Learning Activities to Promote Digital Fluency

Paraphrasing vs. Plagiarism Using TurnItIn

- Have students do research on a specific topic
or person using various online sources. Students should create jot notes of their research, then
paraphrase the information to write a mini report. Students writing is submitted into the
TurnItIn website which scans for similarities on the internet. This software allows students to see
see see if their writing is too similar to their research sources. Students have the opportunity to
resubmit their work multiple times. This activity allows students to see the difference between
paraphrasing information and plagiarising internet sources, and forces students to extract key
ideas from web sources instead of copying and pasting large portions of text verbatim.
Explanation of TurnItIn Activity

Wikipedia Critique -
Wikipedia has become the default starting place for many students in their
research. It is important for students to know that the site can be helpful, but that there are
often many errors in the articles. In order to develop a keen eye to evaluate Wikipedia articles
students will both critique and supplement a Wikipedia article. Students will first select an article
on Wikipedia that is relevant to a research project in their course of study. They will then
evaluate the article by evaluating the sources used in the article. This will begin with an
evaluation of the resources used as sources. Students will then evaluate whether or not the
author of the Wikipedia article has properly interpreted the sources used and if the author has
omitted important sources relevant to the topic. Students will then offer corrections and
amendments to the Wikipedia article.

Wikipedia Plot your Route Game

- Choose two arbitrary topics or ideas related to a course.
Have students look up the topics on Wikipedia in an effort to find a series of links which
connection the two ideas (similar to the concept of Six Degrees of Separation). The goal of the
game is to connect the two topics in the the fewest number of links. This exercise encourages
curiosity, has students practice skim-scan-scour techniques and requires students to analyze and
evaluate information. Most importantly, this exercise trains students to understand the
connections between information and how ideas are linked - a vital skill in the twenty-first
century.

Safe Online Surfing -

One of the core skills in digital literacy is safe online surfing. To facilitate
the skills necessary for online safety, students can work through the activities on the
FBIs Safe
Online Surfing Internet Challenge site
. THis website features grade specific activities designed for
students in grades 3 through 8. Each area contains games, videos, and interactive features that
teach students the basics of internet safety. Students should discuss what they learn on the site
with their teacher following completion of the activities.

Evaluating Websites -
One of the most important tasks for students working on research
projects is evaluating websites. Using the
UC Berkley Evaluating Web Sites checklist
students
will evaluate three websites related to their research. They will assess the websites
trustworthiness and accuracy. Students will provide specific reasons why a website is trustworthy
and accurate and add their evaluation to a class Wiki page for reference by future students.
Periodically, teachers can ask students to evaluate the evaluation made by previous students in
order to determine if deficiencies in websites have been fixed or if once reputable websites have
now become untrustworthy. This activity will remind students of the dynamic nature of the
information on the internet.

Creative Commons Scavenger Hunt -

Understanding ethical issues regarding digital content
develops thinking habits based on empathy and compassion. Students should know where to find
creative commons multimedia material to use in their own projects and give proper credit to
authors. In this activity, students are given a list of digital content they must collect. For
example, students may need to find a photograph of mountains that can be used for
non-commercial purposes or an instrumental song which is copyright-free.
Lesson: Copyright and Creative Commons
Handout: How to find Creative Commons content
Bonus Activity: student
create their own Creative Commons label
for their own work.

Concept Mapping with Search Function -

Instagrok
provides students with a different way to

make concept maps. This is a brainstorming/webbing site that allows students to type in a
concept and from that, different categories are generated like a concept map. When you click
on something, it adds more info including links to the internet, it is google based, so it will give
the best four options (but you may have to monitor the links).

Concept Mapping for Civic Mindedness -

MindMeister
or
Popplet
are great mind mapping
tools which can promote civic mindedness in students by allowing students to develop their
voice. It is a safe place for students to have a dialogue and take an active part in issues in their
school and wider community. Students can work together to examine and map out decisions
made by leaders in their own community, nationally and globally. Students can collaborate on
creating thesis and supporting statements for essay writing, collaborate on arguments for
debates in the humanities classroom. Students can also collaborate on creating new ideas for
alternative ending for characters in a class novel and map out the outcome of these choices or
use it in health classes to consider the results of different lifestyle choices.

Tinkering with Scratch Programming and Makey Makey

- Scratch software is graphic
programming software designed to introduce users to coding by providing visual coding blocks
that can be uniquely assembled and modified. When used in correlation with Makey Makey, an
invention kit which turns ordinary objects into touchpads, students as young as second grade can
design their own interactive stories, games, or animations. When experimenting with the
programming software, students must find errors in lines of code which forces them to think
creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively to solve problems.
Embed this Makey Makey video

Create and Explore Art Projects -

Soda Play
is a digital art site designed to allow students to
create and explore projects in an open ended way. Students can reflect on their learning as they
work by incorporating other tools like taking screenshots of their digital projects which they can
then input into Microsoft Word or Google Docs to form the basis of their writing and reflecting
work. This process of reflection can help students to work on many skills, make note of their
milestones and chart their growth while learning from their failure and successes. Students can
learn to collaborate, share their ideas and prepare for presentations.

Create Word Clouds with Wordle

- The
Wordle website
is a great way for students to
brainstorm in small or large groups in the humanities classroom. Students can add words to the
wordle from images, paintings, pictures they have examined in art, characters they have read, or
presentations they have seen. Together with their classmates students can build and create
activities from the wordle ,their is room for scaffolding. Poetry writing can sometimes be difficult
for students but with this tool students can brainstorm together to generate ideas or use it as a
starting point.

Understanding Media Techniques

- Media fluency involves students looking critically at media
messages and mediums to decode the hidden meanings and bias contained in media. Using
Google Slides, students collaboratively research a media technique and create an anchor poster
to explain the technique to the rest of the class. These posters can be displayed in the
classrooms and turned into cue cards to assist students with future media analysis activities.
Deconstructing media messages is vital for students to be able to navigate the digital world and
is the first step towards creating effective media pieces themselves.
Student Examples: Media Technique Posters
Students Analyzing Media Messages

Evaluating Voices through Invention -

An important aspect of digital literacy is determining
the proper medium for the message. In order determine how important the medium is, students
will work in pairs to invent a product that solves a real world problem. The students will then
develop a pitch for potential investors using different voices including, but not limited to, video,
audio only, print, and soundless presentation (e.g., PowerPoint, Keynote, etc.). The persuasive
power of the pitch will be determined by peer evaluation. In this stage students from other
classes will view the pitches in groups in one of the various forms. That is, individual groups will
view the pitch in
only
one form. Individual students will then evaluate each pitch and vote for the
best pitch.
The students who created the pitches will then evaluate why a particular medium was more
effective than another.

Artful Storytelling with Storybird -

Encourage peer mediation, and develop empathy by
allowing peer mediators to work on solving disputes through the
Storybird website
. Students can
recreate ideas through stories and select art work (contributed by many artists) that reflect the
emotions they experience when they face difficult situation with their peers or have difficulty
expressing their emotions. Students can show through art only or art and words the results of
their actions and how it affects others. This is good for creating social stories that help with
understanding perspectives. This site can be used to promote peer tutoring and collaboration by
pairing students with varying skills level to work on art and humanities project. Students who are
good with words can be paired with students who are visual learners to create scenes for stories.
It helps to build leadership and gives students a good understanding of role modelling.

Create a Movie Trailer -

In order to be digitally fluent students must be able to evaluate digital
media to discern its accuracy and helpfulness. A creative way for this to happen is by the
creation of a movie trailer. In preparation, students will watch three movie trailers of movies that
they have seen in order to determine how the movie trailers accurately depict the film and how
they are in some way deceptive about the contents of the movie. Students will then work in
groups to think of a movie idea and the best way to entice people to watch the film. This will help
students see the ways in which media frames issues so that they are attractive to potential
viewers, customers, etc.
See this website for more information.

Solve Real-Life Problems Using Digital Posters

- Students work collaboratively to design a
solution to an authentic issue (e.g. How can we reduce our impact on the environment?)
Students create a digital poster and e-brochure to bring awareness to a community or global
issue. This topic of the activity could easily be modified to cover the specific content of any
course and the choice of medium can differ as well. To complete the task, students must also use
information fluency to collect data, navigate collaboration fluency to dream and design a solution,
and media fluency to deliver the solution to their peers and the public.
List of possible softwares to create digital posters

Open-Ended Multimedia Projects -

Designing projects for students to express themselves in
ways other than simply verbalizing or writing is key to the development of digital fluencies. By
keeping projects open-ended, students can draw on their own special talents and abilities to
communicate meaning to the audience using technology tools of their choice. Since it is the
content and not the use of technology that teachers are required to assess, students can develop
technological skills in an area which interests them.
See media form options here.

Visit this website for project based learning ideas

to p
romote the development of digital fluencies.