Digital Literacy and Google Tools


Facilitator: Diana Benner (@diben)

Session Description

Students need to be able to recognize the rights, responsibilities, and opportunities of living in an interconnected digital world. Join me as I discuss Google resources for teaching digital literacy.

digital citizenship & safety course

Google offers a free online course to help you teach digital citizenship.

  • 5 modules

  • self-paced

  • contains readings, videos, and activities


Upon completion of the course, you’ll find a downloadable Digital Citizenship and Safety Toolkit that you can use to keep students engaged in the topic. If you successfully pass the five quizzes you will receive a Digital Citizenship and Safety Community Educator recognition badge!

be internet awesome

The Be Internet Awesome program from Google includes an ISTE aligned curriculum for teachers.


In addition to a robust curriculum for teachers, the program includes Interland, an adventure-packed online game that puts critical lessons into hands-on practice.

digital citizenship pledge

Have students establish norms that promote responsible and respectful digital behavior in the classroom by creating a digital citizenship pledge outlining how they will be good digital citizens.

My Digital Citizenship Pledge Google Drawing Template


Digital Citizenship Pledge Lesson Plan by Common Sense Media

search skills lesson plans

Google created a series of lesson plans to help you guide your student to use search meaningfully in their school work and beyond. Each topic of lessons is tiered by skill level: beginner, intermediate and advanced.

kindness matters

Have students focus on being kind to one another. With this activity, students write three kind things they will do. Then they design their friendly ghost.


Three Kind Things Google Slide Template


Additional Resources:

google a day search challenges

Google a Day are short challenges to help students improve their search skills. They include Google Slide decks that you can use.


Put your students' search skills to the test with these trivia challenges.

power searching course

Google offers a free online course to introduce you to how searching works. It includes methods and strategies to find exactly what you are searching for.

google yourself

Have you ever Googled yourself? In order to keep an eye on your digital footprint, you should Google yourself on a regular basis. Have your students do it too.


TRY IT - Google Yourself

google alerts

Google Alerts allows you to monitor your digital footprint. You can set up an alert for your own name and Google will email you if your name pops up on the Internet.


Click here to set up a Google Alert

positive digital footprint

Have students think about what their digital footprint will look like 10 to 15 years from now. Allow them to illustrate their footprint with words, images, or videos.

Positive Digital Footprint Google Slide Template

teaching digital citizenship through sel

Social and emotional learning (SEL) can shape students into strong digital citizens by equipping them with the knowledge and skills to protect their own data and reputation and be considerate of others. Below are some resources for SEL that can strengthen digital citizenship.

additional resources