Digital Literacy

Video Transcription

Hi everyone, and welcome to today's lesson. I'm Gino Sangiuliano, and the topic we'll be exploring today is digital literacy. So let's get started. Digital literacy is one of the nine elements under digital citizenship. Digital citizenship is the appropriate, acceptable, and responsible use of technology. The other elements are digital access, digital commerce, digital etiquette, digital law, digital rights, digital responsibilities, digital health, and finally, digital security.

At a recent technology conference I was presenting at, I invited a few students ranging in ages from 6 to 16 to attend as expert users. We played a simple game with the teachers, administrators, and parents in the audience. I flashed a series of icons related to technology on the screen and the youngsters competed with the adults to try to identify them. The results weren't even close. The students dominated.

That story brings us to today's topic of digital literacy. Because students are so immersed in technology, it is extremely important that we address this topic with them. Digital literacy is the teaching and learning about technology and its use. It also means the understanding of legal procedures and other parts of digital law associated with its use.

It is our responsibility as educators to promote digital literacy in the classroom. One way to do this is, as adults, to stay current and familiarize ourselves with as many of the new technologies that are out there that we can. This requires some risk taking and an open mind. Next, we need to model appropriate use of those technologies. Finally, we are prepared to teach students how to best utilize them in legal, responsible ways in order to enhance their learning.

Use of technology and digital literacy has undergone a transformation in the 21st century. It's gone from a more personal experience to a more communal experience. And some of the things we need to continue to do to encourage students to head in this direction is to expand on ways to communicate, collaborate with others, think critically about problems of the day, and also use the technologies to enhance creativity in their learning.

Let's summarize. We began by discussing the nine elements of digital citizenship and the definition of digital citizenship. We focused on digital literacy and what that means. We talked about ways to teach digital literacy. And we talked about what learning in the 21st century looks like.

I'd like to leave you with this final thought. Think about where your students are learning about digital literacy. Is it in the classroom? Is it at home? Is it somewhere else? Is it all these places? To dive a little deeper and learn how to apply this information, be sure to check out the additional resources section associated with this video. This is where you'll find links targeted towards helping you discover more ways to apply this course material. Thanks again for watching. Have a great day.