As a school principal in a developing country pursuing a graduate degree in Teaching, Learning, and Leadership in a developed country, I find that I am constantly in awe at the gaps that exist between the two education systems. The course I am currently taking – EC&I 832 has further served to open my eyes to the extent to which our system (in my country) is behind that which exists in Canada. There is absolutely no denying the importance of digital literacy in the current education system. However, whether discreetly or integrated it is not included in any subject area in the curriculum in my country.

I have, therefore, decided to develop a Digital Literacy Curriculum that will be incorporated in  Information Technology and the English language for the Grade 9 students in my home country. This curriculum will seek to expose students at this level in a formal way to the digital world, what it means to be digitally literate, the importance of being digitally literate, how to interrogate content to determine its veracity – fake news as opposed to genuine news. I have decided on these two discreet subjects because when I examine our current subject listings and consider the type of integration I would want, these two subject are most ideal. Information Technology is a logical choice as this is the subject that introduces our students formally into the digital world. The English language curriculum is the subject that exposes our students to the concept of research and how to cite sources for any research done.

Link to Curriculum