Make every child a digital intelligent child: DQ is THE skill for future generations
Cyberbullying, screen addiction, fake news ... It can be pretty rough on the digital playground. Therefore: "digital intelligence" is the skill for future generations!
What is your son or daughter up to after unlocking the iPad? What the hell are your teenagers doing on Snapchat? Why are their streaks so sacred? How did your child become a star on musical.ly? And now that you finally understand Minecraft, your teenagers are yapping the entire time to dance in Fortnite. There lives have become one long livestream. Raising children, it has not become any easier.
Children know their way on the technological highway like no other, but how safe is it? Even for adults, the digital world has become quite complex. Yin with a constant threat of yang. With every digital Jedi maneuver, the dark side lurks around the corner.
Much has already been written about the impact of technology. On our world in the broad sense, and on our personal lives in particular. The conclusion is often: do we adequately prepare future generations for such a technological tsunami?
Besides the IQ and the EQ, there should also be the DQ
When that question is resonating with people in education, they often react with: "ok, I would love to. But how?" You can be a great techie but that does not mean that you know anything about pedagogy, let alone about curricula. And also: the challenge seems overwhelmingly large, so where to start?
Fortunately, the World Economic Forum is coming to the rescue: we need to work on our DQ, which will be placed next to us IQ and EQ. Digital Intelligence. A license for the digi-way, a swimming badge for online surfing.
Children with a high DQ have a set of skills that reads like a manifesto. They are aware of their digital identity and how it relates to their analogue life. They show empathy and respect for other diginauts. They know what cyberbullying is and how you deal with it. They are aware of their screen time and what a healthy dose is. They master the basics around safety and privacy. They realize that digital adventures also leave traces in the real world. And the last DQ-pillar is top-notch: critical thinking, and the ability to separate the wheat from the chaff in terms of information and conversation.
Here you can read an important article about how the world economic forum thinks this challenge could be tackled.
A global movement
The DQ Institute launched #DQEveryChild, a strategic global movement to provide children aged 8-12 years with comprehensive digital citizenship skills. It does this by offering nations an evidence-based online platform for education, assessment and protection.
It works like a vaccine against cyber-risk by helping children develop into successful and responsible digital citizens who maximize their potential and minimize the negative impacts of hyper-connected lifestyles.
2018 DQ Institute
You can watch this video for more information.
It is time to jump now
So actually all important skills are learned. For children and actually for everyone. With the DQ we finally get the much needed digital literacy.
Time for everyone to jump. Here lies the curriculum of tomorrow.
Who does something with it?
