A Children’s Guide to Digital Literacy
When I was a kid, you had to learn how to type. My school didn’t really teach it, but fortunately my mom got on the horse, put me in front of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, and made sure I could type without looking at my fingers. Thanks mom. When my parents were kids, I think they learned how to fix cars and roofs.
I want my kids to be able to ‘fix the Internet’ when it’s not working, help fix (reconfigure) the menagerie of devices we rely on daily, and not end up with tons of viruses on their devices. I’d also like to be able to give my older daughter (12) chores like ‘Figure out why the Alexa-based motion detectors aren’t turning on the smart bulbs we got on Amazon’.
That’s what this page is about. Below are a set of modules, each of which has videos (most are 3rd party from Youtube), quizzes to help the kids see how they’re doing, and then example tasks you can give them both for practice and to help out around the house as they turn into (we hope) full fledged adults.
Module 1: How Computers Talk
Learning Objectives
After this module, you will be able to:
Explain how you’re able to watch a Youtube video on your computer
Fix devices that aren’t able to ‘talk’ to the Internet
Manage communication security on your computer
Get an Internet-enabled device (printer, smart thermostat, robot vacuum, etc.) online
other thing