DIGITAL LITERACY AND ONLINE EDUCATION

If you want to learn online, there are many tools and resources to aid your learning. To utilize them properly and have the best learning experience, you need a certain level of digital literacy.

What is digital literacy?

Digital literacy is using the internet and technology to get information. It is understanding how technology works, navigating through different sites and sources, and, using technology to solve problems.

Traditional literacy and digital literacy

Both digital literacy and traditional literacy are forms of literacy. Literacy is simply the ability to read, write and understand.

It goes beyond just knowing how to read and write but also understanding what you read, applying it appropriately, and being able to express yourself in writing.

Digital literacy is developing skills needed to use technology to access and evaluate information through the internet, social media platforms, and mobile devices. It is being able to perform efficiently in a digital environment.

Why is digital literacy important?

If anything, the pandemic has provided context for improving digital literacy in education.

If we ever have a situation where all schools have to adopt online learning, students who are digital literates and online learners will have no issues with the change. Those that are not will most likely have a tough time getting familiar with the system.

Digital literacy might be necessary for online education, but online education helps to build digital skills. In just a month, if you take a course online, you realize that within that time, you can find websites that help research, apps that increase productivity, channels for additional resources, and you get familiar with the digital environment.

Introducing digital skills in the early years

Technology is the perfect example of learning as a lifelong process, every day, there is something new to learn; when you have hacked one thing, another is coming up, and you have to keep up with these changes because technology affects all areas of our everyday lives.

Digital literacy goes beyond education; as one grows older, the use of technology in the world only increases; the more you learn, the better for you.

Most schools take subjects like computer science that expose students to little computer knowledge, but digital literacy goes beyond that.

Technology should be embedded in every subject. It should be a part of everyday learning and part of the curriculum.?Online learning should be encouraged to give children exposure and help them understand how to be productive in the digital world, the classroom, and beyond.

Our article on “The relevance of basic education in early childhood” discusses how important it is to give children sound knowledge of concepts in their early years. They can learn these concepts with ease. This is the same with digital skills; introducing it to them at an early age makes them evolve with technology.

There is a lot to learn, and as time goes by, there is more to learn; if you already have background knowledge, learning new things will be similar to getting an update.

Waiting until the teenage years to start understanding digital literacy and using technology may cause children to feel overwhelmed.

Digital literacy and online safety

Being online comes with a lot of exposure, especially for toddlers and pre-teens; they need to be guided in the online environment.

The online world comes with inherent risks. It is only fitting that when you teach about online education and digital literacy, you also provide safety precautions in the online space for children.

This includes being informed about online safety, the expected standards of behavior in the online environment, and dealing with issues such as phishing, fake news, and cyberbullying.

Students should be taught that not everything online is accurate, hence the need for using multiple resources when learning and employing the help of a tutor when researching.

Google has an internet code, “To be Internet awesome,” which teaches kids digital citizenship and being safe online; it includes five steps

• Be internet smart; share with care
• Be internet alert(Do not fall for fake)
• Be internet strong (secure your secrets)
• Be internet kind(it is cool to be kind)
• Be internet brave(when in doubt, talk it out)

Do you want to introduce your child to online education and build their digital skills, follow these easy steps

• Get a device that can be used to learn(laptops, phones, tablets)
• Good internet connection
• Digital calendars for updates on school work, due dates for tasks and assignments
• Develop e-safety procedures to protect children from inappropriate content online

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