I am enrolled in elementary education and although it may seem to young to begin talking about digital literacy, I believe it is not. Technology plays a huge role in our lives everyday. I am nearly positive that by the time a kid gets to kindergarten they already have had access to technology in some way. This could be watching Pingfong, Danny Go Go, or even just playing a simple game on their parents phone. A lot of kids at this age already have their own iPads or tablets for playing games or watching shows. Teaching kids about digital literacy does not have to be as complicated as some make it seem. Kids are very smart, from a young age they are able to understand a lot more then most give them credit for, so I believe teaching them about digital literacy should happen from a young age especially with the technology that we use everyday.
By teachings kids how to use the internet and different types of technology you are helping them meet the goals of the NCTE framework. One of their mains goals is for people to participate effectively and critically in the network world. This is a critical thing for students can learn about and understand how to do at a young age. As you get into the older students there are a few ways that you can teach students about increasing their digital literacy.
- Students need to be able to understand the difference between fake news and real news. You can ask students to look at a news articles and websites and see if they can tell the difference between the real and the fake. This skill can then be used in English, History and many more classes to help ensure they have good websites for research. I will use the Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers to help teach the students ways they are able to check their work.
- The Dynamic Landscape is a great resource for teachers to use to help educate their students on what ways to find fake news. Teaching students about fake news and how to spot it will help with many aspects within their lives. It will help them not to spread the fake news themselves. It will help them succeed with their school work as they will be able to use factual information for their work. There are many benefits to teaching children how to use the internet properly.
Increasing digital literacy is something that needs to happen for all ages and it is very important to learn. The digital world is huge and to be able to understand and use it properly is something everyone must know!