Is digital literacy really a new kind of literacy -- or is it simply a retooling of skills and knowledge that have always been used?
I found the video on the DISCOVER organizer for digital literacy quite interesting, but I'm not sure how much of what is mentioned within the video is new information. Most of the DISCOVER process are steps that teachers have been using with students for ages. The one step that has become much more important in the digital age is Verify. It's vitally important that we teach students the need to verify all information that they obtain online. They cannot simply trust what they find on any old Web site without taking the time to do a little research on the author and any possible bias he/she may have.
I'm not so sure, however, that we need to teach students how to "discover digital literacy" beyond stressing the need to verify and reflect. Most of them are light years ahead of their teachers in terms of using the Web as a tool. Reviewing steps for students in order to guide them to greater digital literacy, though, would be useful, as many students might not know about various educational and research sites.
Before we can do anything of this, we need to make sure our teachers are digitally literate. I know of many teachers who are still not taking advantage of the Internet as completely as they could be. Schools should institute mandatory training programs for teachers, so that they can they present information accurately to students -- and so that they (the teachers) have a greater understanding of things their students may already know.
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I completely agree, Alex. We cannot expect to effectively educate students if our teachers do not have the tools to participate in 21st century learning. Unfortunately, there are probably more teachers out there than we would like to think who have no desire to acquire said skills. The repercussions of that are students who far surpass the knowledge and capabilities of their teachers.
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