Eclectic Technology

What does it mean to be digitally literate? If you ask teachers, students, parents, administrators, and community members the responses may be very different. This post explores this issue and notes (for the teacher):

"Digital literacy isn't about knowing computers inside and out; it's about using technology to change the way you think. If critical thinking skills haven't yet become a part of your students' digital citizenship, it's time to think your teaching strategy."

After the introduction, the post is split into two sections:

5 Teaching Practices that Destroy Digital Literacy. One of the practices is "using 'cool' technology to deliver a planned lesson." To learn why click through to the post.

The final section is 15 Habits to Cultivate in Your Students. Two are listed below.

* Read past the first page of Google results (and my suggestion would be to use some of the many alternative search engines. You may be surprised that many other search engines work better for students).

* Train students to react skeptically if they read the phrase  'Research says...' or 'A recent study revealed..."

To learn more about the 15 habits check out the post. Do you have ideas that would be helpful to others? If so, please share them.

Here is a new resource to help teach elementary students about digital citizenship. Thanks to Common Sense Media for putting together a song and video with lyrics that teach students that they should "Pause and Think" before they go online. The website states that this song "stresses the connection of safe, respectful, and responsible behavior online and offline."

The website provides a the song (downloadable or viewable on YouTube) as well as a file that includes posters that you may post and has each lyric.

Common Sense Media also has a poster about digital citizenship for elementary school students. This poster "illustrates how kids can use their heads, hearts, guts, arms, and legs to be a good digital citizen" as does the song.

Young children love to sing and need to learn about digital citizenship. Take a few minutes to check out these resources and share with others whom teach the younger grades. You may hear a new song in your school!

Would you like to become more web literate, to understand the way the web works? This new course from Mozilla and P2PU may be just what you were looking for!

Four modules are available and you may sign up for all of them or only one. They cover:

* Exploring - Learn about the theoretical framework and teaching methods and become aware of how the web works as an ecosystem.

* Building - Develop Open Education Resources for yourself and for others that embed web literacy in your content..

* Facilitating - Learn participatory learning techniques to teach digital and web literacy skills.

* Connecting - Make connections - Learn how to build relationships locally and globally to increase your impact.

The post by Lisa Nielson provides links to additional materials as well as a link that allows you to sign up.

This paper looks at digital literacy, specifically how infographics can be used to meet Common Core standards. A well designed infographic will have:

* A Purpose

* A Style

* Evidence

* Format

The paper also includes a section "How can I teach comprehension with infographics?" This section includes two infographics and has the students critique them using the following questions:

* What is the author's purpose or question?

* What evidence supports the author's claim?

* What are the strongest elements of this design?

* How could the design be improved?

You could use these same questions and have students in your class critique their infographic and their classmates.

And last but by no means least they provide a list of locations where you can create an infographic.

Infographics support reading comprehension and writing skills. They also allow students to strengthen their critical thinking skills and synthesis skills.

If you are looking for some great resources for elementary and middle school students that look at issues involved in digital literacy this post may be just what you are looking for. The post is divided into five sections:

* Online identity

* What to do

* Digital footprint

* Cyber Bullying

* Online Privacy

Each section has a list of resources split into elementary and middle school as well as a description of the topic area. Also included are resources to assist with Online Discernment (think about how many students tell you that if it is online it must be true!) as well as teacher resources and lesson plans.

If you had to come up with the seven most "compelling trends" in education today what would they be? This graphic shows one view of the trends. The ones listed are:

* Digital & Research Literacy 

* Shifts from Standards to Habits

* Game-Based Learning and Gamification

* Connectivism

* Transparency

* Place-Based Education

* Self-Directed Learning and Play

For more information on these check out the original post.

Many students choose to use Wikipedia as a primary resource and many teachers tell students they should not use Wikipedia...but what if you require that they confirm all information from other primary resources? Gleeson notes "I believe starting with the much maligned site had several benefits that will transfer over to the students’ use." 

He discusses four issues that students often face when searching online:

* Where do I begin? (Based on my discussions with students most students tell me they use Google, but that does not mean that they look beyond the first page of results, or know how to do searches.)

* Key word search - Do your students know how to use key words? Wikipedia may help with this.

* Secondary source drives me to primary source - Allow the secondary source to provide some foundation, but confirm with primary sources.

* Effective time management for checking sources.

Additional information on each point may be found in the post.