Project Team:
Dr Cristina Costa, Durham University
Dr Michaela Oliver, Durham University
The Durham Digital Literacy Project, funded by ESRA IAA, explored how digital literacies are lived, learned, and enacted in everyday contexts. The project aimed to move beyond narrow notions of “tech skills” to explore how young people make sense of, negotiate, and interact within digital spaces and cultures in thoughtful, ethical, and social ways.
Pillars of digital engagement
The project frames digital literacy through three interlinked pillars:
Digital reasoning
The capacity to assess information and arguments in the context of one’s digital experiences, to form informed opinions, to judge credibility, evaluate bias or misinformation.
Digital being
Understanding oneself and others in digital contexts, including identity, self‐presentation, social relationships, empathy, including being aware of how one and others perceive others and are perceived online .
Digital integrity
Values and dispositions related to ethical behaviour in digital environments, cultural sensitivity, respect, privacy, and adapting to evolving norms and challenges.
Key Findings
- It is important not to cast young people as mere passive consumers of digital content. Young people are very capable of exercising judgment and being aware of misinformation, but still often benefit from guidance in that respect.
- There is a gap between official digital skills education (often focusing on functional, technical competence) and the deeper capacities of reasoning, identity development, and ethics in the context of digital interactions. Many students report that their programmes give them tools (e.g. how to use tools/apps) but less support in thinking through how to engage with them (how to act, reflect, interact).
- Identity and self‐awareness matter. Young people care about their digital selves, their privacy, the way others see them, and the social consequences of their digital behaviour. These concerns are often tied to issues of well-being, belonging, and trust.
- Ethical understanding and conduct (integrity) benefit from the guidance of meaningful others. Cultural guides with experiences similar to those of young people give credibility and help make shared learning more impactful.
- Educational approaches that are collaborative allow young people to discuss, reflect, and create meaning together, thus giving such learning opportunities practical relevance.
The research team thanks experts from our Durham Research Methods Centre, the Durham School of Education for the time granted, the host school, and the project funder ESRC IAA
Associated publications:
Costa, C., & Oliver, M. (2025). Young people and digital literacy learning: co-producing critical citizenship practices. Pedagogy, Culture and Society. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2025.2593611
Costa, C., & Michaela, O. (2023, February 21). The Durham Digital Literacy Project (19). Durham University. https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1739651