GETTING STARTED WITH

DIGITAL LITERACIES

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AN OVERVIEWIN ONE SLIDE1. DIGITAL LITERACIES ARE SUBJECTIVE AND CAN CHANGE.2. DEFINING DIGITAL LITERACIES IS THE FIRST OF FIVE STEPS.3. DEFINITIONS NEED TO BE CO-CREATED TO HAVE POWER.4. CONTEXT IS IMPORTANT WHEN DEFINING DIGITAL LITERACIES.

WHAT ARE DIGITAL LITERACIES?

“Literacy is a characteristic acquired by individuals in varying degrees from just above none to an indeterminate upper level. Some individuals are more or less literate than others but it is really not possible to speak of illiterate and literate persons as two distinct categories.”

(UNESCO, 1957)

“[Literacy as] independent

of and impartial towards

trends and struggles in

everyday life.”(Street, 1984)

“[Literacy as] an active

relationship or a way of

orienting to the social

and cultural world.”(Lankshear, 1999)

AUTONOMOUS IDEOLOGICAL

IN OTHER WORDS...

‘OUT THERE’

EVERLASTING

CAN BE ‘DELIVERED’

CONSTRUCTED

TEMPORARY

NEED TO BE DEVELOPED

OBJECTIVE SUBJECTIVE

DIGITAL LITERACIES ARE

IDEOLOGICALANDSUBJECTIVE

CONSTRUCTED, TEMPORARY & NEED TO BE DEVELOPED

5STEPPROCESSMODEL (S

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51. DEFINE 2. ACCESS 3. UNDERSTAND & EVALUATE4. CREATE 5. COMMUNICATE

DEFINE

DEFINITIONSNEED TO BECO-CONSTRUCTED

THERE IS NO ‘RIGHT ANSWER’...

“Updating of understanding and competence will be necessary as individual circumstances change, and as changes in the digital information environment bring the need for new fresh understanding and new competencies; as Martin (2006a) puts it, digital literacy is "a condition, not a threshold".”

(Bawden, 2008)

FROM THE RESEARCH...*

*SEE HTTP://NEVERENDINGTHESIS.COM

CoCommunicative

CuCultural

CgCognitive

CnConstructive

CiCivic

CrCreative

CfConfident

CtCritical

THE 8 ELEMENTSOF DIGITAL LITERACIES

IT’S ALL ABOUT CONTEXT.

CuCultural

“The nature of literacy in a culture is repeatedly redefined as the result of technological changes.”

Hannon (2000)

THE 8 ELEMENTS

CuCultural

★ What are the various digital cultures/affinity spaces associated with this particular context? (e.g. Facebook/email/World of Warcraft)

THE 8 ELEMENTS

KEY QUESTION

“Functional internet literacy is not the ability to use a set of technical tools; rather, it is the ability to use a set of cognitive tools.”

Johnson (2008)

CgCognitive

THE 8 ELEMENTS

CgCognitive

THE 8 ELEMENTS★What kind of mental model(s) and

conceptual tools would be useful in this context?

KEY QUESTION

“[Digital literacy is] the awareness, attitude and ability of individuals to appropriately use digital tools...in order to enable constructive social action.”

DigEuLit project, quoted in Martin (2006)

CnConstructive

THE 8 ELEMENTS

CnConstructive

THE 8 ELEMENTS★Where are the opportunities to create new

(or remix existing) artefacts in this context?

KEY QUESTION

“Digital literacy must therefore involve a systematic awareness of how digital media are constructed and of the unique 'rhetorics' of interactive communication.”

Buckingham (2007)

CoCommunicative

THE 8 ELEMENTS

CoCommunicative

THE 8 ELEMENTS★ Which communication devices and

technologies are necessary to be successful in this context? What are the ‘nuts & bolts’?

KEY QUESTION

“Modern society is increasingly looking to [people] who can confidently solve problems and manage their own learning throughout their lives, the very qualities which ICT supremely is able to promote.”

OECD (2001)

CfConfident

THE 8 ELEMENTS

CfConfident

THE 8 ELEMENTS

KEY QUESTION

★Where are the opportunities to learn from mistakes in this context? What are the consequences?

“The creative adoption of new technology requires teachers who are willing to take risks... a professional culture that is dominated by a prescriptive curriculum, routine practices... and a tight target-setting regime, is unlikely to be helpful.”

Conlon & Simpson (2003)

CrCreative

THE 8 ELEMENTS

★Where are the opportunities to ‘push the boundaries’ in this context?

CrCreative

THE 8 ELEMENTS

KEY QUESTION

“Once we see that online texts are not exactly written or spoken, we begin to understand that cyberliteracy requires a special form of critical thinking. Communication in the online world is not quite like anything else.”

Gurak (2001)

CtCritical

THE 8 ELEMENTS

★Where are the opportunities for curation and self-reflection in this context?

CtCritical

THE 8 ELEMENTS

KEY QUESTION

“The ability to understand and make use of ICT - digital literacy - is proving essential to employment success, civic participation, accessing entertainment, and education.”

Mehlman (2007)

CiCivic

THE 8 ELEMENTS

★What opportunities are there to ‘change the world’ for the individual/organisation/society in this context?

CiCivic

THE 8 ELEMENTS

KEY QUESTION

CC BY-SA [nev]

DIGITAL LITERACY PRACTICES

CHANGE

EVEN IF YOU DON’T QUITE UNDERSTAND THEM

CC BY-NC-SA Alain Bachellier

INDIVIDUALINTEREST

EDUCATIONALINSTITUTIONS

DIGITAL

LITERACIES

CoCommunicative

CuCultural

CgCognitive

CnConstructive

CiCivic

CrCreative

CfConfident

CtCritical

THESE NEED REVISITINGTO REMAIN POWERFUL

REMEMBER!

IT’S ALL ABOUT CONTEXT.

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