By Pascal Oparada
Facebook today announced the launch of a new set of educational resources focused on helping young people think critically and behave thoughtfully online.
The Digital Literacy Library, as the new site is called, is aimed at educators of children aged 11 to 18, and address topics like privacy, reputation, identity exploration, security, safety, well-being and more.
There are 830 million young people online, the company notes. However, many teachers today lack the educational resources that would allow them to teach a digital literacy programme in their classrooms, or in other less formal environments.
Facebook says the lesson plans in the new library were drawn from the Youth and Media team at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, where they were released under a Creative Commons license.
The lessons themselves are based on over 10 years of academic research from the Youth and Media team, who also took care to reflect the voices of young people from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities, geographies, and educational levels, Facebook says. Initially, the 18 lessons are launching in English, but they’ll be soon available in 45 additional languages.
For educators, the lessons are ready-to-use as free downloads, and state how long each lesson will take. Outside the classroom, parents could use them to teach children at home, or they could be used in after-school programmes. Teachers can also modify the lessons’ content to meet their own needs, if they choose.
The courses will be made available in Facebook’s Safety Center and Berkman Klein’s Digital Literacy Resource Platform for the time being. Facebook says it’s also working with other non-profits worldwide to adapt the lessons and create new ones.
This isn’t the first time Facebook has offered educational resources aimed at young people.
The company also recently launched its Youth Portal, which provides educational material directly to teens, not their teachers. However, those resources are focused more on Facebook itself, providing guidance on things like how to navigate the service, how to stay secure, and how to understand how people’s data is used.
In addition, Facebook has begun to roll out educational guidance into its new app, Messenger Kids, aimed at the under-13 crowd. The app encourages children to be kind and respectful online, by promoting empathy and positive messaging through things like the “Messenger Kids Pledge,” kindness stickers, and other in-app challenges.
The lessons are split into reputation, identity exploration, positive behaviour, security and a horde of others.