Digital Fluency The Skills for today

[Music]

the world has changed a lot within the

past year

with the pandemic there has been many

changes within the technological arena

the way we interact the way we walk

the way we learn and even the way we

play

they have all changed and they are still

changing people have had to develop

their skills and competencies

that have enabled them to function and

succeed as they adapt to the changing

environment

nigerian organizations they’ve been

compelled to accept remote work

as a possible new norm and while many

people have had opportunities

to learn and adapt to these changes

there’s still a large group of people

that have been technologically

excluded many schools had to completely

close down during the pandemic because

they didn’t have the capacity

the tools or the resources to engage

their students

online this is a big issue

and if it’s left unattended it will

widen the digital gap

between those that have assets and the

technologically excluded group

it will create further inequalities

between these groups

and even make it a bit more difficult

for those that don’t have access

or are not digitally literate to catch

up at a later time

even for those that have access there’s

still the issue of technology adoption

that is outside social media interaction

the pandemic has shown just how

digital our world has become it is no

longer sufficient

to just be able to read and write

we need to become digitally literate

and in many cases to become digitally

fluent

people have started understanding the

importance of acquiring these

technological skills

that is why during the lockdown many

people acquired one or more skills

which is really good but what are we

doing with these skills

after we’ve learned the skills what next

have we used the skills that we’ve

acquired to create solutions for

our environment have we used the skills

we’ve acquired

to develop practical deployable

solutions to ease the

tensions and the restraints and

constraints that have been created

by this pandemic have we leveraged

technology

to be able to improve access and

technology adoption for the people that

are not digitally literate

or do not have access

it is important to use these skills

we need to apply them make them useful

and while we are talking about skills

research surges suggest that there is

still a skills gap

across many sectors

and many of them are particularly around

science technology engineering and

mathematics

there’s a misalignment between the

skills that

have been acquired and the skills that

are needed

many graduates in nigeria are not

employable

because the skills they’ve acquired many

of them theoretical

and not the skills that are needed by

the employers

as of today the unemployment rate in

nigeria

stands at about 27 percent

let me put this in perspective if we

look at our labor force

we have about 80 million people

and 22 million people are unemployed

if we take this a bit further and look

at the age group between 15 and 34

that percentage goes up to 34 percent

that is a high number there is a need

for repositioning to support

innovation we need to upskill our youth

we need to provide them with practical

application places where they could

apply what they have learned

stem provides such a foundation it

provides

an opportunity for people to apply what

they’ve learned

it provides an opportunity for them to

adapt and solve problems

stem is an approach to learning that

incorporates aspects of science

technology engineering and mathematics

it provides opportunities to develop

skills

transferable skills

and just as it is important to start

learning to read and write from a young

age

it is also very important

to acquire some of these technological

skills

because these skills they form the

foundation

for which we used to acquire and develop

other skills

which don’t have to be related to

careers in stem

but they form the foundation

we’ve had young people below the age of

16 that have participated

in some of our programs at tech western

academy

and they’ve created wonderful

solutions yusuf maluma

15 years he created

an application that tracked the corona

viral situation within his community

phoebe on watching 15 years

she created a vision sensor application

for people that are visually impaired so

that they are able to navigate their

environment

this was particularly very thoughtful

particular

because of the coronavirus pandemic

restrictions where there were

no contacts allowed sean seo meme

11 years created a mood booster

application that tried to identify how

people felt

and provided activities that improved

their moods

these are just a few of the solutions

that could be

created but there’s room for more

we believe that by providing

opportunities where people could apply

what they’ve learned

it’s good and i am leveraging technology

it could improve

the digital literacy and also enhance

our digital

economy and while we are talking about

skills

it’s important to know that the world of

works is constantly changing

so the skills we have now are not the

skills that

we would use in the future and just the

same way as the skills that we’re using

now not the ones we used in the past

the world economic forum has predicted

that by the year 2030

one billion people will need to be

re-skilled for the

works of the future that is a huge

number

so what do we do we cannot afford to

hold on to what we just know

we need to do a constant recheck of the

skills that we have

the pandemic has shown just how quickly

things change

technology has become indispensable

to stem different activities that

involve

stem leverage on technology

and digital literacy is a product of

stem education

it has become a requisite skill for the

future

and the future is now

in fact as far back as 2011

unesco had identified digital skills

as an essential life skill

so if you are not digitally literate

become digital illiterate

if you feel you’ve attained digital

literacy become digitally

and if you feel that you are fluent

you could always learn a new skill

the point is learning should be a

lifelong

process irrespective of the age

i’ll leave you with a quote by alvin

tuffler

the digital illiterate of the 21st

century

is not someone that cannot read or write

it to be someone

that cannot learn on learn or re-learn

so do not be afraid to learn a new skill

reskill

up skill stay relevant

and be the change we want to see in our

future

thank you