Digital Literacies

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Digital Literacy & Critical Thinking

Digital Media & Learning Central

Digital Media & Learning Central

This post is a response to an article on the DML Central collaborative blog, a curated collection of free and open resources produced by the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub.

The article by Maha Bali, Fake News: Not Your Main Problem, presents an interpretation of digital literacies that relates to digital citizenship and cross-cultural learning attitudes rather than a focus on technical skills to detect fake news.

Fake News

Maha writes about teaching digital literacies so students can detect fake news and ‘gaslighting’ and to combat them by developing scepticism. When students examine news or information from the Internet, they need to be taught how to contextualise the information, to ask is it supported by evidence and to see ‘facts’ as dependent on values and worldviews.

Digital Citizenship

What interests me most is that critical thinking is integral to being a digital citizen and this needs time and care to nurture.

The real problem isn’t that some sources produce fake news. The problem is that young people (and grown, otherwise reasonable adults!) are not prepared, morally, socially, and emotionally to interpret this critically.

Developing Critical Thinking

I teach the Research Project to year 11 students and developing scepticism and critical thinking is necessary to successfully analyse sources. Maha has drawn a link between these skills and digital citizenship. She suggests developing critical thinking through:

  • presenting different perspectives
  • exposure to contradictory information
  • exposure to different people, cultures and value systems.

Cross-cultural Learning

Maha says that learning to look at the world from different perspectives and responding openly and with imagination is crucial to teaching digital literacy. This opinion is supported by   on The  Out of Eden Learn Blog.

… we believe that offering young people opportunities to engage in thoughtful cross-cultural inquiry and exchange is particularly important today. We collectively face a range of issues that will require a capacity and inclination to engage critically and collaboratively with other people to address them, even at a time of increasingly intolerant and divisive public discourse in many parts of the world.

Out of Eden Learn

Out of Eden Learn

Out of Eden Learn

In 2016 my class participated for the first time in  Out of Eden Learn. It gave students the opportunity to look at the world from a different perspective and to respond openly, with empathy and imagination.

As a teacher, I can promote digital literacies by participating in global projects such as Out of Eden Learn, global collaboration with schools and teachers and by developing social and emotional skills to help my Research Project students detect fake news and combat it by being curious and asking questions.

The solution isn’t going to be by focusing on promoting digital literacies to combat fake news. It’s got to be about nurturing cross-cultural learning attitudes and skills that help make our knee-jerk reactions to news in general more socially just and empathetic.

Related Articles

In the war on fake news, school librarians have a huge role to play

SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR ENCOURAGING THOUGHTFUL CROSS-CULTURAL INQUIRY AND EXCHANGE

In ‘scorched-earth’ op-ed, a Teen Vogue writer says Trump is ‘gaslighting America’

What is Digital Polarization?

TRUTHY LIES AND SURREAL TRUTHS: A PLEA FOR CRITICAL DIGITAL LITERACIES

 

 

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2 Comments
  1. I really appreciate how you have connected Digital Literacy and Critical Thinking in this post. It is an important focus for our students (and ourselves) and a priority for me in the Junior School.

    • Thanks for your comment. Maha Bali and Liz Dawes Duraisingh connected digital literacies with critical thinking and cross-cultural understanding and made me realise how blogging and participating in Flat Connections and Out of Eden Learn global projects, we can build our student’s digital literacy and citizenship skills.

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