How do you measure the impact of digital literacy on student learning?

Performance Assessments: Create tasks or assignments that require students to demonstrate their digital literacy skills in real-world scenarios. Assess their ability to locate and critically evaluate online information, create and share digital content, collaborate effectively using digital tools, and solve problems using technology. Case Studies: Select a sample of students and track their progress over time, documenting their digital literacy development and its relationship to their learning outcomes. Use a mix of data collection methods, such as interviews, surveys, observations, and artifact analysis, to build a comprehensive picture of the impact of digital literacy on their learning.

My main concern with a conversation on digital literacy in education is critical thinking. If students are taught to use digital means then they should be able to identify what makes content reliable & relevant. Digital literacy, from my experience, isn’t about evaluating how well the students understand the concepts of a particular subject matter, but how well they’re able to expand on that knowledge through research in the digital world. If they’re able to effectively discern usable information, identify bias, & fact check, they’re going to grow beyond the classroom &what they’re being taught. Teachers should be using digital literacy as a way to ensure life-long learning rather than evaluating their understanding to date.

Given the world that we live in today that is more and more technology-based, and especially since this article was written by A.I., anyone who wants to be "successful" in the world today HAS to have digital literacy. Therefore, it must be measured and measured accurately to better comprehend what is/is not working with students.

Best practices for what to measure include: - Anything that is aligned with the lesson/unit/course objectives. - The rate of growth/decline in their abilities to perform the required functions/tasks that were being focused on. - Critical thinking - can they take the skills that are being focused on and apply those skills to a new but similar situation (which is most important in my mind).

- I also disagree with using multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank and drag-and-drop types of questions because those questions again favor students who are able to memorize information. There are a lot of students out there who know the material, but cannot boil that knowledge down into choosing A, B, C, or D. Ask them to explain the concept to you, and they demonstrate they know it. Give them a test? And watch them crash and burn.

- I also disagree with the idea that "tests and quizzes assess digital skills and knowledge in a standardized manner." I disagree because tests are notoriously skewed based on how well someone's memory is and how good of a "test taker" they are. I know a lot of students freeze up when it comes to any type of quiz/test. They might do horribly on the quiz/test because they couldn't remember what they've already learned, but if they demonstrate their knowledge without the stigma and pressure, then true learning assessment may occur. - Using pre/post assessments to measure the amount of growth and/or decline of the instructional methods that were used to teach the skills is critical.

It should be noted that surveys and questionnaires are not always the best choice to use because how often are people truly honest with themselves? Making those types of surveys anonymous helps them write more accurately, but then the teacher doesn't know who specifically needs what particular supports.

William Bradford's description of the Pilgrim's debate, while still in Holland, of the merits of the proposed trip to the New World is worth considering: “it was "a great designe, and subject to unconceivable perills and dangers." But their condition was "not ordinarie" and their calling was "urgente." "Yes, though they should loose their lives in this action, yet might they have comforte in the same and their endeavors would be honourable." Could it be what the Pilgrims thought they were doing in launching the Mayflower to come to the New World is what we are still trying to do now?

Digital literacy is a given, from the outset for many, thanks to the times. However, the key measure is how it translates to 'value'. I believe the age of 'information is power' is behind us and the current motif is 'Value Information is power'. In this age of information obesity, finding the right needle in the haystack and adding self-analysis and personalised intelligence to it, is the real challenge. A student's digital literacy in a broader sense is probably nothing but the measure of this ability, albeit it could be arrived at by using diverse methods and technologies. I am sure an educator would enjoy supporting this process but in reality that can be their litmus test as well.

Digital literacy is a complex concept. A multi-method or mixed method approach is apt. See JohnBrewer and Albert for Hunter, Multimethod Research, Sage Publications A