From Digi-Illerate to Digi-Literate

Today, 4E were told that they had to write a 400-word blog post about a prominent social issue in HK. The post had to be written in the style of a problem-solution essay, include photos and a Youtube video (if they could find one).

You should have seen the looks of shock and horror on their faces! Of course, being 4E, they tried to find short cuts to this assignment.

Ipads into the classroom for the assignment. They were asked to create a blog that they would keep for the next 2.5 years. Imagine my shock and horror to discover that 75% of my students had never blogged before. How is it possible that Hong Kong's digital natives are not well versed in the art of blogging? How is it possible that their teacher, a Digital Migrant, is more tech-savvy than they were?

The fault I believe, is not theirs though, despite the access to digital technology in their daily lives, ordinary Hong Kong students are so busy dealing with their workload that many of them are unable to find time to master the needs of becoming digital literate. And, there is the question of accessibility to teaching technologies which is often, virtually non-existent.

The school is considered lucky to be in a situation where the school has ownership to 80 Ipads thanks to a generous donation by an alumni. However, the school does not have the manpower nor the resources that are necessary to ensure that this resource is fully utilised.

I cannot help but think about the digital divide that exists among this generation of digital natives whose education outcome is often determined by those who have and those who don't. It is an unfair and unnecessary situation. As a leading world city, there should be more attempts at bridging the gap between the have and have nots.

And so, now, I have found myself with another mission - To ensure that when this class leaves me, in 2015, they or most of them would rightfully own the rights to the title of digital natives. Or, at least understand what it needs to be a digital native.