Reflection on the article “Knowing the Difference Between Digital Skills and Digital Literacies, and Teaching Both”:

I thought this was a fascinating article that highlighted many things. Firstly, the article spotlighted a clear distinction between digital skills and digital literacies by arguing that digital skills are the action of learning how to use digital tools. While digital literacy is the critical thinking behind those digital tools. As a result, the article allowed me to self-reflect and realize that just because you have the knowledge to do something, does not mean you should and that it’s the right thing to do. Thus, the analysis behind learning digital literacies allows one to truly evaluate their actions online. So, the article helped me conclude that digital skills and digital literacies are equally vital tools that cannot exist without the other. In addition, through reading the article it helped me reveal many strengths concerning digital skills. I realized that I was already proficient and quite interested in technology as a hobby that I view it as an extension of me. Therefore, digital skills, like PowerPoint, as mentioned in the article are already basic knowledge. I also realized that being able to teach yourself digital skills is just as important as having those skills.

Personally, it also showed me some areas for improvement in always thinking before acting online. This is especially true nowadays considering that it is easier than ever to post something and that frictionless action may prevent one from thinking clearly. As a result, I learned that adding some friction by thinking before we act is essential to maintaining security in the age of technology. Technology is a beautiful thing as long as we use it with intelligence and caution. 

2 modules from All Aboard Stations:

1st module (Smartphones)

I found this module very intriguing because it taught me the fundamentals of the smartphone that most people overlook. The smartphone is designed to be used by anyone, regardless of their skills in technology. As a result, learning about how the phone works and the parts inside of it was quite illuminating. However, I already knew most of the knowledge as smartphones and technology have been a habit of mine since I was a child when I received my first iPod. Thus, I did the quiz at the end and got 100% as the questions were basic knowledge to me.

2nd module(Cybersecurity):

The cybersecurity module was an imperative module in my opinion and I am glad that I took it. The cybersecurity module enlightened me on how dangerous the internet can be to the untrained eye especially when I was alerted in the course that there were over a million attacks a day in 2015 which I thought was very surprising. Also, learning that human error is the weakest link in cybersecurity made me reflect on the importance of automation in security and how human error is one of the main causes of successful cybersecurity attacks like phishing attacks. Therefore, after taking the module, I believe that our knowledge of the dangers that lurk on the internet like phishing attacks that encourage people to leak confidential information can help us to be cautious on the internet. Also, automation can help a great deal in stopping attacks because our devices are prepared with many different types of protection unless they are overridden by the user. Also, through automation, we can use it to automatically enter and save our passwords which can be a great help to those who forget their passwords or use the same password for all their devices. Thus, after taking the module on cybersecurity, it made me realize that this should be more well-known and should be a compulsory pre-requisite to anyone who surfs the web as remaining in the unknown may cause disasters like identity theft.

Reflective blog post:

I really enjoyed this assignment. I began by analyzing my digital profile where I could see at a glance my strengths and weaknesses which I value greatly. Overall, I believe my digital profile is quite strong but not perfect and could use some improvement in aspects like research as highlighted in my results. After that, I read a beautifully written article contrasting the difference between digital skills and digital literacies which I appreciated since I didn’t have a clear definition of digital literacies beforehand. Finally, I ended the assignment with 2 modules in the All Aboard Stations where I took smartphones and cybersecurity. I love technology so I naturally gravitated towards the technological side and I was glad I did. I strengthened my already strong base and further enhanced and refined certain skills like my understanding of phishing attacks and the dangers that lurk on the web. If I had to choose one thing that I learned from this assignment I would have to say the difference between digital skills and digital literacies was very valuable because it highlighted to me the importance of thinking before acting on the internet as the consequences of incorrect actions may be severe. As a result, I believe this was a productive assignment that sharpened my understanding of a vast amount of topics and then I was able to offer thoughtful reflection because of it.