QUESTION 1: DC,F&A
Digital Citizenship, Fluencies & Access
5 Fluency skills needed in the digital world
Fluency skills are important in the digital world in order to effectively and decently interpret information, create content, build and knowledge and share ideas in a digitally interconnected world (Region10, 2020).What could you possibly do without them? Nothing at all. We are going to briefly discuss five critically important skills that everyone needs to acquire namely: Information,solution,media,creativity and collaboration fluencies. These skills will indeed help you become a better, well-informed and unique digital citizen. All your digital difficulties and incompetence will be gone after learning these skills!
1.Information Fluency
This is the ability to naturally ask, find, interpret, apply and assess information in order to gain complete knowledge and understanding of the of the content and utilize it to solve real life problems,situations or our daily tasks (Churches, Jukes & Crockett, 2011). This skill enables us to become lifelong learners (Virtual Library, 2020). For example if a student is required to do a research assignment on bad email etiquette, the first step is to ask questions relevant to the research question so as to be concise and accurate. Acquire information from reliable online sources like blogs and articles or physical materials such as textbooks. Analyze the raw information by arranging,organizing and authentication to ensure that it is factual and not unreliable opinions. Apply the analyzed and processed information to the research question so as to create a solution for the problem (Wabisabile Learning, 2020). Assess how well as a student you did on your assignment, how you could improve your marks and which aspects to thus focus on (Wabisabile Learning, 2020).
2.Solution Fluency
This is a skill about solving problems by using a process based on intuition (Digital Citizenship, 2020). It is built on information fluency and needs us to explain and simplify a problem as well as retrieve knowledge to solve the problem (Digital Citizenship, 2020).It involves 6 D's namely: Define where the problem is explained, Discover the cause and background of the problem, Dream is where we dream of what we want to achieve with this problem, Design is where we construct a plan to achieve the dream, Deliver is about the production and execution of a plan designed, Debrief is where we examine the results of the solution and see how it could be improved (GlobalDigitalCitizen, 2020). For example if as a student you are trying to find a solution for air pollution as part of an assignment you will need to: define the problem so that you do not lose context, discover background about the problem like how it started, dream about different solutions possibilities that could be made, design steps or process to be followed to reach the solution, deliver the action of plan according to the design and debrief if the solution for air pollution worked and how it could be improved (Wabisabi Learning, 2018).
3.Media Fluency
This is the ability to naturally interpret the information in the media and be able to communicate in other media formats as well as being able to use and create content digitally (Wabisabi Learning, 2020). It is divided into 2: Listening and Leverage. Listening is divided into message and medium. Listening which is further divided into: message which excludes all the distractions for example noise or music when somebody is speaking, verbalize (speaking in words) the message being communicated,verify if the message is factual or opinionated for example someone may say Nike is Better than Adidas which is an opinion and is acceptable based on credibility(Digital Citizenship, 2020) . The second part is medium which is the channel through which the message is provided for example via website or radio.It can be divided into: form-this are visuals of the design e.g colour, font or lighting, Flow which is the how the messages progresses from the beginning to the end and lastly alignment-the audience,message and the medium have to align so as to bring an effective message for example if the message is sad,sadness should be evoked from the audience and the tone and music should be sad (Global Digital Citizen, 2020). 2nd part is Leverage which is about choosing the medium to effectively convey the message and it is divided into: Message which has content to convey and the outcome you want to reach for example reminding your friend that he forgot their car keys on the table and giving them to him. Secondly we have medium which is divided into audience,ability and criteria (Digital Citizenship, 2020). For example if you are selling textbooks you need students as your audience,the ability to get the textbooks or produce them and sell them and lastly the criteria e.g your budget for producing textbooks or deadline for which the textbooks should be delivered.
4.Collaboration Fluency
Collaboration fluency is the ability to work together as a team virtually or in person towards achieving a common goal (Teaching commons, 2019). It contains 5 E's which are: Establish-Create a group and assign roles and responsibilities to each member according to their expertise and interests,establish norms e.g method of communication and set a scope with the objectives of a project,ensuring that all information requirements are met and the leader know's his/her responsibilities as well as making a group contract where every member agrees to the responsibilities (Allthingslearning, 2012). Envision-This is where the desired outcome is visualized and the challenges and problems scrutinized. Engineer-This is where a plan to achieve the goal is created. Execute-This is where the engineered plan is put into action. Examine-This is where the results are reviewed to see if the solution has worked and where improvements could be done (Global Digital CItizen, 2020). For example students who established a research on finding solution about land pollution and they delegated certain 22 people to work on the project each with roles and responsibilities. They came up with a solution of asking government to provide adequate dumping sites, they then reviewed how this has worked over time and how it could be improved.
5.Creative fluency
Creative fluency is about how being artistic can add significance to a and meaning through storytelling,art and design. It involves making use of innovative design to add more value to product functionality using form (Teaching Commons, 2019). It contains 5 I's which are: Identify-This is about identifying what you want to create(desired outcome)and the challenges you are facing(criteria). Inspire-This is where your brain needs to be filled with sensory information such as artwork,magazines and photos to get inspiration from and let your imagination be free (Digital Citizenship, 2020). Interpolate-This is about connecting the dots by finding patterns which will complement your desired solution within the inspiration (AllThingsLearning, 2012). Imagine-This is where we unify the inspiration and extrapolation as we create a vivid imagination or idea. Inspect- This is where we need to question if the imagined idea can be achieved or it is not feasibile. For example adding art,design and storytelling to a land pollution problem and creating a documentary or presentation to the government so that they may see that it is feasible.
These fluency skills can be learnt and they will enable a person to be proficient and be able to be a better citizen in real life and digitally (AllThingsLearning, 2012). They go hand in hand for example you need to have the information fluency ability in order to tackle the solution fluency (Digital Citizenship, 2020). You have to work with other people in order to have great solutions and inventions thus collaboration fluency is of essence. While working together with your team for a common goal you will have creative input in your project because there will be more input. The media fluency will be needed in order to find inspiration,information and utilize media for the project. Without these fluencies one cannot become digitally literate, we all need these skills to achieve our goals in this digital world. For example one cannot be successful in solving the problem of global warming digitally without these skills. These skills are recommended by digital Literacy professionals which makes this validated and reliable. Put your digital literacy to good by learning and improving on these skills and you will succeed in the online platforms!