Digital literacy: a learning perspective
25 September 2015
By, Jason Hathaway, Director, Content & Learning Solutions, CrossKnowledge
How digital transformation is impacting every business, and how organisations should react in order to survive in the digital age
Digital literacy means having the technical, functional and behavioural skills required to stay competitive in the digital world,
New working habits are replacing those that entire generations have known and adopted, and organisations need to stay on top of these new codes,
- To be sustainable, a learning solution has to be constantly updated and deepened not only following changes in technology, but also with changes in functional and behavioral skills that are needed to make organisations efficient.
The digital transformation that organisations are experiencing these days, as well as the upheaval these technologies have brought about, are a frequent topic of discussion and concern. This is not surprising. In what has seemed a mere blink of an eye, management methods in place for decades have been put into question and in many cases overturned; new working habits have begun to replace those that entire generations have known and adopted; traditional HR models seem to have lost their lustre and their capacity to attract and retain the talent needed for growth; more disconcerting still, the methods that have helped organisations market their products and services over the past century no longer guarantee that they will survive, let alone prosper.
The digital era provides each and every organisation with new means to harness untapped potential, with a few conditions: simply adapting to change is unsustainable. Instead, to paraphrase Ed Lawler and Chris Worley from the University of Southern California, organisations must be built to change, which in most cases requires rethinking and redesigning the organisation completely. The era of digital transformation requires the revamping of organisations to be deliberate and thorough, permeating the organisation to its core, not an add-on venture or a “quick-fix” that only pays lip service to calm the conscience of top management.
In order to adapt to this new work environment, organisations and individuals need to develop digital skills. However, digital skills don’t just mean digital literacy. Digital literacy involves more than the mere ability to use software or operate a digital device; it includes a large variety of complex cognitive, motor, sociological, and emotional skills, which users need in order to function effectively in digital environments.
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