Wednesday, October 1, 2008
IT Literacy
Reflecting on how you use technology today and how you might think you will use it in the future, and reviewing the IT self-assessment handed out in class, describe you think IT literacy might be defined (there is no universally accepted definition of IT literacy - but efforts to try to draw the world in to a conversation on how IT literacy should be defined for the 21st century).
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I think IT literacy is knowing more than just how to turn on a computer. It is knowing how to use various software, like word, excel, defragmenter, internet explorer, etc., successfully. It is being able to explain to someone else how to use a program without being there with the person.
However, I don't think to be IT literate, you have to know all the terms that were on that assessment. If the average computer user had to know what a BIOS is or the difference between RAM and ROM, only a small percentage of people would actually be IT literate. I consider myself to be pretty good with computers (I have been using them since I was four), but even some of the things on the assesesment I had no clue about.
Overall, I don't think there will ever be a universal definition because not everyone will have access to technology to become even a little bit technologically literate.
I think that people need to know and understand what some key terms are and what they mean. I am not saying that people need to know every little term, but without a basic understanding of some terms, how can one truely expect to understand and become IT literate. The same goes for anything else we want to learn. Within every field we start off learning some key terms and principles and then build on those to understand more. I think that IT literacy should be same way. Once you understand the basics you can build on them and begin to understand more. Also, when shopping for a new computer you will know what is important to look for and why it is important.
I think that IT literacy should be taught in school, just as english and math are. I took a class here at KSU that taught the basics of computers and I benefitted greatly, even though I already felt pretty confident on a computer. IT literacy comes from an understanding of the basics.
Day to day technology is being integrated into our daily life. Without technology it will be hard, and difficult to have a comfortable life.
Water, food, communication, transportation, education, almost everything depends on technology. Technology is globalizing so fast that in a span of not even half a century, technology has become a part of our daily lives.
Newspapers, magazines, and books are a source of information and education. Likewise, the laptops, podcasting serves the same purpose – only faster, better and almost limitless. For instance, laptops or the internet rather are not only a source of information like newspapers, but they are a source of current information. What I mean by current is that it gets updated so frequently that once an event happens, an article on it can be posted online within the hour or sometimes less. This way, people all around the world are able to receive any important news quicker.
Furthermore, since technology is spreading so fast and becoming such a big part of our daily lives, we do not know what future will have for us. Business has been revolutionized over the last 30 years by technology. In the coming decades it is sure to continue to change radically based on available technologies. It has a great impact in the business world. I am an accounting major and technology is making it easier for us to do what we do well, make things right (balance).
The idea to imagine myself doing accounting calculations with only pen and paper is kind of crazy. Today day there is a big variety of tax programs where I only enter the data and the program does the automatic calculations for me. When we as students are faced with the task of creating financial statements by hand, we sometimes believe that that’s torture.
Thanks to technology we can have these formats saved on the computer and just plug in numbers where they are suppose to go. Technology makes our daily life easier in all aspects, but still we have to remember that it is a double-edged sword. It is our decision what side we want (good or bad).
IT Literacy, to me, is defined as knowledge about how to use programs(in updated version, e.g. MS Office) how to efficiently find information pertinent to me on the internet, how to trouble shoot and fix minor errors, and a basic knowledge of parts, components, and terms associated with IT.
I believe that having such knowledge assists me in getting my daily tasks accomplished with minimal difficulty. I also believe teachers should confirm their students are aware of the requirements of IT in their class. Teachers should make themselves available if a student needs further instruction.
With the frequent and quick changing world of IT, it should not be taken for granted everyone is literate to the extent of how each individual defines IT.
in my opinion i think IT literacy means being able to get technology to do what you need or want it to do. that of course is a subjective definition. A software programmer should be able to use tech the way they need to and a person that likes emailing is using tech the way they want and need so both of them are IT literate by that definition.
Another possible way to define IT literacy is the innate ability to learn how to use new IT quickly. for example, when my parents got a new vehicle early this year it had an onboard GPS system. they had no clue how to use it and i had never used one before. my dad played with it for a day or 2 and still couldnt figure it out (he is too stubborn to read the manual) So my dad asked me to help. i had the thing completly figured out in 10 minutes, and both myself and my dad had the same knowledge on how to use the device at the start, 0.
I agree with all of you in that IT literacy should be determined for each individual person. I would like to think that I am IT literate, but I know I am not IT fluent. My husband is a computer engineer, so if I compare what I know to what he knows it is much less than if I compare myself with what my grandmother knows. I am able to do everything I need to with my computer-research, email, use software, etc...
I don't know how to make a website or program a micro chip, but for my daily life I don't need to.
I believe that everyone needs to have at least a basic knowledge of IT and how to use everyday programs. I agree that it should be taught in school and that teachers themselves should be IT literate, as well. It is so frustrating (for example) when I have professors that don't even know how to set up the email for WebCT.
IT literacy is going to be very important for the growth of technology in the future and it will also greatly increase as more people use more and more technology in their everyday lives.
IT literacy can be defined as the set of intellectual capabilities, knowledge and skills needed to use information technology at a level appropriate to a person's position, work environment and discipline and the ability to continue to develop them into the future. IT literacy also requires that an individual understands IT in a way that they can know when IT will assist or impede the achievement of a goal.
It is understood that there are different levels to almost everything and IT literacy is no different. There are different levels of IT literacy. There are persons with a high level of IT literacy (writing a program) and just a low level of IT literacy (using words to do graphs). As was stated earlier the level of IT literacy that an individual possesses depends on the nature of use. With this in mind it will be hard to formulate a definite or solid definition of IT literacy since this literacy depends on the nature of the event.
I think it's very important to be somewhat IT literate. I know that when I was in middle school we had to take a computer class that was all about learning the terms and how to do many basic things on a computer. I may not remember the exact definitions that I had to learn so many years ago, but I am still familiar with them. When our generation uses technology with almost everything that we do I feel as though everyone should have some basic knowledge of what things mean. I guess I figured everyone took a class like I had to middle school. Even in high school there was a mandatory computer class that we had to take and learn how to prepare documents and how to type efficiently. Computers are used in almost all, if not every field of study today. And sure, you can get by without knowing what all the basic terms mean, but you would be able to get by with more of an understanding about how everything works if you had the basic knowledge.
I've been using computers for a very long time and I feel like I'm very capable of doing projects without questions, but I still was unable to do well on the assessment. I feel like you have to of truly studied this material and be extremely interested in it to completely know what you're talking about. But, like I said, you can get by without knowing all the definitions. I can use many programs on the computer and I don't know much about the terms.
Technology and its dependency has changed dramatically over the years. I think back to when I was a little girl and how excited I was to play the Atari at my friend's house. Or how cool it was to have a push button phone instead of a rotary dial. I remember playing with my dad's typewriter and using it for school papers. IT literacy was definitely not something of great concern then.
Today, you need to have some form of IT literacy in order to work, keep up with current events, and even maintain contact with friends and family.
As I try to think of what to write here, I find myself thinking about my children and how much technology has influenced their lives. They text message their friends on their cell phones constantly instead of just calling them. They communicate on myspace and facebook with friends and family. They play online games, such as World of Warcraft and X-box Live, with people from all over the world as well as with each other on on the three computers we have set up on our wireless network. They know how to use the many software programs we have to create websites, write papers, create presentations, make flyers and brochures... their knowledge amazes me.
This makes me think of the stories my grandfather and father would tell me about their days growing up and how they had to walk miles to go to school or actually make things to play with outside - like a cart out of cardboard and old tires. Times have changed. My kids would have to search the internet for instructions on how to build a cart!
IT literacy would entail knowing and understanding the basic concepts of how to get information, how to use it, and how to share it with the masses.
I would just try to generalize IT Literacy as simplistically as I could. IT literacy is the amount of information you know regarding computing software. Because I know a good bit about computers, it helped me to understand iPods and other electronics. But without prior knoledge of computers and how they work, I might not be able to fully comprehend all that goes on with an iPod, but because I do, I know that's basically an external hard drive with a speaker output (simplistically enough).
I think as we are teaching computer technology, and younger people are learning computing software at earlier ages, the IT literacy is becoming more apparent in people. I think of it like a small child. I read an article that did an experiment that showed that children from 1-3 years old learn more information in that few years than they do (in relation) than any other few year expansion of their life. That being said, that is why it's easier for children with bilangual parents are able to pick up and learn two different languages simultaniously. I think of IT literacy in the same sense.
You can teach an old dog new tricks, but it's easier to just teach a new pup :-)
Everyone knows that learning a foreign language can be a difficult task, but, the younger an individual is, the easier it seems to be. I believe this is a wonderful analogy to computer literacy. The current millennium generation grew up with computers in their home. While older generations had to learn how to use these technologies at a later age, it seems very clear that the earlier an individual is given access to a computer, the easier it is for that individual to develop a understanding of the thought processes needed to effectively use and understand the underlying philosophies in computer systems. This is not to say that older people cannot successfully learn anything or everything about how computers operate and think. It merely explains why younger individuals seem to be able to accept and adapt to newer technologies at a faster pace. It is as if this type of thinking is truly as native to them as a second language would be if they grew up with it being spoken in their home.
The assessment leads me to believe that IT literacy is more than just knowing how to use a device but a knowledge of how it works. When you have a basic idea of how something works you are more likely to be able to fix the problem or at least have an idea of what the problem actually is. For example, when I got a new laptop last year it would just randomly be unable to acquire a wireless signal. I tried every trick I knew to fix the problem, but nothing would work. Then I realized that there was a switch on the front of the laptop where you can turn off the wireless signal and somehow I was inadvertently hitting it. As more features and functions are added to all of our “basic” devices we will have to have a broader knowledge of all of them and what they do. Rather this will require us or hinder us from attaining a deeper knowledge of all these electronics is a hard call to make. In one case, you will always know essentially how a washing machine works, no matter how many do-dads it has. However, when it comes to computers and the interworking of their programs and scripts, will the general public be able to keep up? Even now I have a hard time truly understanding what is going on in my computer. I hardly ever select “custom setup” when I’m installing certain programs because, I really don’t know what half those options do.
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