Wondering what digital literacy is? It is the right way to use digital technology by avoiding non-ethical practices. It is very easy for students these days with immense exposure to apps, resources, and platforms to fall prey to the harmful effects of web technologies. Therefore, it is essential to create digital literacy by integrating education with digital technology.
Schools in Chennai like Babaji Vidhyashram School focus more and help students become digital literates under the right guidance of teachers. A lot of learning takes place in schools, and thus, students must learn the ethical and right usage of the web technologies in a classroom. Digital literacy is an important skill that every school administration and teacher must support, foster, and encourage.
Embedding Digital Literacy in Classrooms
The essential elements of digital literacy are cognitive, cultural, communicative, constructive, confident, critical, civic, and creative. But there is a specific way to teach digital literacy in the classroom to make it effective. Follow the below points and help students become digital literate citizens of tomorrow.
- Guide students to question and evaluate the source. Students must know how to differentiate between an untrustworthy source and a trustworthy source. Comparing and evaluating is a skill they must develop as sources are available in abundance.
- It is not sufficient if the student can find the right answer to a problem by memorizing the logic. Teach students to conclude by learning the logic and contextualizing the answer. They will be able to determine the right answer in the long run only with a good understanding.
- Make students apply the acquired knowledge creatively. With a deep understanding of the answer, students can either pose related questions or develop something new on the digital platform.
- Encourage students to learn new software when there arises a need. It is okay if they do not know certain things. Make them realise that learning new things is essential in every phase of life.
- Plagiarism is critical when sharing content, and you should set the anti-plagiarism policy clearly for your students at the beginning of the year. Explaining to students everything about academic plagiarism and its limitations is essential.
- Cyberbullying is a widespread problem in online communities and schools. It is using electronic technology to target and bully weak people. But you can resolve the problem by teaching students the social norms and how to behave appropriately online. Help students to learn the etiquette of online behaviour, which is an excellent strategy to prevent cyberbullying. Thus, being well-behaved in the digital world is also crucial.
- Be open to students about digital footprints, the legality of online material, purchasing stuff online, and the safety and privacy in the digital world.
- Train students not to believe every dramatic figure they see and to react skeptically. Teach them to find the source’s credibility and facts and then proceed.
- Delving deeper into the net results is necessary. Most of us scan only through the first page of Google results. As SEO controls what shows up on the first page, students must learn to search in various channels like News, Scholar and get more relevant information for their topic.
- Guide students to always look for supporting evidence from diverse sources.Teach students to evaluate at least two or three competing sources to conclude by
- Approaching a topic from various angles
- Searching for more facts to prove a theory wrong while crafting an argument
Advantages of Digital Literacy in Classroom
Digital literacy in the classroom benefits by motivating students of various learning styles to learn better with the easy use of technological mediums. Students grow happy and excited to work with technology which eventually helps them explore and learn through various styles. Students learn to design and create unique products reflecting their personalities and style.
Digital literacy encourages students to share their learning with families, peers, and teachers. Most importantly, students get an opportunity to use their creativity and increase their technological skills by exploring more. Eventually, they learn to manipulate media to construct their own meaning to become technologically sound.
Last but Not Least
Just like any technology, students must think critically in media and digital technology. They must construct and evaluate purpose with their own interpretations. Digital-age literacy applies to various academic disciplines like writing, reading, science, maths, history, social studies, and humanities. As a teacher, you must promote thinking skills among students and incorporate technology into classroom activities. Doing so will facilitate students to construct their knowledge in a meaningful way in their lessons.
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