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"In today's world, literacy goes beyond just the basic ability to comprehend text. Today's students will also need to master a new skill-digital literacy. Cornell University defines digital literacy as "the ability to find, evaluate, utilize, share, and create content using information technologies and the Internet." Digital literacy, by this definition, encompasses a wide range of skills, all of which are necessary to succeed in an increasingly digital world. As print mediums begin to die out, the ability to comprehend information found online becomes more and more important. Students who lack digital literacy skills may soon find themselves at just as much of a disadvantage as those who cannot read or write. Because digital literacy is so important, educators are increasingly required to teach students digital literacy in the classroom. In many ways, this is similar to what educators have always done in teaching students to read and write. In other ways, however, digital literacy is a brand new skill. Most students already use digital technology, such as tablets, smartphones, and computers, at home. Many students already know how to navigate the web, share images on social media, and do a Google search to find information. However, true digital literacy goes beyond these basic skills."

"What exactly is digital literacy, and how can we ensure that students are learning the digital skills they need in school? MediaSmarts classifies competencies for digital literacy according to three main principles: use, understand and create. These principles form the basis for our digital literacy framework. Young Canadians need to be able to make good choices about privacy, ethics, safety and verifying information when they're using digital media, and they need to be prepared to be active and engaged digital citizens. Based on our research on digital literacy education in Canada, USE, UNDERSTAND & CREATE provides a road map for teaching these skills in Canadian schools. The framework draws on six key aspects of digital literacy (listed in the grid below) and provides teachers with supporting lessons and interactive resources that are linked to curriculum outcomes for every province and territory. The home and school connection is supported by parent tip sheets that are linked to from each resource."

If you are a parent, teacher, or other adult working with children, this blog aims to help you learn, as much as possible, about helping digital kids grow into thoughtful, collaborative, and savvy digital citizens. The blog's mission is to provide context for adults - defining and clarifying digital world issues, 21st Century learning challenges, and those virtual environments and devices that children take for granted. It's not really about technology anymore. Instead it's about lifelong learning, collaboration, problem solving, and flexibility. Media! Tech! Parenting! examines or reviews three or four items of digital news and information each week, surveying newspapers, blogs, research, and magazines, as well as the media, safety, and educational websites. Blog posts, as often as possible, provide links pointing readers toward the sites or publications covered in blog posts. I am Marti Weston, the principal blogger on Media!Tech!Parenting! In my professional life I focus on learning in a K-12 environment along with all the digital world issues that challenge teachers, students, and parents. With more than 30 years of teaching experience I also support parents by teaching three-five digital education classes, leading question and answer sessions, and maintaining current resources on the school's website. My professional work centers on four areas: Coaching teachers and helping them develop learning environments that are rich with 21st Century collaboration and problem solving. Helping students learn to use digital tools appropriately, understand their digital dossiers, and move - carefully - along the digital citizenship highway. Providing teachers, students and their parents added context that helps them evaluate media and learn more about how media affect their world, Offering parents information about the always changing, fast-paced virtual world and suggesting effective parenting skills and strategies that will help children grow into stro

"Rather than just teaching children about internet safety and reducing their digital footprint, we should also encourage them to curate a positive digital footprint which will be an asset for them in their future. Today's children are prolific users of the internet. Concern has been raised about the future impact of the digital footprints they are generating. While much discussion of this issue focuses on keeping children safe, little is known about how children manage their digital footprints. While digital footprints are considered to be a liability, if managed well they can be an asset. Digital footprints can showcase identity, skills and interests. This is important in an era where employers "google" candidates to check their identity and verify their suitability. In this context, having no digital footprint can be as much of a disadvantage as having a poorly managed one. The "Best Footprint Forward" project explored what children know about digital footprints. Focus groups were made up of 33 children aged 10-12 years from three schools in regional NSW. Analysis of the focus groups reveals children have strategies to keep safe online, but they need further guidance on how to build a positive digital footprint."

"Digital citizenship is an essential 21st century literacy that empowers students to navigate the digital world more safely, respectfully and responsibly. It is a set of interconnected skills that, taken together, form a holistic pedagogical framework to foster students learning in a digitally focused environment. To help teachers incorporate the ethos of digital citizenship in their classrooms, Common Sense Media has put together this interesting resource titled 'Digital Literacy and Citizenship (teacher edition)' . This is a curriculum designed specifically for upper elementary to help students  learn the basics of digital citizenship while also developing their digital literacy skills."

" Students today are more distracted than ever before. Why is this happening? To explain it simply, they are immersed in their digital devices. In the classroom, this becomes an even larger problem. A recent Pew Research Study found, "87% say these technologies are creating an 'easily distracted generation with short attention spans' and 64% say today's digital technologies 'do more to distract students than to help them academically.'" While it is clear that digital technology is distracting students, the technology is here to stay. For example, while most teachers agree the best way to turn digital distraction is to not allow mobile devices in the classroom, these same teachers agree this is ineffective in the long run. Instead, educators must be proactive and teach proper digital device usage in the classroom. Therefore, teachers must find ways to engage digitally distracted students. In the graphic below, you will find 27 ways to gain the attention of digitally distracted students."

...the distinction between digital natives and digital immigrants will become less relevant. Clearly, as we work to create and improve the future, we need to imagine a new set of distinctions. I suggest we think in terms of digital wisdom.

"Which digital device is the better learning tool for students - a Chromebook or an iPad? If you're not aware of the hottest current digital device debate, you're probably not a parent or an educator. Once upon a time, that debate might have been about VHS vs. Beta, or Mac vs. PC. However, in prime time ed tech school district circles, folks are fiercely focused on Chromebooks vs. iPads (both now below $400). The big question? Which is the smarter purchase for their students? On the flip side of the classroom debate, Mom and Dad might not like the fact that portable digital tools are becoming more and more invasive. However, how's a parent to ignore these must-have lightweight mobile monsters, which are antiquating the family desktop and nurturing independence? Not to mention all your kids' friends seem to have one. So which digital device is best?" If you're not aware of the hottest current digital device debate, you're probably not a parent or an educator. Once upon a time, that debate might have been about VHS vs. Beta, or Mac vs. PC. However, in prime time ed tech school district circles, folks are fiercely focused on Chromebooks vs. iPads (both now below $400). The big question? Which is the smarter purchase for their students? On the flip side of the classroom debate, Mom and Dad might not like the fact that portable digital tools are becoming more and more invasive. However, how's a parent to ignore these must-have lightweight mobile monsters, which are antiquating the family desktop and nurturing independence? Not to mention all your kids' friends seem to have one. So which digital device is best?"

"n this technology-immersed world, students need to know how to navigate the digital environment safely. From discerning real news from propaganda to managing their reputation online, so much of their future is dependent on possessing digital literacy skills. Teachers have to step up to the plate and integrate digital literacy into the curriculum and model it through their actions. In this article, we will discuss 10 ways that digital age teachers model digital literacy and leadership."

"Mastering digital communication is much more than just about being safe and courteous online. It's also part of being a great Global Digital Citizen-the kind of citizen we must begin cultivating in our schools. digital At the Global Digital Citizen Foundation, we believe the role of an effective digital communicator is to show courtesy, integrity, and respectability in all forms of technology-based interactions and associations. Moreover, their role is also to model this behaviour for the rest of us. It makes sense to cultivate our learners to become such empowered individuals that are aware of their responsibility both for and with the power of the Internet, for the lasting well-being of our global community. Moving forward, then, how can we help them realize the meaning of a truly exemplary digital communication? What does such a practice look like in action?"

"The Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies (F-10) comprises two related strands: Digital Technologies knowledge and understanding - the information system components of data, and digital systems (hardware, software and networks) Digital Technologies processes and production skills - using digital systems to create ideas and information, and to define, design and implement digital solutions, and evaluate these solutions and existing information systems against specified criteria."

"If you're still adapting to millennials in the workplace, it's time to move on because the next generation of workers is here. We call them "digital natives" and their lives have always been integrated with technology. According to Marc Prensky, the author responsible for coining the term, digital natives are by definition a generation of children born into a completely digital world. As businesses prepare to welcome this new generation, we'll discuss what these businesses should know and how they can leverage the digital wisdom and tech-ready mindsets the digital natives will bring to the workforce."

"96 percent of Americans use the internet daily, and 62 percent of working Americans rely on the internet to do their jobs. We live in an internet age - an age that requires specific skills. Digital literacy skills have become essential to academic, career and interpersonal success. Digital literacy is defined as the ability to find, evaluate, share and create content using the internet - but it's much more than that. Digital literacy skills (also referred to as "21st century learning skills") have permeated the classroom, becoming requirements for both teachers and students. To address this need, we worked with education expert Leah Anne Levy to create USC Rossier's Toolkit for Digitally-Literate Teachers. This toolkit provide teachers and school administrators with how-to guides, actionable strategies and real-life examples of the benefits of digital literacy in the classroom."

"Newark, Del. It's no secret that American workplaces are becoming more reliant on technology. But what may surprise the country's K-12 educators and policymakers is how work at nearly every rung of the employment ladder is becoming more digitized. Often, the skills needed to succeed have less to do with computer programming than what experts call "digital literacy"-the ability to interpret, create, and strategically use digital information. "Everyone's job is changing," said Mark Muro, a senior fellow and policy director at the Brookings Institution, a think tank. "The ability to read and then conduct first-order analysis of digital information is highly valued in almost all work environments." To better understand the central role of digital literacy in the workplace, Education Week took a deep look at four occupations in the Christiana Care Health System. It's the largest private employer in Delaware, with 11,600 employees and an expected 1,500 new hires this year."

""More than half of 8-12 year olds are exposed to cyber-risks," according to a 2018 report. These risks can include cyber-bullying, online sexual behaviors and video game addition. The threat is easy to see. Kids today spend hours a day online on computers and phones, much of it unmonitored. To protect your students from online threats you need to raise their Digital IQ. What is Digital IQ? According to the DQ Institute, an international think tank that aims to ensure every child acquires the skills they need to be informed users of digital media, "Digital Intelligence is the sum of technical, mental and social competencies essential to digital life." It's not only skills at coding and working with technology, but also avoiding the risks that technology exposes children to."

"Chances are you've heard a lot about digital citizenship  by now. Many reputable and respectable organizations have devoted their life's work to developing digital citizenship resources to promote its values in educators and learners worldwide. We at the Global Digital Citizen Foundation are proud to be among them. We all know the world is different now. We're all globally connected by technology, so making the world a better place by fostering a compassionate and mindful citizenry isn't just the responsibility of a chosen few. Now, it's on all of us. Don't be worried, be overjoyed-especially if you're a teacher. You are in the perfect position to be the best source of digital citizenship development any student could hope for. You're not alone, either-we've gathered a list of digital citizenship resources and websites from people who are just like you, and that are behind you all the way."

"Is it possible for our students to be both digital natives and digitally unaware? Young people today are instant messengers, gamers, photo sharers and supreme multitaskers. But while they use the technology tools available to them 24/7, they are struggling to sort fact from fiction, think critically, decipher cultural inferences, detect commercial intent and analyze social implications. All of which makes them extremely vulnerable to the overwhelming amount of information they have access to through the digital tools they use-and love!-so much."

" "Even young kids have gotten very adept at Minecraft, so it can be quite intimidating for teachers," said Jason Schmidt, an instructional technologist for Bennington Public Schools who will teach the four-week MinecraftEdu MOOC, in a prepared statement. "If I can help get teachers over that hump, imagine how delighted students will be to have a learning environment tailored to their interests for a change." The other, Minecraft for Educators, "is a course for teachers who are wishing to gamify their learning experiences and deliver a unique pedagogy that will engage, enthuse and keep learners coming back for more," according to information released by the company. Both MOOCs are available through the Canvas Network. Minecraft for Educators will start January 26, 2015 and run through March 9. The company has also released a Minecraft app to allow students to submit assignments to the Canvas learning management system from within the game. Using the app, students can tag what they've made in the game for their teachers to visit, upload books they've written in game directly to the speed grader or use the game's circuitry tool to complete assignments that will be automatically graded. A video demonstration of the app is available at YouTube. Other MOOCs for teachers in the suite include: Digital Literacies 1; Digital Literacies 2; Five Habits of Highly Effective Teachers; Teachers without Borders: Educating Girls; and Tinker, Make and Learn. Among the other MOOC offerings in the new suite is a course designed specifically for parents, Parenting in the Digital Age, which aims to help them address issues such as cyberbullying, digital citizenship, exposure to inappropriate content, media literacy and screentime. Taught by Andrew Swickheimer, director of technology at Noblesville Schools, the self-paced course opens September 22. "Parental involvement in K-12 education has one of the biggest impacts on a child's commitment to learning," said Jared Stein, vice pres

"One of the questions we're asked most often is "what is a Global Digital Citizen?" Being a Global Digital Citizen is about more than just being a citizen of Earth. These are leaders, learners, and creators. It's a way of living well in a world that's changing fast, and showing others how to do the same. Carl Sagan once defined an ideal citizenry as people "with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how the world works." Global Digital Citizens are concerned with connection and contribution. They know our technology plays a part in a much larger communal picture. With all this in mind, welcome to your definitive guide to understanding the Global Digital Citizen. First our definition, and then our explanations."

"The digital natives of today are the ones who will be pressured to take all of the present technological wildness and make it make sense for the next generation. They are the starting pitchers in the game. If we can set them up for success, that will bring us one step closer to those super-digital natives who will flip this world upside-down with what they will have to offer. The rise of the super-digital native starts with how we empower the digital natives of today."