What is Digital Literacy?

DIGITAL WORLD
 “Literacy” is simple: The ability to read and write -- so “digital literacy”
should be achieving those goals using technology in the classroom.
• Here are a few of the definitions of digital literacy that I found:
• "The ability to find, evaluate, utilize, share, and create content using information technologies and the
Internet." -- Cornell University.
• "The ability to use digital technology, communication tools or networks to locate, evaluate, use and create
information." -- Digital Strategy Glossary of Key Terms.
• The ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it is
presented via computers.” -- Paul Gilster, Digital Literacy.
• "A person’s ability to perform tasks effectively in a digital environment ... includes the ability to read and
interpret media, to reproduce data and images through digital manipulation, and to evaluate and apply new
knowledge gained from digital environments.” -- Barbara R. Jones-Kavalier and Suzanne L. Flannigan:
Connecting the Digital Dots.
• Digital literacy refers to our ability to actively and competently express ourselves within a network of
connected digital technologies.
• Philosophically, these are all good definitions, but after more than 20 years experience with students in
private and public schools in Nigeria, I know “digital literacy” is much more complicated than a couple of
sentences, especially when we're talking about students baptized in iPads and smart phones.
 Digital literacy overlaps with computer literacy, as most digital media technologies require some level of
computer competency. Commenters on digital literacy distinguish it from computer literacy as being a
competency using computer assisted tools. Digital literacy requires certain skill sets that are interdisciplinary
in nature.
Aviram & Eshet-Alkalai contend that there are five types of literacies that are encompassed in the umbrella term
that is digital literacy.
• Photo-visual literacy: the ability to read and deduce information from visuals.
• Reproduction literacy: the ability to use digital technology to create a new piece of work or combine
existing pieces of work together to make it your own.
• Branching literacy: the ability to successfully navigate in the non-linear medium of digital space.
• Information literacy: the ability to search, locate, assess and critically evaluate information found on the
web and on-shelf in libraries.
• Socio-emotional literacy: the social and emotional aspects of being present online, whether it may be
through socializing, and collaborating, or simply consuming content.

What is true digital literacy? This is how students can move

beyond using computers just for texting and gaming.
True digital literacy doesn't only mean using computers for gaming and texting, it means using technology
effectively to be able to do much more by using the technological tools available.
The learners of the 21st century who are accustomed to digital tools are often considered to be digitally
proficient. Without denying the fact that they are digital natives leading technologically enabled lives, we
also tend to be negative when we ask ourselves whether they would be able to use technology the right way
to create something new. And, that is exactly where education steps in.
Now, let's figure out how to use technology effectively in classrooms:
1. Get the basics of digital literacy right:
Most urban students are already adept at handling digital devices like laptops, tablets, iPads, etc. But there's a
difference between using a laptop to play games and using it to create an interactive game.
• If the present-generation learners are to be not just consumers of technology but also future innovators, they
have to go beyond the use of technology only to text and game. An effective Computer Science curriculum
could come handy in this regard
• Again, using a piece of paper to take notes could result in displacement. Teachers could familiarise students
with annotation tools like Acrobat to help them take notes effectively in class
• Libraries set within brick-and-mortar structures also have fixed timings unlike digital libraries
• Besides making them realize the limitation of time and availability of books, these exercises help students
learn how to make the most of technology. Technology could be the solution to a lot of problems, only if
one is looking for the solution at the right place. Students have to be encouraged to do so
2 Use social media effectively for learning:
• This generation has rightly subscribed to digital citizenship by signing up for social media accounts on
Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Social media platforms, infamous as gossip columns, have actually a lot to
teach as well. As students are anyway hooked to these kinds of platforms, teachers should use the interest of
students to the fullest
• Facebook and Twitter open up the outside world to their users. Students might be reluctant to read
newspapers, but would be less hesitant to follow digital news portals through Facebook and Twitter
• Debates and discussions on current affairs which take place on social media inculcate critical-thinking skills
in children
• Again, old bulletins and craftwork of students have to be removed from display boards in schools to make
space for new ones, but the launch of Pinterest has resolved the issue. Different online bulletins can be
created for different subjects and purposes. This could make students a lot more enthusiastic and eager to
take part in extracurricular activities
5 Reasons Why Digital Literacy is Important for Teachers
It makes sense to assume that the more digitally literate we are as teachers, the more we'll employ these skills in
the classroom, which will in turn foster a strong sense of digital citizenship in our students. However, the
importance and scope of digital literacy extends beyond this simple theory. Here, I’ve laid out seven
reasons why digital literacy skills are important for today's teachers.
1. Moving Beyond Google
Google is a powerful tool. Students with access to a computer and the Internet are able to find the answers to not
only simple questions, but also incredibly complex problems. However, there is a significant difference
between Googling an answer and understanding why. Looking at Bloom’s Taxonomy, we want students to
gain the deepest level of understanding when faced with a problem.
Simply Googling an answer does not provide students with true, deep learning. And while most students
understand how to use a search engine, it is up to teachers to provide students with the additional skills to
bring the answers to the next level.
There are several ways teachers can embed digital literacy skills into Internet searches:
• Teach students to evaluate and question their sources. Students need to know the difference between a
trustworthy and untrustworthy source.
• Is their source an academic website or a marketing company?
• When was the source last updated?
• How many other sites link to this source as a reference?
• Is the information presented in objective or biased language?
• Teach students how to draw a strong conclusion. Sure, students might find the right answer to a problem,
but what use is that search if they’ve only memorized the logic to get them there? It’s up to teachers to
teach that logic and to contextualize the answer.
• Push students to new levels of creativity. Once students have a deeper understanding of the answers
they’ve found, push for creative application of that knowledge. This could be anything from challenging
students to pose related questions to having students use other digital platforms to create something new.
Examples include:
• Film a science experiment based on the answer they’ve found.
• Record a history podcast that tells the story of how their answer came to be.
• Write an investigative journalism piece on that same topic.
• Again, digital literacy does not mean knowing how to use every piece of software students will encounter.
Teachers should encourage students to seek out and learn the software they need to know in order to do
what’s required.

• 2. Teaching Digital Citizenship

Being a good digital citizen means understanding and applying appropriate and responsible uses of internet and
technology. Two issues top the list when it comes to digital citizenship: academic plagiarism and
cyberbullying.
• Academic Plagiarism
In a culture where students are constantly sharing content, they may not know what plagiarism is, let alone
when they’re doing it. Teachers should set clear anti-plagiarism policies at the beginning of each year.
• Cyber bullying
Cyber bullying is bullying that takes place through the use of electronic technology, and is a pervasive issue in
schools and online communities. And while today’s students may be digital natives, they still need to be
taught that social norms apply to online behavior. Resources should be in place to prevent cyber bullying
and to help students who are being bullied.

3. Closing the Digital Divide

Students in most African schools struggle to take advantage of the tools, platforms, apps and resources
available to their connected peers in developed countries. But this digital divide isn’t just in schools —
there is also a lack of access to devices and broadband at home . The divide is pervasive and accentuates
already destructive achievement gaps. Digitally literate teachers advocate for change and seek innovative
solutions.

4. Expanding Conceptions of the Digital World

While students may be adept at using digital tools, their understanding of what these tools can do is often
limited.
For example, students use Instagram to post photos but don’t think to use the platform for art or history projects.
They record themselves with a voice memo app but do not realize those apps could also be used for
journalism projects or a historical narrative piece. Digitally literate teachers know how to inspire students to
use today's technology as a powerful toolset to expand their learning opportunities.
5.Improving the Technology
Teachers can offer important pedagogical and practical insights for edtech companies developing learning
technology for students. Today “teacherpreneurs” ( in the U.S) are sparking teacher-based technological
innovation — and they’re drawn largely from the ranks of the digitally literate. Teacherpreneurs are
teachers who see the need for digital solutions in their classrooms, and some take on roles where they coach
other teachers on using technology as a powerful differentiation tool. As teachers master digital literacy
with their lessons, they can collaborate with peers to share technology and work toward improving learning
outcomes for their students.
Technology in the Classroom:
• Teachers no longer primly lecture from the front of the class. Students don’t fervently copy the
instructors words down, read text, and memorize material for a test.
• Students will each have a digital device. It may be a tablet PC, laptop, Chromebook, Surface–that won’t
matter. What’s important is that it is portable, sturdy, fits in a backpack, and is digitally secure. All student
work will be done on these.
• Students will actively participate via a backchannel device (i.e., Today’s Meet, Socrative, Padlet,
Twitter, a Google Apps adaptation). The stream of student comments, thoughts, questions, ideas will appear
on the class Smart screen for the benefit of all. Students will access it on their digital devices, while class
goes on. The teacher will address comments so she can address concerns.
• Homework and projects will be submitted online, via Dropbox, GAFE, or a school-specific program like
Schoology. No printing, no depositing to the class inbox, no lost in the dark recesses of the student
backpack. Work will be completed and immediately shared with stakeholders.
• Grades will be posted online immediately. They will always be up to date, enabling students to
transparently know where they stand in the class. No more ‘I had no idea I was doing so poorly in this
class’.
• Classes will be available online via YouTube or Google Hangouts both in real-time and archived. If
students miss a class, they go to the online class to catch up. It will be their responsibility to watch the class
and contact the teacher for help if needed.
• If students and/or teachers can’t get to school, they participate through the real-time interactive
environment. Teachers will teach from their home while students watch from home. No fuss.
• Keyboarding will be taught and reinforced in all classes. The struggle over whether keyboarding is a
real subject will be settled pedagogy. It will be akin to grammar–every teacher reinforces grammar–or
school dress. Keyboarding will be accepted as one of those cross-class academic tools that is important
everywhere. Parents will also understand this and reinforce lessons when students use computers at home.
• Each class will have a website, a wiki, a Google Classroom–or some sort of digital version of the
classroom which will closely replicate what happens in the class on a daily basis. It will include the videos
of class, schedules, assignments, links to online materials, embeddable class calendar, and be accessible
from school or home. It will blend the best of today’s options–protopage.com, Ighome, netvibes,,
Symbaloo, MentorMob, Portaportal, or LiveBinders--into a supremely effective, scalable portal that not
only shares static information but provides methods of differentiating for various student needs. The future
may have arrived in the form of Google Classroom. .
• Class will be fully connected to social media, including a Twitter stream (to be used for backchannel
communications, announcements, collaboration among students), a Google Plus account (to facilitate
student group get-togethers, collaboration on projects, sharing of notes and knowledge, and files), and a
Facebook account (to encourage bonding within the class).
• All students will be able to share their screens with others. This can be via Skype, Google Hangouts, or
another option not yet invented. This encourages students to help each other, tutor classmates on subjects
where needed.
• Students will complete their class work knowing it will be shared with classmates and other interested teachers. Ways to
make this publishing and sharing possible include blogs, wikis, Google Apps for Education. through these accounts, students
will reflect on their work and the work of others, share perspectives, provide feedback, assist classmates in the write-edit-
rewrite process.

• Students will each have a digital portfolio where they store all of their projects, assessments, notes.
• Students will differentiate assignments to fit personal learning style. They will no longer be assigned a
project like “write a book report using MS Word” or “create a slideshow in PowerPoint/Slideshare”. In the
future, students will receive the ‘book report’ assignment and make their own determination how best to
communicate their thoughts, be it audio, visual, written, musical, video, artistically. As long as they fulfill
the requirements of the project, the delivery format will be up to them.
• Students will take digital notes on a tablet or an iPad. The note taking device will allow for typing,
handwriting, drawing, video and audio recording. This will include the best of today’s digital note-taking
offerings such as Notability, Evernote, OneNote.
• All students will have a web-based email account.
• Schools will have digital bulletin boards that display a scrolling collection of student work. Teachers
access it easily, have a scanning app to import art work where required, can upload student projects and
even music to the digital bulletin board so all student work is shared. These can be paused, searched, even
printed to a student digital portfolio or a parent cloud account (printing is rarely paper).
• Conferences will be virtual real-time meetings for parents that cannot make it in, so all parents
participate in the understanding of and furtherance of their child’s education. These can be done via GHO,
Skype or another option that allows for face-to-face meeting and screen sharing (of student work and
assessments).
• Students will use technology to execute tasks at every opportunity—schedule presentations, take a poll,
read, time an activity, get directions, check data. Teachers will challenge students to come up with tech
solutions to common activities. This will be assessed also..
conclusion
It is crucial that school and district administrators emphasize teacher digital literacy to avoid policies that simply
mandate placing technology into the hands of students without thought for how that technology will be
used.
Digitally literate teachers see technology for all of its creative potential, rather than something they are
mandated to do in a step-by-step fashion. Digital literacy doesn’t require that teachers become experts, but
it does require that they understand the digital tools that can unlock their deeper teaching potential.