Byte Sized: What Kids Should be Able to Do -- Data Protection

Todays' blog post is the next post in a series of posts sharing the TL;DR information available in the Illinois Computer Literacy Knowledge and Skill Development Continuum adopted May 2022. In this  series, it is hoped that you will have a better understanding of what technology skills our students are expected to have at different grade levels. Of course, each student is different -- some will acquire these skills sooner than their peers; some will acquire them later. These are meant to be a guide for teachers. 

Computer literacy isn't just something that is taught in "computer class" by a "computer teacher." Because the use of computing devices impacts our students at school and at home, for school work, for socializing, and for fun or entertainment, computer literacy is something every educator needs to assist students with. It is my hope that by summarizing these skills for you, it will be easier for you to find ways to help students develop, refine, and retain the computer literacy skills they will need and use for the rest of their lives.

You can find the actual continuum here. What you will see in these posts and the linked spreadsheet are my interpretations and summaries.

Passwords: easy concept, tricky execution! The goal of a good, secure, strong password is that it should be easy for you to remember but hard for someone else to guess. Password management is something that adults struggle with, but can still model for students (even if it ends up being a "do as I say, not as I do" kind of situation). In this spreadsheet on the Data Protection tab, you'll find when kids should know how to do the following things with passwords:

• Use passwords to log in and log out.
  
• Create robust passwords.
• Keep passwords confidential.
• Know what to do when a password is compromised.

What password teaching tips do you have that you can share? How do you help your student manage their passwords? Tell us in the comments, and I'll send you a little thank you gift for contributing to the conversation!