Guest column: Oregon has a digital literacy crisis

Published 7:25 am Wednesday, September 17, 2025

As a technology educator and IT consultant with decades of experience, I am alarmed at Oregon’s continued failure to prepare students for the digital world. Policymakers too often assume that because students use smartphones or tablets, they are ready for today’s degree programs and skilled trade careers that demand digital literacy. This false assumption has permeated policy, creating a dangerous misunderstanding of what digital literacy truly entails.

Two decades ago, “computer literacy” meant operating a computer and using word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations. Today, it has expanded into a broad set of outcomes that cannot be mastered through casual device use; they must be taught.

A crucial distinction must be made between digital skills and digital actions. Digital literacy is the competence to apply digital skills in ways that enhance critical thinking, ethical reasoning, civic engagement, and digital wellness. These skills now span five core areas: information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, content creation, safety and security, and problem-solving and innovation. Digital actions, by contrast, are swiping, scrolling, and posting. The fallacy is assuming that because students can post on TikTok, communicate on Snapchat, or share on Instagram, they have the foundation for success. These apps are designed for consumption, not the productive, problem-solving use of technology required in today’s careers.

Artificial intelligence (AI) elevates this problem to a crisis. Too many students already use it as a shortcut, asking chatbots to write essays, which stifles learning. Properly taught, AI should be a tool for research, idea generation, and analysis, digital skills that sharpen critical thinking and creativity. Just as important, it is becoming a core tool in the workplace. Students must learn to question, refine, and apply AI’s output, building the adaptability employers now demand. Without this guidance, AI is reduced to another passive digital action instead of a force for learning, career readiness, and lifelong problem-solving.

Policy decisions are at the root of this problem. In 2008, Oregon required students to demonstrate “Essential Skills,” including reading, writing, math, and the ability to use technology to learn and work. In 2021, the state suspended these requirements, extending the waiver until 2027–28. In 2022, the Governor announced a computer science initiative, trying to build a “house” of computer programming after removing the “foundation” of digital literacy. With AI reshaping programming itself, this plan is outdated before it is implemented three years from now.

The lack of a consistent statewide policy has created a fractured system where some community colleges have dropped digital literacy requirements while others, like Central Oregon Community College, maintain them. Attendance in high school digital literacy classes has also continued to fall, as the courses are not required for graduation. This inconsistency means that a student’s preparedness depends solely on where they enroll.

The stakes could not be higher. Electricians work with digital schematics stored in the cloud, not paper blueprints. Nurses may spend years mastering clinical knowledge, but if they cannot navigate an Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system to review histories, read orders, record notes, and protect patient information, their expertise is sidelined. Across industries, digital literacy is now as fundamental as reading and math. It enables graduates to apply their training, prepare for jobs that do not yet exist today, and pivot from those that will be consumed by AI.

Parents, grandparents, educators, and Oregon employers: this is your issue too. Students are graduating unprepared for the realities of the workforce. Their opportunities are being eroded by shortsighted policies and the mistaken belief that casual device use equals readiness. We must demand that school boards, legislators, and education leaders establish digital literacy requirements in both K–12 and community colleges. Rapid change in today’s digital world, accelerated by AI, will not pause while Oregon struggles to catch up.

Eric Magidson is an IT consultant and professor of computer information systems in Bend.

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