Digital literacy refers to the ability to use technology and digital tools to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information. It involves more than just basic computer skills, but also developing critical thinking about the information found online. As technology becomes more integrated into society and education, digital literacy is important for both digital natives who are accustomed to technology from a young age as well as digital immigrants who are still learning to navigate the digital world. Teachers need to develop digital skills to engage digital native students and help all students think critically about the digital tools and information they encounter.

1. Digital Literacies
Mayra Garcia da Silva

2. Concepts
• Literacy is not only Reading and Writing, but
understanding.
• The use of technology nowadays is an importante part in people’s life, but
does everybody knows how to use it?
• Digital literacy is the ability to use different devices and gadgets to engage
in social activities;
• Digital literacy is not only about knowing how to use technology, but also
about having “a critical critical and confident use of Information Systems.”
(Mohammadyari, 2015)

3. Digital Literacy in Society
• There is a lot of interaction through social networking. It is really
important to be conected whether for a work activity or for a social
gathering;
• There are cultural rules to be followed, like not taking too long to
answer someone;
• People should consider what they are posting or sending, as well as
who is going to read it.

4. Digital Literacy in Society
• It is also important to understant that there are digital natives and
digital immigrants, because there are different approaches to
technology according to the generation:

5. Digital Literacy in Education
• Web tools can be used in educational contexts to engage students in
different activities, so they can use different ways to search, learn,
and communicate their experiences;

6. Digital Literacy in Education
• Students, especially young ones, are digital natives and usually are
multitask, which requires classes prepared for this;
• It is important for teachers to develop digital skills that allow them to
keep up with students – sometimes teachers are digital imiggrants,
and therefore have difficulties with technology;

7. 21st century skills
• Core competencies of digital literacy : internet searching, hypertext
navigation, knowledge assembly, and content evaluation (Koltay,
2011);
• Important abilities using web tools:
Search for information;
 communicating;
 creating content;
 protecting contente and devices;
 problem solving.

8. Global impact of digital literacies
• People consume information much faster and in a bigger amount and
it is important to have the ability to criticize and choose the
information offered on the Internet;
• Education can be a good way for people to get used to critical
thinking. Teachers can simply use digital tools or help students with
critical thinking about them.

9. Conclusions
• Understanding digital literacies is important to teachers, not only
because many students are digital natives, but because they need to
develop critical thinking about technology;
• It is important for digital immigrants to keep up with the new
Technologies, so they can communicate and engage social activities,
or even be a discussion facilitator.

10. Bibliography
• Günther, J.(2007) - Digital natives & Digital immigrants – AEI – Agency for
European Integration, Prishtina, Kosovo.
http://virtuni.eas.sk/rocnik/2007/pdf/fid001571.pdf Accessed in August 25, 2016
• Koltay, T. (2011) - The media and the literacies: media literacy, information
literacy, digital literacy- Media, Culture & Society
• Neumann, M.M., Finger, G, Neumman, D.L. (2016) - A Conceptual Framework for
Emergent Digital Literacy - Early Childhood EducJ DOI 10.1007/s10643-016-0792-z
• Mohammadyari,S., Singh, H. (2015) Understanding the effect of e-learning on
individual performance: The role of digital literacy - Computers & Education 82
(2015) 11- 25
• O'Brien, D. and Voss, S. (2011), Reading Multimodally: What Is Afforded?. J.
Adolesc. Adult Liter., 55: 75–78. doi:10.1598/JAAL.55.1.9