




Digital Media Literacy for Secondary Students
Do you spend more time preparing for Digital Media Literacy than any other class you teach?
This is the reason our author, Sarah McGuill, wrote a book for the Digital Media Literacy short course at Junior Cycle. She found that she was constantly searching for secondary-level teaching resources that would enable her to teach the curriculum specifications for this short course and saw this as a major inhibitor to the embedding of Digital Media Literacy within schools. Passionate about her subject, she wrote Digital Media Literacy for Secondary Students.
The aim of the author has always been to make life easier for DML teachers while providing a solid reference for students of Digital Media Literacy. While the book is designed to meet the needs of the Junior Cycle DML short course, it can be used to support the teaching of any digital media literacy programme at JC, TY or LCA.
Overview of the programme
This student workbook is divided into four sections that correspond to the four strands outlined in the Digital Media Literacy specification from the JCT. Each chapter explores each learning outcome and is filled with active learning methodologies and engaging activities. Chapters feature an abundance of videos and QR codes to topics of relevance to students along with blogs, research and analysis templates, reflection journals, tutorials, quizzes and debates.
Section 1: My digital world
This section is designed to allow students to evaluate their relationship with technology and the impact it can have on the individual.
Section 2: Following my interests online
Students will examine various ways in which information that is relevant to them is digitally published. A methodology will be established for recognising false news on the internet.
Section 3: Checking the facts
This section will require students to examine various digital media formats for bias. They will also look at the effect of technology on democracy.
Section 4: Publishing myself
Students will examine the information that they publish on social media. They will learn how to be safe online. They will also plan, research, reference and publish a digital media text.
Recommended guide to using the programme in your school
- The intention of the programme is to deliver a 100-hour digital media course.
- Each unit takes approximately 20 hours to deliver.
- The course is designed to be flexible, allowing schools to adopt the programme as they wish.