Five fluencies and their relevance

Media fluency

In the past the most powerful technology for communication was the printing press. However, today we have such a vast array of accessible and relatively inexpensive digital technology that allow us to produce images, video and audio content with relative ease.   

In the communication’s learning unit we will explore this in more detail, but for this section of digital literates we need to understand how to interpret media.  

Media fluency is actually two-fold, the first involves the interpretation (listening) of the media; the second, involves how we leverage this for our own output (communication).  

This fluency involves both the communication aspect, as well as the literacy. We cannot produce something without knowing how to use the technology, but we cannot leverage the message without understanding this. Therefore, there may be some repetition between the two units..(IIE Module Manual DIGC5110)

Collaboration fluency 

All over the world there are people who are communicating and working together…yet they may never meet face to face! The reality is with today’s technology, distance has become a concept that is relative. The authors of the book “Literacy is not enough” (Jukes, Churches, Crockett, 2011) worked on an entire project without ever meeting face-to-face until after the completion thereof! So how did they do it? Well, they had already mastered the skill of collaboration as well as being digitally literate. In this section we will look at the steps involved with the process.(IIE Module Manual DIGC5110)

Solution fluency

Technology has changed our lives drastically in the last 20 years and with these changes new needs have been identified. These needs range from personal to business, and with this we see new possibilities and opportunities. This has resulted in new job opportunities in fields of business that previously did not exist. So how do we learn for careers that don’t yet exist or are so new that there are no qualifications available to teach us, guide and prepare us for? We can’t! However, we can learn the skills that will help us adapt to these opportunities; essentially learn how to learn. The skill that would help the most here, although the fluency skills are all interlinked, is the solution fluency skill..(IIE Module Manual DIGC5110)

Information fluency

We have established that there are a lot of websites and pages available on the Internet, with more and more being added every day. The amount of readily available information is incredible to even try to imagine. This is often referred to as the InfoWhelm; the bombardment of information, much of which is irrelevant and useless. As a result of this rapidly increasing volume of information, facts become obsolete far quicker, with the knowledge built on those facts becoming less durable. (IIE Module Manual DIGC5110) 

References

The Independent institute of Education.2015.Digital citizenship module manual 2015. First edition. unpublished