It is fair to assume that we all know what it means to be ‘literate’, and we all know that ‘digital’ directly correlates to technology. Digital Literacy is a little bit more complicated than just combining those two words. Cornell University defines Digital Literacy as ” the ability to find, evaluate, utilize, share, and create content using information technologies and the internet.”
The idea of Digital Literacy is a newer concept that is being put into school curriculums because technology is the way of the world these days. While it is important for our students to be able to basic things involving technology, like being able to comprehend things they read online, the idea of digital literacy goes a lot further than simply using computers in school. Students already use computers, tablets, and smartphones at school and in their lives at home. In this day and age, you’d be hard pressed to find a student that doesn’t know how to use a search engine to find information. This is the ‘digital’ or ‘technology’ part of the equation. The ‘literacy’ comes into play when that student is trying to decided whether or not a source is reliable. Being able to decipher the things you read on the internet and figure out if they are from a reliable source is already an important skill, and will only become more prevalent and time goes on.
Another example of Digital Literacy is being able to write papers, and do assignments entirely online. Students need to be taught how to write a paper; and then students need to be taught how to write a paper online. There is a difference between the two because there are some variables in the second equation that aren’t in the first. For instance, students need to know their audience. Is this paper going to be read by the teacher, and the teacher only or is it going to be read by my peers as well? Is this paper going out into the public, like a blog, or is this paper going to stay within the class? Students also need to be taught how to use photos and links in their papers, that enhance their work.
There are other aspects to digital literacy as well, one main one being creativity. Teaching digital literacy allows for students to express themselves in nontraditional ways, which helps to generate creativity from our students. We all know that students learn in many different ways, and through teaching digital literacy we can help reach the students that may not learn as well from lectures or more traditional ways of teaching.
Obviously, it is still important to teach our students in ways not using technology, we can’t just cut those things out because they are equally as important; but the fact of the matter is that we live in a world where technology rules almost everything. Technology is only going to get bigger, and take over more than it already has and we would be doing our students a great disservice if we did not prepare them life in a society that depends on technology.
Baden Shelmadine 