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The insertion of social media in education has the potential to advance core aims of our society: to teach students how to engage with their families, neighbors, and communities in a new way. The combination of social media and education requires that we teach students how to become literate in a digital world. The skills of literacy are no longer just about reading and writing, but about abilities that surround our responsibilities as authors. In Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action, researcher Renee Hobbs offers that digital and media literacy is constructed of five crucial abilities:

The Knight Commission recognized that people need tools, skills and understanding to use information effectively, and that successful participation in the digital age entails two kinds of skills sets: digital literacy and media literacy. Digital literacy means learning how to work the information and communication technologies in a networked environment, as well as understanding the social, cultural and ethical issues that go along with the use of these technologies. Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, reflect upon, and act with the information products that media disseminate.

"Digital media is quickly replacing traditional media forms as those most accessible to most 21st century learners. The impact of this change is extraordinarily broad, but for now we'll narrow it down to changes in how learners respond to the media they consume. The most fundamental pattern of formal academia is to read something and then write about it. Sometimes this writing comes in the form of responding to questions, while other time it's in the form of an essay. And sometimes the reading is watching, playing with, or otherwise interacting with a digital media. So I thought it might make sense to compile a list of "things" learners can do as the result of "consuming" a digital media."

Two years ago, in Towards a comprehensive definition of digital skills, I depicted digital literacy according to five different categories, being those categories technological literacy, informational literacy, media literacy, digital presence and e-awareness. Explaining these concepts with a single example (that is, all the concepts using the very same example for all of them) is not always easy, so you end up using different examples with each category or concept. Today I just found that single example that can be used to explain all of them...

"We need to stop digital literacy training that uses the internet and social media to achieve pre-defined outcomes. For example, working backwards from goals such as finding a job or setting up a business. This might address immediate student anxieties but it is a short-term solution. Based on my experiences of working with students and academics, I would make a case for digital literacy to be much more than the mechanical operation of tools and technology. It should enable us to use the social digital landscape for reflection and conversations. And in our ability to enter into dialogue on the basis of shared values, we become individual agents of change." Dr Abhay Adhikari

Across the Arab world young people have collaborated on Blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Youtube to bring down entire regimes. Not one of them has been on a digital literacy course. And, in any case, who are these older teachers who know enough about digital literacy to teach these young people? And how do they teach it - through collaborative, communication on media using social media - NO. By and large this stuff is shunned in schools. We learn digital literacy by doing, largely outside of academe. To be frank, it's not something they know much about.

In order to survive and develop, make decisions, and solve problems in every facet of life - personal, social, educational, and professional, individuals, communities, and nations need information about themselves as well as their physical and their social environments. This information is available via three processes: observation and experimentation, conversation (with other persons), and consultation (with memory institutions). The competence to do this effectively and efficiently is called Media and Information Literacy.

Digital Literacy and social media in education is the focus of this blog post.

"Digital literacy is the ability to effectively and critically navigate, evaluate and create information using a range of digital technologies. This ability is essential in the context of your personal, educational and working life. This page is focused on digital literacy in the context of your career."

Morning keynote delivered at the Metropolitan New York Library Council's (METRO) Annual Conference (METROCON13) by Renee Hobbs, Professor and Founding Director of the Harrington School of Communication and Media at the University of Rhode Island. 15 January 2013 - Link to the slideshare presentation is available on the page. Some interesting discussion of literacies, visual literacies definitions of DL and how libraries can measure their impact

Scholars and teachers alike agree that today's students need more than alphabetic literacy to communicate effectively in a world increasingly suffused with digital media and information. 

Objectives To understand the current 'State of the Nation' with regards to internet literacy To segment the online population based on internet literacy Qualitative exploration of the State of the Nation * What are they doing online? * How well? * How confident are they? * What would they like to be able to do? Segmenting the UK population * Focus on behaviours, needs and drivers * Recommend how BBC can promote new ways of using online activities, & increase confidence

Literacy today depends on understanding the multiple media that make up our high-tech reality and developing the skills to use them effectively. A 2006 article from Educause Quarterly Magazine

A special report from the alliance for women in media foundation.

Hector Peebles, multimedia & community editor and David Kernohan, Jisc programme manager, share their thoughts on how to be at the forefront of social media trends, whilst keeping up to date with current affairs and continuing to digest information for work or pleasure. Hector and David have put their heads together to provide you with information on the tools you can use to help you manage your time and track topics of interest.

February 1 2012 Digital Learning Day is a nationwide celebration of innovative teaching and learning through digital media and technology that engages students and provides them with a rich, personalized educational experience.

"Do we really need measures of online reputation? Can our worth be measured by the amount of Twitter followers we have or by how many +1s we receive on Google+?   Klout, Peerindex and other social reputation measuring sites are constantly bombarding web users with statistics about their 'true reach', 'amplification' and 'influence'. It all sounds very grand. And yet what is the actual value of these metrics? What does it mean that I currently have a Klout score of 60? This number is calculated among other things, on an analysis of my recent web activity on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ over the last 90 days."   Steve Wheeler