Embedded Files
Online students are especially at an advantage to learn and demonstrate a firm grasp of using digital resources. Since there is a digital divide, and because technology is continuously rapidly evolving, educators need to teach this digital literacy no matter which subject they specialize in.
Reflections
Reflections
Where I was.
Where I was.
I earned a Masters in Information Science when I went back to grad school ten years ago. I remember that the focus was on Web 2.0 and social media was just getting started compared to what it is today. I loved the book called Ambient Findability and learned a lot about digital literacy as it applied to that time period. Since then, I realize that the scope has opened up a millionfold and I was thrilled to learn more about digital literacy today.
Where I am.
Where I am.
After completing the @One course, I feel updated on what digital literacy means now. There is one orange-hued embarrassing leader who uses Twitter to start World Wars so I have to admit I wasn't so keen on getting involved in social media, but I realize that this is the way students can enter into the conversation on issues. It is powerful to know about the channels of communication and to find resources from different parts of our community who have been repressed.
Where I'm headed.
Where I'm headed.
I have adopted a lot of OER materials and used them for my freshman composition course. Students still had a book with readings, but I will try to find those resources in an online form as well. I also think it would be neat to use note-taking features online on the readings to teach reading techniques but am not sure how best to do that yet. I would like to have students review books, use social media to get involved in social issues and more.
Examples
Examples
OER Materials
OER Materials
I absolutely loved using OER materials for my freshman composition research projects. They had amazing resources that students could link to in a click, which proved to be far superior than a textbook AND they were free learning resources!
Adobe Spark
Adobe Spark
Students learned how to do virtual presentations using the Adobe Spark software. This student was in my Autobiography writing class where they were asked to write stories based on a family photo. This assignment was a way to brainstorm and also have students share their lives. They loved it! (And the pictures were wonderful!) I have found it to be a great non-disposable assignment.
Netiquette Guide
Netiquette Guide
In my liquid syllabus, I included guidelines for Netiquette which is a big part of digital literacy and also helps students better form relationships and a firm understanding of how to be a good digital citizen. I plan to also have students change language in some past writing online to demonstrate using Netiquette so that they can apply what they learned of the concept.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy
I used Khan Academy units for my classes that incorporated grammar and punctuation view. There were fun and interactive video units (fully closed captioned) and they moved through one unit a week so I made it count as their lab grade. Students could try multiple times for a 70% pass grade and both native and ESL students raved that they loved it ("for an English assignment," anyway!)
Connect with the world
Connect with the world
Finally, students consulted their own social media for ideas and opinions related to topics they were writing about. I encouraged them to tweet and share to Web 3.0 sites and am in the process of building a more formal assignment around connecting and learning outside of researching opinions of others that will ask them to posit their own conclusions!
Google Sites
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