Digital and information literacy for students

What is digital and information literacy?

• How confident are you at working online?
• Do you know which information to trust?
• Do you know how to find resources for your assignment?

Digital literacy is about being empowered and confident to live, learn and work in a digital society.

Information literacy is about developing your skills in finding, evaluating, using and managing information.

You may come across digital and information literacy activities in your module materials. Library Services offers a programme of live online training sessions to all OU students and staff. You will also find materials to support you on the Library’s help and support pages.

OU Library Services helps you study successfully and to develop skills valued by employers. Skills include:

• Finding information online quickly
• Making judgements about the validity of information sources
• Selecting appropriate material or evidence to support decision making
• Being able to research effectively
• Keeping up-to-date with developments in your field

To find out how to become a confident and critical user of digital tools and resources, there are two main resources available to you:

Being digital is a freely-available collection of short, easy-to-follow activities on finding, using and creating information online. All activities take 10 minutes or less to complete and are very suitable for learning on the go.