The ways I currently teach digital literacy fall under the categories of technical use of a device (iPad), empowering students to use different apps responsibly, and how to protect a student's or other private information. At the elementary level K-5, many students have not had any exposure to using digital devices, so we are often starting from scratch. How to operate the machine, charge it, proper care and handling of the device as well as introducing new apps and how to use them responsibly. We have conversations about passwords for online sights and how they are in place to protect the users. The ways the "The Fourth Industrial Revolution," ways it has impacted my life and my teaching practice are too numerous to name. In the past 25 years, we have raised a generation of students who do not look at a teacher/parent as the primary source of information, history, facts, etc. The 90s brought us the World Wide Web connecting anyone with access to digital devices to primary sources for learning and exploring. Students today cannot fathom not having a computer, cell phone, or an online gaming system. So many resources have gone digital that students do not think of a phonebook as a text delivered by a phone company. Educators have become facilitators teaching students how to learn using this powerful revolutionary resource. Educators are able to engage students in virtual classrooms, and online chats from the comfort of our homes while dealing with new issues like student social responsibility with online footprints as we all experienced during the Covid Pandemic.
