As teachers in the 21st century, we are faced with challenges and opportunities that technology provides. One of which is the importance of digital literacy. Not only is this something that is important to teach our students about, but it is especially important as teachers that we are well versed in how to be digitally literate. But what does digital literacy mean? Well in The BC’s Digital Literacy Framework document, digital literacy is defined as “the interest, attitude and ability of individuals to use digital technology and communication tools appropriately to access, manage, integrate, analyze and evaluate information, construct new knowledge, and create and communicate with others.” (Government of BC, n.d.). In other words, it is the aquired knowledge of knowing how to use technology and the internet appropriately and safely. This encompasses many things but some examples are; social media platforms, video chatting platforms like zoom, AI platforms, blogs and websites.
The framework provided by the government of BC breaks down what key things students should learn to become digitally literate by age. This is a great framework to reflect on as it shows the progression students should aim to achieve when learning how to use digital technology.
Due to how much technology is apart of our world it is of great importance that we as teachers emphasize creating classrooms that are digitally literate. Social media is a huge part of most peoples lives and many young children get access to things like tik tok, instagram and snapchat in their middle school years. Instead of waiting to teach children about safe and appropriate usage of these platforms, we should start introducing these concepts prior to them obtaining accounts on the platform. This is where following the digital literacy framework and encorporating it into your classroom can be of a huge advantage to your students lives as they continue to grow with technology.