Take an activity that you have done with your students in the past that had an impact on digital literacy (or build upon a past activity to make it better support digital literacy). Write a short description of this activity, describe how it develops digital literacy, and relate it to one of the “types” or “levels” of digital literacy described in the readings. Try using Mozilla’s Web Literacy tool to develop learning outcomes for your activity.
Teaching at a school in the rural part of my country was often a challenge for us teachers, as we often do not have all the resources readily available at our institution. 2008 was the first time my school got computers donated to our already built computer lab, that were long overdue. I and two other colleagues who were the most tech savvy on staff had the privilege of introducing the students in each grade to the usage of the computer. Since EdTech was a part of our curriculum, we taught this subject once a week to the students before the computers were donated by content only and limited hands-on experience which was done through the usage of teachers’ personal laptops. Introducing the students through hands-on experience was an exciting task for both the students and teachers. The first introductory activity was to have the students name and identify the external hardware components of the computer. After which students were guided in opening and using a new word document in Microsoft word. Students were asked to write about their first experience using the computer and then share it with the class.
The three main principles of digital literacy to obtain competency were exercised: use, understand and create.
- Use – the students had prior knowledge of the computer and its hardware components. The students were able to engage with the computer and were able to navigate through guided instructions.
- Understand – a fair understanding of the usage of the keyboard and mouse was exhibited by the students. Students understood how to open a word document and that the selection of each letter was present on this document, similar to the way in which they wrote in the notebooks.
- Create – through guided instruction, the students were able to create their personal reflection and what they have learnt.
Mozilla’s Web Literacy Tool, reveals that the learning outcomes of this activity were write, read and participate. The writing component of the literacy tool, allowed to students to revise what they previously knew about the hardware component, then they used the components to compose their experience. Read, promoted the skills of search and navigation. The students had to learn how to use the mouse to get it across the screen and the exact position that they wanted to obtain their desired goal. Participate, students shared their experience about their first hands-on activity with the computer. This activity was the initial step in exposing the students towards 21st century digital and web literacy.
Reference
https://learning.mozilla.org/en-US/web-literacy/participate/(Retrieved September 22, 2019)
http://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy/general-information/digital-media-literacy-fundamentals/digital-literacy-fundamentals(Retrieved September 22, 2019)
M Small-Cooke
Hi Floressantia.
The age group of my students was elementary, I taught the 3rd grade for two years and the 4th grade for five years. However, being rounded I assisted with the EdTech for all students from grades 3 – 6. The younger students (grades 1 and 2) were not exposed to the computer until they got to the 3rd grade. The students were always excited in taking part in computer sessions. They never at any point felt as if it was a remedial class. I think the reason for this is that my school was very small and so we only had one stream of each grade. Hence, there were not room for comparison on a grade level basis.