Digital Literacy Made Simple: Strategies for Building Skills Across the Curriculum

A series of steps and standards for incorporating digital literacy into lessons across grade levels and curricular areas. Strategies are presented through a “Four Corners Framework” of Integration, Culture, Modeling, and Mentorship. Relevant ISTE standards are cited at the beginning of and illustrated throughout each chapter. Teachers and librarians will find the suggested actions useful for integrating digital literacy tidbits into assorted areas of teaching, rather than presenting the information as standalone lessons. The authors share ideas for building a digital culture among students and faculty: by modeling, teachers are encouraged to narrate personal troubleshooting and demonstrate new tools, and invite students to do the same. The book also presents diverse types of mentorship to develop digital literacy throughout the teaching career. One fresh perspective is students mentoring teachers in areas of inexperience. Rather than assuming that students are “digital natives,” the authors acknowledge that access to home internet and devices can be inconsistent, and that digital literacy is contextual: any technology user has expertise in some areas, but not all. Thus, without explicit education across the domain, some students may proceed at a disadvantage. Readers can find helpful and practical case studies of digital literacy integration across grades and subjects, highlighting each featured instructor’s strategies that align with the Four Corners Framework as well as relevant ISTE standards. The book ends with a guide to designing digital literacy lessons and integrating them into everyday curriculum.