new things to learn daily.

So what do educators need:

  • Pro D Days that focus on technology within our schools or open source apps we can use as educators.
  • A shared platform of resources and lesson plans for educators that are accessible and easy to teach and available in French Immersion (lack of French resources is often a problem).
  • University courses that look at Digital Literacy Frameworks, technology etc in all program (I was lucky enough to do the Professional Certificate in Informational Communication and Technology and get some of this experience earlier).
  • Have the Digital Scholarship Commons at UVic or other similar groups promote workshops and tools that use key digital skills in various education classes.
  • Mandate a technology competency in practicums and for yearly professional development or even September training (In 2024, I believe to do our job as educators effectively we must be able to first use some technology, so that we can teach required skills and knowledge to our students).

The plan with mine and Krystal‘s final project is to meet some of these needs so educators feel ready to teach digital literacy skills in line with 3D printing (which is our focus). All in all you can’t use a printer until you know the safety procedures and design software in order to not break or burn yourself (Clayton outlines the 3D printer well in his project . In the coming weeks, Krystal and I will look into our project and decide on our specific topic, problem, purpose, question in relation to 3D printing and Elementary and hopefully we can create some useful resources for teachers worldwide.

From my final practicum report the only mention of technology is under the below standard (6) which says that technology is used to thoughtfully deliver curriculum and does not obscure the content. Rather than the educators has provided safety measures and outlined key skills students can use with technology or something along those lines.