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Your students may be able to update their Facebook status in a heartbeat, but can they also write a thoughtful letter to the editor, voice their opinion on a call-in radio show, or access local media to advocate for community action? How well would parents or teachers in your community do at those tasks? In Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action, media literacy expert Renee Hobbs makes a strong case for deepening digital literacy -- not only for youth but for Americans of all ages. Improving our digital and media literacy will require nothing less than a national community education effort, Hobbs argues in a position paper recently published by the Aspen Institute and Knight Foundation. Sorting through the flood of information most of us encounter daily requires new knowledge and critical-thinking skills, she says.

"In all my work on online child safety issues, I always try to stress how important education and media literacy efforts are. Indeed, technical parental control tools and methods, while important, should be viewed as just one part of a more holistic approach to encouraging digital literacy and digital citizenship. In recent years, many scholars and child development experts such as Nancy Willard of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use, Anne Collier and Larry Magid of ConnectSafely.org, Marsali Hancock of iKeepSafe, Common Sense Media, the Family Online Safety Institute, and many others have worked to expand traditional education and media literacy strategies to place the notion of digital citizenship at the core of their lessons and recommendations."

""Research demonstrates that many youth are disengaged from traditional forms of civic and political life but are very engaged with new media," said Mills College Professor of Education Joseph Kahne, the author of the study. "Our study findings strongly suggest that there are ways to build on their engagement with digital media to foster engagement in civic life." The study debunks the notion that young people, because they are growing up with technology, are so-called "digital natives", who naturally learn to use the Internet for information and discourse. Most young people, in fact, have a lot to learn about using online information and social media resources to better understand their role in society and politics. The research indicates that Literacy 2.0 education can directly influence young people toward civic involvement and political participation. Teaching new literacies, such as credibility assessment, is essential for supporting a healthy democracy, the report concludes. The findings make a strong case for increased digital literacy programs for both students and parents."

"This report is designed to give an accessible overview of media literacy among UK children and young people aged 5-15 and their parents/ carers (-1-). The purpose of this report is to support people working in this area to develop and promote media literacy among these groups. This report is the third full report since our survey began in 2005. It is therefore able to show trends over time for many of the questions asked. Due to different survey periods and focus, some comparisons are made with 2005 and 2007 data, and others with 2007 and 2008, and change over time is highlighted against either 2007 or 2008 accordingly. "

"This simple Video and Companion Guide (below) help parents and educators understand why digital citizenship is the essential first step to media literacy in the 21st century. If you've watched the "Cyberwise Guide to Media Literacy" at http://www.cyberwise.org/CyberWhy-s.html, then you already know that digital citizenship prepares students to use digital media safely, confidently and wisely. Fortunately there are loads of free, online resources to help you incorporate digital citizenship lessons into your classroom, after-school program or home. We've compiled this information for you and made it easy-to-access and understand."

"This Media 21 LibGuides chronicles the learning experiences of 10th Honors Literature/Composition who have participated in a 2009-10 learning initiative, Media 21, at Creekview High School. This program, spearheaded by school librarian Buffy Hamilton and English teacher Susan Lester, provided students a learning environment facilitated by both Hamilton and Lester in which Hamilton was "embedded" as an instructor. Media 21, rooted in connectivism, inquiry, and participatory literacy, emphasized students creating their own research "dashboards" and portals and the creation of personal learning networks to help students engage in their learning experiences and to evaluate a diverse offering of information sources more critically. This guide is also documenting the 2010-11 Cohort 2 of Media 21 and the learning experiences of both the students and the teachers."

A playlist by wesfryer defining digital literacy and information literacy skills.

"In Digital Age, Learning Civics Means Doing Civics Traditional civic education has required students to memorize basic facts about American government, call it the what, who, and when model for civic literacy. The primary source of information has been textbooks, a source of literacy that has not always been the most accurate or inclusive. And while books (in various forms) will certainly continue to play a role in civic education emerging digital media platforms will be key in the effort to engage, invigorate, and create an informed citizenry. The rise of digital media offers a unique opportunity to add a more experiential dimension to civic education. Digital technologies can, of course, be used to teach kids basic civic facts, but they can also serve as an entry point into "doing" civics. This happened in a Minneapolis third grade class I visited earlier this year. "

This is an old article and I find that many of the examples are outdated. However, the underlying structure and social media literacies are as current and as valid as ever. -Attention (this is a big one for teachers and certainly one that worries everyone in my school. Some great strategies are described here to raise awareness among the students) Participation ("That doesn't mean, however, that all forms of participation are beneficial to the participant or others" "I don't believe in the myth of the digital natives") Collaboration (Here he talks a lot about collaboration towards social change and activism. Academic Integrity should probably be included here, too. "Though collaboration has a slightly different definition from cooperation and collective action, in general doing things together gives us more power than doing things alone.") Network awareness Critical consumption (I like that he talks about being overwhelmed with information and having to decide what action to take. It is a very hard thing to do though.)

This is a Canadian site that explores the intersection of digital and media literacy.

"Since media is such a big presence in kids' lives today, many schools have already implemented some form of media education. What has your school done? Do you think the efforts so far have been effective? What would you change if you could? "

This document is a code of best practices that helps educators using media literacy concepts and techniques to interpret the copyright doctrine of fair use. Fair use is the right to use copyrighted material without permission or payment under some circumstances-especially when the cultural or social benefits of the use are predominant. It is a general right that applies even in situations where the law provides no specific authorization for the use in question-as it does for certain narrowly defined classroom activities.

The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education helps educators gain confidence about their rights to use copyrighted materials in developing students' critical thinking and communication skills.

An excellent slideshare from a presentation by June Wall.

Check out the additional resources linked here.

Over the past couple of years, I've been trying to collect every good piece of writing and advice about verifying social media content and other types of information that flow across networks. This form of verification involves some new tools and techniques, and requires a basic understanding of the way networks operate and how people use them. It also requires many of the so-called old school values and techniques that have been around for a while: being skeptical, asking questions, tracking down high quality sources, exercising restraint, collaborating and communicating with team members. Post also contains a great Slideshare.

"Created each year by Lori Lewis and Chadd Callahan of Cumulus Media, the above graphic shows the incredible scale of e-commerce, social media, email, and other content creation that happens on the web."

The best way to get young users thinking about the risks of sharing sensitive information online, he says, is through horror stories. "There are so many stories of kids posting something embarrassing on Facebook and then not getting accepted to college. You always think, 'it's not going to happen to me"