Although false information did not enter our lives with the internet, it can be said that the digital age we live in has added new dimensions to the problem of false information. Therefore, the skills we need to solve this multidimensional problem are also diversified.
The basic concept used when defining this need, which touches on many areas and skills such as media literacy, digital literacy, digital media, news and information literacy, is critical digital literacy. “Critical digital literacy” emphasizes that critical thinking is an integral part of the digital age.
What is critical digital education?
By definition, critical digital literacy refers to skills such as finding, understanding, analyzing, producing and sharing information, accessing reliable sources, distinguishing between credible ones, and determining online safety through tools such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and computers.
More simply, critical digital literacy can be considered a set of skills that enable us to improve our ways of obtaining information and to be aware that we may encounter errors.
Another framework to help us understand the skills involved in critical digital education was developed by Juliet Hinrichsen and Antony Coombs from the University of GreenwichAlthough Hinrichsen and Coombs' framework is designed for educators who want to address critical digital education, it also contains some insights for us. Therefore, students of critical digital education should have the following skills:
1- Decoding: Familiarity with the structures and rules of digital media, sensitivity to different features in digital products, and safe use of existing digital methods and techniques.
2- Meaning : This is used to describe one's role in creating a text. Signification is a reflexive process in which the content, style, and purpose of the text are in dialogue with the reader's prior experiences, knowledge, and reactions. Meaning includes both meaning and interpretation.
3- Analysis: The ability to make informed decisions and choices in the digital realm. It also means being able to approach the production and consumption of digitized material from a critical, aesthetic, and ethical perspective.
4- Personality: Being sensitive to issues related to reputation, identity, and membership in various digital environments. It is the conscious management of one's online personality.
5- Use: The person's ability to use digital tools appropriately and effectively for a given purpose. They must also be able to dynamically and flexibly solve practical problems and use a range of methods and approaches, either individually or as part of a community.
At the end of the article, which consists of ten reading suggestions about critical digital education by Gianfranco Polizzi, who works in the field of media and critical digital education, there are also some suggestions to keep in mind when thinking about critical digital education..
- Critical digital literacy includes not only the ability to evaluate the online content we encounter, but also an understanding of the processes of online content production and consumption, their potential to democratize information, and their structural limitations.
- Critical digital education is necessary to ensure that people of all ages are protected from misinformation, as well as to empower them in the field of social, civic and political participation by interacting with digital media.
- Critical digital education can enable critical thinking about social issues and participation in institutional and non-institutional politics. For example, it can equip individuals with skills that make it easier to participate in alternative media or activism.
- The public sector, especially education systems, have a responsibility to promote and implement a comprehensive approach to critical digital education to contribute to social and democratic participation through digital technologies.
Polizzi summarizes the role of critical digital education in the problem of misinformation: “Tackling the phenomenon of post-truth requires the joint effort of multiple actors, such as governments, companies, journalists and experts. It would be a mistake to think that citizens are not involved in this. While political alienation, distrust of expertise and low political literacy play an important role, it is vital to ensure that everyone can benefit from critical digital education.”
source: teyit.org