Digital literacy

As defined, digital literacy represents an individual’s ability to find, evaluate and communicate in a clear manner, information through media and digital platforms. Digital literacy showcases the skills one needs to learn as well as live in a society where access to information is strikingly increasing through digital technologies such as the internet, social media and even our own mobile devices.

Like many other areas of literacy, digital literacy is crucial in today’s time, particularly in the Philippines, as learners continue to understand the use of it. Parents, for one, were heavily thrown into the digital world when children were made to spend much of their time learning through the use of the internet and certainly, it has given our parents and teachers the added responsibility to ensure that proper learning takes place.

There are five key digital literacy skills that each individual is expected to achieve. The capacity to do independent research, being able to collaborate, adapting to new technology, being familiar with platforms and teaching as well as explaining the technologies being used, form the skills that digitally literate people should eventually develop over time. These, as research shows, are the five skills that will serve each individual well in life.

Digital literacy enables learners to apply digital resources creatively in their work that helps them to use both their critical and analytical thinking skills. In the 21st century, every learner gets the chance to succeed  in school and throughout their lives, which is why the responsibility that comes along with it plays a very substantial role. As an educator, I have always emphasized to teachers the importance of pedagogy, as teaching is also an art and digital literacy must now be accepted as the backbone of 21st century education.

The task therefore of every parent, teacher and even the learner should be to emphasize the integration of the use of technology with responsibility in order to enrich the learning process. While some may think that it is better to get learners off their devices, on the contrary, we must change our mindsets and begin to understand that technology may in fact improve focus if used correctly.

The move therefore of incoming DICT secretary Ivan John Uy to include digital literacy in the elementary curriculum, in order to battle cybercrime, is a good development, as this will help students in their formative years to use technology analytically and critically, simply because it will affect the rest of their lives.

The digital world offers vast benefits to everyone but, without proper understanding, it can also be dangerous. In today’s world, being literate is not enough; however, it must be understood that digital literacy goes beyond the mere use of a computer which is why, now more than ever, digital literacy curriculum is critical in Philippine education.