Digital Literacy - Professional Development Resource

This morning a colleague shared some information with me relating to Digital Literacy after a provider requested some advice for their staff development planning.

Why include Digital Literacy in staff development? This resource answers that as follows:

“Digital literacy is ..coming to the attention of educators as they recognise that not only does the teaching profession have a role in preparing learners for a digital world, but that a sustained engagement with technology and media is now integral to the development of knowledge across disciplines and subjects.

To be digitally literate is to have access to a broad range of skills, practices and cultural resources that you are able to apply to digital tools. It is the ability to make, represent and share meaning in different modes and formats; to create, collaborate and communicate effectively; and to understand how and when digital technologies can best be used to support these processes.”

That’s where this Futurelabs Professional Development Resource comes in. It is designed to support teachers integrate the development of students’ digital literacy into everyday teaching and learning.

The collection of activities, which can be undertaken by a single teacher or a small group of practitioners, is divided into sections. The first section aims to develop practitioners’ understandings of digital literacy and its relevance to their own contexts. The materials in the second, third and fourth sections are designed to help teachers plan activities they can integrate into their everyday teaching to support students to develop both subject knowledge and digital literacy.

These sections include practical ideas for the classroom, including explorations of free web based tools and activities to support planning.

This looks like a really useful tool and should prove helpful to anyone who wants to ensure that they cover the main components of digital literacy in their own staff development activities. It is essentially aimed at teachers but could easily be just as useful to other teaching staff. If not used as a complete resource, it still has useful sections on:

· Making short films
· Creating animations
· Making podcasts
· Creating a wiki
· Creating a website
· Free Online Tools Resource Bank

Thanks to Matt Gallon, our Learning Resources Advisor, for sharing.


To read more of Wobble click here.