Republic of the Philippines

ISABELA STATE UNIVERSITY

BUILDING AND ENHANCING NEW LITERACIES

ACROSS THE CURRICULUM
(SEd Prof. 312/EEd Prof 312/TLEd Prof 312/PEd Prof 312)

A Self-Paced Learning Module for College

Students

MODULE 7

CYBER LITERACY/ DIGITAL

LITERACY

JANE C. CALIBOSO
 Sed Prof 12 – Building and Enhancing Literacies Across Curriculum
Module 3.5 Cyber Literacy / Digital Literacy
Introduction
This chapter looks at the various aspects and principles relating to
digital literacy and the many skills and competencies that fall under the digital
literacy umbrella. The relationship between digital literacy and digital
citizenship is also explored and strategies are provided for teaching these
skills in the classroom.
Learning Outcome
At the end of the module, the students should be able to:
1. understand computers, technology applications, and media production
tools by executing the suggested activities perfectly;
2. deepen their communication and collaboration skills by engaging with
others in their schools, communities, and around the world following the
acceptable norms and conducts of the society;
3. appreciate their responsibility for their content as well as their actions
when using the Internet, cell phones, and other digital media
4. use digital tools to gather, evaluate, and apply information intelligently.
Learning Content
Topics for module 3.5
Topic 1. Technology in the Classroom: What is Digital Literacy
Today’s youth are often called “digital natives” by adults because of the
seemingly effortless way they engage with all things technological. It’s easy to
see why: youth live in an interactive, “on demand” digital culture where they
are used to accessing media whenever and wherever they want.
Instant-messaging, photo sharing, texting, social networking, video-streaming
and mobile Internet use are all examples where youth have led the charge in
new ways of engaging online.
But this enthusiasm masks a potential problem: although young people
don’t need coaxing to take up Internet technologies and their skills quickly
improve relative to their elders, without guidance they remain amateur users of
information and communications technology (ICT), which raises concerns
about a generation of youth who are not fully digitally literate, yet are deeply
immersed in cyberspace. Therefore, “it is not… enough to assume that young
people automatically have all of the skills, knowledge and understanding that
they need to apply to their use of technology. All young people need to be
supported to thrive in digital cultures; they need help making sense of a rapidly
changing world of technology which gives them access to vast amounts of
information, which is infused with commercial agendas and which for many
reasons can be difficult to interpret.
 In order to be literate in today’s media-rich environments, young people
need to develop knowledge, values and a whole range of critical thinking,
communication and information management skills for the digital age. As
increasing numbers of businesses, services and even democratic processes
migrate online, citizens who lack digital literacy skills risk being disadvantaged
when it comes to accessing healthcare, government services and
opportunities for employment, education and civic participation. Nor is digital
literacy confined to the parts of the curriculum that traditionally deal with
technology: “Digital literacy is as much a key part of learning about history and
learning how to study history, and learning about science and learning how to
study science, as it is about learning about ICT and learning the skills of using
ICT. Indeed, possessing digital literacy is an important set of life skills to
complement and extend the skills and knowledge already taught in school.
Making sure students are employable is an obvious driver for schools.
So, developing technical skills is crucial. But digital literacy doesn’t just mean
IT proficiency (although knowing how to use tech is now an essential life skill).
In fact, digital literacy is separate from computer literacy.
So, what is digital literacy?

Digital literacy requires critical thinking skills, an awareness of the

necessary standards of behavior expected in online environments, and an
understanding of the shared social issues created by digital technologies. Or
alternatively: digital literacy = digital tool knowledge + critical thinking + social
engagement. It is more than technological know-how: it includes a wide
variety of ethical, social and reflective practices that are embedded in work,
learning, leisure and daily life.
Topic 2. Basic Technological Tools in the Classroom

Digital literacy implies the same reading-writing skills but without paper,
pencils, books, or lectures. It’s purpose-built and student-driven. As a teacher,
you’ll want to provide the following:

Desktops and Laptops

More teaching applications and classroom software are being

introduced into the technology market. This drives the need for schools to get
sophisticated computers with powerful processors to run the said applications.
Classroom software help in managing and storing of student records.
Computers contribute to abolishing the need for bulky encyclopedias and
dictionaries as students can quickly look up information on the internet.
Monitoring software can assist in gauging the level of understanding of
students by; checking for their recall of Mathematics facts, quizzing their
comprehension of a book, or by providing an interactive lab complete with a
virtual dissection.

Projectors

In a large classroom, all students may not be able to view what the
teaching is showing on the laptop screen, that’s where projectors come in. A
projector hooks up to a laptop and projects the screen to a larger whiteboard in
front of the classroom. It allows students, even those at the back, to see a
larger version of the laptop screen.

Videoconferencing Classroom Technologies

Through video conferencing, students in different geographical

locations can attend to a lecture through online streaming. Video conferences
can be set up on Skype or Google Hangouts, and Guest Speakers can easily
address the students. Video conferencing can help reduce travel costs and
time required to give speeches at different places.

Mobile Learning
Mobile devices enable learners to take their classrooms anywhere.
There are more education apps available already that students, as well as
teachers, can use. By using mobile devices, iPads, tablets, or other devices,
educators and learners can maintain a connected classroom experience.

Television

Televisions can show current events in a country like business news,

presidential elections, etc. They can also be used to play educational and
instructional DVDs or videos on the history of a certain community.

Computer Networking

Networking of classroom computers is an effective way of using

technology. The teacher can monitor what students are doing on their personal
computer from a central point. Computer networking ensures that students do
not deviate from what they are instructed to do. An alarm is raised on the
central monitoring computer immediately a student deviates from the set
instructions. Networking simply interconnects different classroom technologies
to allow sharing of resources.

Topic 3 Digital Citizenship

 Digital Citizenship is “character education” in a networked world. As
one teacher puts it:
One of the big mission statements and themes of our school is building
character today for communities of tomorrow, so we are always tying
things back into good character and how we want to be perceived by
others; how we want to treat others; and how we want others to treat
us… technology provides one more way to teach it, one more way to
make it relevant to students.
Being a critically engaged user and consumer of media is an essential
part of active citizenship in the 21st century: we use media to inform ourselves,
to help shape our opinions, to interact with our communities and to make our
voices heard.
Models for digital citizenship are generally framed around elements
such as rights and responsibilities, participation or civic engagement, norms of
behavior or etiquette, and a sense of belonging and membership.
Digital citizenship is closely aligned to civics in a traditional sense,
where understanding digital media and being able to use it is becoming a vital
part of active citizenship. As media messages dominate our political debates
and tools such as Facebook and Twitter are used for activism and organizing
political movements around the world, it’s increasingly important for young
people to be able to view media critically and be prepared to be
engaged digital citizens who contribute to their communities in a positive way.
To do so, they need the full range of skills we associate with media and digital
literacy to be able to know and exercise the rights they hold as consumers, as
members of online communities, as citizens of a state and as human beings.
Topic 4 Digital Literacy Across the Curriculum
Digital education has a place in nearly every course and subject.
English Language Arts: This subject is where media literacy
expectations have most often been found, and those apply to digital media as
well. Some of the most important implications of our key concepts – like the
idea that anyone can publish online – make traditional media literacy skills
more important than ever, but also require more up-to-date ways of
recognizing advertising, for example, and the ways that we’re susceptible
to bias.
Digital tech also provides enormous opportunities for creative media
production. We need to take advantage of those opportunities, while also
making sure that our students understand the ethical issues involved in it – as
well as their own rights as media creators.
Social Sciences: Finding and verifying information is at the heart of
social science. Teachers can explore the use of the Internet for research,
including access to uncensored information and alternative news sources. As
with English, students can also learn to distinguish bias, misinformation and
propaganda in online content. In more advanced classes like anthropology and
psychology, students can learn how the values of their online communities are
shaped and how the features of online environments shape our behavior.
Civics: Digital platforms are the new arena for both online and offline
civic participation, and digital technology also offers students a chance to
participate as full citizens in a way that they can’t offline. Teaching them to be
an active part of their online communities – as well as to use digital tools to be
involved offline – is essential to prepare them to be fully engaged citizens
when they’re older.
Careers: Students will need to learn that what they post online might be
around for a long time – and that they have some control over whether that
reflects well or poorly on them. As well, digital literacy skills such as
communicating clearly, collaborating remotely and managing information will
be some of the most important and longest-lasting job skills when students
graduate.[16]
Health and Personal Development: Because digital tech is so central to
young people’s lives, no subject may need to integrate digital literacy more
than health. Traditional health topics like body image and sexual health
education need to incorporate digital literacy key concepts, as well as digital
health issues such as “fear of missing out” that are caused by persistence,
shareability and asynchronous communication.
Young people’s self-image is influenced by the photos of their peers –
and themselves – that they select, and often edit or manipulate, so carefully.
As well, the line separating them from the celebrities they admire – whose
images are very definitely Photoshopped – is largely gone, as they all
participate in the same platforms like Instagram. Beyond just body image,
young people need to be able to ask questions about the ideals of masculinity
and femininity that they feel pressured to fit into on social media.
Young people’s health can also be affected by some of the features of
digital media like persistence and shareability, which can make it very hard to
log off and give the haunting feeling of “fear of missing out” – the idea that your
friends are having a good time online without you.
Finally, students need to understand some of the effects we’ve
discussed that digital media can have on relationships, as well as how to deal
with them, and to understand how ideas like respect and consent apply in the
online context.
The Arts: As more and more artistic production is created or distributed
through digital media, arts courses also need to reflect the impacts of digital
technology, such as how platform architecture influences aesthetics and
self-presentation, and the effects of networked technology on arts industries
and communities. The Internet has definitely been a mixed blessing for most
arts industries, but students need to understand those changes – and be able
to see what changes are coming – if they’re considering careers in the arts.
 Technology and ICT: Technology courses themselves need to adopt a
wider view of digital literacy and go beyond a focus on technical skills – which
are likely to be obsolete within a few years after students graduate – to a more
critical understanding of digital technology, and should expand from a focus
on using technology to include understanding and creating as well.

Topic 5 Strategies for Teaching Digital Literacy and Citizenship

Teaching Digital Literacy

Digital literacy skills are some of the most crucial skills taught in today's
schools.
Digital literacy encompasses a number of 21st century skills related to
using technology effectively and appropriately.
There are six common topics that all digital literacy curriculum should
include:
1. Information literacy
2. Ethical use of digital resources
3. Understanding digital footprints
4. Protecting yourself online
5. Handling digital communication
6. Cyberbullying

Information Literacy

Focus on effective ways to evaluate the quality and credibility of

information and cover learning strategies that yield more credible results.
Because you get so much more information online, you need the tools
to evaluate reliability and veracity of what you find. This includes
questions such as:

 Is the site legitimate or a hoax?

 Is the author an expert in this subject?
 Is the information current or dated?
 Is the data neutral or biased?

Or when in doubt at all online information, apply a Who, What, Where,

When, Why and How formula to the information.
For example:

 Who is the source of the information? (The most important step is to

understand who put the information online.)
 What are you getting? (Does the information seem biased in any way?)
 Where are you? (Deconstructing the Web address, or URL, will tell you
a lot.)
 When was the site created? (You want the most current information.)
  Why are you there? (There may be better places to find the information;
books for example.)
 How can you tell what’s what? (Double check the information with
other sources.)

Ethical Use of Digital Resources

You need to consider intellectual property, copyrighted material, and the

proper way to reference the information. Don’t forget to cite information from
books and online as well.
It’s especially important to note that copying text from a website is
plagiarism just like stealing text from a book.

Understanding Digital Footprints

A digital footprint is all of the information a person passively leaves and

actively shares about themselves online, especially on social media sites. Text,
images, multimedia, cookies, browsing histories, IP addresses, passwords,
and even Internet service providers all make up a person’s digital footprint.
You should know the consequences of what you share online. Do not
assume that anything is private online.

Protecting Yourself Online

With so much information available online, you need to understand the

basics of Internet safety.
Creating strong passwords, using privacy settings, and knowing
what not to share on social media will start you on the right foot.
Handling Digital Communication
Today, most oy you use technology to communicate in one way or
another. That’s why it’s so important to know about how to communicate safely
and appropriately.

Cyberbullying

This means the use of technology as a means to harass others.

Teaching Dual Citizenship

1. Know what’s right from wrong. You should practice proper “netiquette”
online. Just like the rules of etiquette, the rules of netiquette will give
you a cultural framework of proper behavior for getting along with others
online.
2. Understand the consequences. You must understand that every
decision you make online leaves a permanent digital footprint that could
 affect how you perceived — both online and in-person — down the
road.
3. Don’t talk to strangers. A password is the digital equivalent to locking
your door. You must know how to build strong, secure passwords that
will protect your personal information from strangers online.
4. Always play fair. You must give credit where credit is due. You can’t
simply copy and paste information or images found online — even when
you offer citation. If you can’t find the copyright rules, don’t use the
information or images at all!
5. Choose your friends wisely. When you see something, you should say
something when it comes to cyberbullying. Vicki Davis breaks those
steps down in her popular Cool Cat Teacher blog:
 Stop what you’re doing. Don’t keep clicking.
 Take a screenshot, save it and print a copy.
 Block or unfriend the bully.
 Tell an appropriate adult (teacher, network administrator, parent) about
the situation, providing your screenshot or copy as proof of the bad
behavior.
 Share the incident with others, if appropriate, to promote internet safety.

5. Teaching and Learning Activities

Activity 1.
Open the web Microsoft Digital Curriculum by typing the URL
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/digitalliteracy/home browse, read, and
analyze the different modules in the curriculum and answer the
questions at the end of each module. There are four modules under
Work with Computers; two modules for Communicate Online; six
modules for Create Digital Content; three modules for Access
Information Online; two modules for Participate Safely and responsibly
Online; and four modules for Collaborate and Mange Content Digitally.
As an output, you are required to submit online the certificate you
received in each module.
Make sure you have the most up to date web browser (i.e:
Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Safari, or Opera), and a good
internet connection (500+ Kbps speed)
6. Recommended learning materials and resources for supplementary
reading.
https://techjury.net/blog/cyberbullying-statistics/#gref
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/digitalliteracy/home
7. Flexible Teaching Learning Modality (FTLM) adopted
Online : google classroom
Remote : module

8. Assessment Task
Activity 1. Read the news about cyberbullying below and answer the
questions that follow.

CHR: Student ended life because of cyber bullying

TERESA D. ELLERA
November 13, 2017

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Negros Occidental said Grade 8

student Eric Hain Demafeliz of Bago City ended his own life because of cyber
bullying, investigation showed.

The CHR conducted the investigation in response to the request of Task Force
Kasanag national commander John Chiong.

CHR-Negros Occidental investigator Vincent Parra said he visited the Ramon

Torres National High School (RTNHS) and talked to the teacher-adviser of
Demafeliz who showed him pictures taken from a social media site, showing
disturbing messages accusing Demafeliz of stealing his classmate’s computer
tablet.

The school adviser admitted that she escorted Demafeliz to the Bago City
Police Station, and reported that the victim’s social media account was hacked
and he was not the one that posted the pictures of the stolen item.
The police, however, did not record the incident since cyber hacking is not
under their jurisdiction.

The teacher also denied the allegations of Demafeliz’s mother, Warlina, that
the victim was “shamed” during a flag ceremony.

She submitted her statement before the Department of Education (DepEd)

Division of Bago City, which is also conducting a separate investigation.

Atty. Rex Cabarles, legal counsel for the DepEd Division of Bago, denied that
Demafeliz was brought to the police over theft allegations.

He said they went to the police to organize an entrapment operation against

the student.
 1. How do you think each of the following individuals felt in the case:
o The student victim
o Parents of the student
o Teacher – adviser
o Dep Ed division personnel
o Classmates of the victim
o Law enforcement
o General public

2. What lessons do you take from the case?

3. Do important people in your life talk with you about the dangers of
certain
online behavior?
4. Do young people of today, fully understand the consequences of their
online activity? Why or why not?

Activity 2.
Create a public announcement on R.A. 9003 or the Ecological Solid
Waste Management Act in your school. Choose one of the given channels and
present your work by uploading it to your classroom online platform.
1. Vlogging
2. Blogging
3. Lecture through a formal video presentation
4. Storytelling through video presentation
Rubrics:

1. Content quality 40
2. Speech& grammar 20
3. Organization 20
4. Clarity and 20
Delivery
Total 100%

9. References (at least 3 references preferably copyrighted within the last

5 years, alphabetically arranged)
Adams, B. 2010. Cyberbullying. What Teachers and Students Can Do.
Retrieved from
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/cyberbullying-w
hat-teachers-and-schools-can-do/

Media Smarts. Digital Literacy Fundamentals. Retrieved from

https://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy/general-information/digital-
media-literacy-fundamentals/digital-literacy-fundamentals

Murray, Jacqui. 2019. 5 Creative Ways to Teach Digital Citizenship.

Retrieved from
https://net-ref.com/blog-5-creative-ways-to-teach-digital-citizenship/
Stauffer, B. 2020. How to Teach Digital Literacy Skills. Retrieved from
https://www.aeseducation.com/blog/teach-digital-literacy-skills
Stenger, M. 2018. 7 Ways to Teach Digital Literacy. Retrieved from
https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/edtech-integration/7-ways-teach-di
gital-literacy/

ISUE__ __ Syl ___

Revision: 02
Effectivity: August 1, 2020