The BC Digital Literacy Framework is part of the revised BC Curriculum. It provides an overview of the digital literacy skills and strategies that teachers are now required to convey in their classrooms. The framework outlines the types of knowledge and skills that students need in order to be successful in today’s technological world. It provides educators with information on the six characteristics based on the National Education Technology Standards for Students (NETS•S), developed by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).
The framework is made of 6 components: 
- Research and Information Literacy: Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information
- Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making: Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources
- Creativity and Innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology
- Digital Citizenship: Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behaviour
- Communication and Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others
- Technology Operations and Concepts: Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations.
In a world where technology is so pervasive, the importance of knowing how to appropriately use and apply digital tools in the classroom cannot be overstated. This knowledge is known as digital literacy, which the Ministry of Education defines as “the interest, attitude and ability of individuals to appropriately use digital technology and communication tools to access, manage, integrate, analyze and evaluate information, construct new knowledge, create and communicate with others”. The framework helps to qualify this in pedagogical terms.
The framework gives details about what students should understand and be able to do at all levels, with the intent of giving educators information to help integrate technology and digital literacy-related activities into their classrooms. It also provides a basis for developing assessment tools for the digital literacy competencies.
Digital literacy is a component of the BC curriculum. The framework will help you develop a solid grasp on the requirements for learning digital literacy, thus allowing you to give your students opportunities to become more digitally literate. This includes both concrete uses (actually using technologies to create/manage/analyze content) and more abstract concepts (digital ethics, communication skills, etc.).
Click here to get a detailed description of the framework. There, you will also find examples of activities that digitally-literate students should be able to complete at various points throughout their K-12 education. These are provided by a set of profiles which are divided into four grade ranges, with age ranges included to account for any individual’s grade-level variation. These profiles are based on International Society for Technology in Education’s (ISTE) NETS•S standards, and take on the “belief that all students must have regular opportunities to use technology to develop skills that encourage personal productivity, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration in the classroom and in daily life.” The examples give concrete applications of the Framework through various activities.
Keep in mind that the examples provided are not exhaustive: they provide samples of possibilities for digital literacy, and can serve as inspiration for the development of other activities with the same goals.
The Ministry specifies that lower-grade-level activities may need to be teacher-modelled, and that responsibility can be gradually released to students a) as they pass into higher grade levels or b) dependant on the level of expertise of the teacher and the equipment available to the students.
If you search for inspiration regarding the kinds of activities and resources to use in the classroom that integrate technology, take a look at the other resources available on Scarfe Digital Sandbox. We are continuously adding new resources that facilitate learning and that align with the BC Digital Literacy framework.
Explainer Video: the 6 components of the framework
A post in French: https://scarfedigitalsandbox.teach.educ.ubc.ca/the-bc-digital-literacy-framework/
Is it possible to purchase the Digital Literacy in BC (hexagonal graphic organiser) as a poster?
Hi Janet, thanks for asking! The student who created it as part of a project we did shared it as a creative commons, with attribution, non-commercial image. You are welcome to download it at no cost as long as you ‘share alike’. You can print, share electronically etc. I suspect the quality may not work for a larger poster… I’ll have a look in my files to see if I have a pdf that might work better. If so, i’ll update with a link.
Hello Yvonne,
I am wondering if you have been able to locate the higher quality pdf of the Digital Literacy in BC (hexagonal graphic organiser) as per your last comment?
If so, could you send it to me as well?
Thank you!
Hi Yvonne,
Can I have a copy of the high quality pdf version of the Digital Literacy in BC (hexagonal graphic organiser) as well? Can you update this post with a link to it, or alternatively can you send it to me?
Thanks!
Hi Marj, I’m afraid I’ve had difficulty locating the original copy. I plan to have someone remake it so we have a higher quality version and will share that in the post but, for now, we’re stuck with the jpg. Glad you’ve found it useful!
I found the author of this document when looking for something else! His name is John Lim. Here is a link to his page where he posted ithttps://limscience.wordpress.com/2017/08/20/b-c-s-digital-literacy-framework/
Thank you Ginger! Yes, that’s a link to a post by John, who provided the image to us! He was doing his CFE (community field experience) for our Ed Tech Support Unit at the time!
It should be noted that BC’s Digital Literacy Framework was not part of the “new” BC curriculum. It actually predated the new curriculum by some years (2015) and was ahead of its time. Unfortunately, due to shifting priorities (political and educational) it was never taken up the way it should have been at the time.
See Media Smarts page: https://mediasmarts.ca/teacher-resources/digital-media-literacy-outcomes-province-territory/british-columbia/digital-literacy
Yes, thank you for this important reminder Julia. I like to introduce TCs to the BC DIgital Lit Framework as I feel it still captures essential competencies for teachers today. I do wish it were more central to the current ‘redesigned’ BC curriculum.