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One newspaper’s digital literacy campaign

Information literacy logoIt is often heard in the media that newspapers are going the way of the dinosaur. Perhaps that is true of print (though I hope not!), but one UK news service has realized that if quality journalism is to compete with today’s news-as-entertainment, they need to attract and train younger readers:

The Guardian’s campaign to improve the teaching of computer science and IT kicks off with a live Q&A featuring experts from Microsoft, the Open University, Cardiff Metropolitan University, e-skills UK, and the Computing at School Working Group.

The presentation took place January 10, 2012, on a “live blog” with guest speakers from Google, teachers and experts from higher education, and a “live Q & A” session.

Efforts to teach information literacy with a focus on news are also taking place here in the U.S., as mentioned previously in this column. This kind of outreach can have lasting effects only if the students have access to computers and the Internet not just in the classroom, but at home as well.

Do you know of similar outreach efforts by news and other organizations? Have your kids had this kind of instruction? What benefits have you seen? Tell us what you think!