Digital Literacy Class to be Offered at High School

In the upcoming school year, Chatham High School will condense its courses in computer applications and multimedia applications into a single new course, Digital Literacy.

Principal Darren Groh told the Board of Education Monday the new course will take a look at common technologies and how people use them. The school’s program of studies booklet says the course focuses on the “development of a positive web presence” and explores “ethical considerations of digital citizenship while better understanding the implications technology has on privacy.”

Groh explained the computer applications course is about six years old at this point and that students coming into the high school already have a solid grasp on a lot of the programs taught, including Microsoft Word and Excel.

“Frankly, my third grader is doing PowerPoint presentations,” he said.

Additionally, he said the course in multimedia applications overlapped with the web design class. Now, Groh said, the digital literacy course will serve as a precursor to the web design course.

The school will also offer 21st Century Marketing, an introductory to marketing class created by business teacher Dan Thomas.

Online Courses

The school has expanded its use of Educere, which gives students the opportunity to take online versions of classes that might not be offered at the school or that they can’t take in person due to time conflicts.

The classes would fulfill credit requirements and be reflected on high school transcripts but would not calculated in a student’s GPA.