Digital Literacy: What You Need to Know

If you're like me, you may have never heard of the word "digital literacy" before. In my Education Technology class we learned a few things recently about what digital literacy really is and what it means to be digitally literate. Not only did we learn what it means but we learned why it is important to teach students what it is; this was important for me as a teacher because in a world filled with technology, I would never want my future students to fall behind. So, here's everything you need to know about digital literacy!

The term digital literacy is defined as being successful in the digital world. It means that you are able to use technology to your advantage and create new things (using technology) based on your knowledge. Being digitally literate is beneficial to anyone because it gives you the opportunity to be able to use technology anytime, anywhere!

It is also important to teach children about digital literacy because the world today is filled with technology and we are expected how to use it. When they move on to higher grade levels (middle school, high school, and beyond) as well as the work force, they will be expected to know how to use all types of technology. Teaching your students about digital literacy and having them use technology in the classroom also helps them use and improve their 21st century skills which is a huge component of teaching today.

Overall, the main reason to teach digital literacy in the classroom is really so children know how to be safe on the internet. Digital literacy is about knowing how to use technology, but also how to use technology the right way and the safe way. So now you might be asking, "How can I teach digital literacy in the classroom?". Digital literacy is really taught through using technology, so integrating it into the classroom is as easy as letting your students have time on the computers, using Smartboards, and allowing your students to use iPads in the classroom. Of course it's not just as easy as putting the technology in front of them, you have to make the learning engaging as well as informative! For some ideas on ways to bring digital literacy into the classroom, you can read the article 15 Unique and Creative Ways to use iPads in the Classroom. 

Along with teaching our students the right and safe way to use technology, another key idea we have to teach our students is about copyright. Copyright means the protection of making copies or stealing another persons work. The word used to describe this in schools is plagiarism. Plagiarism is when someone takes someones work and claims it as their own. It has been found that most students that are plagiarizing do not even know their are doing it. It isn't always just as obvious as copying and pasting some other persons words onto your paper, it can be as small as not citing them in the correct way. We cannot just explain to our students what plagiarizing is and why it is not okay, to really teach our students we need to show them what it looks like. Most students today know that plagiriazing is not good, but they don't really know what it means. Since students use technology, they are getting most of their information from the internet and plagiarizing that information without even knowing it.


Both of these things are important technological pieces that need to be taught in the classroom. Our students need to know how to use technology the right way and see what happens when you use it the wrong way.