Nobody is going to ask you how good you think you are today. You are going to show it.
Five rounds, one for each part of digital media literacy, against the clock. The class scores each round together: how many pairs got it, never who. At the end you fill in a card, and every line on it will be something you actually did in the last twenty minutes.
Digital media literacy is the set of skills that help you use digital technologies, communication tools and the internet creatively, critically and safely. Five areas, and one round each today:
- Safe use: looking after yourself and others online.
- Searching: finding useful answers and reading results with care.
- Spotting dodgy content: noticing unreliable, biased or paid-for media.
- Sharing: putting work online with credit, consent and respect.
- Creating: making your own digital work.
Every round is scored for the whole class at once: how many pairs got it. No names go on the board and nothing is graded. A round the class loses is the most useful information in the room, because it tells you where the next few weeks are going.
You will work in pairs through five rounds, and each one is against the clock. The class scores each round together, so nobody is named.
A post is about to go up. It says: "Buzzing for Saturday!! Meeting the lads at the 14:20 from Athlone, then straight to the match. Anyone want in? DM me on this account, I check it all day." Under it is a photo of four friends in school jumpers with the crest showing, taken outside the front gate.
List everything in that post that should not be there, and say why for each. One list per pair.
How long does a red squirrel live in the wild? Find the answer, and write down the exact search you typed that got you there.
Two points: one for a sensible answer with a source you would stand over, one for the shortest search in the room that still worked.
Four things at the top of a results page for best running shoes for beginners:
- A listing with the word Sponsored above the web address.
- An article on a running club's site, no label, ranked second.
- A row of shop listings with prices and star ratings, an Ad label in the corner.
- A box at the top quoting one sentence from a page further down.
Which of these did someone pay to put there, and which one is not a source you have checked at all? Write your two answers and one line of evidence each.
You want to use this picture in a school project. The page it came from says: Photograph "Low tide, Salthill" by Niamh Ruane, 2024. Free to reuse with credit.
Write the credit line exactly as it would appear under the picture in your project. A point for every part that has to be in it.
For the last round you make something yourself, in the maker below: one square card about your day online. The brief is in the activity.
Round 5: prove you can make something
Now the card. Five lines, one per round, and every line has to point at something you just did.
- Write the five areas down the page: safe use, searching, spotting dodgy content, sharing, creating.
- Beside each, mark green (I did that), amber (I got part of it) or red (I did not get there today).
- Beside the colour, write the evidence in a few words: what you actually got or missed in that round. Searching, amber: found it, but my search was eleven words long.
Then, from the card:
- Name two things you can already do. Take them from your greens, one short sentence each.
- Name two things you want to get better at by the end of the course. Take them from your reds and weak ambers, and keep each specific enough that you would know if you improved.
- Save all of it the class way, beside your card.
Five lines, each with a colour and a piece of evidence from today, plus two things you can do and two you are going after.
Look at the five round scores on the board.
- Which round did this class win most easily?
- Which one caught the most pairs out?
Digital media literacy is not one skill, it is five, and almost nobody is even across them. You did not guess at your card today, you earned it. The round this class lost is not a bad sign; it is the part of the course that is going to be worth the most to you.
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