Teaching Digital Literacy to Students

Digital literacy covers the 21st-century skills associated with the use of technology appropriately and effectively. So, it is essential that educators make students aware of the skills in their lessons.

FREMONT, CA: Digital literacy refers to the ability to evaluate, find, utilize, share, and create content with the help of using information technology and the Internet. It implies the reading and writing skills but without the use of pen-paper, books, and lectures.

Below are some critical topics to include in the digital literacy lesson.

Information Literacy: Students today rely on the use of the Internet as the primary source of data for use, both in their personal lives and at school. It is crucial for educators to teach pupils how to evaluate the information to check its accuracy. To educate pupils on information literacy, the focus should be on efficient ways to assess the credibility and quality of the data and cover instruction strategies that yield accurate results.

Fair Use of Digital Resources: It is essential for educators to tell students of plagiarism and bring to their notice that copying text from a website is like stealing content from a book. Students should also know about the copyrighted material and the way to refer the information and give credits when they have made use of someone else’s work.

Digital Footprints: A digital footprint refers to the trail of data created by a user while using the Internet. For example, images, texts, cookies, browsing histories, IP addresses, and passwords all constitute for a person’s digital footprint. Most of the children spend a lot of time accessing the Internet and may not think about the consequences that it brings. It is necessary to discuss the implications of the things that students share online, and they should also be made aware that the data shared is not private but available to all.

Online Protection: With vast quantities of data available online, students also need to know about basic Internet safety. Things like using privacy settings, creation of strong passwords, and understanding what not to share on the social media platforms, will lead pupils to the right track. Besides, educators can also make learners aware of the technical terms like data encryption, hacking, and virtual personal networks (VPNs).