Competent, Literate, Fluent: The What and Why of Digital Initiatives

Morris Pelzel Published: Wednesday, April 17, 2019

https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2019/4/competent-literate-fluent-the-what-and-why-of-digital-initiatives

how should associated terms including literacy, competency, and fluency be distinguished

In the 2019 EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) Key Issues in Teaching and Learning, digital and information literacy maintains a top-five position for the third consecutive year.

Is it significant that Bryn Mawr College has a framework for digital competencies, Virginia Tech is launching a program in digital literacy, and the University of Mary Washington has a curricular initiative for advanced digital fluency? And what does it mean that Penn State has shifted its focus from digital literacy to digital fluency?

Jennifer Sparrow and Clint Lalonde have argued that digital fluency is a distinct capacity above and beyond digital literacy.

digital frameworks … on three levels:

• First, digital initiatives aim to enhance students’ success after graduation.
• A second major objective is to develop “digital citizenship.”
• At a third level, digital initiatives can promote deep reflection upon the distinctive nature and ethics of knowing and knowledge in the digital age.