Transcript Digital literacy

Digital literacy
Critical thinking for our digital world
9 slides
Running time = 15 min
Optional ‘Teachers TV’ example
What’s this all about?
• Information and guidance about incorporating digital
literacy development into classroom practice
• For all teachers, in all subjects and at all levels
• Developing learners’ digital literacy is a vital step in
enabling learners to become informed, self-aware
and safe participants in an increasingly dense
landscape of technology
What is digital literacy?
• A combination of functional ICT skills, critical thinking, and
social awareness
Knowing about and
using technology
Critical thinking
Social awareness
Effective Internet
searching. Knowledge
and appropriate use of
digital cameras, video,
podcasts, wikis, data
storage, social software,
presentations, desktop
publishing software,
simulations…
Evaluating for bias,
validating sources,
matching format to
audience, developing and
refining information in
own words, when to use
/ not use technology,
reflecting on strengths
and weaknesses…
Acting safely and
responsibly online,
copyright issues,
‘netiquette’, exchanging
information,
collaborating with peers
and elders, implications
of online behaviour …
• Making informed judgements about technology use
Why are digital literacy skills important?
• They have an impact on an adult’s equality of access to
information and services, employability and social
inclusion
• They offer greater opportunities for participation in
learning, social, civic and work activities
• Digital literacy is now a key component of primary and
secondary curriculum reform, the aim being to
incorporate it into the teaching of all subjects at all
levels. Also, a key Government ambition: 2009 Digital
Britain report
What the research says
• One in three children currently believe that Google
ranks sites according to truthfulness (Ofcom 2009)
• The vast majority of 12-15 year olds are confident
about using the internet but almost half say they
often can’t find what they are looking for
• Learners rely on the most basic search tools and do
not possess the critical and analytical skills to assess
the information that they find online
Why should we teach digital literacy?
• Children are more likely to stay safe online if they have the
ability to make appropriate and informed decisions
• Many young people are confident with digital technology, but
this may not translate into competence, especially in relation
to ‘higher level’ critical thinking. They need support and
guidance
• Teacher assumptions about learner competence based on
learner confidence can result in a lack of challenge
• Every teacher can offer a different perspective as to how
technology can add value in their subject
An example - the truth is out there?
• Year 9 pupils at Wortley High School, Leeds looked at three
websites about Martin Luther King, the holocaust and
Victorian robots
• None of the websites are what they seem. The first two are
fronts for racists and holocaust deniers. The last is a goodnatured spoof
• None of the pupils spotted any problems with the validity,
reliability or authority of the sites and many said they would
cut and paste information from the sites for use in homework
or other projects
• Why not watch the video (14 minutes long) at
http://www.teachers.tv/video/5425
How can we incorporate digital literacy into
teaching?
• The framework (in resource pack) aims to make the development of digital
literacy skills easier to incorporate and more explicit in classroom practice:
Where can we find out more?
• Becta ‘Digital Literacy’ resource pack for teachers and students
• http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/95525 Developing
thinking skills at KS3
• http://www.mediaedassociation.org.uk./ Media literacy teacher training
resources
• http://www.nwlg.org/digitalliteracy KS3 Digital Literacy resource
• http://www.teachers.tv/series/hard-to-teach Innovative ways to use ICT
when teaching different secondary subjects“
• http://www.google.com/librariancenter/articles/0512_01.html How
Google works - includes some exercises for students
• “Getting the Buggers to Find Out”, a book by Duncan Grey (Continuum
International Publishing Ltd, 2008)