We focus on more than just coding at Youth Code Jam. While coding is a great skill for students to learn and helps them to approach problems in new ways, there’s a different set of skills they’ll need to be successful in a digital world, whether or not they go on to be programmers. These skills fall under the category of digital literacy.
So what is digital literacy?
As defined by the American Library Association, “digital literacy is the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills”
At YCJ, we view digital literacy as having the technical and skills knowledge and the critical thinking abilities to use a computer safely and effectively. In our Bits ‘n Bytes after-school program, we’ve cover a variety of digital literacy topics, such as cybersecurity, typing and shortcuts, managing and using a file system, cyberbullying, evaluating and using information found online, managing your online experiences and mental health, and learning to work with others in a digital environment.
Why does digital literacy matter?
The internet plays a major role in people’s everyday lives. In a day, someone can use the internet to complete school assignments, look up driving directions, shop, play games, and even set their home security temperature or configure other other home appliances. The convenience of the internet and its many connected devices is great, but it can also lead to issues for the average person.
For example, many home security systems were found to be vulnerable to hacks because users used the same username and password on multiple accounts. When an account was compromised, the hackers could gain access to others. Knowing how to change a password for any device that is connected to the internet, and responsible username and password management may have helped prevent this vulnerability. While the average person can’t fix software errors, they can learn skills to keep their information, and themselves, safe.
Not only do these skills make students strong coders and programmers, but they give them the ability and awareness to contribute to creating positive online communities and digital products. By offering digital literacy education, we hope to give students the abilities to critically engage with information they find online, find resources they can use to solve real world or digital problems, and technical skills to use technology correctly and efficiently.