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When Marc Prensky first used the terms “digital native” and “digital immigrant” in 2001, he succeeded in creating a thought-provoking analogy that differentiated between those learners who were born into the digital world and those learners of a previous generation who had adopted new technology over time. Prensky challenged educators to concede that today’s students had “changed radically” and that our educational system was no longer effective in meeting the needs of these new learners. (Prensky, 2001).

In the recent article, “Youth and their virtual networked worlds: Research findings and implications for school libraries“, Dr. Ross Todd makes reference to studies that now show that we may have “overestimated the impact of information technology on young people and underestimated its effect on the older generation.” Todd observes “that older users are catching up” and that research shows the “gaps are closing” (Todd, 2008). As well, educators like Kathy Schrock, who “have been there since the beginning, and have adopted [new] technology as it came about,” take exception to Prensky’s broad generalizations about the stodgy characteristics of “digital immigrants” as readers of software manuals and printers of email. Schrock prefers the term “digital pioneer” for those users “who grew up as technology grew up.”

Like Shrock, I don’t see myself in Prensky’s description of a “digital immigrant.” When technology was new in our schools, I was fortunate to work with an administrator who immersed our staff in all kinds of new technologies. I remember that even back then, we believed that information technologies provided classrooms with an open window to the outside world and as educators, we looked beyond the parameters of the classroom, as we sought out the globalization of communications. There were no labels and we learned together as a school community.

It is easy to get caught up in the “digital natives” versus “digital immigrants” debate, but rather, the question we might want to ask ourselves is “How is learning different in the digital age… for everyone?” Whether you imagine yourself as a digital “native,” “immigrant” or “pioneer,” we are arriving at the understanding that being a digital learner in the 21st century involves more than simply being able “to use software or operate a digital device” (Berger, 2007).

In the United States, the Project Tomorrow’s Speak Up survey would seem to endorse Prensky’s view that “digital immigrant instructors make education not worth paying attention to…” (Prensky, 2001). The survey revealed that “more than 40 percent of the students polled in grades 6-12 cited their teacher as an obstacle to using new technology in the classroom.” In the article “Working with tech-savvy kids,” Sylvia Martinez and Dennis Harper suggest that “schools can teach students the 21st century skills they need by involving them in technology planning and implementation” and that “for help with technology integration and tech support, schools need look no further than their students” (Martinez & Harper, 2008). By using the following five models, educators can learn from the experience of the “digital native” and, at the same time, “show students how their education is relevant for the world today.” These models give today’s learners the opportunity to improve their skills in the areas of problem-solving, communication, collaboration, ethics, leadership, and information literacy:

1. Model 1 – Students as committee members, working with teaching staff on real projects
2. Model 2 – Students as trainers, collaborating with adults, planning lessons and assessment activities
3. Model 3 – Students as technical-support agents, troubleshooting technical problems
4. Model 4 – Students as resource developers and communicators, creating curriculum resources, user manuals, websites, documents, presentations
5. Model 5 – Students as peer mentors and leaders, working with learners of all ages

Source: Martinez, S. & Harper, D. (November 2008). “Working with tech-savvy kids,” Educational Leadership. Vol.66, No.3. pp.64-69.

It has often been stated that the purpose of an education is to prepare students for the world of work. In examining the National Center on Education and the Economy’s 2007 report on the American workforce entitled Tough choices or tough times – The report of the new commission on the skills of the American workforce, educators need to consider placing greater emphasis on skills that prepare today’s students for the workplace.

• strong content knowledge in language, mathematics, technology, science, literature, history, and the arts
• creativity and innovation as well as self-discipline and organization
• the ability to think abstractly, good at both analysis and synthesis
• the ability to work as a member of a team and adapt to frequent changes
  

Source: The National Center on Education and the Economy. “Tough choices or tough times – The report of the new commission on the skills of the American workforce.

The Conference Board of Canada publishes a similar document entitled Employability Skills 2000+ that outlines “the employability skills, attitudes and behaviours that [students] need to participate and progress in today’s dynamic world of work.” The similarities between the American and Canadian documents confirm new trends in skillsets that employers are looking for in future employees.

• access, analyze and apply knowledge and skills from various disciplines (e.g., the arts, languages, science, technology, mathematics, social sciences, and the humanities)
• be creative and innovative in exploring possible solutions
• understand and work within the dynamics of a group
  
• adapt to changing requirements and information
  

Source: The Conference Board of Canada. “Employability Skills 2000+”

The ISTE National Education Technology Standards and Performance Indicators for Teachers is a document worth promoting among educators to improve their current professional practice. For teacher-librarians, the NETS•T is a useful template for guiding our own professional learning as school leaders in modelling and applying the standards we set for our students. I wonder how many Manitoba teachers consciously read our Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum document and think “How does this apply to me as a learner?” We understand that these are the “big ideas” that we must teach our students, but do we stop and consider whether or not we are expecting the same of ourselves? Does ICT for teachers just mean staying a step ahead of our students? Learning what we need to know for the grade we teach? Relying on others to implement the skills we haven’t acquired?

“Teachers must become comfortable as co-learners with their students and with colleagues around the world. Today it is less about staying ahead and more about moving ahead as members of dynamic learning communities. The digital-age teaching professional must demonstrate a vision of technology infusion and develop the technology skills of others. These are the hallmarks of the new education leader.”

—Don Knezek, ISTE CEO, 2008

In my current assignment, I frequently encounter new teachers who Prensky would identify as “digital natives.” In our schools, “digital natives” are already teaching newer versions of “digital natives.” As a teacher-librarian, I observe that “digital native educators” often struggle with the “Ethics and Responsibility” section of the Affective Domain of our ICT continuum. Like their students, they need to be supported in modelling respect for intellectual property and copyright.

In order for teacher-librarians to take on a leadership role in the education of these new learners, they will need to examine ways in which they can effectively implement new technologies in their teaching and learning. In the article “Literacy and learning in a digital world” (from School reform and the school library media specialist), Pam Berger states that teacher-librarians have the “opportunity to become leaders, advocates, and change agents willing to embrace the digital environment.” Berger outlines six action steps that teacher-librarians can implement to support the digital education of students, staff, administrators and parents:

1. Create a shared vision for learning in the 21st century with all stakeholders (students, staff, administrators, parents)
   
2. Revisit your information literacy skills curriculum and analyze how new technologies can be effectively integrated
3. Create an awareness of the need for digital literacy and survey both students and staff in regards to how they view their ICT competencies
4. Ensure equity to all students by providing access to instruction and digital literacy tools
5. Support professional development in 21st century skills for staff, administrators and parents – recruit and train students as ICT mentors for teachers and administrators
6. Increase your own ICT literacy by embracing emerging technologies

Source: Berger, P. (2007). “Literacy and learning in a digital world,” School reform and the school library media specialist. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. p.125.

In our school division, I continue to collaborate with our Instructional Technology Coordinators in providing our teacher-librarians with opportunities to support their inquiry-based learning activities and implement our provincial ICT continuum. Professional learning networks have proven to be successful in bringing teacher-librarians together to explore common interests and goals. Sharing implementation and integration ideas for incorporating new technologies in the classroom and library are often the focus of these groups. I understand that one of the most valuable ways in which I can support teacher-librarians in their professional development is to provide release-time to dialogue, to collaborate and to learn how applications of new technologies can impact favorably on student learning. As well, I need to remain an active participant in these professional learning networks, and provide equity in regards to collaboration and instruction to our schools operating without a teacher-librarian on staff.

Even though my formal education took place during the latter half of the 20th century, like most of our teacher-librarians, I am also a 21st century learner. I am one of “today’s learners,” and unlike a “digital native,” I do remember a time when technology was not the invasive force it is now. So rather than being designated as a “digital immigrant,” I am applying for digital dual citizenship on my 21st century passport!

Have you ever had the feeling that you were in the right place, at the right time? After reading through the articles published in the July 2008 issue of School Libraries Worldwide, that’s exactly how I am beginning to feel. After years of advocating for quality school library programs and promoting the role of the teacher-librarian as an instructional partner, it has become clear that the school library is poised to play a key leadership role in how students learn in the 21st century.

In Towards a transformative pedagogy for school librarian 2.0, authors Marlene Asselin and Ray Doiron identify the characteristics of today’s students and describe how “new literacies” are “constantly evolving.” These new learners are arriving at school with technological skills that differ greatly from their predecessors. Rather than dismiss their new skillsets, we need to look for ways to capitalize on what our students are already able to do with technology outside our classroom. For example, at first glance, social networking and video games may seem out of place in our instructional programs, but there is mounting evidence that recognizes “the connections between play and learning” (Sanford, 2008). In addition to supporting new ways of informal learning through socialization and entertainment, students are practising critical thinking and problem solving skills that are transferable to other areas of their lives.

Teacher-librarians find themselves in a rather unique position these days, as they have the opportunity to re-invent their role and develop more “meaningful user-centered services and programs” (Asselin & Doiron, 2008) that will engage and support this new generation of learners. In Youth and their virtual networked worlds: Research findings and implications for school libraries, Dr. Ross Todd encourages us “to rethink, re-imagine and recreate a dynamic learning environment for school libraries.” By moving the instructional program beyond accessing, locating and evaluating information, school libraries can focus on providing students with the following “essential knowledge-developing competencies:”

• critical thinking and communication competencies
• knowledge creation processes
• ability to develop arguments, positions and viewpoints
• dealing with conflicting ideas and evidence
• constructing creative and meaningful representations of new knowledge
• communicating ideas in thoughtful ways

(Source: Ross J. Todd – Youth and their virtual networked worlds: research findings and implications for school libraries)

So just how exciting is it to be working in school libraries in the 21st century? Listening to educator Joyce Valenza as she describes the most challenging year of her teaching career, there is not only positive change in the air, but re-newed enthusiasm and joy in learning… for both students and teachers. Joyce Valenza’s Manifesto entitled You know you’re a 21st century school librarian if you… provides a template for making the school library more relevant for today’s new learners. In conversation with students who have grown up connected online, we hear how increased access to new technologies in the library is highly valued, both for academic and social reasons. What is most encouraging is that students also identify “the human touch” of interacting with school library staff and view them as collaborative partners in their learning. “They value the real-time presence of and interaction with school librarians, their personal responsiveness and immediacy of help in their journey” (Todd, 2008).

The theme of “new learners, new literacies, new libraries” is coming to the forefront just as our teacher-librarian group is preparing to update our professional learning plan for the next few years.  As we sit down to identify both our short and long terms goals, it will be necessary for our teacher-librarian group to discuss the evolution of new literacies and how we can best support new learners through our school library program.  Revisioning our leadership role from within our schools will be critical to facilitating transitions during times of change, as well as addressing our division’s priorities for literacy development programming and implementing differentiated instruction.

I agree with Dr. Ross Todd when he states that “school librarians have a golden opportunity” to provide leadership in navigating the Web 2.0 environment. With our commitment to “inquiry, knowledge construction and communication,” we have already set the foundation from which students can build their new independence. However, even though today’s learners have been dubbed as “more tech savvy” than their teachers and parents, “they still require direction from mentors… like school librarians, in the development of appropriate online critical thinking and communication skills” (McPherson, 2008). Current research also confirms that we have “overestimated the impact of information technology on young people and underestimated its effect on the older generation” (Todd, 2008).

In a recent article in Teacher-Librarian, Allison Zmuda and Violet Harada describe how teacher-librarians “are strategically positioned” to move “from the margins to the mainstream of school leadership” (Zmuda & Harada, 2008). Our divisional leadership team meets this week and we have been asked to bring an article that we have found to be particularly useful to the role of the school or division-based leader. Both Zmuda and Harada heavily endorse the leadership potential of the teacher-librarian in “preparing students for the 21st century.”  The authors remind us that our goal is not to highlight the role of the teacher-librarian, but to support student learning and enhance our practise as teachers.

It would seem that we are embarking on a period of renaissance in our school libraries. Valenza, Asselin, Doiron and Todd are the Petrarchs and Medicis of our times. Whereas the Italian Renaissance unfolded gradually, the Web 2.0 environment shifts rapidly, propelling our school libraries to the frontlines. There is no question that technology is an integral part of our students’ lives, both in and out of school. School libraries are recognizing and addressing new literacies that students will need to be successful in the workplace and in a “global, networked society” (Asselin & Doiron, 2008).

Pre-Web 1.0 Teacher-Librarian meets future Web 2.0 Teacher-Librarian

“Unpack the good stuff you carried from your 20th century trunk” (Valenza, 2007)

With my mother at the grand opening of my first school library (circa 1992)