Promoting Early Age Digital Literacy

Introduction

With the advancement in technology over the years, we now live in a world that is dominated by technology in our everyday lives. Internet has become our playground for both leisure and work. New technologies are emerging daily, and with each innovation comes new digital skills and literacies that are essential for addressing our rapidly changing world. Our whole identity is becoming more digital, in the way we interact with others, the way we socialize and the way that we inhabit the world today. Digital rhetoric now plays a lot into how people form their public perceptions of different issues.

The digital world offers enormous benefits and advantages to everyone, however, without the right understanding of the purpose, without appropriate guidance and adequate knowledge and skills, it can easily become overwhelming, and sometimes dangerous too. The importance of digital capabilities for adults is a given, however, the need and importance of these capabilities for children should not be undermined.

In this blog, we try and understand what Digital Literacy is, its importance for kids and why it should be introduced as part of early age education.

What is Digital Literacy?

It is an umbrella term for all the skills needed to effectively interact with digital information, and capabilities needed to navigate in the digital world effectively. It is important for children to not only read and write functionally, but also critically, which means, to develop skills to:

• expand their capacities to creatively express themselves

• engage with any subject matter to gain deeper understanding

• communicate their ideas effectively to the world

• understand how to enhance their career prospects, and

• learn new ways to fully participate in civic life

Different people use different terms, such as digital fluency, ICT literacy, media literacy, information literacy, however all definitions share the following:

• The power to actively create and not just consume content across media types.

• The ability to combine technical and cognitive skills to successfully find, evaluate, create, and communicate information and to tell impactful stories.

• The experience to know when, why and how to use digital tools productively, creatively, and ethically.

Understanding the Elements of Digital Literacy

A way to understand the elements of Digital Literacy is to refer to Dr. Doug Belshaw’s model, which provides a holistic approach through a set of 8 guiding elements divided into four skillsets and four mindsets:

The skillsets are: Cultural, Creative, Constructive, and Communicative.

The mindsets are: Confident, Cognitive, Critical, and Civic.

1. Cultural – The How to Behave Element. We learn how to understand the digital culture, how to respect netiquette, and how to protect our online privacy.

2. Creative – The How to Make Element. We learn to create and do innovative things in new ways within digital environments.

3. Constructive – The How to Use Element. We understand how to appropriate, reuse, and remix content while being familiar with fair use and copyright laws.

4. Communicative — The How to Communicate Element. We familiarize ourselves with the communication norms and expectations of various online tools.

5. Confident – The How to Belong Element. We learn how to be a part of the online community and understand how our digital space differs from our offline world.

6. Cognitive – The How to Do Element. We learn how to use technology efficiently and recognize common digital tools and features.

7. Critical – The How to Evaluate Element. We acquire reasoning skills to question, analyse, and evaluate digital content and context using information literacy.

8. Civic – The How to Participate Element. We familiarize ourselves with various digital environments to prepare ourselves and others to participate in social movements.

Why is Digital Literacy Important?

Digital literacy is now as important as any other literacy that we teach because it cuts across and amplifies so many other essential skills. Digital literacy requires much more than just knowing how to operate software, or use technology. It is more than being able to participate on Facebook or Twitter, watch or create YouTube videos, search for something on Google, or being just computer literate. It is more than being able to code, use apps on the phone, or operate Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.

It is an amplification of the additional skills and literacy, that students need, to succeed in higher education and the workplace. It is a way of thinking and a habit of mind that needs cultivation through an array of contexts and experiences. It needs students to understand the “WHY” and know “WHEN” to use “WHAT” technologies. It needs kids to navigate the space securely, appropriately, and effectively. It also means understanding the limitations, challenges, and impact that such technologies bring upon us.

The need for Digital Literacy is only going to become more important as time goes on. Parents and Teachers need to encourage cultivating more of digital literacy skills at home and in the classroom from early years to build a solid foundation. Any industry that children will move into when they start their career will require these skills, which makes it crucial to provide these skills from an early age.

Digital literacy is the most important lifelong learning tool. Now more than ever, a digital literacy curriculum for kids is imperative.

Digital Literacy is Essential in Our Everyday Lives

Active and engaged individuals are those, who can navigate, evaluate, and generate creative solutions for challenges and problems faced in daily lives. Digital Citizenship refers to the responsible and appropriate use of technology in digital spaces. Teaching Digital Literacy and Citizenship is now mandated in many national and global educational standards. Students are now required to be knowledgeable about copyright laws, online ethics, identity, privacy, and security, amongst many must-have skills, so that, they can safely and ethically navigate new digital environments.

Today, expressing something is composed of words, images, and sounds. Traditional writing and speaking skills are no longer enough to be successful. Students need to be able to show what they understand. Digital Literacy is essential to be uniquely equipped with powerful tools to help communicate at the very highest levels, and make lasting impact. It helps students to engage deeply in personal growth and civic engagement.

Digital Literacy is Important for our Careers

85 percent of the jobs that will exist in 2030 and beyond have not been invented yet, which means we cannot predict tomorrow's job market. Therefore, students need to develop skills that enable them to adapt. Studies show that employers now prioritize communication, creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking as essential skills, all of which increasingly rely on digital technologies.

We need to equip the students to successfully navigate this rapidly evolving career landscape. Scientists need to communicate complex information digitally, Entrepreneurs need to adapt their businesses to digital transformation, Authors and Journalists need to publish content online in a variety of formats, modes, and channels. Given the rapid pace of technological change, today's students must learn to use and apply new digital technologies quickly, creatively, and independently.

Basic computing skills are no longer good enough. Industry is looking for students that have experience around digital literacy, which positions them uniquely to produce highly creative projects and make impactful connections with the audiences. It allows them to grow and flex with their creativity, and positions them strategically to be in great demand in any industry.

Digital Literacy is Critical for Future Education (both Art and Science)

For many of us, the word Digital is associated with Math, Science, and Computers, while the word Literacy is more allied with Humanities, Art, and Design. All of that has changed!!

Today, Digital Literacy breaks down distinctions between art and science, technology, and humanities, providing a blend of the best of each discipline. Today, one of the most important modes for sharing ideas, communicating complex ideas, research, and data is Digital Storytelling.

We all understand the importance of Data; however, data has no meaning without a story!!

Most colleges and universities are now designing assignments and projects that fuse Digital Literacy and STEM, with an expectation that students can take a complex idea and turn them into easy-to-understand, and effective to share stories. Digital Literacy provides students new ways to be creative, as they explore complex ideas. Art and Design disciplines now offer Design Thinking courses like in engineering classes.

In the past, various interests needed to be in separate containers or in separate boxes. Now, you can use digital rhetoric to fuse all these interests together and express yourself through multiple modes of sound, images, and text, in creative ways that resonate with your audience.

Digital Literacy Enhances Learning Capabilities

Research shows that the failure rate for lecture classes is 55% higher than active learning environments. Project-based learning requires more higher order thinking skills than just recall or comprehension. When students use tools and technologies creatively for their stories or assignments, they gain a deeper understanding of content, retain knowledge for a longer time period, develop problem-solving strategies for how to structure and present information, and learn to express their ideas, discoveries, and arguments in more innovative ways. Digital Storytelling requires students to go through the process of writing a script, figuring out how to time things, how to transition, etc., which takes their engagement to a deeper level of understanding and improvisation.

Being able to successfully utilize and integrate digital literacy skills can significantly improve a student’s engagement and outcomes.

Why Introduce Digital Literacy to Kids at an Early Age?

Now that we have understood why Digital Literacy is important for children, let us try and understand why it should be introduced as part of early age education.

Essentially, as citizens of a global society, the influence of social media, technology, and online resources is massive. Society has changed over the last 15 years. It has become increasingly important to continue education even after entering the workforce. From infancy through adult life, technology is integrated in daily living, and therefore, technological education should start early with learning and improvements continuing throughout life to support personal and career growth. The development of a global society has made digital literacy mandatory for individual success in all walks of life.

We know we are preparing students for this digital economy, and the digital workforce of today is not going to be same workforce of tomorrow. Understanding the tools, their context of use, their purpose, and technology associations is super important for lifelong learning. When students start from early childhood to develop the appropriate digital literacy skills, get the right guidance to develop a growth mindset, they start to find multiple ways to express themselves, be creative and gain confidence.

When students create with confidence, the possibilities are endless.

Conclusion: Promoting Digital Literacy to Kids

With increased importance of technology in society, digital literacy is now the most valuable tool for lifelong learning. It becomes our responsibility as parents, teachers, and adults of the society, that we promote and encourage the younger generation towards being more digitally literate, help them to develop their capabilities and skills, and make them understand the real purpose behind technology and associated tools. Towards this goal, we can make a start ourselves, by:

• Encouraging digital literacy in the classroom and at home

• Talking to kids about the digital world, internet safety, cyberbullying, etc.

• Encouraging appropriate use of digital products, but being clear about technology limitations