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Skills for a Digital World

Skills for a Digital World

24 ways young people can learn digital skills at home

If you or a young person you know is isolated in their digital world, why not use this time to understand it better? Want to take action effectively on COVID-19 safety or other societal issues? Want to get credit for the photos, music, or creative art you share? Unsure of how to best share your data with others? Need to create a resume for a job in the fall? 

Explore the 24 new activities the Youth and Media team created for young people!

The 24 activities have already been grouped in four collections so young people can engage as deeply as they like: (1) Building and Protecting Your Online Presence, (2) Crafting a Successful Resume, (3) Sharing Your Work Online — What License to Use?, and (4) Creating the Change You Want

While we encourage young people to engage with a collection, activities can also be done individually. In addition to youth, we especially invite parents/caregivers and educators to explore them! 

Here a few ideas to help get you started: 

Youth

  • All activities are available for free on our digital platform (on the Home page, search for “Playlist” under “What Kind of Tool” and “Individual” under “Individual vs. Group”). Consider spreading out activities, doing one activity per day. We are excited to hear your feedback on them! Tell us what you think by emailing youthandmedia@cyber.harvard.edu.

Parents/Caregivers

  • As you help your children adjust to the new reality of learning from home, you may be concerned about the ways they are spending time in the digital world. These materials can help your children become more critical consumers and creators online and support you to have a dialogue with them about being safe online, presenting themselves well, and understanding their privacy, security, and rights online. 

Educators

  • With many schools moving to remote learning, it is becoming increasingly important for youth to develop the skills to navigate the digital world. You can use these activities, many of which require limited Internet access, as an inspiration to guide your teaching around digital skills and encourage self-directed learning!  

In the coming weeks, we will be releasing and highlighting fun educational activities that families can explore together. You can view all of our educational materials on our team’s Digital Citizenship+ (Plus) Resource Platform, home to over 100 educational tools — a subset of which have been translated into more than 35 languages — that can be used to learn and teach about the digital world. If you’d like to learn more and/or are interested in working with us to create educational activities for youth and families, please feel free to reach out to Sandra Cortesi and Alexa Hasse at youthandmedia@cyber.harvard.edu.

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Projects & Tools 02

Digital Citizenship+ Resource Platform

The DCRP is an evolving collection of tools that you can use to learn more about safety, privacy, information quality, and creative expression.

Youth and Media

Youth and Media (YaM) encompasses an array of research, advocacy, and development initiatives around youth (age 12-18) and digital technology.