Technological literacy reconsidered: a model for enactment

Abstract

This paper presents a model to describe technological literacy as enacted by indiviudals in the course of shaping their lives and the world around them. The model has two interrelated facets-the potential for and enactment of technological literacy-where enactment and potential mutually constitute each other. This potential is made up of knowledge of a particular situation, personal engagement with a situation, and social engagement in the world. Enactment requires a particular set of competencies in action, which together helps shape the situation: recognizing needs; articulating problems; contributing towards the technological process; and analysing consequences. The implications of this model for technological literacy in the context of the individual and society, and the role of technology education in developing technological literacy, are discussed.

An instrument to determine the technological literacy levels of upper secondary school students

“…The study was conducted to understand how upper secondary school students in grades 11 and 12 conceive of, and interact with, technology; which he argued captured the key dimensions of what it was to be technologically literate. The outcome of that investigation (see for example Collier-Reed 2006;Collier-Reed et al 2009;Ingerman and Collier-Reed 2011) informed the present study in the development of an instrument to assess students' levels of technological literacy.…”

“…The development and validation of the instrument-to determine students' levels of technological literacy-is timely given the renewed focus internationally on the importance of developing a technologically literate youth (Ingerman and Collier-Reed 2011). The instrument was rigorously developed, captures the important dimensions of technological literacy, and provides educators and researchers with an accessible means of determining students' levels of technological literacy.…”

Reconceptualising PCK research in D&T education: proposing a methodological framework to investigate enacted practice

“…In spite of the clear distinctions between the nature of vocational and D&T education, it is debated whether or not practices in D&T have shifted in alignment with international discourse and policy changes (Banks and Barlex 1999;Dakers 2005a;Doyle et al 2017;Mittell and Penny 1997). Much of the contentions in understanding the evolution of practice from vocational to D&T education appear to have stemmed from the difficulties in explicating goals for D&T, as researchers in the discipline appear to broadly converge on either the concept of technological capability (Black and Harrison 1985;Gibson 2008;Kelly et al 1987;Kimbell 2011) or technological literacy (Dakers 2014a, b;Gagel 2004;Ingerman and Collier-Reed 2011;Petrina 2000Petrina , 2007Williams 2009). In discussing the differences between technological capability and technological literacy, Kimbell and Stables describe the contention between the terms as the "transatlantic dissonance" (2007, p. 22) in D&T education.…”

“…Efforts to this end have been attempted (ITEA 2000(ITEA , 2002(ITEA , 2007, however as the subtitle of these publications suggests, they are ultimately concerned with depicting the "content for the study of technology". Ingerman and Collier-Reed (2011) subsequently noted the importance of understanding the function of technological literacy, which is less articulated in the literature. However, a more pertinent issue is the negative implications of defining the content and functions of technological literacy.…”

Social work and digitalisation: bridging the knowledge gaps

“…Integral to this is the notion of digital professionalism, that once acquired could reduce the likelihood of practitioners falling foul of the complexities of the networked age. However, it is worth bearing in mind as Ingerman & Collier-Reed (2011) …”