Course:ETEC540/2010WT1/Orality and Literacy/Characteristics of Digital Literacy

From UBC Wiki

Hypermedia

  • highly networked documents with multiple pathways
    • plain text, graphics, audio, video, hyperlinks, etc.
  • documents not necessarily amendable to print
  • electronic text exists as distributed phenomenon
  • interactive, nonlinear, multimedia and fluid (networked) rather than fixed
  • associative
  • intertwined
  • "extends in significant ways our notions of textuality and literacy" (Dobson & Willinsky, 2009, p.5).
  • relies heavily on our traditional notion of text
  • best suited to tasks involving "substantial amounts of large document manipulation, searching through large texts for specific details and comparison of visual details among objects" (Dillon and Gabbard, 1998, p.331)
  • remediates written/printed work

Digital Literacy

Digital Literacy Definition

Digital Literacy is the awareness, attitude and ability of individuals to appropriately use digital tools and facilities to identify, access, manage, integrate, evaluate, analyse and synthesize digital resources, construct new knowledge, create media. It is the ability to understand and use information in multipel formats from a wide range of sources when it is presented via computers. The concept of literacy goes beyone simply being able to read; it has always meant the ability to read with meaning.

Origins of Digital Literacy

Binary Code: In the term binary, the "bi" means two. For binary code, the two represents the number of symbols: 0 and 1. These symbols are the foundation for digital communication as they are how computers process information and they represent a wide array of strings that can either be positive or negative (i.e. on or off, true or false, yes or no).

What it means to be digitally literate

"Digital literacy...assumes visual literacy and entails both the ability to comprehend what is represented and the ability to comprehend the internal logics and encoding schemes of that representation" (Dobson & Willinsky, 2009, p. 16).

  • dynamic and evolving
  • communal and social
  • to have access to vast amounts of knowledge
  • user as both consumers and (co)-creators of content and knowledge
  • facilitate global interconnections and intercultural exchange
  • assumes cultural access to the conventions of digital literacy - languages and visual conventions, traditionally Western, predominantly English --AnnetteSmith 23:29, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

Digital Natives - AKA: Net Generation (or N-Gen) those born into the world of computers and internet; they have the innate abilities to swim within the currents of digital and social data that flow through the internet (Course Notes, 2010, Module 4, Digital Literacy, paragraph 1) --Ryanedgar 07:57, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

Digital Immigrants - not born into the world of computers and internet; not born with this innate ability; preference to books on shelves (Course Notes, 2010, Module 4, Digital Literacy, paragraph 1) --Ryanedgar 07:57, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

It may be worth noting that being a digital native does not guarantee fluency, nor even exposure to technology. The digital immigrant/native binary is a base for considering how technology in our lives, and is a stereotype of sorts. Just as English-speakers must take English classes so as to develop full insight into literary interpretation, so too must a digital native be educated so as to develop full insight into digital works and workings. Likewise, migration into the digital does not preclude one from attaining digital fluency.

More on Digital Natives & Immigrants (Prensky)

A growing consensus among technology leaders is that teachers, students, and administrators in K-12 education must be educated in the day-to-day use of technology. This brings us to the issue of digital divide. In the past, the role of teachers was to deconstruct knowledge for students, in order to build the knowledge back up in a way that students could understand and learn. “School was truly empowering. It exposed kids for the first time to a wide variety of useful things they knew nothing about, in ways that the students were unable to do on their own” (Prensky, 2008). However, times have changed and our reality now is that educators have slid into the 21st century and into the digital age, still teaching the old way.

Prensky is credited with coining the terms digital natives and digital immigrants. In Prensky’s (2001) words, the term digital native refers to today’s students. They are native speakers of technology, fluent in the digital language of computers, video games, and the Internet. Prensky refers to digital immigrants as those of us who were not born into the digital world. Digital Immigrants have adopted many aspects of the technology, but just like those who learn another language later in life, they retain an “accent” because they still have one foot in the past.

In terms of education, this digital divide, so to speak, may cause a problem. Our students, as digital natives, will continue to evolve and change so rapidly that teachers won’t be able to catch up. Prensky (2006) states, “This phenomenon renders traditional catch-up methods, such as in-service training, essentially useless” (p. 9). There is no doubt that teachers must be well versed in the day-to-day use of technology in order to meet the needs of their students who are growing up in the digital age. Prensky (2001) states: "Today’s students – K-12 through college – represent the first generations to grow up with this new technology. They have 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" (p.2).

The learners of today demand real life experiences that are inline with something in their lives that’s really engaging – something that they do and that they are good at, something that has an engaging, creative component to it.

CamilleMaydonik 23:53, 14 November 2010 (UTC)

The terms, digital natives and digital immigrants can be somewhat devisive and misleading. Certainly not everyone is having the same digital experiences world-wide. Placing people in one camp or the other may only serve to widen the perceived gap, rather than encourage everyone to participate in a more multi-dimensional conversation about the future of education. Although, Prensky and Tapscott present us with the idea of the "generation lap" on a societal basis there is still a need for youth to have direct instruction. This is what the New London Group http://newlearningonline.com/~newlearn/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/multiliteracies_her_vol_66_1996.pdf refers to as overt instruction. Students, may have some technical skill that is beyond that of the teacher, but they still require guidance to think critically about the technology and its application. --LauraBonnor 22:29, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

Multiliteracies

In striving for multiliteracy, individuals are provided "access to the evolving language of work, power, and community," thus facilitating their "critical engagement necessary ... to design their social futures and achieve success through fulfilling employment" (New London Group, 1996,p. 1). It should be understood that these representations of language & communication are increasingly digital and of varying degrees of formality.

  • the ability to examine and functionally process information derived across various modes of representation, including:
    • text (traditional literary forms)
    • the visual (graphics, images)
    • the auditory (sounds, including music)
    • the gestural (eg: body language)
    • the spatial (layouts, graphic orientations)
    • multimodal (interactions between these)
  • enables us to make meaning at work, in public, and at home

Digital literacy requires the ability to read images or image symbols. The ability to read images is one example of multi-literacy. Images may include and are not limited to:

    • Pictures
    • Photographs
    • Illustrations
    • Charts
    • icons
    • Graphs
    • Logos
    • Digital art
    • Digital icons
    • music and sound
    • Emoticons
    • Pictorial symbols
    • Video images, still or moving
    • Typography: Today, the major challenge is to choose the most appropriate type from a wide range of legible choices. Appropriateness is best achieved when genre, purpose, and context fit with the “mood” of a typeface (Schriver, 1997). CamilleMaydonik 00:03, 15 November 2010 (UTC) This is assuming a typeface exists which accurately represents a language which you speak and read. The issue of typography is also one of globalization, internationalization, and localization. all of which have their own issues of equity. --AnnetteSmith 23:33, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

Images may add to text or may be a representation of text, also known as ekphrasis.

Modes of Meaning

Hybridity: The mixture of modes of meaning in the process of formulating new means of sharing ideas or communicating. The blending of cultures or practices, like traditional African music being remixed using modern audio techniques is an example of hybridity.

Intertextuality: The ways that the meanings of texts are moulded by their relationships with other texts. The simplest example is that of one author borrowing material from another.

Katherine Hayles has examined a great many works in this area and is developing new ways of analyzing and exploring artists work in new media.

Digital Literacy in Education

--OrenLupo 03:25, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

The current thinking in education calls on teachers, administrators, and curriculum planners to embrace information technology learning as part of every subject taught in schools.Technology needs to be intergrated into all curriculum areas,and not taught in isolation.L.Dawes Nov.27

Present-day students will have to learn high-level skills such as how to access, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize vast quantities of information. Teachers are expected to engage with technology, media, and visual culture and their effects on their students, while also being accountable for their students’ basic subject-matter knowledge and their performance on assessments. One way of addressing these two needs is to provide an integrated program of digital and visual literacy that is included in the K-12 curriculum.

In order to meet the goal of integrating digital literacy into individual subject areas, curricula should include learning objectives and designated resources that enhance students’ information technology learning, media awareness, and digital and visual literacy. One example of this approach is the BC Ministry of Education Information Technology K to 12 curriculum. Please also see the following example from Alberta Education ICT Complete Program of Studies.

Teachers struggle with notion of meeting the N-Gen students' needs because they don't understand their learning style. There is an "information processing gap" rather than a "generation gap". "Teachers need to experience these learning spaces [web 2.0, social media, etc.] as learners before we can understand how to use them as teachers." (Mabrito and Medley, 2008, p. 5) --Ryanedgar 08:13, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

Teachers need to be facilitators of learning. In other words, they need to be designers of learning, rather than dictators of information. This concept of teaching respects the divergent thinker and encourages creativity. L Dawes.Nov.27

In some cases, the division between digital natives and immigrants is not due to personal beliefs, skills, teaching abilities or attitudes, but the lack of access to the necessary digital technologies to effectively teach students in the digital age. What has been interpreted as teachers not engaging students effectively may be due to the fact that some school boards have such strict AUPs that teachers’ hands are tied and it is difficult to move forward with their teaching in new and radical ways. As a result, teaching responsible digital citizenship becomes very difficult. For example, how can a teacher effectively teach appropriate use of a website such as Facebook, if access to it is blocked on the school’s network? Although there are many factors in this debate, the digital divide is not fully responsible for the fact that many teachers are teaching using dated methodologies. CamilleMaydonik 00:00, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

Teachers have always had to teach students subjects and concepts that are not available in classrooms. Some of the concepts of physics, chemistry and astronomy can not be replicated in small-scale, or with safety. Pictures, lectures and text have stood in the place of radioactivity, or long-range telescopes in the education of many current teachers. It may be faster and easier to teach about Facebook (which is already considered passe by most students under 20 I have encountered) by bringing it up on-screen, and it may be preferable to teach net-safety by demonstrating. Recall, however, that we taught about street safety without brining in a pedophile to demonstrate. The issue may be one of reluctance or unfamiliarity in teachers and administrators. This is something that can only be remedied by teacher education. In-services may be inadequate, and budgets slim, but education of the 'digital immigrants' is central to their assimilation into the 'information age' culture. This is essential if they are to develop and deliver creative teaching solutions to the problems of access and availability. --AnnetteSmith 23:45, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

Classrooms need to reconfigure the relationships of local and global differences.

Unfortunately, adolescents' competence with new technologies is often inappropriately reconstrued as incompetence with print-based literacies (Luke and Luke 2001).

The Impact of Digital Technologies on Literacy

  • The public uptake of the computer (1980s)
    • Word Processing
  • The rise of hypermedia and the Internet (1990s)
  • The emergence of a networked information economy (2000s)
  • The emergence of mobile technologies (ie. handheld computers, cell phones)
  • The development of non-Roman scripts for the display of digital information (Chinese, Japanese, Arabic)

New Literacy Studies

It refers to the new uses in which literacy is situated in socio-cultural contexts. According to Graff(1979) literacy should be viewed, rather, as a set of complex characteristics and processes that influence and are influenced by social context and personal circumstance. Brian Street (1984)sees the perspective of literacy as a social practice rather than as acquisition and employment of a particular skill set. He observes that the New Literacy Studies recognizes the existence of “multiple literacies” and the social practices with which those literacies become associated.(Dobson & Willinski, 2009)....

Hayles notes that our traditional text and language has been human-based and that new media mix our natural, alphabetic language with that of the machine. She explores the nature of this interplay between our language and that of digital code. Comprehending how this relationship plays out in our communication will lead "to a better comprehension of our post-human condition". (Hayles, 2003)--LauraBonnor 17:58, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

Information Literacy

Information Literacy as digital literacy is an instance of the general proliferation of literacies. The American Library Association offered a definition of information literacy that, while it was technology-free, had an obvious bearing on the growing digitization of information resources: “To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed, and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information” (ALA, 1989).The new digital form of information literacy would further equip readers in their independent pursuit of a greater understanding, providing them with search and reading strategies for navigating among sources and for dealing with related issues of source reliability, intellectual property, and access rights.(Dobson & Willinski, 2009)....

Digital Divide

Digital Literacy is directly affected by the Digital Divide. When discussing the digital divide it is helpful to have a definition or understanding of what this term means. The term is often used to describe the differences in access to ICTs. First mentions of the digital divide “appeared about 1995, in documents such as ‘Falling through the net’” (Gutierrez & Gamboa 2008). The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) “define the divide as the ‘gap between individuals, households, business and geographic areas at different socio-economic levels with regards to their opportunities to access information and communication technologies and to their use for a wide variety of countries’” (Gutierrez & Gamboa 2008). It is important to understand that the digital divide is extremely complex and is a dynamic concept. There is not a single divide but multiple divides and therefore there are numerous ways to measure the divide; the most popular measure is the assessment of the extent to which people have access to the Internet. In addition reports suggest that the inequalities of access are evolving and taking on new forms, specifically in regards to the digital divide between the speed and quality of access to ICTs (ITU, 2007).

References

Dillon, A., & Gabbard, R. (1998). Hypermedia as an educational technology: A review of the quantitative research literature on learner comphrehension, control and style. Review of Educational Research, 68, 322-349.

Dobson, T. & Willinsky, J. (2009). Digital Literacy. In Cambridge Handbook on Literacy. Cambridge, Retrieved from http://pkp.sfu.ca/files/Digital%20Literacy.pdf

Gutierrez R., L. H., Gamboa N., L. F., (2008, June). Digital Divide among Low Income People in Colombia, Mexico and Peru. Paper presented at the ITS Biennial Conference, Montreal, Canada. Retrieved November 3, 2008 from Dialogo Regional sobre Sociedad de la Infomacion (DIRSI) web site: http://www.dirsi.net/espanol/files/ITS/Digital_Divide_LG.pdf

Hayles, Katherine. (2003). Deeper into the Machine: The Future of Electronic Literature. Culture Machine. 5. Retrieved, August 2, 2009, from http://www.culturemachine.net/index.php/cm/article/viewArticle/245/241

Luke, A. & Luke, C. (2001). Adolescence lost/childhood regained:On early intervention and the emergence of the techno-subject. Journal of early childhood literacy, 1(1), 91-20.

Mabrito, M., Medley, R. (2008) Why Professor Johnny Can’t Read: Understanding the Net Generation’s Texts. Innovate. Volume 4, Issue 6, August/September. Retrieved November 9, 2010 from http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=510&action=article --Ryanedgar 08:00, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

New London Group (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1). http://newlearningonline.com/~newlearn/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/multiliteracies_her_vol_66_1996.pdf

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6. doi: 10.1108/10748120110424816 CamilleMaydonik

Prensky, M. (2005a). Engage me or enrage me. EDUCAUSE Review, 40(5), 60-65. Retrieved from Professional Development Collection database. CamilleMaydonik

Prensky, M. (2005b). Listen to the natives. Educational Leadership, 63(4), 8-13. Retrieved from Professional Development Collection database. CamilleMaydonik

Prensky, M. (2007). How to teach with technology: Keeping both teachers and students comfortable in an era of exponential change. Emerging Technologies for Learning, 2, retrieved October 31, 2009, from http://partners.becta.org.uk/page_documents/research/emerging_ technologies07_chapter4.pdf CamilleMaydonik

Prensky, M. (2008). Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6), 40-45. Retrieved from Professional Development Collection database. CamilleMaydonik

Schriver, K. A. (1997). Dynamics in document design: Creating texts for readers. New York: John Wiley. CamilleMaydonik

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