As we reflect and discuss what our students will need in their life time there are specific skills and knowledge they will need to have.  Digital Fluency is one aspect of learning for the future. In the years ahead, digital fluency will become a prerequisite for obtaining jobs, participating meaningfully in society, and learning throughout a lifetime. (Resnick, 2002, p. 33) [via White, 2013

Whether you are renewing a prescription, communicating with others, or working across nearly any key employment disciplines you care to name, it has never been more important for people to have the knowledge, skills and dispositions to navigate online spaces confidently and successfully. We call this ability ‘digital fluency’ and it encompasses an array of competencies and understandings that are needed for us have access to opportunities in our networked, digital societies today and in the future.

This outcome of being digitally fluent relates to issues ofresponsibility, equity and access. We all need to be able to fully participate in a digitally-enabled education system and in an increasingly digitised society. If we work with fluency in the way we use technologies, we are able to keep ourselves safe online and take full advantage of life chance opportunities such as being able to apply for work, manage our finances, or be part of our local community.

Digital fluency can also be considered as part of a broader set of competencies related to ‘21st Century’ learning. Being able to manipulate technologies so we can create and navigate information successfully is supported by our ability to work collaboratively, solve real-world problems creatively, pursue our own learning goals and so on.

The skills, understandings and competencies that comprise digital fluency are best considered as underpinning supports that weave throughout curricula. In many ways, here in New Zealand, the Key Competencies in the New Zealand Curriculum offer a helpful way to think about a framework for fostering digital fluency as part of learning. 

Digital fluency is a combination of these three concepts:

• digital, or technical, proficiency:
  • able to understand, make judgements about, select and use appropriate technologies and technological systems for different purposes; 
• digital literacy:
  • in digital spaces, being able to read, create, critique and make judgements about the accuracy and worth of information being accessed;
  • being fluent in critical thinking and problem-solving online;
  • Use digital tools to collaborate and construct information across all relevant and significant contexts
• social competence, or dispositional knowledge:
  • the ability to be able to relate to others and communicate with them effectively;
  • able to manage one’s identity, information, relationships in ways that are appropriate, responsible, safe and sustainable.

Broadly, this reminds us that digital fluency approaches should:

• align to the principles of the New Zealand Curriculum
• draw on a range of values that are inclusive and enable young people to become confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners
• be embedded in learning in each of the learning areas
• be supported by effective teaching practice.

To support our students in this focus the school has digital devices in every classroom to enable our students to learn how to navigate this are of learning.  We have Chrome books in our year 5-8 classes, ipads, laptops and pods of computers available to all our students during the week.

(CORE-Ten Trends for Learning 2016)