Information and Media Literacy - 21st-century Students

21st-century Students

The IML learning capacities prepare students to be 21st Century literate. According to Jeff Wilhelm (2000), “technology has everything to do with literacy. And being able to use the latest electronic technologies has everything to do with being literate.” He supports his argument with J. David Bolter’s statement “that if our students are not reading and composing with various electronic technologies, then they are illiterate. They are not just unprepared for the future; they are illiterate right now, in our current time and context”. (Wilhelm, 2000, p. 4)

Wilhelm's statement is supported by a the 2005 Wired World Phase II (YCWW II) survey conducted by the Media Awareness Network of Canada on 5000 Grade 4 - 11 students. The key findings of the survey are:

• 62% of Grade 4 students prefer the Internet
• 38% of Grade 4 students choose the library.
• 91% of Grade 11 students prefer the Internet,
• 9% of Grade 11 students prefer the library (YCWW II, 2005a, para. 28).

Marc Prensky (2001) uses the term digital native to describe the individuals, who have been brought up in a digital world. The Internet has been a pervasive element of young people’s home lives. Ninety-four percent of kids report that they have Internet access at home, and a significant majority of them (61 percent) enjoy a high-speed connection. By the time kids hit Grade 11, half of them (51 percent) have their own Internet-connected computer, separate and apart from the family computer (YCWW II, 2005b, p. 6). The survey has also showed that young Canadians are now among the most wired in the world. But contrary to the earlier stereotype of the isolated and awkward computer nerd, today’s wired kid is a social kid (YCWW II, 2005b, p. 8).

In general, many students are better networked through the use of technology than most teachers and parents. Teachers and parents may not understand the abilities of technology. Students are no longer limited to the desktop computer. Students use mobile technologies to graph a mathematical problem, research a question for Social Studies, text message an expert for information as well as send homework to a drop box. Students are accessing information by using MSN, personal Web pages, Weblogs and social networking sites.