A new podcast series looking at Digital Literacy in education - made for teachers!

In a world where digital is as ubiquitous as the devices we're connected to, Checkpoint Learning asks how education is embracing and including digital literacy in education.

Many educators and institutions are aware of the growing need for Digital Literacy, but being such a broad and varied subject matter, it becomes a challenge in itself to define. Is Digital Literacy safety online, knowing how to use word processing, building websites, coding, being media savvy? Or is it all or none of the above?

Hosted by retired veteran English teacher (and manager of literacy and numeracy, Opening Minds and more) Chris Winson-Longley discusses the importance of defining Digital Literacy within curriculums across the country - and beyond with Tamer Asfahani, journalist and founder of Checkpoint.

In this series we discuss the issues involved in identifying and defining digital literacy, and the ways by which it can be addressed in schools.

One readily available resource is the children themselves and the wonderful world of videogames. Anyone who has ever played one knows that videogames make demands on our determination, our ability to solve problems and our willingness to fail. They can be informative and instructive, and they are a ubiquitous cultural component of most of the developed world. However, videogames, like mobile phones, do not sit well in the classroom, which is why we are not interested in playing them. In this series we will explore how CheckpointLearning resources use the students’ knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, videogames to inspire learning experiences based in traditional subject disciplines whilst developing digital literacy and an appreciation of the gaming industry. Whether you are a manager, a teacher or a parent interested in how students can be better prepared for the future, then this is the podcast for you.

Chris and Tamer argue that the modern world is crying out for students with the digital skills and knowledge to not only survive, but to prosper. And, whether they like it or not, schools will have to provide an appropriate and relevant education or risk sending students out as consumers rather than creators, as lambs to the slaughter in a world populated by media wolves like Google, Microsoft and Meta. And it doesn’t stop with online purchasing, social media or automation. The internet of things means that none of us can escape the digital world: your new car is sending data back to the company that produced it, CCTV is recording your every move and your phone is literally listening in.

So far, the education system in England has responded to the challenge by focusing on consumer safety, rather than on the opportunities that digital technology presents, and on the promotion of an academic curriculum from 1904, rather than on developing digital literacy and intrapersonal skills such as creativity, innovation, resilience, determination and an ability to fail. Skills which are essential in a rapidly developing technological future where automation will replace a huge number of traditional jobs and the answers to climate change and a growing population lie in technological development combined with human ingenuity. In order to survive, students will need to be digitally literate.