Many educators agree today's students, surrounded by digital technology since infancy (“digital natives”), are fundamentally different from previous generations and are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach. As a result, a widening gap has formed between the knowledge and skills students are acquiring in schools and the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the increasingly global, technology infused 21st century work-place.

Worldwide, education leaders are beginning to come together around a common definition of what students need to know, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Literacy. ICT Literacy reflects the need for students to develop learning skills that enable them to think critically, analyze information, communicate, collaborate, problem-solve, and understand the role technology plays in realizing these learning skills in today's knowledge-based society (see left for literacy skills).

Various technologies also deliver different kinds of content and serve different purposes in the classroom…word processing and e-mail promote communication skills; database and spreadsheet programs promote organizational skills; and modeling software promotes the understanding of science and math concepts. Regina must continue to increase its digital learning environment at all grade levels.

	ICT literacy skills in the following six arenas are critical to students' success in the workplace:
	Communicate Effectively: Students must have a range of skills to express themselves not only through paper and pencil, but also audio, video, animation, design software as well as e-mail, Web sites, message boards, blogs, streaming media, etc.
	Analyze and Interpret Data: Students must have the ability to crunch, compare, and choose among the glut of data now available via Web-based and other electronic formats.
	Understand Computational Modeling:  Students must possess an understanding of the power, limitations, and underlying assumptions of various data systems, such as computer models and simulations, which are increasingly driving a wide-range of disciplines.
	Manage and Prioritize Tasks: Students must be able to manage the multi-tasking, selection, and prioritizing across technology applications that allow them to move fluidly among teams, assignments and communities of practice.
	Engage in Problem Solving: Students must have an understanding of how to apply what they know and can do digitally to new situations.
	Ensure Security and Safety: Students must know and use strategies to acknowledge, identify, and negotiate 21st century risks.