What is Digital Literacy?

As an ELA teacher, I am already teaching digital literacy by focusing on critical evaluation of online information, analyzing media, fostering digital research skills, and promoting online collaboration. We do this in secondary a lot to focus on valid sources which students use all the time currently and In the future. Going forward, my goal is to emphasize responsible digital citizenship, and encouraging the creation of digital content. Through these strategies, I hope that my students can learn to navigate the digital world  for success in today's technology-driven society.

Digital literacy is learning about digital use and citizenship for the healthy, academic growth of our students. We incorporate this by teaching students how to be responsible and respectful in the media world. Students learn how to properly cite sources, the differences between credible/uncredible sources, and the consequences of plagiarism,,,to name a few.

Digital literacy is the combined skill of using a variety of tools which transfer data and information quickly and easily, in a way that communicates well to others through various platforms and software that organize it for others to read and use efficiently.

This video did a great job of determining the difference between Digital Use and Digital Citizenship.  As teachers, we are constantly having our students create reports, projects, slides, videos, etc. and we want them to create their artifacts and media in a responsible way.  We also want them to be proficient in using different word processing programs as well as typing.  

Digital Citizenship focuses on using different social media and digital platforms to promote positive and ethical behaviors online.  This is such a huge component right now, especially with middle and high schoolers using social media platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok.  So many teenagers abuse these social media sites today with no or very few repercussions.  

DL is a multi-faceted concept that incorporates, and combines, both what digital tools or students use and how they use them. In short, every single one us is a consumer of technology and media. We use it on a daily basis. In the classroom we need to teach students how to be responsible consumers of technology and media. We all know students can use social media apps (Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, etc.) but do they really take the time to think about the data they share and who has access to it? Students need to know what's okay to share, and what's not. They need to have the tools to feel safe when they're online and know when they've made a mistake or overshared information. And this is just one small piece of what it means to be digitally literate.

Besides being safe online, students need also need to learn how to interpret and use the information they find online. Can they decipher biased information? Can they read a news article and find the publisher and date of publishing to ensure it's current? These skills are all another piece of what it means to be digitally literate. 

And finally, a digitally literate student needs to know how to use technology effectively and efficiently. If given a problem a digitally literate student will be able to leverage their technology skills to come up with a solution. 

I integrate Digital Literacy throughout all of my lessons, rather than just focusing on DL as a single lesson.  DL is so important that it needs to be sprinkled in every lesson.  With the younger grades, we focused a lot on the keys on a keyboard and scaffold them to become proficient on the keyboard by the time they are in the Junior Senior High School.  Also, it seems that teachers are already teaching digital literacy standards by incorporating digital use and digital citizenship in their everyday activities. Teachers teach skills such as determining the validity of online resources, protecting personal and private information, giving proper credit when using others' work, curating a positive digital footprint, and engaging respectfully with others who have different beliefs online. 

In the future, I can continue to teach digital literacy by staying updated with the latest technology and incorporating new tools and platforms in my lessons. I can also collaborate with other teachers to share best practices and find new ways to make learning engaging and meaningful for their students. Additionally, I can continue to emphasize the importance of digital citizenship and encourage their students to use online resources and platforms to promote positive and ethical behaviors online. 

Digital literacy is the ability to interpret information from digital sources, as well as to input information to digital sources.  (Like reading and writing digitally)  Digital literacy means people are able to determine the validity of things they see online, they protect their personal information, they research properly and give others credit for their work, they create and maintain a positive digital footprint, and they engage respectfully with others in digital forums.  In learning about this, I realized how many people I know who lack these skills.  These skills are so important for kids to learn early so they can have them throughout their lives.  I think these skills are things we can incorporate into any subject/curriculum (in the same way we should be incorporating traditional literacy skills).