Alabama: Mobile County District Launches ‘Digital Literacy’ Program in 16 Media Centers

From AL.com:

This fall, Mobile County school officials began a pilot “digital literacy” program at 16 schools to revamp the media centers, and the duties of the librarians who run them.
[Clip]
The key component of the digital literacy initiative is Discovery Education, a program that offers multi-level digital lessons that are aligned with the Alabama College and Career Ready Standards, also known as Common Core.
Discovery Education [a subsidiary of Discovery Communications, Discovery Channel] software is a series of online videos and accompanying website links that teachers and students may access through the Mobile County schools network to research and share class projects, White said.
In July, the Mobile County school board approved a $1.4 million, five-year contract renewal with Discovery Education.
[Clip]
The digital literacy schools have teams, which include the principal, media specialist and at least two teachers, to focus on technology in the classroom, White said.
“We’re asking the (media) specialists to do a different role instead of just dealing with books,” she said. The media specialists are now encouraged to help teachers find resources for their classes to enhance their lessons, and that may include suggesting videos or websites, or regular books.

Read the Complete Article

Filed under: School Libraries