What is online literacy? Why is it a crucial skill to have?
Discuss those questions and the following with your students:
- Would you call yourself online literate? How so?
- Why is it important to have strong online literacy skills?
- Can you name some online literacy skills (ex. checking for a reputable source)
- How do you determine if a piece of information on social media is factual?
- Why is it important to have strong online literacy skills when using social media?
Randomly assign students to small groups where they will design and produce a social media literacy or online literacy toolkit.
Some items they may wish to include in their toolkit:
- A list of reputable sources
- Definitions of the new literacies (social media, digital, online, information etc…)
- Do’s and Don’ts
- Examples where online literacy skills were needed
- Tips on critical and analytical thinking
- A list of sites to avoid
Ask students to be as creative as they wish when developing their toolkit. When they’re done, have them show the rest of the class what they developed and display their toolkits around the room for students to peruse.
