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21 November, 2016
Traditional and digital literacy
Traditional and digital literacy
by. Handi Kurniawan
Indonesia ranks 60th out of 61 countries surveyed for the list of
“World’s Most Literate Nations”. While we are working toward improving
“traditional” literacy, which in brief is defined as the ability to
read, write and do simple arithmetic, the world has been moving toward
“digital” literacy.
The survey caught the attention of US educators as well. America used to
be No. 1, but in the past few years Nordic countries have overtaken it,
with Finland consistently on top and the US in seventh place. It is
interesting to hear comments from fellow educators in the US, who say
the rankings shouldn’t be exaggerated because the US educational system
is different from that of Finland — for example, in terms of size and
homogeneity.
In fact there is no centralized educational system in the US as each
state implements its own, which means there are 50 different educational
systems.
This reminds me of a comment about the Singapore educational system,
which is said to be easily managed because of the country’s size. I
would imagine that if every province in Indonesia was committed to the
improvement of education, the national educational system would
collectively get better, but this will not work. The reality is
Singapore and South Korea have managed to transform their poor systems
into two of the best in the world thanks to their economies.
Why is literacy important? John Miller has an answer. He says,
“Knowledge has always been associated with influence, power and economic
success. And literacy has always been the essential vehicle for the
acquisition of knowledge. Knowledge and literacy created power in the
world. Advantages, both financial and otherwise, were afforded to those
who could read and thus acquire, organize and use knowledge.”
In the knowledge-based economy, the educated and literate human
resources who possess critical thinking and are creative and innovative
could help Indonesia reach the same level of respect as other developed
and civilized nations in the world.
Indonesia is still struggling to address the challenges in equality,
accessibility and quality facing its educational system. So which one do
we need to prioritize? Providing accessibility to education, or
accelerating digital literacy? I would assume if this question was
raised with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, his answer would be to
prioritize both.
What is digital literacy? Does WhatsApping, learning from YouTube, or
posting in social media constitute digital literacy? With search engines
like Google, acquiring information could be much easier. With regards
to education, it further emphasizes the importance of “understanding”
over “memorization”.
Technology has enabled education and enriched the alternatives to the way people learn.
Nobel laureate Herbert Simon said in 1996 that the meaning of “knowing”
had shifted from being able to remember and repeat information to being
able to find and use it.
I would suggest that the most important literacy in the knowledge-based
economy is how to find, select and use knowledge productively. The main
purpose of education needs to shift from passing the standardized test
to developing learners’ potential, teach them how to learn sustainably
and to unleash their fullest strengths.
With digital literacy, more people will be participating in the current
knowledge-based economy. Our government, academics and businesses need
to work together so we can narrow the gap between the economy and
education. To reach the goal three things need to be done.
First, an independent body under the education minister needs to be
established to develop and execute a “literacy transformation strategy”
by involving all policymakers, educators, literacy enthusiast across
Indonesia. This independent institution should create a shared vision,
manage the direction and cultivate all good ideas from the grassroots
and unheard voices.
Second, the quality of educators should be continuously improved by
providing professional development, better quality control and
increasing the standards of certification.
Research shows that students who have more effective teachers will learn
much more compared to those who have less effective teachers. Educators
should be the facilitators of leveraging new technology and digital
literacy to students. In so doing, teachers and students can grow
together.
Third, wisdom should be exercised in responding to technology, given the
fact that people are merely consumers of new technology.
In the 1920s Thomas Edison predicted movies would forever change the way
people learn and that printed books would no longer be needed, but on
the contrary, printed books still exist.
There is a fundamental difference between technology now and then, but
let’s be wise in understanding technology, its impact and its future
use.
Digital literacy offers speed, convenience, economical sense and
availability in a larger scale, but there is no “one size fits all”
solution with regards to technology.
As Arne Duncan, former US secretary of education said: “If the
technology revolution only happens for families that already have money
and education, then it’s not really a revolution.”
Sumber tulisan : http://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2016/11/11/traditional-and-digital-literacy.html
sumber gambar : https://www.waxcom.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/x2016-08-01-Traditional-vs-Digital.jpg.pagespeed.ic.iL6VFhQQs7.jpg
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