Digital literacy of schoolchildren: profiles and evolution

The article points to the research deficit in the content decomposition of the heterogeneous structure of schoolchildren’s digital literacy profiles and a specific analysis of the process of schoolchildren’s digital literacy formation in an ecosystem educational perspective. In the described study of digital literacy of schoolchildren, the use of qualitative methods prevailed: a number of interviews were conducted with students from the Tomsk region of secondary and high school. The interviews were supplemented by a pilot standardized survey of respondents from grades 2 to 11 and a mirror assessment of the digital literacy of schoolchildren by expert teachers. The study showed that, in addition to school, digital literacy training is implemented within the framework of an informal digital educational ecosystem, which includes communication and gaming practices in social networks, various online platforms and blogs, and information exchange with peers. “Academic” digital literacy is brought up at school and includes searching for information on the Internet and fact-checking, creating presentations, using spreadsheet editors, web-conferencing services for distance learning; extracurricular activities contribute to the development of communicative, content-generating and, in part, security-related components of digital literacy (communication in social networks, blogging, anti-hacking practices and recognition of fake accounts, participation in streams and gaming). In the process of the evolution of digital literacy of schoolchildren, three key stages are distinguished, characterized by the predominance of various profiles of digital literacy, depending on priority tasks. The study allows us to state a clear imbalance in the development of key digital competencies of schoolchildren: while possessing the skills to use general user digital services to solve everyday problems and ensure cybersecurity, students show low skills in searching and critically evaluating information, creating new digital products/content, active broadcasting and self-presentation in within network communication. The role of general education institutions in the formation of digital literacy, in comparison with informal distribution channels, is contradictory, various competencies develop unevenly in it, and the learning practices themselves are often clearly delayed.

digital literacy, competencies, digital educational environment, cybersocialization