Exploring Digital Literacies

Digital Confidence Profile:

The results show that I am comfortable in using all of the different aspects, which I believe that it truly represents me as I am good with using technology and i actually enjoy it, because of the different features that make certain things easier. The digital strength that I’m most proud of is the tools and technology part, as I said that I really enjoy technology and I like to learn about new technologies that make different aspects easier. I think that I could improve in using online forums or blogs as I don’t really access or use them, my history with blogs where that I needed them for different courses in the university like RHET/Core 1010 and this course.

Digital Literacies for Online Learning:

-I think that the wikipedia definition was a  good one.

What is digital literacy:

1- The ability to use digital technology, communication tools or networks to locate, evaluate, use and create information. (http://www.library.illinois.edu/diglit/definition.html)

2- Digital Literacy is the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills. (http://connect.ala.org/node/181197).

3- Digital literacy is the ability to find, evaluate, utilize, share, and create content using information technologies and the Internet. (https://digitalliteracy.cornell.edu/).

What are Digital Skills:

1- By this definition, digital skills are any skills related to being digitally literate. (https://www.skillsyouneed.com/rhubarb/digital-skills-modern-workplace.html)

2- Digital skills involve the knowledge and ability to determine information needs from digital technology sources, and to appropriately use digital tools and facilities to input, access, organize, integrate and assess digital resources as well as to construct new knowledge, create media expressions and communicate with others. (http://www.rewired4technology.com/286/)

Digital Fluency:

A digitally fluent person can decide when to use specific digital technologies to achieve their desired outcome. They can articulate why the tools they are using will provide their desired outcome. (http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Teaching/Digital-fluency)

I believe that Digital Literacy, skills and Fluency are related, however there are some differences, as being literate means that you could be able use the different technologies. However being skilled means that you are literate with experience, you could be able the different technologies appropriately. Being fluent means that your are skilled at an advanced level you can use the technologies very well to reach your desired outcome.

Reflections of Hypothesis.is:

I enjoyed this activity, as it gave the freedom of commenting on a statement or a phrase from the article, I also liked that I was able to see the annotations from many other people which made witness different opinions on digital literacy and digital skills. I annotated a part in the section under Using Judgement, as I liked the fact that even though digital literacies can give students power, there are certain restrictions.  

Reflections on “Stations”:

The two stations that I chose were Online Identity and Online security. I chose those two because they are topics in which I see interesting, as they are of huge importance in our era. These two need a lot of digital skills, to keep your identity secure online, due to the many dangers we currently have. I started with Online Security, I focused on how to keep passwords safe, as the other sections were ones in which i have studied a lot before. I really liked the LinkedIn example of how passwords are important and that we should keep them complicated and that we shouldn’t have the same password for different accounts. In the Online Identity station, I focused on the social media section, I have learned that you can control your online identity, by understanding and having different privacy settings. I also looked at the different drawbacks of social media, and identity theft is a huge problem and it happens a lot these days either by getting hacked, or by someone stealing your information, this leads to huge problems as people could communicate with your friends, family as if they are you. Overall I really liked these small presentations as they were very informative, but in a fun (because of the images and small information boxes) way which makes it easier to understand.