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The Fluencies
The 21st Century Fluencies are not about technical prowess, they are critical thinking skills, and they are essential to living in this multimedia world. We call them fluencies for a reason. To be literate means to have knowledge or competence. To be fluent is something a little more, it is to demonstrate mastery and to do so unconsciously and smoothly.
A young learner who is literate in the use of a tool, say a pencil for example, can use it to write, but does so haltingly because a great deal of focus is on the use of the tool. As time goes on, this learner will develop fluency with the use of the pen or pencil, or keyboard. No longer will it be an impediment, instead their thoughts and ideas flow directly to the paper. The use of the tool is transparent. This is the level of proficiency we will need to thrive in this digital landscape and is what we strive to develop in today's learners.
The Digital Citizen
All the 21st Century fluencies are learned within the context of the Digital Citizen, using the guiding principles of leadership, ethics, accountability, fiscal responsibility, environmental awareness, global citizenship and personal responsibility.
Solution Fluency
Solution fluency is the ability to think creatively to solve problems in real time by clearly defining the problem, designing an appropriate solution, applying the solution then evaluating the process and the outcome.
This is about whole-brain thinking - creativity and problem solving applied in real time. There are 6 essential steps, which we call the Six D's:
Define the problem, because you need to know exactly what you're doing before you start doing anything.
Discover the history of the problem which provides context.
Dream Envision a future with the problem solved.
Design your solution in stages through gap analysis from Define to Dream.
Deliver the goods. Complete and publish your solution.
Debrief and foster ownership, by getting involved in the evaluation of the problem- solving process.
Information Fluency
Information fluency is the ability to unconsciously and intuitively interpret information in all forms and formats in order to extract the essential knowledge, authenticate it, and perceive its meaning and significance.
There are 5 steps in this process, which we call the 5 A's:
Ask good questions, in order to get good answers.
Access and acquire the material from the appropriate digital information sources, which are mostly graphical and audiovisual.
Analyze and authenticate and arrange these materials, and distinguish between good and bad, fact and opinion. Understand bias and determine what is incomplete to turn the raw data into usable knowledge.
Apply the knowledge within a real world problem or simulation using a VIP action (vision into practice).
Assess both the product and the process, which is both a teacher and a student practice.
Collaboration Fluency
Collaboration fluency is team working proficiency that has reached the unconscious ability to work cooperatively with virtual and real partners in an online environment to create original digital products.
Virtual interaction through social networking sites and online gaming domains has become a part of the Digital Generation's and our daily lives. We are interacting with people all over the world with electronic and wireless communication technology. This has literally meant the "death of distance", which has tremendous potential for education.
For example, students learning about civil war could be talking to kids in Kosovo or Iraq or Afghanistan. Students learning a foreign language could work with native speakers of that language who are learning English. Students could work in virtual partnerships on projects with kids from across town or across the world.
Creativity Fluency
Creative Fluency is the process by which artistic proficiency adds meaning through design, art and storytelling. It regards form in addition to function, and the principles of innovative design combined with a quality functioning product.
Creative Fluency extends beyond visual creative skills, to using the imagination to create stories, a practice which is in demand in many facets of today's economy. It is widely regarded by many successful industries that creative minds come up with creative solutions.
There is tremendous value in the artistic creation of items in order that they may transcend mere functionality.
Media Fluency
There are two components of Media Fluency. Firstly, the ability to look analytically at any communication media to interpret the real message, how the chosen media is being used to shape thinking, and evaluate the efficacy of the message. Secondly, to create and publish original digital products, matching the media to the intended message by determining the most appropriate and effective media for that message.
We live in a multimedia world, and in this interactive visual world, our children must be able to create and publish original digital products that they can use to communicate with just as effectively as they can with text.
The idea is to challenge learners to create digital products that reflects their understanding of the content, develops technical skills and provides them with the empowering principles of graphic design.
