Technology literacy: the extension of cognition

Technology literacy is a construct that is increasingly referred to as an essential twenty-first century skill. However, too often, it is ambiguous as to what constitutes technology literacy. This paper posits that technology literacy has three distinct levels, including, (1) identify technologies relevant to a task, (2) understanding how to use the technology and how to navigate its interface, and (3) understanding the inner-working or structure of the technology. This paper describes why one or more of these three ways of knowing technology are involved in almost every learning task. In other words, the paper argues that technology literacy should not be thought of as a isolated set of skills, but as an essential strategy for most learning objectives.