Digital Literacy

Our kids need the knowledge and skills to understand our digital world. So let’s talk about that as “Digital Literacy.” which needs to be in the curriculum for school from the beginning. That’s why digital literacy in primary school is so critical.

Because of the importance of Digital literacy, parents and teachers must contribute to acquiring this knowledge. In addition, we must create a base for our kids to be capable of using technology to develop solutions to problems, not only for entertainment.

Digital Literacy Fromhttps://www.emergingedtech.com/

Indeed, having a good understanding of technology’s technical, ethical, and social aspects will help them critically evaluate emerging applications and tech.

There are a lot of terms to describe the component of the skills and knowledge required in the digital world. Some governments have contributed to including these concepts in the curriculum for primary school or inclusive for pre-k.

Primary School Curriculum

n line with the national curriculum for England, we use digital literacy, which they define as: “The skills and knowledge required to be an effective, safe, and discerning user of a range of computer systems.”

The England school curriculum includes Computing as a mandatory subject from key stages 1 to 4 (ages 5–16). In addition, it covers various topics, from programming and how the computer works to digital literacy. The curriculum of the study states that “Computing also ensures that pupils become digitally literate – able to use, and express themselves and develop their ideas through, information and communication technology – at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world.

As Egland, in many other countries, the government has incorporated these concepts into the primary and secondary curriculums, sometimes optional and others mandatory.

Digital Literacy is an essential element of Computing in the Primary School national curriculum for some European countries and the USA. It must be crucial anywhere. It is much more than practical skills needed to effectively use technology, for which we might use digital skills. Digital Literacy consists of more critical aspects of our responsibility for applying technology.

Digital Literacy is an essential element of Computing

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Computer science is denominated differently and has many perspectives. For example, someone calls it ICT (information, communication Technology), and others have changed to call it only Computing. Whatever the name, digital literacy has to be included in a computer science subject.

Michael Gove outlined the political rationale for the changes in a speech: “ICT used to focus purely on computer literacy – teaching pupils, over and over again, how to word-process, how to work a spreadsheet, how to use programs already creaking into obsolescence; about as much use as teaching children to send a telex or travel in a zeppelin.”

The New England curriculum teaches children computer science, information technology, and digital literacy: teaching them how to code and create their programs, not just how to work a computer, but how a computer works and how to make it work for you.”

Based on that argument, I agree that programming (coding) is an essential part of digital literacy. Learning programming skills will benefit children in many ways, whatever their careers. It is as vital as giving children a chance to learn a musical instrument or foreign language.

Key stages

Depending on the age, the focus will be more profound or not. That is why the curriculum in England divides the process into a stage.

Key Stage 1 (5-6 year-olds).
Key Stage 2 (7-11 year-olds).
Key Stage 3 (11-14 year-olds):

We can find plenty of digital literacy explanations in each stage relevant to primary, middle, o elementary school. The curriculum central in each grade have some concepts in common. However, the deep level and the way to cover it will be different.

Let’s see the general concepts that comprehend Digital Literacy:

The use of devices, tools, and applications

Each student must recognize the devices, tools, and applications available. In an early stage, it identifies them enough and must be conscious of their use. In a more advanced stage or grade, the students must develop creative projects by selecting, using, and combining multiple applications.

Handling and storing information

The teachers must instruct the students on what information is and how to store and retrieve the data. The information must be kept to become more accessible to understand and comprehend information.

Hence, Data handling refers to collecting, Recording, and representing data in some form of graph or chart to make it easy for people to understand.

In key stage one, learners know about creating, organizing, storing, manipulating, and retrieving digital content. In contrast, students must learn about collecting and analyzing data in more advanced stages.

Design, creation, and editing of content

Design, creation, and editing of content are essential themes when discussing digital literacy. It refers to using and combining various software on various digital devices to design and create programs, systems, and content to achieve given goals. In each stage, this is important, like before, the theme is more demandant in the more advanced ones.

Communication

Another vital element of digital literacy is communication, which is associated with n safety issues while consuming content over the internet or contacting someone using whatever digital channel.

Learners must understand networks and the opportunities to communicate and collaborate effectively using digital tools.

Safety

Safety is a central theme. The instructors (parents or teachers ) must be emphasized at all stages of the curriculum, from using technology safely and respectfully to being able to “understand how changes in technology affect safety.”

This theme is even more critical with the emerging changes in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and Big Data, which will affect young people’s lives in ways we cannot yet predict.

Moral and ethical behavior

Last but not least, there is around moral and ethical behavior: use technology safely, respectfully, responsibly and to recognize inappropriate content, contact, and conduct”. We want our young people to use a moral and ethical lens when evaluating the uses of technology. Therefore, when the learners leave school must be capable of assessing the impact of those technologies and have a basic understanding of digital ethics.

Final Thoughts

Digital Literacy Within the Computing Curriculum January 2021 Tech computing Raspberry PI