Monday, March 12, 2007

One More Stab at Digital Fluencies

In a previous post I responded to failingbetter's query about my definitions of "digital fluencies" as it related to students. I was rereading the first of his/her questions and it occurs to me that the query has another layer I missed at first glance.
I would like to hear a little more about what fluency means and what it entails that is different from skills. Is it just the combination of one's writing skills with one's technical knowledge of how to construct/write a blog? Or does it also entail knowledge of the norms of blogging? Is there another category of things that differentiate skills from fluency?
I've been articulating a notion of digital fluency that incorporates technical skills and the ability to deploy those skills as part of a skillful consumption and production of information that I think is critical to students and faculty alike. But failingbetter suggests that there are also rules to online social tools (and the societies they create) that students might need to know. Might digital fluency also include an awareness of the norms of online culture(s)? I'm going to have to think about this some. Any thoughts?

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