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Going Digital?Considerations for improving literacy in a digital world
Session Objectives:
• Understand what digital literacy is and why it matters
• Understand misconceptions about digital literacy
• Learn about tools to help students improve their own digital literacy
• Understand how digital literacy can help improve reading comprehension
What is Digital Literacy?
Why do our students need it to be more prepared for the workforce?
“Digital Literacy is the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills.”-American Library Association’s Digital Literacy Task Force
What can a digitally literate person do?
Uses diverse technologies appropriately and effectively to retrieve information, interpret results, and judge the quality of that information
Possesses the variety of skills – technical and cognitive – required to find, understand, evaluate, create, and communicate digital information in a wide variety of formats
Understands the relationship between technology, life-long learning, personal privacy, and stewardship of information
Uses digital skills to actively participate in civic society and contribute to a vibrant, informed, and engaged community
Uses these skills and the appropriate technology to communicate and collaborate with peers, colleagues, family, and on occasion, the general public
Visser, Marijke; “Digital Literacy Definition”; 2012; http://Connect.ala.org
What do students say?
• Students were asked to choose skills that they believed should be included in defining the purpose of digital literacy.
• Experts list creativity and critical thinking as two of the top skills needed in today’s workplace.
• Coincidence?
CategoryStudent
Agreement
Critical
Thinking67%
Creativity 56%
Problem
Solving47%
Collaboration 36%
Do you think Digital Literacy is important for students your age?
Why or why not?
It is, the world is growing towards a
more digital society; we need to keep up.
Yes! Resources as such provide intellectual
knowledge & creativity.
Yes, it gives us a chance to explore
the internet in a constructive way.
Yes because the world is evolving with
technology so we should evolve with it.
I think digital literacy is important because
we are able to explore & receive new knowledge.
Prevalence of Computers in the Workplace
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
2012 2020
Computer-Related Jobs
U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics
The U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics projects that
by the year 2020, over
75% of jobs will require
the ability to use
computers on a daily
basis.
Jobs of the Future
Designing
• Programs
• Tools
Testing
• Research
• Mechanisms
Using
• Products
• Competencies
• Adapt to changing technological environment
• Understand how technology works
• Understand the limitations of technology
• Deal creatively with the changing nature of work
Collins, Allan; What’s Worth Teaching?: Rethinking Curriculum in the Age of Technology; 2017; Teachers College Press
MisconceptionsWe think we know, but do we really?
What digital literacy looks like
Misconception
• Digital literacy is just being able to read something on a screen.
– Is literacy just being able to read words on a page?
Reality
• Digital literacy includes e-texts, but also includes videos, digital images, infographics, interactive maps and images, and much more.
• It involves being able to not only read what’s on the screen, but understand the multimedia content and apply that “reading” to a range of tasks.
Digital Natives
Term Origins
• Marc Prensky coined the term “digital native” in a 2001 article titled “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants”.
• Applies to the generation born since 1984.
• He bases the term on his observation that this group has “spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, videogames, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age.”
Implications
• Students today think and process information differently than previous generations.
• Teachers must learn and adapt to this new “language” in order to effectively impact a generation of digital natives.
• Students easily work with technology because it is such an integral part of their world.
Prensky, Marc; “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants”; 2001; https://doi.org/10.1108/10748120110424816
The truth:
• It is a common misconception that today’s students have “assimilated [technology] into their lives since birth in a meaningful, productive way.” (de Abreu)
• According to de Abreu, “this generation of students may be more adept at using a device, but that does not equal literacy of any kind.”
• We must stop assuming that because students have a phone in their hand, that they are equipped with the literacy tools to navigate the technology world.
De Abreu, Tomé; Mobile Learning Through Digital Media Literacy; 2017; Peter Lang
Digital Divide
Myth
• Refers to an information gap between those who have computers and those who do not.
• Assumes a correlation between access to computers and increased knowledge
Reality
• We cannot justifiably define a “digital divide”.
• Studies have shown relatively little correlation between technology access and amount of knowledge.
• Without digital literacy, the computer itself is virtually useless.
Iinuma, Mizuho; Learning and Teaching with Technology in the Knowledge Society: New Literacy, Collaboration, and Digital Content; 2016; Springer
Is there a digital divide?
• 83% of students surveyed have a computer with internet access at home. So what can they do with it?
• None of the categories below show 83% confidence.
• This neither proves nor debunks a “digital divide” but does show that students need more confidence in analytical uses of technology.
Tools for Digital Literacy
How do we equip the next generation of learners?
Student Empowerment Through Digital Literacy
• Recognize their information needs
• Locate and evaluate the quality of information
• Store and retrieve information
• Make effective and ethical use of information
• Apply information to create and communicate knowledge
Iinuma, Mizuho; Learning and Teaching with Technology in the Knowledge Society: New Literacy, Collaboration, and Digital Content; 2016; Springer
Recognizing Informational Needs
What do I need to know and how do I get there?
•Provides feedback to the teacher about students’ digital literacy needs
•Questions asked show students what should matter to them in terms of digital literacy.
Digital Literacy Surveys
•Creates evidence of interaction with text
•Students can automatically link information together by way of technology tools
•Provides feedback to teacher on student reading comprehension.
On-Screen Annotations
•Gives students examples of quality research
•Shows relevancy
•Explains the “Why does this matter for my life?” question
•Teaches a skill rather than a fact
Present students with research and teach them how to draw their own
conclusions.
Locating and Evaluating Information Quality
Breaking News: There is more to searching the internet than the Google Search Bar
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA
All information is not good information
• Why do all teachers say Wikipedia is “bad”?
• Check your references.
• Teach students how to read the “emojis” of text.
Store and Retrieve Information
• Short term vs. long term reading
• Teaches purpose for reading
• Students must understand “where” the information that they read should be stored in their brain before they can apply it.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
Making Effective and Ethical Use of Information
What you read and what you do with it, says something about who you are.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
Apply Information to Create and Communicate Knowledge
We must be digital producers, not just digital consumers.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA
Comprehension through application
The Research
• 2013 study by Wright, Fugett, and Caputa found that students were more likely to engage with multiple literary resources when using an electronic text.
• Reading comprehension isn’t about being able to read word on a page; it’s about being able to do something with those words.
• The 2013 study supports the concept that digital texts allow students to DO more.
The Application
• Students use understanding of written materials to create a video to advertise it. {Check out Flipgrid.com as a way to do this}
• Students use understanding of a text to create an interactive image that shows the “layers” of a concept. {Check out Thinglink.com}
• Students create an interactive map to show a character moving through a text or historical event. {Checkout Google Earth and Google My Maps}
Wright, S., Fugett, A., & Caputa, F. (2013). Using e-readers and internet sources to support comprehension. Educational Technology & Society, 367-379.
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