Should network literacy be focused on in earlier education?
Well, yes. It should be focused on in all levels of education.
We are living in a network world and I(and you) am a networking girl (or boy).
Changing the practices of teaching from top-down, regimented curriculum, tunnel vision learning, to a broader exploration of practical-based, technical exploration and research ‘doing’ mode of learning would be incredibly beneficial for both communication and learning processes- structured and unstructured forms of writing, exploration and real-world reading (understanding the validity of information!?) rather than methodological, disempowering question-answer memory.
Obviously at a younger level, kids need to be monitored on representation and etiquette, but these grey areas are not so different from monitoring the schoolyard- you can’t have eyes everywhere, and we usually figure it out best ourselves.
On the technical side, building up good habits and understanding social media systems, research channels and online education would have been extremely beneficial for me in high school. I came to RMIT completely disempowered and network illiterate; Blackboard was like a technical labyrinth no thanks to my traditional, catholic-premised education where my year 12 Business teacher didn’t allow emails.
Controlled systems inherent on VCE exam pass rates do not correlate with technical university, practical work or the real world for that matter.
Algebra has not taken me places.
My first year of university was focused on UNLEARNING all the institutionalized tunnel-vision understandings of concepts, how to ask questions- there is certainly more than one answer, there is definitely a grey area and there is nothing more stimulating than theoretical ambiguity.
A little bit of network literacy in early years would teach students to navigate, solve a wide range of problems beyond mainstream search engines, ask questions and learn a bit about cultural literacy as well. It’s like a step up from the Tamigochi.
