Digital Literacy and Online Safety

The online life we live today comes with many opportunities as well as many risks to avoid. Being digitally literate and having awareness of such risks plays a crucial role in being safe online. Moreover, the importance of the digital literacy skills was further emphasised in 2020 when the world faced the COVID-19 pandemic. The necessity to exclude physical interaction from the daily life resulted in teleworking, remote education and increased digital media consumption throughout the year.

Against this background, this MOOC will explore online trends and issues in the context of the new COVID-19 reality. It will provide the course participants with essential knowledge, tips and tools to handle a wide range of issues such as misinformation and disinformation, conspiracy theories, online scams (such as phishing, malware and ransomware), account security, online privacy, benefits and risks associated with livestreaming and health online relationships among others. Overall, this MOOC will enable participants to gain a better understanding of risks and challenges that young people face when they go online. With the course moderators, they will discuss strategies for supporting young people and helping them to develop safe and responsible online and offline behaviours. A wide range of resources that can be used in schools will be provided, and participants will also be asked to share their own experiences, challenges and successes.

You can follow the course at your own pace. We will open one module at the beginning of each week, but there is only a final deadline you need to pay attention to (for the quizzes and the peer-assessment activity).

Module 1: How did the pandemic affect online life?

Module 2: Digital literacy and disinformation

Module 3: Online scams

Module 4: Healthy relationships with technology and the internet