Eight million people follow Justin Cottle on TikTok. Justin is not your normal social media influencer – he works for the Institute of Human Anatomy and uses social media to teach and inform people about the workings of the human body.
He’s an example of how the education sector can embrace and use digital literacy to further their own careers and also teach to a much wider audience.
“Digital literacy” means having the skills you need to live, learn, and work in a society where communication and access to information is increasingly important through digital technologies like internet platforms, social media, and mobile devices.
At Centennial Schools technology is at the core of how we teach. Whether it’s eSports, cryptocurrency, Artificial Intelligence applications like ChatGPT, or content creation and design, we realise that for our students to be equipped for a life after school, these technological advances must be incorporated in our curriculum. Our aim is to create the most digitally literate students in line with the requirements of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). Our use of AI also places our students firmly in the fifth industrial revolution’s human–machine collaboration ethos.
We are doing this because now, more than ever, it is vital that we teach and embrace digital literacy in our education system. A global digital revolution is underway as technology is entering – and dominating – every sector of the economy. We are experiencing incredible change in how we work, and it is being driven by technology. Unless we embrace, adopt and use it properly, our children will be left behind.
South Africa, as with the rest of Africa, faces a huge challenge bringing students into the 4IR. According to StatsSA, only 37% of households have consistent access to the internet through a variety of devices.
Additionally, the Wireless Access Providers Association (WAPA) warns that the majority of South African schools have no internet connection for the purpose of teaching and learning.
Internet penetration and good quality connectivity is crucial in realising our 4IR and 5IR aspirations. Without this, millions of students are being left out of the digital economy and the magnitude of opportunities offered by having digital literacy skills.
I believe digital literacy is the foundation on which we should be shaping our education system. It increases the ability to think critically, evaluate information and arguments, identify patterns and connections between two things, and construct meaningful ideas. By gaining these critical thinking skills, students and teachers can apply them in their life and the world beyond.
Richer online resources
Teachers can use digital media to create courses in nearly every subject area. Moreover, they can use different platforms to conduct classes, and customise the content per subject accordingly.
Digital literacy gives access to online resources that are richer and more efficient in educational materials than physical libraries. Some of the laboratories and experiment resources are now available in virtual versions so that they can be accessed all over the world using VRs, which reduces the costs overall.
Improved academic performance
Digital literacy can improve a student’s academic performance. Both students and teachers play a vital role in this. Students can create original content such as presentations, videos, and blog posts regarding a subject matter. As a result, many students will learn more about the subject, understand the topic better and easily retain the information.
As a continent, we have a massive unemployment problem, particularly among the youth, and unless we get to grips with the digital age and make digital literacy core to our teaching, we are letting our children, and our economic future, down.
By Shaun Fuchs, founder and CEO of Centennial Schools
