Web Literacy

Web Literacy

Additional Resources

photo of light bulbs
Additional resources include supplemental activities, video instruction for certain activities, and tips for preparing and implementing the curriculum.

By adding supplemental activities to Core Web Literacy Curriculum, facilitators can meet audience needs and interests. Here are examples of topic areas and activities. We welcome recommendations for other topic areas and resources.

Art/Design/Expression

Web Citizen

Coding/Engineering

Privacy and Security

How-To-Videos

Here are videos that may be helpful for learning and teaching web literacy skills.

Spectrogram is a good icebreaker to considering adding to the Web and You activity.Perform the Net provides visual context for Map the Web, Perform the Web.Tag-Tag Revolution is a variation of Tagging 101.

The Homework Excuse Generator, Hack-the-News, and CSS Block activities all provide examples of how to use Thimble for creating, styling, and coding web pages. Hack the News focuses on marking up web pages with tags, the Homework Excuse Generator focuses on coding, and CSS Blocks focuses on styling.

Tips from Web Literacy Leaders

Environment

  • Establish expectations-- ask learners about their hopes and goals for the session. Understand what they want to learn and get out of the workshop. Understand their starting places.
  • Create the right environment (whenever possible) space, tables, light/windows, food/drink, and tactile toys on the table.
  • Take good care of your participants: think about what questions your learners might have as they themselves prepare to come to your session. What do they need to know about traveling to your location? What should they bring? How much experience will they need to have in order to understand your content? Communicate the answers to these and any other questions you come up with at strategic times in the weeks before your session.


Preparation

  • If possible, get to know your participants by sending out a short survey before your workshops to identify who your audience is, who they will be teaching (if relevant), what they hope to learn and how they will use these skills, what their self-assigned skill level (low, medium, high).
  • If possible have a co-facilitator to help manage the workshops, and help keep track of how well audience is understanding and tracking.
  • Visualize your outcome: as your session draws near, spend time meditating on how you’d like the workshop to go (the more you can see the scene in your mind the better). The more mental time you spend, the more practiced you’ll feel.
  • Take good care of yourself: this is a tip for always, of course, but especially when a facilitated session is coming up. Drink lots of water, eat for sustained mental energy, and get plenty of rest. Spend a few moments breathing quietly immediately before your session.
  • Remember that everyone is an expert about their own experiences. As you prep for your session, give some thought as to how you might invite others to share their ideas. Think about paired exercises, trios, quads; often times people are conditioned to avoid the spotlight or are just plain shy. (On that note, if you have folks who jump to answer every question, it is always okay to ask the group for voices that haven’t yet been heard.)


During Workshop

  • Be transparent about the learning objectives by giving an overview of the session so participants are clear about what they will learn.
  • Don’t be afraid if you don’t have all the answers; it’s OK to admit you don’t know something. Model asking questions and searching for answers.
  • Create a parking lot for questions to show participants that you won’t forget their question and will address it before the training ends.
  • Always embed an evaluation into the workshops - add an online version at the end and/or do a simple in-person: what did you like, what would you change?
  • Include time for Q & A and reflection after each activity, especially if your participants will be teaching others - how would you modify this this activity to your audience?
  • When a learner asks a question, try throwing it out to the rest of the group rather than answering it yourself.
  • Use offline analogies for online concepts. Example: Compare passwords to your house key; you make sure you have a duplicate key hidden somewhere in case you lose yours, but you wouldn’t tape it to your front door; and if you think someone has broken in, you change the locks.
  • Don’t be afraid to slow down and take more time on one activity or concept if learners seem like they are struggling there. Better to keep your schedule flexible and give learners the time they need than to rush just for the sake of getting through the activity.
  • Aim to build confidence in your learners. Going slow and presenting info in bite-sized chunks will get them comfortable with the content and the activities-- save the challenging stuff for later. Remember your aim is not to impress learners with your technical knowledge, but to create space for exploration, discovery, and questions.
  • Don’t forget to “read the room” -- look around to see how people are responding to the experience. Are they engaged, focused on the activity and content, or are they checked out or confused or distracted? Body language can tell you a lot. Drawing disengaged learners back in with questions or content that is relevant to them personally can help re-engage.
  • Stay learner focused and change activity, set-up, and timing as needed. Ask participants to contribute their own experiences, and facilitate dialogue among participants.
  • Give participants time to think, discuss, and reflect.

After Workshop

  • Follow-up immediately with short survey (no longer than 10 minutes) about the what they liked, what they would change, how they will use the workshop activities, and what else they would like to see.
  • Document the workshop by writing a blog that captures the workshop activities and experience.