In many classrooms, students demonstrate an enviable tech savviness as they easily navigate new applications with grace and little fear. Need your computer hooked up to the projector? There is a good chance at least one student can do it for you. Need help getting the WiFi booster to work properly? Ask a student.

There is no question that today’s schools are filled with digitally savvy children who have grown up with technology and the internet of things. But a discrepancy exists when considering students’ digital fluency compared with their digital literacy, and both sets of skills are required in their future.

Recently, EdSurge podcast host Carl Hooker discussed the importance of advancing digital literacy with field experts Rebecca Young, Natasha Adebiyi and Jon Gregori. The webinar, sponsored by Dell, offers advice and reflection on advancing students’ digital literacy skills.

Digital literacy is the ability to navigate, consume, create and communicate online information appropriately in the digital world. Such skills can include media literacy, visual literacy and technology fluency, depending on the class age and context. Young, a learning specialist and instructional technology coach at Plainfield School District in Illinois, describes digital literacy as “having all the skills that are necessary not only to be safe but productive and successful in the digital world we live in.” She continues by suggesting students need to learn how to read a digital room and engage effectively.

While some districts have established an intentional focus on teaching students digital literacy skills starting in primary grades, others are just beginning the curricular journey. Regardless of where your school falls on this progression, the key is to keep pushing for advancement one strategy at a time.

Embed technology tools in daily tasks: Like many other districts across the country, Young describes a “panic pedagogy” forced on her colleagues by the pandemic. Many districts scrambled to integrate technology for teachers and students to experience a new normal of online learning. But Young cautions teachers not to fall back to pre-pandemic habits. Instead, embrace the digital advances pushed by COVID and embed new practices into your day-to-day curriculum.

Start small: Adebiyi’s advice for hesitant teachers is to “plug in one digital resource and start small.” Don’t feel pressured to implement multiple digital tools suddenly and simultaneously. Not only is this difficult for teachers to plan and establish, but students can become overwhelmed with learning a variety of new applications all at once. Young makes it her goal to “organically embed” new technologies, striving for authenticity over bedazzlement.

Collaborate with colleagues: Teachers often worry they don’t have time to add one more thing to their curriculum, but Adebiyi argues that digital literacy already connects many content areas. Teachers find success in her district by using collaborative planning, adding digital components to competencies already in the curriculum and eventually developing an interdisciplinary, authentic experience for students.

Read the full article about digital literacy by Abbie Misha at EdSurge.