[21st century learning...4 educators]

As educators we are aware of the necessity to share with students ways of understanding and interacting with 21st century literacies. Not only should we help students use online resources but we must help them develop an appropriate digital literacy - a literacy which is critical of resources (the same goes for offline stuff: who wrote it, when etc...) while helping them navigate the plethora of information. Reading Dean Groom's excellent post on "No Teacher Left Behind" raises several other issues which I think are often overlooked. What about equipping teachers with a 21st century literacy? They too need to learn. And, as Dean and his blog readers note, once that shift into digital literacy is enacted, how does one manage the blurring of work into home time?

"If we want to get more teachers engaged in reading, learning and participating in the exponential growth in the use of social networks as professional development vectors, then there is a significant cost to those teachers - in addition to their normal workload.

This is a personal, not school or government burden. They do it at home – and may are awake at ridiculous hours to do it - because they see the benefits for the kids - not just talk about them.

This cost needs to be recognised, these people need to be recognised! – with more than a pat on the back."

My question on work seeping into non-work time of course affects many people, not just teachers, but perhaps remains most silent within educational realms?

As Lisa Dumicich, explains:

"wondering what my school would do if I got rid of the internet at home?? They rely heavily on me having it at home and using it for work………would they pay for me to have it at home? I had to buy my own laptop as Head of ICT. What would they do if I refused to spend my money on one or refused to use my personal computer for work??? Governemnts and schools have a long way to go in recognizing the true workload and expenses of teachers."