Intro
The ability of students to adapt to change and think outside of the box has become an essential trait in the modern age due to the fast pace of technology and the social impact that technology can have. Making the best use of new ways of reaching customers or doing business requires a familiarity with technology and the skills to apply it properly in all kinds of situations.
Information Fluency
(Shutterstock, n.d.)
Information fluency is the “ability to unconsciously and intuitively interpret information in all forms”, and to extract the knowledge needed for a specific goal. (Churches, Jukes & Crockett, 2011: 33) It is the ability to extract information from the seemingly endless sources of data that is made available to the public on the Internet of Things in a way that, through a process of interpretation, you can perceive its meaning and significance for the task at hand.
This process involves asking clear questions to get the relevant information, then looking at the sources of this information, checking that the information is reliable and creating a summary of the information, before relating it to the initial goal at hand. Finally, there should be reflection on the success of the process. It is especially relevant today to students to make the best use of information fluency when completing the numerous assignments and tasks of high school that require studious research on the internet. In university often students receive many handouts printed from websites and thick text books that need be utilised when they study for their exams. Information fluency allows them to pick out the relevant points to make study notes and mind maps for the best use of time while learning.
Solution Fluency
“Solution Fluency is the ability to think creatively to solve problems in real time.” (Global Digital Citizen Foundation, nd.) Problem solving skills are dynamic, meaning that they can applied in many different situations and are needed in the workplace. Solution fluency is about developing these skills by using the information that was found using the fluency mentioned previously and applying it to real-world problems. Information fluency is needed to search for the solution, it forms the basis of solution fluency and a certain degree of creativity is needed to come up with solutions, so solution fluency also involves the next fluency in this post, creativity fluency.
When we encounter a problem, the first step is to define what it is, to separate it from its context. What follows is a process of discovering information about it using the information fluency, and using creativity to discover dynamic solutions. The ideas need to be made practical though planning and an element of reflection on this process is necessary for improvement in the future.
(Popov, A., 2015)
Solution finders are always sought after in life, especially in business and the workplace. The changing nature of the world around us requires a dynamic and solution-oriented approach that can be harnessed in your youth to drive your future careers where you would like them to be. In university, you are presented with many different sorts of problems and projects that require you to work with others or the internet to master them, and developing your ability to clearly think about solutions is vital to this collaboration. These problems might not be an intended part of your course, but could be your own personal problems such as time management and making the best use of all the information made available to you.
Creativity Fluency
(Adobe, nd.)
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them” is a quote from Albert Einstein. (Acton, 2017) Creativity is necessary for innovation, and that is what makes the creativity fluency possibly the most valuable fluency that needs to be adopted by the future citizens of the country. The creativity fluency is necessary for finding solutions through solution fluency and finding new sources of information through the information fluency.
A creative approach must begin with identifying what is unique about the situation at hand. The creative element of the solution fluency process is used as you think of possibilities and these possibilities need to be related, or interpolated, to the situation at hand. Applying this imagination to the situation requires a plan of implementation which can be compared to other ideas through inspection. The need for a new approach to business and the workplace is apparent in today’s changing world, and developing your ability to think creatively is an important part of being dynamic and adaptable to change. With the rise of automated software, employers are looking for people who can think creatively about their businesses and perform jobs in a way that cannot simply be automated. The country needs entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurship requires creativity.
Collaboration Fluency
(IStockPhoto, 2011)
Digital collaboration is a tool that is unique to our modern age. People of all backgrounds and places of residence can contribute to something using the Internet. Websites like kickstarter.com allow people all over the world to fund small start-up businesses and livestreams allow people access to a talk or event that they otherwise could not attend.
Collaboration over the internet is not as easy as it may seem and comes with its own challenges and issues. The initial rules and procedures need to be set in place, and a practical plan of how everything that has to be done will be achieved has to be envisioned. The group must engineer specific tasks and roles which will be executed over time, as well as re-examined through a process of review, allowing for flexibility should factors change This fluency has become extremely important in recent times with the emergence of a worldwide contagion, Covid-19. Business meetings and talks are preferably held online rather than in person, and many services have become fully digitalised to prevent the spread of this illness.
Media Fluency
(Opte Project, nd)
We consume large quantities of digital media every day, whether it be videos, news articles, online shipping information, emails or social media. Media fluency is about utilising the stream of media information that we receive to be used for own means and for our own projects. This involves firstly a process of listening to the information properly then leveraging it for our purposes effectively.
When we consume the media, we must consider its form, the type of media that is being used as a framework to communicate it, and its intended audience. When you encounter a factual post on Instagram, for example, it is worthwhile to consider that it could have been re-shared many times and that the original creator of the information could have been making it just to prove a point, without properly researching the information or perhaps not including factual information at all.
Effective use of listening will allow you to identify relevant and factual information that could possibly be used in your project that you are attempting to complete. Next, one must consider how you will use the available information effectively, in a way that will enhance your project, such as the use of relevant quotes in a college assignment.
When adding media to your project, you must consider the message that it contains and the outcome that you want it to achieve together with the other information in the project, and find the best way to make the content reflect the outcome. This is done by also considering the medium that you want to broadcast it through, and the inherent benefits and limitations of that medium. Media use is of great importance to your digital literacy as a student, as you must use information in your assignments that is up to date as included in way that enhances your work.
Conclusion
As a student, you will need to utilise technology to make the most of whatever endeavours you undertake after completing your studies, whether in business, legal practice, teaching or architecture. The above blog post will hopefully give you an insight into what the main skills, also known as ‘fluencies’, you will need to use to adapt to the ever-changing digital world.
References
Shutterstock, n.d. Blurred Magnifying Optical Glass Wording Concept Search. [image] Available at: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/blurred-magnifying-optical-glass-wordingconcept-search-1084572131 [Accessed 2 August 2020].
Popov, A., 2015. Person Hand Using Gps Navigation. [image] Available at: https://depositphotos.com/74130769/stock-photo-person-hand-using-gps-navigation.html [Accessed 2 August 2020].
Adobe, n.d. Holding Gear Symbol. [image] Available at: https://stock.adobe.com/images/holding-gear-symbol/203535507 [Accessed 2 August 2020].
IStockPhoto, 2011. Blurred Magnifying Optical Glass Wording Concept Search. [image] Available at: https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/company-and-society-gm155140020-17980945 [Accessed 2 August 2020].
Opte Project, nd. Internet Map. [image] Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1538544 [Accessed 2 August 2020].
Digital Citizenship 