Digital Literacy – What is digital literacy?

Hello, and welcome to this

series of videos on digital literacy.

I’m Sian, and together

with my friend Tim,

we are going to look at lots of different aspects

of this subject,

and at how becoming digitally literate

will help you

as a distance learning student.

But first things first:

what do we mean by digital literacy?

Think about the ways we

all use digital technology in our lives.

That could be

using your phone to check emails,

or using a search engine

to find the answer to a question.

We can say that these are digital

skills that we need

to achieve our goals.

So digital literacy means:

having the right

digital skills

to achieve our goals.

And the good news is:

you already have many of the

skills you need!

As a distance learner,

there are lots of digital skills

that can help you with your studies.

This series will

help you develop your existing digital skills

and even help you learn some new ones.

Let’s look

at a few of the skills

we will learn about in this series.

Searching for information:

as a student you need

to find answers to your questions, and

online is a great resource.

Evaluating information:

the internet is full of information but we

need to be careful –

is it accurate, or even true?

We will look at how to evaluate the

information you find on the internet.

Keeping in touch with tutors

and fellow students:

stand by for some top tips

on communicating digitally.

We will also be looking at how

you need to access course materials

and submit your work.

And above all:

the importance of

staying safe when you’re online.

There are lots of reasons

to use your digital skills,

and we’ll look at many of them

in more detail in later videos.

So that’s the ‘what’ and the ‘why’:

time to take a look

at how we use our digital literacy

skills. An important aspect

of digital literacy for distance learners

is using your academic

institution’s digital platforms.

Most institutions

have a private platform for their students.

You have a profile

that you can log in to.

You can use the institution’s platform to

manage your learning,

communicate with your tutors,

access course materials and submit

your work.

Sounds like you could be quite busy in there!

So that’s what digital literacy

is all about.

Nothing to be afraid of:

we all use digital

tools all the time,

and many of the skills you need,

you already have!

Lucky you!