Traditionally, literacy education has focused on teaching reading comprehension, writing and effective communication. However, as modern forms of communication, collaboration and research shift increasingly to digital formats, digital literacy has become an important facet of overall literacy education.
To succeed in school and beyond, students need to understand how to navigate the digital world. This includes knowing how to use technology in the classroom to research, critically evaluate and process information, as well as creating and communicating within a digital context. Integrating digital literacy into literacy learning is an essential component of a graduate degree in reading education, like the online Master of Science in Education in Reading from Arkansas State University.
Teaching Digital Literacy Like Reading Comprehension
Although digital literacy is essential to literacy learning, integrating it into standards-based curricula can be challenging. The integrated approach to teaching reading comprehension can be useful in digital literacy instruction as well. This approach applies the principles of reading instruction across subject-matter curricula. Similarly, digital literacy instruction should follow students through every subject. This can help students develop a well-rounded grasp of digital literacy and its applications.
A literacy case study from 2024 demonstrates that students taught by digitally literate teachers show significant improvements in using digital tools, mobile applications and other technologies for learning. Educators who model appropriate use of technology can guide students in understanding how to use these tools responsibly and effectively, creating learning environments rich in digital resources.
What Is Digital Literacy?
Definitions of digital literacy vary widely, but most incorporate a few basic ideas: digital literacy is proficiency with digital technologies to gather, evaluate and process information to create and communicate across digital media. According to the International Literacy Association, digital literacy includes the broad set of skills students must acquire to engage meaningfully with electronic forms of information. Beyond reading and writing on paper, literacy in the digital era enables people to access, understand, evaluate, create, communicate and engage with digital content safely and appropriately.
Using computers, tablets and even phones to access information and communicate is now a part of everyday life. Using technology in the classroom, active learning and creating to encourage digital literacy learning at a young age will help students understand how to be productive in the digital world, both in the classroom and beyond. Digital literacy encompasses not only technical skills but also critical thinking, problem-solving and creativity.
Evaluating Information
Modern research is now overwhelmingly digital, so students need to learn how to find good, reliable information. A great deal of the information on the internet is merely subjective opinion. Students, therefore, need to learn how to critically evaluate what they find and where they find it. Teaching critical thinking and evaluation is an important part of effective digital literacy education.
According to UNESCO’s 2025 International Literacy Day data, in OECD countries, only 9% of 15-year-olds could distinguish fact from opinion in digital texts. This highlights the critical need for educators to teach students how to navigate information-rich digital environments safely and effectively. Digital literacy skills are essential for thinking critically and navigating an information-rich society and economy in a safe, effective and responsible manner.
The Benefits of Digital Media
If traditional literacy means the ability to read and write effectively, then digital literacy means the ability to communicate and create digitally. Students communicate via email, messaging and social media platforms. Incorporating these forms of communication into the classroom through collaborative online projects, classroom blogs and even online discussion threads can be an effective way to improve digital literacy.
Research from Neuhaus Education Center shows that digital literacy tools such as interactive e-books and specialized reading apps can significantly enhance engagement and learning outcomes. These tools often include features such as word pronunciation aids, clickable glossaries and comprehension questions integrated into the reading process. Assigning creative projects that use digital skills, such as making short films that incorporate digital media, can help students learn how to use digital technologies in different contexts.
Digital literacy is now a fundamental component of literacy learning, from teaching reading comprehension to writing and communication. Creative teachers in any field who pursue an advanced degree in literacy will be able to incorporate literacy education using digital technologies, combined with critical evaluation, and can help their students navigate the digital world.
Learn more about Arkansas State University’s online MSE in Reading program.