Describe your literacy practices today
These are skills that equip a student with a wealth of knowledge via means of writing as well as developing technology and media. Also, the knowledge can be acquired through reading.
Uses of literacy skills in my normal day activities.
Information Literacy.
As a student to be able to do my work effectively, I require to possess necessary literacy skills that will help me in grasping all my academic information. These skills include; understanding, application, analyzing, evaluation and creativity. In gaining information literacy one needs to gains insight into areas such as research and writing. To be able to utilize information literacy there is the need to fully understand two critical parts;
Consuming Information
In the modern day, there is an increase in the information materials that are available for learners to access. Thus, there is a need for a student to gain better and new skills to handle the vast information volumes. Information that is available in the print media such as magazines, newspapers and journals, are prepared mostly by professionals. In these large volumes of documentations occasionally there will be incidences where information availed is not reliable. Thus as a student I will be required to act and play the role of a print-media editor. I should be able to cross-examine the information, watch for errors, biasness and any other faults. This will in turn help me in ensuring that the information I consume is right and reliable. In my normal day routine, I spend at least three hours of my free time reading and analyzing different materials such as Journals, Magazines and Newsletters.
Producing Information.
In traditional systems students were required to produce the information they had read in class it was principally targeted to the course instructor and for grading purposes. In such scenarios, the students didn't give much thought to their writings as this was purely an academic thing. However in this modern day era, the writing I take part in is a form of communication. The information that I produce in my academic work has a number of uses and hitherto consequences. Thus, I have a duty to gain insightful literacy skills that will give me an upper hand in submitting written coursework that is ethical and meets a certain threshold (Inquire: A Guide to 21st Century Learning.)
Through reading i was able to develop my literacy skills in other facets such as writing. I love fomulating thoughts and to put them down to paper. This is enhanced by the use of communication technologies such as dictionary.com, which offers, an enrichment of words and growth in grammar. More so, the use of applications available for windows and other computer systems have largely helped in the development of my literacy.
Technology Literacy
In the modern day world, there is a high growth rate in the technological advancements. If you take a look, in less than a decade we didn't have things like Facebook. However, with its inception, who can live in this day without it? The cell phone that we knew a few years back was merely for making phone calls and sending texts, however, flash-forward to today, a mere phone is more equipped than some computers. In any form of our day to day activities, we are surrounded by vast technological tools and we cannot just ignore them. Thus, it will be prudent enough if we were able to acquire all the needed knowledge to utilize all the technology we have. As a student I have a wide range of expectations and usage of technological skills in my day to day life such as;
Use technology as a tool of expressing my views, personalities and excising my freedom of expression.
Use technology to satisfy my own personal wants and tastes.
Use technology to source relevant information for academic and social purposes.
Use technology to interact with my friends, family and organizations.
Use technology as a form of entertainment and socialization.
Technology should be able to help in linking up and forming collaborations.
Through consistent use of technology my literacy and knowledge elements in technology have greatly improved. However, as much as technological advancement is evident in our society it cannot entirely overtake the traditional practices as they are the founding pillars of our literacy knowledge.
Communication Technologies.
This can be expressed as the process of innovating, designing ,coming up with and maintaining communication systems. In the modern day time we refer to communication technologies as ICT.
It encompasses a range of devices, systems and applications which have different uses in my daily activities;
Television.
This is one of the useful piece of communication technology device that I largely use in my daily activities. In most of my free times I always look forward to using television for either of below uses;
It is a great source of entertainment in the table room, especially the cable channels.
Offers a lot of information on the happenings throughout the world.
It is a source of my religious enrichment through the preaching's that are broadcasted.
Through watching discovery channel I have broaden my knowledge on a wide range of fields and adding business and historical knowledge.
Television is also my source of open educational thus helps me to learn at the comfort of my house.
Smart Phones.
According to one (Rysavvy, 2010), a Smartphone can be summed up as a little but clever communication device with a wide range of high quality services, that is equally portable. It is user friendly, interactive and highly beneficial to the owner. They have greatly made normal day tasks simple and quite accessible.
I personally look to the usage of Smartphone's in the following areas;
As a source of entertainment through music and watching videos.
Use in taking notes in my Smartphone , reviewing and editing your schedule.
Offers faster communication through integrated web browsers and faster internet connections.
Looking back over the years, I do believe that would I had made some changes to my reading, writing and speech practices from early stages, in elementary classes, I would by now been a more avid learner. Hopefully, with time I will gain that much literal knowledge to satisfy my cravings.
References
Spitzer, K. L., Eisenberg, M. B., & Lowe, C. A. (1998). Information Literacy: Essential Skills for the Information Age. Information Resources Publications, Syracuse University, 4-194 Center for Science and Technology, Syracuse, NY 13244-4100.
