Add the Web to Anything
When we think of the Web, we tend to think of it as a technical infrastructure and a series of services that allow us to connect with one another and share digital artifacts. Many of us don't often consider the immensity of the true fact of what the Web is:
The Web is human knowledge documented.
A very, very large amount of human knowledge. It's not new for human beings to document what we know. We've been doing it since the invention of tokens at the origin of writing. What is new is the way we need to interact with people and systems to make use of that knowledge. What's new are the types of skills and competencies we need to be able to understand information and each other through these machines. We have to have certain skills to make sense of it all.
With the Web Literacy Map, we're trying to find an easy way for educators and technologists to understand these new types of learning objectives. What are the skills, competencies and literacies necessary to read, write and participate on the Web - now and in the future?
We need a way to ensure we're teaching the right things. That means exploring ways to help learners discover pathways, and of course, to find ways for us all to track our impact. That's where the map comes in - we can build consensus around the overall learning objectives and then each chart our course against it.
As we explore new ways to educate people and try to draw lines to each learners interest, working in skills and topics that lead a learner to becoming truly educated is kind of the point.
It's important to remember that many people are working within systems that make us feel like hacking is not allowed or impossible. Many of us feel that we have to adhere to this or that policy. The question is: Is it our own misconception that makes us feel that way? Does the policy really spell out the way that we are allowed to teach? And even if it does, how can we walk the line?
In this excellent article, Bud Hunt talks about the agency that we have in teaching and learning. When we're thinking about adding digital and web literacies into our practice, we should remember that we are in control of our own experiences.
