January+Digital+Literacy

= January: Digital Literacy =

What is Digital Literacy?

//**Digital Literacy:** process of teaching and learning about technology and the use of technology. // = = While schools have made great progress in the area of technology infusion, much remains to be done. A renewed focus must be made on what technologies must be taught as well as how it should be used. New technologies are finding their way into the work place that are not being used in schools (e.g., videoconferencing, online sharing spaces such as wikis). In addition, workers in many different occupations need immediate information (just-in-time information). This process requires sophisticated searching and processing skills (i.e., information literacy). Learners must be taught how to learn in a digital society. In other words, learners must be taught to learn anything, anytime, anywhere. Business, military, and medicine are excellent examples of how technology is being used differently in the 21st century. As new technologies emerge, learners need to learn how to use that technology quickly and appropriately. Digital Citizenship involves educating people in a new way— these individuals need a high degree of information literacy skills. Pasted from <[]>   =TO DO: = = = 
 * Read the following passage, then answer the question that follows:**

Digital literacy is about education and workforce preparedness in a competitive global economy. It is also key to a full and successful life in the 21st Century. Children, youth, young adults, workers, and families, each require an understanding and mastery of basic digital literacy skills to effectively participate in a global knowledge-based society. Pasted from <[]>

=== Question: According to this passage, "Digital Literacy is key to a full and successful life in the 21st Century." Is this a true statement and why do you think this? Please go to the discussion section and add your reply in the correct grade level's discussion. ===

= Website Evaluation: =

When you're surfing the Web, you probably only think about one thing when you look at a Web site: whether or not it's fun. But when you're looking for information on the Web for school -- or really any time that you care that what you find is true and up-to-date -- you have to evaluate the website to make sure that you can trust the information on it. Here are some questions to ask when you're looking at a website that will help you decide whether or not it's good: Anyone can make a Web page. In fact, not only can anyone make a Web page, anyone can make a Web page and lie about who they are! You could make a Web page that said you were Eminem, and no one would stop you from putting it on the Web. But sites that really belong to the people they say they belong to have some things in common: If you're going to use information from a website for a school project, think about getting it from a website that you already know will have good information, such as the website of a library, a school, or a museum. Often, libraries, schools, and museums will have links on their sites to other sites that they have already evaluated for quality and accuracy. The Multnomah County Library Homework Center ([|www.multcolib.org/homework/]) is a good place to start. Look for a 'last updated' date near the top or bottom of the site's home page. If a website has been updated recently, that's generally a good sign. It means someone's paying attention to the site, making sure links still work, maybe changing parts of it to reflect more recent news or research. But it's not always necessary for a website to have been updated recently for it to be valuable. For instance, if a website provides the full text of Shakespeare's sonnets, that text isn't going to change, so it's not necessary for it to be frequently updated. You should be able to tell why a website exists, and what information it's trying to provide. If the purpose of the website is confusing or unclear, that's a good sign that you should look for a different site. Ads can be long, rectangular banners at the top or bottom of the screen, or sometimes they are on the left or right side of the screen. It's not always easy to recognize all the ads on a page; sometimes ads will look like messages from your computer, or just like part of the website that you're looking at. Teach yourself to spot ads, and be aware that if a website has a lot of ads, you may want to think twice about whether the information on it is unbiased. However, many valuable sites do contain advertising to help support themselves. You won't always be able to find exactly what you need right on the very first page of the first website you go to. Looking at different places and gathering information from them is what doing research means. But if it's very hard for you to find the information you need, and especially if it seems that information from one part of the website contradicts another part, you may want to try another site.
 * Who made it? **
 * There's some way to contact the people responsible for the site; usually an e-mail address, sometimes a phone number and street address, too.
 * Pages within the website look similar: they may have the same background color, or there will be the same logo on every page.
 * Pages within the website link back to the home page, and to elsewhere in the site.
 * The website shows signs of being //proofread//; there are no spelling or grammar errors.
 * When was it last updated? **
 * Is it clear what it's about? **
 * Are there a lot of ads? **
 * Is it easy to find the information you need? **

** Sometimes, there is no good Web site. **
If you're having a really hard time finding anything for the topic you're interested in, you may want to look elsewhere: in books, magazines, or newspapers. Also, remember that you can always ask a librarian for help searching for any kind of information you need. Pasted from <[]>

= Resources: =

MS Dig literacy Page: @http://tinyurl.com/yls877u ICT Digital Literacy Site: @http://www.ictliteracy.info/index.htm

Website Evaluation Sheet: