Ashley Zizich

Senior Seminar

Response

September 10, 2017

            Reading over the Information Literacy Competency Standards was interesting because I find myself at times lacking in a few areas of skill. I find it interesting that my children are expected to know how to use a computer and a mouse by the time they get into kindergarten. In their individual class rooms they have Chromebooks for their individual use that they are on a few times per week. While they already knew how to use a mouse and navigate a computer, it didn’t really occur to me just how much time they would be spending in their academic careers gaining resources from computers. While I was younger, my academic work was rarely on a computer and rarely consisted of using any database or technology. If I was doing a research paper, I would go to the library and check out books, using the card catalogue! In my college career, I find myself lacking because I was not already versed in programs and different technologies on a computer. For example, I am editing the current edition of Sigma Tau Delta’s Voices magazine. I was also in charge of laying out the magazine before it went to the printer. Having never done a layout before, I had to ask someone else to help me. Watching someone go through an InDesign program in order to lay out the magazine was really confusing to me. I often think about how my lack of certain programs and technology will be a downfall for me and my future. While I have learned to use basic programs and do basic Microsoft programs on a computer, there is still much more I have yet to learn. While this is worrying in my prospective jobs, I feel that my children will already have a better understanding of different technologies that I may never have.

            In the Uses of Digital Literacy, Chapter 1 speaks of how digital literacy may be abused. I found this interesting because there are so many times I will see an article on Facebook and accept it for what it is. While I understand, there are many resources that aren’t exactly reputable, I often forget that and take what I read as truth. There are so many choices in what you read, and where you can read them from. Chapter 1 talks about how these choices are not particularly structured. While there is an education in digital literacy, we must be careful of the entertainment value behind it as well. While literacy in the evolution of media is, ever-growing and will continue to grow, it is amazing to read of the history behind its evolution.  We live in such a media-driven society that has so many advancements, and education is becoming a clear majority of this phenomena. I can relate to how this book is trying to show that an ever-changing, technological advanced society, people need to get on board with the fact that digital literacy will be the most widely used form. As I have stated before, my children are already learning that most things they do in the ways of research and learning are based on technology. While I think keeping to traditional forms is also important to appreciate the history behind literature, it is merely a fact that the world is digital.