IT literacy scope – two views Skills: none Concepts: Class coverage – Kemeney and Kurtz Internet skills and concepts, Wesch media literacy Our class outline was derived from the first people to work on IT literacy, John Kemeney and Thomas Kurtz. They developed a course to present the skills and concepts that were relevant during the 1960s and 70s. The relevant skills and concepts have changed with new technology – our class includes the skills and concepts that are relevant in the Internet era. We will also see what Michael Wesch and Jeff Borden think about IT Literacy. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Where does this topic fit? Internet concepts Applications Technology Implications Internet skills Application development Content creation User skills This topic does not fit within the class, it is about the class.

John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz offered the first ever IT literacy class at Dartmouth College in the early 1960s. They believed that every liberally educated undergraduate needed knowledge of computers and information technology, regardless of their major. The US National Science Foundation agreed, and funded their work.

IT literacy evolution Timesharing PC Windows Internet The IT literacy curriculum has changed as new platforms for developing and delivering applications became available. With the advent of timesharing, Kemeny and Kurtz developed a curriculum that included hardware and software concepts, a taste of programming and algorithmic thinking, and a survey of applications and social implications. With the advent of the personal computer, productivity applications replaced programming. Office became the de facto productivity applications with the emergence of Windows. The Internet era requires a new set of skills and concepts today. Ubiquitous portable devices may drive the next generation IT literacy curriculum. Mobile ?

IT Literacy The Skills and concepts needed for success as a student and after graduation as a professional and a citizen. This is a paraphrase of Kemeny and Kurtz’ definition of IT literacy. IT literacy consists of the skills and concepts needed for success as a student and after graduation as a professional and a citizen. The skills and concepts required have changed over time as the dominant technology changed from batch processing, to time sharing, to personal computers and now the Internet. Ours will be an IT literacy course for the Internet era.

Skills and concepts needed for success as a student and after graduation as a professional and a citizen. Skills Application development Content creation User skills Concepts Applications Technology Implications This is our high-level class outline. As you approach a module, ask yourself where it fits in this outline – that way you can keep the big picture in mind.

Self-study questions We will cover skills and concepts. The concepts fall into three general categories Internet applications, Internet technology and the implications of the Internet. Let’s consider implications. Give an example of the way the Internet affects you personally in your private life. Give an example of the way the Internet affects organizations. Give an example of a way in which the Internet affects society as a whole.

Self-study questions We will cover skills and concepts. The skills fall into three general categories, application development and content creation. Give an example where you created text content on the Internet. Give an example where you created image content on the Internet. Give an example where you created audio content on the Internet. Give an example where you created video content on the Internet. Give three examples of Internet-based application you have used. Blogs and Twitter are popular applications – what are the differences and similarities between them? Who uses them and for what?

I attended the 2011 Campus Technology conference in Boston. Michael Wesch, an award-winning teacher from Kansas State University, gave the opening keynote. His presentation was entertaining, inspirational and wide-ranging. I would advise you to watch the entire video, but this module focuses on only portion – the manner in which the Internet has changed what students need to learn in order to be media literate.

Wesch, an anthropologist, sounded a bit like Marshall Mcluhan in saying media are more than communication tools -- they mediate and change relationships. Television is a one-way, broadcast medium in which many people receive the same message. A media literate student during the TV area would be a passive watcher, and therefore need to learn critical thinking skills -- to question the factual, political and cultural messages being broadcast.

Today’s student is growing up in the post-TV, Internet-era. An Internet-era student needs more than critical thinking, he or she needs what Wesch calls “media literacy.”

To be media literate, an Internet era student needs many skills. According to Wesch, an Internet-era student needs to learn to generate, filter, organize, distribute and rate information.

Self-study questions Who needs more critical thinking skills -- students in the era of Walter Cronkite, News Papers, and books or students in the era of Wikipedia, blogs, Fox News? Are the critical thinking skills needed during the era of broadcast media still needed in the Internet era? Are they more or less important? Explain your answer.

Self-study questions Wesch says an Internet-era student needs to learn to generate, filter, organize, distribute and rate information. Give examples of times you have done each of these. Wesch says TV is a one-way, broadcast medium. Is the Internet? Explain your answer. This presentation covers only a portion of Wesch’s talk. Watch the complete video and briefly summarize one other major point he made.

You We’ve seen my thoughts on the scope of the class. We’ve seen Michael Wesh’s and Jeff Borden’s views. What do you think? You have all semester to answer the following questions.

Which skills and concepts? Internet concepts Applications Technology (processing, storage and communication) Implications (for individuals, organizations and society) Internet skills Application development Content creation (written, image, audio, video) User skills Here is a somewhat more detailed version of our class outline. How should the outline be changed? Which skills and concepts do you think should be included in the IT literacy curriculum? Discussion …

How can we use the Internet to facilitate learning in our class? Think about this during the semester. For example – you use Facebook and I don’t – could we use Facebook? How can we use Google Plus? If you have an idea, we can do an experiment.

Summary Kemeny and Kurtz inspired our high level class outline. As you approach a module, ask yourself where it fits in this outline – that way you can keep the big picture in mind. Michael Wesch feels we need different skills to be media literate in the Internet era, and spelled out the skills an information literate student needs in the Internet era. Jeff Borden reminded us that educational techniques, tools and student’s expectations are constantly changing.

Resources A longer description of the content of our course: http://cis275topics.blogspot.com/2010/07/course-overview.html A presentation with background on IT literacy and the design of our electronic text: http://som.csudh.edu/fac/lpress/presentations/CampusTechnology conference.pptx Presenter materials from 2011 Campus Technology Conference, including Wesch’s: http://events.campustechnology.com/events/ct-summer-educational-technology-conference/information/presenter-materials_0.aspx Session recordings from 2011 Campus Technology Conference, including Wesch’s: http://events.campustechnology.com/events/ct-summer-educational-technology-conference/information/session-recordings.aspx Other videos Wesch and his students have made on classroom atmosphere and engagement: http://cis471.blogspot.com/2008/03/characteristics-of-todays-students.html Excerpts from another presentation summarizing Wesch’s his view of today’s classroom and suggesting that the Internet may improve the situation: http://cis275topics.blogspot.com/2010/08/httpsom.html