Expounding on recent discussions concerning the Digital Divide, welcome to a new series of blog posts that will discuss the topic of Digital Literacy.

Digital literacy can have many layers of meaning, but here are the three major strands:

• Information Literacy –  Knowing when, how to find, and how to use information.
  Check out Cited! Identifying Credible Information Online by Larry Gerber for a great introduction to this topic.


• Visual Literacy -- Understanding concepts that are presented through images, infographics, charts, maps, and videos.
  Creating Graphics for Learning and Performance: Lessons in Visual Literacy is a great hands-on book.


• Metacognition – Using strategies to learn information when your understanding of the new material is not going well.
  In addition to knowing when you actually understand this new information, you should know your learning style. Do you learn best by hearing, seeing, or doing something, such as using manipulatives, to learn the new subject? To arrive at an answer, you must think about how you think.

Just a note of encouragement: As the digital world changes while we blink, consider being a life-long learner. Stay committed to frequently learning new information so that you can keep up with the changes that accompany the ever-changing digital world in which we now live.

There will be more discussion about digital literacy and its underlying concepts in future blog posts, the role the internet plays, as well as the digital tools themselves: smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices.

Please leave a comment and join in the conversation!

To see a broader discussion of this topic visit digitalliteracyvine.wordpress.com.

Additional research and content contributed by Peter Santa Maria.