There appears to be no single definition of Digital Literacy. Some definitions such as The International Society for Technology in Education's, includes competency in Informational Communication Technology (ICT) while others such as the Media Awareness Network, do not. For the purposes of this document, I will keep ICT separate from Digital Literacy and use their definition which includes the abilities to use, understand, and create with digital media (page 7).
One desired precursor to implementing a Social Media Tool (SMT) into the classroom is to ensure that you and your students have the appropriate level of literacy to reduce potential harm and operate in a socially responsible manner. This means that understanding privacy considerations needs a high priority. All stakeholders should be informed and, where possible, provided with information and training to support students, enhance buy-in and minimize risk. Youths tend to engage in risky behaviour online and education programs that focus more on a skills-based approach and less on a fear based approach tend to be more effective. Getting parents and peer community buy-in and support also may have a positive effect in reducing risky online behaviour (boyd, 2012) (Vanderhoven, Shellens & Valke, 2013).
"The Media Awareness Network (MNET) has proposed the following privacy competencies as part of digital literacy for every Canadian:
Privacy in a digital era is such a complicated and diverse issue and efforts to address the topic as a whole can simply thwart effective management, trying to protect the interests of all. It seems many people / organizations are trying to use territorial approaches to an issue that is global in scope. In higher education, as well as corporate education, online students are frequently from a range of locations with different legislation, cultural perspectives and views on freedom. For example, many experts in privacy such as Ann Cavoukian (Cavoukian, 2011) (Danaylov, N. 2013) and Julia Hengstler (J. Hengstler, in conversation September, 2015) advocate stringent privacy laws in their locales of Ontario and British Columbia, Canada, while bodies such as the US government routinely violate privacy in the interests of public safety (Solove, 2008). At the other end of the spectrum are countries that simply block or censor social media. I believe educators should be aware though, that while this may not appear to impact students in, for example, British Columbia, Canada, students attending online classes from other locations, as well as International students coming to BC may experience fear that opinions others express so freely in BC would get them in trouble in their home country and as a result may not post at all or may restrict their posts.
As an educator, strategic foresight should be the preferred modality when incorporating social media into both your professional and personal life. I believe the concept of strategic foresight should be one that is modeled, taught and supported with students and non-students alike. Although strategic foresight will produce a safer digital environment for users, it must be understood that with technology changing more rapidly all the time, it is getting increasingly difficult to forecast what may be possible in the future during ones' lifetime. This means that measures taken today, to protect peoples' information and privacy may not work in the future, so you should err on the side of caution knowing that you cannot forecast future methods used to collect data. For example, facial recognition methods in the future may be able to easily detect and collect images of people on the internet, regardless of facial gestures and absence of tags. I believe this could mean that, diverse photos of you could be collected and also the information attached to those photos. Therefore, for your own protection, do not post anything digital that you would not want anyone to see in person. Many educators, students and parents do not seem to understand that once something is on the internet, it's most likely out there forever.
There are many tools and strategies that can help you track and protect your digital footprint and reputation. There are also tools and strategies to minimize what others can find about you, but a determined skilled individual can pull an amazing amount of information about you off the internet. This will only get worse as data-mining technology improves. It is important to remember that most tools and strategies are reactive to existing technology violations, not on technology that may be created in the future.
There are resources for learning and teaching Digital Literacy such as provided by Effective Curriculum Ideas , Media Smart or How To Promote Ethical Online Behaviours with Kids. These resources are for example only.
There are also many resources for evaluating and reflecting on your level of Digital Literacy and competence (as well as being resources for learning). Here are a few that may be of value.
One desired precursor to implementing a Social Media Tool (SMT) into the classroom is to ensure that you and your students have the appropriate level of literacy to reduce potential harm and operate in a socially responsible manner. This means that understanding privacy considerations needs a high priority. All stakeholders should be informed and, where possible, provided with information and training to support students, enhance buy-in and minimize risk. Youths tend to engage in risky behaviour online and education programs that focus more on a skills-based approach and less on a fear based approach tend to be more effective. Getting parents and peer community buy-in and support also may have a positive effect in reducing risky online behaviour (boyd, 2012) (Vanderhoven, Shellens & Valke, 2013).
"The Media Awareness Network (MNET) has proposed the following privacy competencies as part of digital literacy for every Canadian:
- Awareness of personal information being treated as a commodity
- Habits of restraint and discretion when disclosing online
- Ability to evaluate a website’s information management practices and ability to use privacy settings
- Appreciation of vulnerability of vital information (geographical location, birth date, Social Insurance Number or Identity Number)
- Attention to personal reputation management
- Care when handling others' personal information
- Skepticism and restraint when seeking personal information about another online"
Privacy in a digital era is such a complicated and diverse issue and efforts to address the topic as a whole can simply thwart effective management, trying to protect the interests of all. It seems many people / organizations are trying to use territorial approaches to an issue that is global in scope. In higher education, as well as corporate education, online students are frequently from a range of locations with different legislation, cultural perspectives and views on freedom. For example, many experts in privacy such as Ann Cavoukian (Cavoukian, 2011) (Danaylov, N. 2013) and Julia Hengstler (J. Hengstler, in conversation September, 2015) advocate stringent privacy laws in their locales of Ontario and British Columbia, Canada, while bodies such as the US government routinely violate privacy in the interests of public safety (Solove, 2008). At the other end of the spectrum are countries that simply block or censor social media. I believe educators should be aware though, that while this may not appear to impact students in, for example, British Columbia, Canada, students attending online classes from other locations, as well as International students coming to BC may experience fear that opinions others express so freely in BC would get them in trouble in their home country and as a result may not post at all or may restrict their posts.
As an educator, strategic foresight should be the preferred modality when incorporating social media into both your professional and personal life. I believe the concept of strategic foresight should be one that is modeled, taught and supported with students and non-students alike. Although strategic foresight will produce a safer digital environment for users, it must be understood that with technology changing more rapidly all the time, it is getting increasingly difficult to forecast what may be possible in the future during ones' lifetime. This means that measures taken today, to protect peoples' information and privacy may not work in the future, so you should err on the side of caution knowing that you cannot forecast future methods used to collect data. For example, facial recognition methods in the future may be able to easily detect and collect images of people on the internet, regardless of facial gestures and absence of tags. I believe this could mean that, diverse photos of you could be collected and also the information attached to those photos. Therefore, for your own protection, do not post anything digital that you would not want anyone to see in person. Many educators, students and parents do not seem to understand that once something is on the internet, it's most likely out there forever.
There are many tools and strategies that can help you track and protect your digital footprint and reputation. There are also tools and strategies to minimize what others can find about you, but a determined skilled individual can pull an amazing amount of information about you off the internet. This will only get worse as data-mining technology improves. It is important to remember that most tools and strategies are reactive to existing technology violations, not on technology that may be created in the future.
There are resources for learning and teaching Digital Literacy such as provided by Effective Curriculum Ideas , Media Smart or How To Promote Ethical Online Behaviours with Kids. These resources are for example only.
There are also many resources for evaluating and reflecting on your level of Digital Literacy and competence (as well as being resources for learning). Here are a few that may be of value.
- Javier Touron is succinct and enlightening, and will also need to be translated. This can be a test of your digital competence.
- The essential elements of digital literacies: Doug Belshaw at TEDxWarwick.
- Digital Citizens Guide This is from the Office of the Childs eSafety Commissioner (Australia). This is the link to the Office of the Childs eSafety Commisioners YouTube channel.
- Simple, concise, animated video focused on the pitfalls of social networking.
- Series from The Edvocate: Educational technologies and concepts that every teacher should know.
- Various links to educators using Twitter in elementary level classrooms. This is based on a Twitter request by Alec Couros.