Prompting digital literacy at schools is key to building a democratic and participative society. Digital technologies are a fundamental part of our everyday existence, providing information, goods and services. This requires building skills aimed at accessing information and being able to assess the accuracy of the information, especially digital information pertaining to the media.
October 24th to 28th has been declared as Media Literacy Week. This is a week dedicated to “amplifying the importance of media literacy education across the United States.” Given the widespread use of electronic communication, the event and associated organisations are emphasising the importance of digital literacy in education.
The aim is to provide ideas and resources to teachers and librarians so they can teach digital access tool and also alert people, especially younger people, to the risks of misinformation and disinformation online.
This includes getting students to understand how to participate in online engagement and contribute to making the online environment positive. At the same time, students need to be cognizant with the risks of engaging with others.
According to the New York Times, one approach that teachers and students can take when appraising information online is the ‘SIFT’ approach. This involves:
- Stop.
- Investigate the source.
- Find better coverage.
- Trace claims, quotes and media to the original context.
As an example of how schools can approach digital literacy, during October 2022 the Calcasieu Parish School District (Southwest Louisiana) ran a series of days so that students could become educated on what it takes to be a good digital citizen.
Kim LeBlanc, CPSB Chief Technology Officer states that the aim was to “highlight the importance of helping students, families and teachers navigate our 24/7 digital world.” LeBlanc adds that the activities were geared towards students understanding “the responsible use of technology to learn, create and participate.”
A second example of how to approach the digital literacy topic is by partnering with industry. The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Children’s Museum and AT&T have collaborated to create and bring an innovative hands-on experience in digital literacy to 3,000 Buffalo and Niagara Falls area third-grade students that attend tier-1 schools.
The programme is called ‘The AT&T Digital Enrichment Experience’. This began at the end of September, 2022 with 45 students being the first participants engaging in digital literacy activities across the museum. The specifics of the programme include equality issues in technology education as well as helping local students impacted by the digital divide gain digital literacy knowledge and skills.
