Digital literacy is a term that describes the set of critical thinking skills required for the effective use of digital media. This includes
1. Defining the task
2. Accessing the information
3. Understanding and evaluating
4. Creating
5. Communicating
Through the development of digital literacy, pupils move from learning that is entirely teacher directed to learning that is more self directed, an essential shift required for lifelong learning and employability.
Commissioned by Becta, NWLG have developed a Key Stage 3 resource focusing on the knowledge and skills related to accessing, understanding and evaluating digital information. Learners can navigate their own way intuitively around the resource and make independent choices based upon personal preference and interests. They are then encouraged to question their knowledge, understanding and behaviours through the use of magazine style quizzes providing them with feedback on their internet ‘personality’. Learners then select areas for further investigation. Each area provides them with information that challenges their assumptions and then allows the learner to test and practice their understanding through a game. The resource is not intended to be a complete Digital Literacy course but serves as an introduction to encourage the learner to reflect on and question their current practices.
“This resource aims to challenge learners’ current behaviours in using digital information, raise awareness amongst educators and stimulate further opportunities for the development of these essential skills for participation in a digital world.”
Andrea Shirley, Manager of Online Learning, Becta.
Please go to www.nwlg.org/digitalliteracy to look at the resources
Further information about digital literacy
The skills of knowing why you need information, where to find it, how to evaluate, use and communicate it are not new, they have always been important. However as the availability and scope of information continues to increase exponentially, along with increased opportunities and risks, these skills have taken on a greater importance.
It is often presumed that all young people possess the skills to use technology effectively. This presumption is usually based on young people’s apparent confidence in using ICT and the amount of exposure they have to technologies. But evidence suggests that this confidence does not necessarily equal competence. Their extensive use of, and familiarity with, a range of technologies is not always underpinned by an understanding of the full potential of those technologies, or how to use them most effectively. There is a strong mismatch between students’ confidence in their use of technology and their actual competencies. Learners tend to rely on the most basic search tools and do not possess the critical and analytical skills to assess the information that they find on the web. Some learners see technology as a core part of their social lives and their learning, but they do not understand fully how ICT can be used for learning outside of the school context.
In order to maximise the benefits of increased access to technology for learning in and beyond the school the learner needs to develop digital literacy skills. The importance of teaching digital literacy skills has been recognised by the Rose review and Digital Britain and is of increasing interest amongst educationists and researchers. Specific skills related to digital literacy appear across the secondary curriculum but few resources currently exist that support and challenge learners and teachers to develop these skills.