NEW LESSONS! Students learn concrete skills to stay safe and secure online.
Digital Literacy and Citizenship Curriculum for Grades 9-12
NEW! This FREE, pioneering curriculum is designed to empower teens to be smart about how they create, communicate, and treat others in our 24/7 digital world. Browse the units below to find the right lessons for your students.
Co-created with:
Safety and Security
Unit 1: Safety
Students learn about the rewards of connecting with others online, but also how to recognize and handle inappropriate contact. They learn why certain online relationships are risky, and how to avoid these types of manipulative situations.
Unit 2: Security
Students develop strategies for managing their online information and keeping it secure. They explore how individuals and companies collect their data, and learn to guard against identity theft, phishing scams, and other exploitive practices.
Digital Citizenship
Students reflect on how to behave ethically online.
Unit 1: Digital Life
Students explore the role that digital media play in their lives and for our society. They are introduced to the concept of digital citizenship and digital ethics, and consider how they can harness the power of digital media for good.
Unit 2: Privacy and Digital Footprints
Students learn to manage their own privacy and respect the privacy of others. They reflect on how information they post online can affect getting into college or other future opportunities, as well as how it might impact others.
Unit 3: Connected Culture
Students reflect on what they can do to strengthen online relationships and communities. They also consider how anonymity and public posting can intensify bullying, hate speech, and abusive relationships online.
Unit 4: Self-Expression and Identity
Students think critically about how they present themselves online. They consider what their profiles, posts, and avatars convey to others about them, and reflect on whether this image is "true" to who they are.
Unit 5: Respecting Creative Work
Students reflect on how to respectfully give and get credit in an age of remixed work. They consider opportunities for creating using new media tools, and debate thorny ethical topics ranging from copyright to licensing.
Research and Information Literacy
NEW LESSONS! Students think critically about finding and evaluating information online.
Unit 1: Searching
Students learn effective, efficient strategies for conducting everyday searches. They learn how to plan out a search, and why it is important to use precise keywords and to carefully evaluate search results.
Unit 2: Research and Evaluation
Students think critically about how information is collected, reshaped, and shared online. They consider the upsides and downsides of collective intelligence and photo alteration, and how these practices impact online communities.
