Chapter 16 Conclusion
Gráinne Conole,
e4innovation.com,
Oct 12, 2011
Gráinne Conole released the draft of the 16th and final chapter of her upcoming book. Summarizing her main thesis, she argues, "designing for learning is the key challenge facing education today. To make effective use of the affordances of open, social and participatory media, learners and teachers need guidance and support. They lack the necessary digital literacies skills needed to embrace the full potential of these technologies." In particular, "Learners and teachers need to develop new digital literacy skills to effectively participate in these spaces, as well as an understanding of the nature and form of their digital identity." It would be unfair to respond to an entire book with a single-sentence quip, but I think it can be argued that learners already have many of the skills they need, and that it is teachers and academics that are searching for a way to understand them. That does not mean learners come pre-loaded with a full array of critical tools - who does? - but that what they lack has nothing to do with digital media in particular, and is reflective rather of the lack of critical skills characteristic of any learner of any age.
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