Literacy In The Digital University

Despite the increasing ubiquity of the term, the concept of the digital university remains diffuse and indeterminate. This book examines what the term 'digital university' should encapsulate and the resulting challenges, possibilities and implications that digital technology and practice brings to higher education. Critiquing the current state of definition of the digital university construct, the authors propose a more holistic, integrated account that acknowledges the inherent diffuseness of the concept. The authors also question the extent to which digital technologies and practices can allow us to re-think the location of universities and curricula; and how they can extend higher education as a public good within the current wider political context. Framed inside a critical pedagogy perspective, this volume debates the role of the university in fostering the learning environments, skills and capabilities needed for critical engagement, active open participation and reflection in the digital age. This pioneering volume will be of interest and value to students and scholars of digital education, as well as policy makers and practitioners.

Literacy in the Digital University is an innovative volume bringing together perspectives from two fields of enquiry and practice: ‘literacies and learning’ and ‘learning technologies’. With their own histories and trajectories, these fields have seldom overlapped either in practice, theory, or research. In tackling this divide head on, the volume breaks new ground. It illustrates how complementary and contrasting approaches to literacy and technology can be brought together in productive ways and considers the implications of this for practitioners working across a wide range of contexts. The book showcases work from well-respected authorities in the two fields in order to provide the foundations for new conversations about learning and practice in the digital university. It will be of particular relevance to university teachers and researchers, educational developers and learning technologists, library staff, university managers and policy makers, and, not least, learners themselves, particularly those studying at post-graduate level.

Digital Literacy Unpacked not only offers a snapshot of innovative approaches to digital literacy, but also intends to provoke discussion, encourage collaboration and inspire – whatever the role or context.

In the 21st century, digital tools enable information to be generated faster and in greater profusion than ever before, to the point where its extent and value are literally beyond imagining. Such quantities can only be meaningfully addressed using more digital tools, and thus our relationship to information is fundamentally changed. This situation presents a particular challenge to processes of learning and teaching, and demands a response from both information professionals and educators. Enabling education in a digital environment means not only changing the form in which learning opportunities are offered, but also enabling students to survive and prosper in digitally based learning environments. This collection brings together a global community of educators, educational researchers, librarians and IT strategists, to consider how learners need to be equipped in an educational environment that is increasingly suffused with digital technology. Traditional notions of literacy need to be challenged, and new literacies, including information literacy and IT literacy, need to be considered as foundation elements for digitally involved learners. Leading international experts from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico and throughout Europe contribute to the debate, and Hannelore Rader, Librarian and Dean of the University Libraries, University of Louisville, Kentucky, provides the foreword. The book is in two parts: In Part 1, Literacies in the Digital Age, the contributors analyse how digital technologies have enabled transformative change in the ways in which learning can be constructed, and discuss the nature of the new literacies that have emerged in this new virtual and e-learning environment. In Part 2, Enabling and Supporting Digital Literacies, the contributors go on to consider the ways in which digital literacies can be made available to learners, and how these literacies are being relocated in a more student-centred environment within the broader perspective of learning. Readership: This book takes the issues raised in the successful Information and IT Literacy, also co-edited by Allan Martin, into a broader context. It is essential reading for all information professionals and educators involved in developing strategies and practices for learning in a digital age.

Many Schools and programs in low-income neighborhoods lack access to the technological resources that those in middle- and upper-income neighborhoods have at their fingertips. This inequity creates a persistent divide in both formal and informal digital literacy that further marginalizes youths from minority and first-generation communities. Diversifying Digital Learning outlines the pervasive problems that exist with ensuring digital equity and identifies successful strategies to tackle the issue. Bringing together top scholars to discuss how digital equity in education might become a key goal in American education, this book is structured to provide a framework for understanding how historically underrepresented students most effectively engage with technology-and how institutions may help or hinder students' ability to develop and capitalize on digital literacies. Addressing the intersection of digital media, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic class in a frank manner, the lessons within this compelling work will help educators enable students in grades K-12, as well as in postsecondary institutions, to participate in a rapidly changing world framed by shifting new media technologies.

An examination of technology-based education initiatives—from MOOCs to virtual worlds—that argues against treating education as a product rather than a process. Behind the lectern stands the professor, deploying course management systems, online quizzes, wireless clickers, PowerPoint slides, podcasts, and plagiarism-detection software. In the seats are the students, armed with smartphones, laptops, tablets, music players, and social networking. Although these two forces seem poised to do battle with each other, they are really both taking part in a war on learning itself. In this book, Elizabeth Losh examines current efforts to “reform” higher education by applying technological solutions to problems in teaching and learning. She finds that many of these initiatives fail because they treat education as a product rather than a process. Highly touted schemes—video games for the classroom, for example, or the distribution of iPads—let students down because they promote consumption rather than intellectual development. Losh analyzes recent trends in postsecondary education and the rhetoric around them, often drawing on first-person accounts. In an effort to identify educational technologies that might actually work, she looks at strategies including MOOCs (massive open online courses), the gamification of subject matter, remix pedagogy, video lectures (from Randy Pausch to “the Baked Professor”), and educational virtual worlds. Finally, Losh outlines six basic principles of digital learning and describes several successful university-based initiatives. Her book will be essential reading for campus decision makers—and for anyone who cares about education and technology.

Digital literacy has become the vital competency that students need to master before graduating. This book provides rich examples of how to integrate it in disciplinary courses.While many institutions are developing introductory courses to impart universal literacy (skills students need to know) and creative literacy (skills for creating new content), discipline-specific skills (skills needed to succeed within a specific discipline) are a vital extension to their learning and ability to apply digital literacy in different contexts. This book provides examples of how to integrate digital literacy across a wide variety of courses spanning many domains.Rather than a wholly new core institutional outcome, digital literacy adds to the development of critical thinking, communication, problem-solving, and teamwork skills by building students’ capacities to assess online information so they can ethically share, communicate, or repurpose it through the appropriate use of available digital technologies. In short, it provides the vital digital dimension to their learning and the literacy skills which will be in increasing demand in their future lives.Following introductory chapters providing context and a theoretical framework, the contributing authors from different disciplines share the digital competencies and skills needed within their fields, the strategies they use to teach them, and insights about the choices they made. What shines through the examples is that, regardless of the specificity of the disciplinary examples, they offer all readers a commonality of approach and a trove of ideas that can be adapted to other contexts.This book constitutes a practical introduction for faculty interested in including opportunities to apply digital literacy to discipline-specific content. The book will benefit faculty developers and instructional designers who work with disciplinary faculty to integrate digital literacy. The book underscores the importance of preparing students at the course level to create, and be assessed on, digital content as fields are modernizing and delivery formats of assignments are evolving.Domains covered include digital literacy in teacher education, writing, musicology, indigenous literary studies, communications, journalism, business information technology, strategic management, chemistry, biology, health sciences, optometry, school librarianship, and law.The book demonstrates a range of approaches that can used to teach digital literacy skills in the classroom, including:·Progressing from digital literacy to digital fluency ·Increasing digital literacy by creating digital content · Assessment of digital literacy ·Identifying ethical considerations with digital literacy ·Sharing digital content outside of the classroom ·Identifying misinformation in digital communications ·Digitizing instructional practices, like lab notes and essays ·Reframing digital literacy from assumption to opportunity ·Preparing students to teach digital literacy to others ·Collaborating with other departments on campus to support digital literacy instruction ·Incorporating media into digital literacy (digital media literacy) ·Using digital storytelling and infographics to teach content knowledge] ·Weaving digital literacy throughout the curriculum of a program, and with increasing depth

This book introduces the design and implementation of an assessment model for a new university-level English curriculum in China that aims at developing digital literacy skills. The assessment approach, embedded in the curriculum of an online modular course at Peking University, requires the students to conduct semester-long digital research projects in English in their major fields of study. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods, evaluation rubrics built around Content, Clarity, and Creative/Critical Thinking were developed, evaluated, and refined over three implementation cycles (eight semesters). The book presents a systematic assessment design framework, a set of effective rubrics for evaluating the digital research project, and authentic examples of written and multimedia presentations by Chinese students. Integrating assessment with instruction and technology, the book provides a valuable practical guide to digital literacy assessment for English education in the Outer and Expanding Circle contexts.