Over the last 20 years, eLearning has steadily grown and supported both remote and hybrid learning. eLearning can allow standardized trainings, like security awareness and workplace conduct, to be delivered effectively to entire organizations and expert trainers to reach large audiences. It can also enable training managers to customize courses to individual learner needs and the organization.
In the corporate world, digital fluency is often taken for granted, but eLearning’s reach can go far beyond the corporate world. For the entire workforce to get the maximum benefit from training in today’s digitally-charged environment, organizations must not overlook the importance of ensuring their employees have the fluency to fully engage with eLearning courses.
What Is “Digital Fluency”?
Digital literacy and digital fluency are often used interchangeably, but they actually represent distinct concepts that play pivotal roles in navigating the digital landscape. Digital literacy encompasses the fundamental skills necessary to use digital devices and navigate the online realm effectively. This includes basic competencies such as operating computers, employing software applications, internet browsing and grasping digital safety and security principles. Essentially, digital literacy is akin to having mastered the technology phrasebook. Digital literates can manage the digital equivalents of ordering in a restaurant, talking about the weather and asking for directions.
In contrast, digital fluency transcends these rudimentary skills. It entails a deeper comprehension and heightened competence of digital tools and technologies. Beyond merely using technology, digitally fluent individuals can adapt seamlessly to new tools and emerging technologies. Digital fluency is comprised of critical thinking, creativity and a knack for problem-solving using digital resources. A digitally fluent individual can harness technology to innovate, create and communicate effectively, akin to fluently speaking and writing in the digital language, giving life to ideas instead of merely consuming information.
Digital literacy is the foundation upon which digital fluency is constructed, and both are indispensable in our technology-driven world. With this understanding in place, let’s delve into how digital fluency profoundly impacts access to and success in eLearning environments.
The Key to Unleashing eLearning Potential
Digital fluency is a key factor in determining how much an individual can access and achieve in an eLearning setting. Here’s how digital fluency can transform the eLearning landscape:
- Effective participation.
eLearning often necessitates using various digital tools and platforms, encompassing learning management systems, video conferencing and multimedia content. Digital fluency can empower individuals to navigate these platforms seamlessly, ensuring they can actively participate in online courses without being impeded by technical barriers.
- Resource utilization.
Digitally fluent learners can maximize the utilization of eLearning resources. They excel in searching for, accessing and evaluating online content and materials, enhancing their ability to pinpoint relevant study resources. Their resourcefulness extends to troubleshooting technical issues that may emerge during eLearning, minimizing frustration and downtime.
- Collaborative learning.
Numerous eLearning experiences revolve around collaborative projects and discussions conducted through digital channels. Digital fluency can equip students with the prowess to communicate, share and collaborate effortlessly with peers and instructors, fostering a more interactive and enriching learning environment.
- Adaptation to new technologies.
eLearning is dynamic and characterized by ever-evolving technologies and tools. Digitally fluent individuals exhibit heightened adaptability, rapidly mastering novel eLearning platforms and technologies as they emerge. This can ensure their continued relevance in an ever-changing digital landscape.
- Critical-thinking and creativity.
Digital fluency encompasses critical thinking and creativity, two vital attributes in the realm of eLearning. These skills can help empower learners to analyze information, solve problems critically independently and creatively approach assignments and projects, enriching their learning experience.
- Independence and self-paced learning.
Digitally fluent individuals often excel in managing their own eLearning experiences. They possess the autonomy to set their own learning pace, independently navigate course content and harness online resources for self-directed learning.
Instilling Digital Fluency
Digital fluency initiatives must work both for and with the current literacy and fluency of an organization’s employees. It’s also worth noting that digital fluency is highly contextual. Fluency in a certain set of technologies, like word processing and spreadsheet software, is not predictive of fluency with more advanced technologies like virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI) and adaptive learning. Consequently, maintaining digital fluency is a lifelong pursuit for learners and organizations alike.
Initiatives that work for digital fluency include meta training — training about technologies related to eLearning. Training in digital media and emerging technologies like AI chatbots and virtual reality can help lay the groundwork for learners to engage with these technologies fully when they encounter them in a training setting. Since achieving digital fluency is an ongoing process, organizations should instill a culture of lifelong learning, encouraging learners to constantly expand their digital knowledge. When done well, this organizational attitude can be seen as a serious employee benefit. The broader an organization’s digital literacy is, the more digital tools it can invest in for eLearning, accelerating the entire cycle of learning and fluency.
Initiatives that work with an organization’s current level of literacy or fluency can include building custom eLearning courses tailored to the exact needs of learners. For example, gamification can appeal to all people, but it may be particularly useful for employees who’re familiar with consumer technology versus commercial technology.
A Critical Skill in Today’s Business World
Digital fluency can act as a catalyst to broadening access to eLearning by dismantling technological barriers and enabling learners to harness the full potential of digital resources. This can nurture a more engaging and adaptable learning ecosystem. In an era where eLearning’s significance continues to soar, digital fluency is increasingly indispensable for individuals seeking to maximize the benefits of online educational opportunities.
It can be easy for organizations to take digital fluency for granted. As we enter a period of rapid innovation in areas including AI, now is the ideal time to remind ourselves that digital fluency is not static — it’s part of an invaluable cycle of lifelong learning.
