Integrating Digital Literacy in the Disciplines 9781000972740, 9781642672121

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“Novices will be introduced to the breadth of the term digital literacy while experts will find novel applications situated in disciplines. Hays and Kammer have done a fantastic job of compiling a variety of voices on an increasingly critical skill set.” —Shannon Sipes, Director/Lead Instructional Consultant, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, Indiana University Bloomington 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. 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 digital technologies. In short, it provides the vital digital dimension to their learning and the literacy skills that will be in increasing demand in their future lives.

The Editors

Lauren Hays is an assistant professor of instructional technology, and Jenna Kammer is an assistant professor in library and information services; both at the University of Central Missouri.

HIGHER EDUCATION | TEACHING

22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-2019 www.Stlyluspub.com

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INTEGRATING DIGITAL LITERACY IN THE DISCIPLINES

“Digital literacies that cross disciplinary boundaries are more important to every learner, at every level, than they have ever been. This book provides the depth and breadth that is needed to give digital literacy the prominence it deserves.” —Robert Talbert, Professor of Mathematics, Grand Valley State University

Hays | Kammer

“Being a digital native does not equate to digital literacy. It is imperative that we teach our students to be digitally literate, if not fluent, as digital literacy is one of the most important issues our society currently faces. A goldmine of information, this comprehensive book integrates habits of mind with multiple frameworks of digital literacy to deliver descriptions of programs, initiatives, classroom assignments, student projects, research, teaching strategies, frameworks, digital materials, course design, and more. Most impressive is the consistent focus on student learning.” —Todd Zakrajsek, Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine; Associate Director of the Faculty Development Fellowship Program at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

INTEGRATING

DIGITAL LITERACY IN THE

DISCIPLINES

Edited by Lauren Hays and Jenna Kammer Foreword by Derek Bruff

8/16/21 11:55 AM

“Being a digital native does not equate to digital literacy. It is imperative that we teach our students to be digitally literate, if not fluent, as digital literacy is one of the most important issues our society currently faces. A goldmine of information, this comprehensive book integrates habits of mind with multiple frameworks of digital literacy to deliver descriptions of programs, initiatives, classroom assignments, student projects, research, teaching strategies, frameworks, digital materials, course design, and more. Most impressive is the consistent focus on student learning.” —Todd Zakrajsek, Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine; Associate Director of the Faculty Development Fellowship Program at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill “Digital literacies that cross disciplinary boundaries are more important to every learner, at every level, than they have ever been. This book provides the depth and breadth that is needed to give digital literacy the prominence it deserves.” —Robert Talbert, Professor of Mathematics, Grand Valley State University “Novices will be introduced to the breadth of the term digital literacy while experts will find novel applications situated in disciplines. Hays and Kammer have done a fantastic job of compiling a variety of voices on an increasingly critical skill set.” —Shannon Sipes, Director/Lead Instructional Consultant, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, Indiana University Bloomington 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. 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 digital technologies. In short, it provides the vital digital dimension to their learning and the literacy skills that will be in increasing demand in their future lives.

The Editors

Lauren Hays is an assistant professor of instructional technology, and Jenna Kammer is an assistant professor in library and information services; both at the University of Central Missouri.

22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-2019 www.Stlyluspub.com

Advance Praise for Integrating Digital Literacy in the Disciplines “Digital literacies that cross disciplinary boundaries are more important to every learner, at every level, than they have ever been. Understanding digital literacy from a scholarly, multidisciplinary point of view is therefore essential for every person involved in teaching and learning. This book, drawing from a variety of scholarly and cultural environments, provides the depth and breadth that is needed to give digital literacy the prominence it deserves.” —Robert Talbert, Professor of Mathematics, Grand Valley State University “Integrating Digital Literacy in the Disciplines is a must-have guide for academic librarians, academic developers, and instructors interested in the topic. Novices will be introduced to the breadth of the term digital literacy while experts will find novel applications situated in disciplines. Hays and Kammer have done a fantastic job of compiling a variety of voices on an increasingly critical skill set.”—Shannon Sipes, Director/Lead Instructional Consultant, Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL) Program, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, Indiana University Bloomington “Being a digital native does not equate to digital literacy. It is imperative that we teach our students to be digitally literate, if not fluent, as digital literacy is one of the most important issues our society currently faces. Integrating Digital Literacy in the Disciplines is a goldmine of information. Written by colleagues from throughout the world, this comprehensive book integrates habits of mind with multiple frameworks of digital literacy to deliver descriptions of programs, initiatives, classroom assignments, student projects, research, teaching strategies, frameworks, digital materials, course design, and more. Most impressive is the consistent focus on student learning.”—Todd Zakrajsek, Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine, Associate Director of the Faculty Development Fellowship Program at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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I N T E G R AT I N G D I G I TA L L I T E R A C Y IN THE DISCIPLINES

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INTEGRATING DIGITAL LITERACY IN THE DISCIPLINES

Edited by Lauren Hays and Jenna Kammer Foreword by Derek Bruff

STERLING, VIRGINIA

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COPYRIGHT © 2021 BY STYLUS PUBLISHING, LLC Published by Stylus Publishing, LLC 22883 Quicksilver Drive Sterling, Virginia 20166-2019 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, recording, and information storage and retrieval, without permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Hays, Lauren, editor. | Kammer, Jenna, editor. Title: Integrating digital literacy in the disciplines / edited by Lauren Hays and Jenna Kammer ; foreword by Derek Bruff. Description: First Edition. | Sterling, Virginia : Stylus Publishing, LLC, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “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”-- Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2021039389 (print) | LCCN 2021039390 (ebook) | ISBN 9781642672121 (Cloth : acid-free paper) | ISBN 9781642672138 (Paperback : acid-free paper) | ISBN 9781642672145 (Library Networkable e-Edition) | ISBN 9781642672152 (Consumer e-Edition) Subjects: LCSH: Educational technology--United States. | Education, Higher--Computer-assisted instruction--United States. | Computer literacy--Study and teaching (Higher)--United States. | Interdisciplinary approach in education--United States. Classification: LCC LB1028.3 .I56535 2021 (print) | LCC LB1028.3 (ebook) | DDC 371.330973--dc23/eng/20211013 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021039389 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021039390 13-digit ISBN: 978-1-64267-212-1 (cloth) 13-digit ISBN: 978-1-64267-213-8 (paperback) 13-digit ISBN: 978-1-64267-214-5 (library networkable e-edition) 13-digit ISBN: 978-1-64267-215-2 (consumer e-edition) Printed in the United States of America All first editions printed on acid-free paper that meets the American National Standards Institute Z39-48 Standard. Bulk Purchases Quantity discounts are available for use in workshops and for staff development. Call 1-800-232-0223 First Edition, 2021

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To all of our students. Each day you inspire us to learn. Lauren and Jenna

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CONTENTS

FOREWORD

xi

Derek Bruff ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

xiii

INTRODUCTION

1

Lauren Hays and Jenna Kammer 1 DIGITAL LITERACY IN THE ACADEMY

7

Jenna Kammer, Todd Cherner, and Lauren Hays PART ONE: EDUCATION 2 REPOSITIONING DIGITAL LITERACY IN EDUCATOR PREPARATION PROGRAMS A Digital Disciplinary Approach for Teaching Methods Instructors17

Todd Cherner 3 DEVELOPING DIGITAL LITERACY IN THE ARTS FOR PRESERVICE TEACHERS

30

Judith Dinham 4 ENHANCING DIGITAL LITERACY THROUGH SCHOLARLY DIGITAL STORYTELLING

42

Kelly Schrum 5 TEACHING DIGITAL LITERACIES TO CHALLENGE NARRATIVES OF COMPLIANCE AND DEFIANCE

56

Leah Panther PART TWO: HUMANITIES 6 DIGITAL LITERACIES FOR ENGLISH Laying a Foundation in 1st-Year Writing71

Jessie L. Moore and Greg Hlavaty

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7 OPEN AND CLOSED Open Education Projects, Indigenous Studies, and Teaching Undergraduate Students About the Ethics of Information Access83

Jennifer Hardwick 8 USING PUBLIC MUSICOLOGY TO TEACH DIGITAL LITERACY IN MUSIC HISTORY CLASSES

95

Reba A. Wissner PART THREE: COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA STUDIES 9 DIGITAL LITERACY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF JOURNALISM EDUCATION Digital Media Literacy107

Simge Süllü Durul and Tezcan Özkan Kutlu 10 DIGITAL LITERACY IN DESIGN, MEDIA, AND COMMUNICATIONS DISCIPLINES Fluency Is the New Literacy117

Phillip Motley and Derek Lackaff PART FOUR: BUSINESS 11 DIGITAL STORYTELLING IN POSTGRADUATE STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT COURSES

131

Mo Kader 12 EXTENDING THE NOTION OF DIGITAL LITERACY IN BUSINESS IT COURSES Thoughts on Process and Metaliteracy143

Jeffrey Mok and Damien Joseph PART FIVE: SCIENCE 13 AN INFOGRAPHICS ASSIGNMENT AS A VEHICLE TO PROMOTE DIGITAL LITERACY IN A NONMAJORS INTRODUCTORY BIOLOGY COURSE

159

Isabelle Barrette-Ng and Patti Dyjur 14 DIGITAL LITERACY IN CHEMISTRY Challenges and Opportunities in Undergraduate Education171

Jordan Mantha

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PART SIX: HEALTH SCIENCES 15 THE IMPORTANCE OF DIGITAL LITERACY EDUCATION IN A CANCER GENOMICS MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSE

187

Louise Blakemore, Camille Huser, Aileen Linn, and Leah Marks 16 INTEGRATING DIGITAL LITERACY IN OPTOMETRIC CLINICAL REASONING

199

Heather Edmonds, Sandra Mohr, and Aurora Denial PART SEVEN: PROFESSIONAL DEGREES 17 DIGITAL LITERACY IN SCHOOL LIBRARIANSHIP

211

Rene Burress 18 TAKING THE LAW INTO THEIR OWN HANDS Innovative Digital Video Assessment in a Law Degree219

Eleneth Woolley, David Yammouni, and Gerry Rayner

EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS

INDEX

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FOREWORD

Several years ago, I added a weird assignment to my introductory statistics course. I knew that data visualization was of growing importance in the field of statistics, so I asked my students to represent the results of their final projects as infographics. While I was sure my students had seen many infographics during their time online, I was pretty confident that none of them had created an infographic. As novel as the assignment was for both me and my students, the results were fantastic, with students developing a greater appreciation for the use of size, color, and relative positioning to tell stories with data. I describe this infographic assignment as “weird” because (a) more than one of my students called it that. and (b) at the time I hadn’t heard of other statistics instructors incorporating such a nontraditional assignment in their courses. Since then, infographics and other visually focused assignment have become, if not commonplace, at least a little less weird. There’s one described in this very volume, in fact. These instructors are discovering, like I did, that having students produce a particular kind of digital artifact can help students become more thoughtful consumers of such artifacts. This is one of the rationales behind the “students as producers” approach to course design that the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching promotes. We can engage students not only as consumers of information, but also as producers of knowledge. That experience as a producer, thinking critically and evaluatively about a host of design decisions relevant to the particular domain and medium of expression, can help students be better consumers, approaching the media and information they encounter with more nuanced and skeptical eyes. As this volume attests, teaching these kinds of digital literacies is of growing importance in higher education. Shortly after that stats course, I started considering a similar “students as producers” assignment for the first-year writing seminar on cryptography I taught. I felt that students would benefit from producing a podcast episode in lieu of one of the more traditional writing assignments in the course. However, the requirements for first-year writing seminars at my college were all framed around number of pages written, which didn’t map well onto an audio assignment. I’m a rule follower by nature, so I held off on that podcast xi

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assignment . . . for a time. After a couple of years, I decided I would seek forgiveness, if needed, for another “weird” assignment. “A month ago, I had never listened to a podcast, and now I’ve made one!” That was a piece of feedback, delivered with admittedly mixed feelings, from one of my students after I implemented the podcast assignment. More reassuring was the student who told me he had never shared his academic work with his grandmother, but he was excited to send her the link to his podcast episode. The podcast assignment, which does indeed involve a fair amount of writing, has been an exciting component of my cryptography course for several years now. I’ll soon be posting our fourth season of episodes to the podcast feed. Knowing that producing infographics and podcasts was new terrain for my students, I made great efforts in these courses to scaffold these assignments to help students learn the digital and storytelling skills they would need to succeed. We looked at, listened to, and evaluated sample artifacts to understand the media and genres; we worked collaboratively to develop grading rubrics to foster a shared understanding of assignment expectations; and we offered lots of review to student works-in-progress, among other steps. I tried not to assume any particular digital literacies on the part of my students, instead endeavoring to teach those literacies as we went along. Teaching these nontraditional literacies led me to an important realization: I had been assuming—incorrectly—for years that all of my students possessed the more traditional literacies used in typical writing assignments. Why hadn’t I been scaffolding those assignments as intentionally to teach those skills and mindsets? I don’t have a good answer to that, but this is one reason it’s critical that educators teach new digital literacies in their disciplines. Doing so gives us a much greater appreciation of the importance of teaching all kinds of literacies to our students, to prepare them for complex and challenging futures. This work isn’t easy, as it requires us to challenge ourselves to learn and teach new literacies that aren’t always familiar to us. But it’s important work, and that’s why I’m excited to see this volume. I hope it will inspire and equip more educators to add a few “weird” assignments and activities to their courses, ones that will empower students to navigate their increasingly complex digital lives. —Derek Bruff Vanderbilt University

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

W

e would like to acknowledge the faculty who have contributed chapters to this book. We sincerely respect and appreciate their knowledge and experience. The authors, who all share a passion for digital literacy, each contributed a unique perspective on digital literacy as seen through their disciplines. We would also like to thank the three vignette authors who shared their digital literacy initiatives. These vignettes can be found in chapter 1 and provide an important overview of campus-wide initiatives. Finally, we would like to thank the team at Stylus who provided excellent support and guidance through the process, including Stylus president John von Knorring and the editorial project team.

xiii

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INTRODUCTION Lauren Hays and Jenna Kammer

T

his book is for all those interested in helping students navigate our increasingly digital world. Simply learning to use technology is no longer sufficient for college students as they prepare to enter the workforce. Today, a digitally literate students means that they can choose the correct technology for the task at hand, use that technology, and then ethically share, communicate, or reuse the information created with that technology. A digitally literate student also has habits of mind that allow them to think critically, continually learn, problem-solve, and adapt to different digital environments. Students must not only learn to use technology but also learn about the ethical and responsible practice of creating digital content, as well as strategies for using that content in academics and later in their professional careers. They must also stay safe online and critically consider privacy, security, and legitimacy for all online transactions. Digital literacy not only assumes that students know how to use technology within their areas of interest but also assumes that students should learn additional complex cognitive and social skills related to using technology as members of a digital society. This includes skills such as troubleshooting, critical thinking, and knowledge-building and using strategies like curating content, sharing information, or using the web for collaboration and problem-solving. Many of the knowledge and skills students possess do not translate into the necessary skills for technology use on the job (Murray & Perez, 2014). Growing up with technology does not equate to digital literacy. Postsecondary educators cannot assume students are digitally literate, but instead they must find ways to teach it so that their students are prepared to work in their chosen field. Digital literacy in higher education today requires students to build on what they already know about using technology for creating and communicating and apply that knowledge to living and working in a digital society.

What Is Digital Literacy? Universally, digital literacy is recognized as a set of skills needed to operate in digital environments. For the purposes of this book the authors started 1

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with two definitions to frame their work. First, Gilster (1997) defined digital literacy as a set of skills to access the internet, find, manage and edit digital information; join in communications, and otherwise engage with an online information and communication network. Digital literacy is the ability to properly use and evaluate digital resources, tools and services, and apply it to lifelong learning processes. (p. 220)

Second, EDUCAUSE (2019) recognized the work of Project Information Literacy, a national research institute studying students’ information practices, defines digital literacy as the interpretive and evaluative competencies needed for both navigating a fluid information landscape and developing a deep understanding of how information is produced, consumed, shared, and used for self-learning and collaboration. (para. 6)

Using these definitions as the starting point, the authors also considered the breadth of knowledge someone needs to be not only digitally literate but also digitally fluent. This led us, the editors, to develop the following definition of digital literacy: Digital literacy is the ability to evaluate and critique information that is created and shared in digital mediums. To be digitally literate, persons must develop mental habits to adjust to new digital tools and content.

Digital literacy is significant as more information is created, shared, and consumed electronically. New tools allow for information to be produced in new ways, thus underscoring the need for students to be literate in digital tools and environments so they can competently navigate current information landscapes. Digital literacy is not limited to developing technical skills for using digital tools. It also includes a holistic understanding of the information created within a tool, as well as the implications for using it. Nelson et al. (2019) found that digital literacy cannot be reduced to a specific skill set. Instead, digital literacy must be taught throughout the curriculum so that it is learned, reinforced, and understood as situational.

Focus of the Book Throughout this book, authors from different disciplines share the digital competencies and skills needed within their fields and the strategies they use to teach them. Willingham (2008) explained that factual knowledge of a given subject increases a student’s ability to find and evaluate information to help them solve problems within that context. In this book, authors

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describe how they adapt existing teaching practices to prepare students to use technology within specific contexts to solve problems and make decisions. In addition, authors express concern about students’ ability to navigate misinformation and adapt to new technology without digital literacy interventions. These experiences challenge the notion of the digital native, clarifying that those born into an age of using technology still need to learn digital skills for using it in different contexts. For many, this involves weaving digital literacy in its various formats through projects and courses and consulting with experts on campus to build a robust initiative. One advantage of an edited volume of chapters about digital literacy is that readers are able to see different examples of applications of digital literacy within a variety of contexts, as told from those who integrated digital literacy into their courses. Topics about digital literacy in this book include teacher education, writing, musicology, Indigenous literary studies, communications, journalism, business IT, strategic management, chemistry, biology, health sciences, optometry, school librarianship, and law. While it is often assumed that what is relevant in one discipline may not be relevant in another, the chapters in this book have a commonality in that the authors have explained how digital literacy, its frameworks, and its habits of mind are essential for student success. Digital literacy instruction is not always a solitary effort. In several schools, such as Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt, and New Mexico State University, digital literacy efforts are underway at the campus level. Courses, workshops, and training in digital literacy are offered campus-wide to prepare 1st-year students, experienced teachers, graduate assistants, and other staff and educators working with students on campus. These schools identified essential competencies of digital literacy that were necessary for students to be successful in college, such as fact-checking, evaluating information, online safety, communicating online, and using educational technology for learning. Within the academy, educators are also designing instruction to include opportunities to apply digital learning to discipline-specific content. The authors in this book have demonstrated that throughout the disciplines advanced digital literacy skills are relevant within different contexts. Authors describe how modernization of their fields and changes in delivery formats of college classes have led to a need to prepare students at the course level to create, and be assessed on, digital content. Of interest is how varied the approaches to teaching digital literacy are, with each author using a unique strategy that aligns with their course, program objectives, and policy initiatives within their geographic region. While some institutions emphasize content creation, others emphasize media and information literacy as a subskill of digital literacy. In this book, a variety of approaches are used to teach digital literacy skills in the classroom, including the following:

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•• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• ••

progressing from digital literacy to digital fluency increasing digital literacy by creating digital content assessing digital literacy identifying ethical considerations with digital literacy sharing digital content outside the classroom identifying misinformation in digital communications digitizing instructional practices such as 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 •• weaving digital literacy throughout the curriculum of a program and with increasing depth •• incorporating media into digital literacy (digital media literacy) •• using digital storytelling and infographics to teach content knowledge Teaching digital literacy also involves the assessment of digital literacy skills and habits of mind. Authors describe how they identify the digital literacy needed within their disciplines, often by determining where deficits lie (evaluating information for accuracy is an example of a deficit seen throughout several chapters) but also by exploring practices within the field that require digital competencies. For several, this involves assessing the habits of mind needed to work within a digital society rather than a specific technical skill set. Critical thinking, computational thinking, socioemotional skills, and metacognition are described as attitudes and habits of mind that are necessary to cultivate digital literacy. Specific rubrics, formative assessment, touchpoints, and direct instruction were used to target these areas to measure how well, and to what extent, students met digital literacy competencies. One final takeaway from the chapters in this book is that instructors themselves must acquire digital literacy before teaching it to others. Several chapters explain this from the perspective of the preservice K–12 teacher or school librarian who must learn digital literacy to be able to teach it to their young students. Within the academy, instructors are learning to use technology for teaching, as well as staying abreast of changes within the fields and occupations in which they are preparing students. This often involves collaboration with others through consultations with specialists on campus, working with experts in the field, and professional development. In some cases, librarians, instructional designers, or technology consultants were partners in digital literacy initiatives to build robust programs. In other cases, real-life, authentic projects were created in the classrooms, similar to what would be created in the workforce, such as digital media, communications, or artifacts.

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Based on this collection of experiences, we conclude that digital literacy should be taught, with intent and at varying levels, within the disciplines in addition to campus-wide initiatives. As an umbrella term, the meaning of digital literacy and what makes one digitally literate changes as people acquire digital skills at home and their personal life and transfer and develop those skills within the context of their academic studies. In the workforce, professionals must be prepared for technological change and be trained to use the habits of mind necessary to adapt to these changes. As Gilster (1997) stated in his seminal work on digital literacy, “Technologies shift, but if you remember that knowledge assembly, Internet searching, hypertextual navigation, and content evaluation are all methods rather than specific hardware or software products, you will be able to apply them to the Net of tomorrow” (p. 230).

A Preview of the Chapters Throughout this book, authors from the United States, Canada, Scotland, Australia, Singapore, and Turkey share their experiences teaching digital literacy to students in their disciplines. Each author shares a unique approach for teaching digital literacy in tandem with discipline-specific outcomes. As we reflect on the approach each author took to teaching digital literacy, we see opportunities to borrow and adapt the teaching strategies across the curriculum. In chapters 8, 6, and 15, authors discuss how article databases and online content can be used to teach digital literacy, particularly when used as a resource to find factual information and support arguments with evidence. In chapter 16, authors describe how they did this in collaboration with librarians. From an ethical perspective, chapter 7 explains that in the author’s courses students critically reflect on the information publicly available, building digital literacy skills that help them consider authorship, ownership, and responsibility. In chapter 9 and chapter 14, authors describe how they transformed assignments into digital projects, which often involves reconceptualizing processes that used to be done on paper or in the physical classroom, such as digitizing lab notes (as might happen in a chemistry classroom), or writing headlines intended for use on social media (as might happen in a journalism classroom). For students in educator preparation programs like those in chapter 2, this means having deep knowledge of content so that disciplinary digital literacy can be incorporated in instruction design. Chapters 12 and 17 describe how digital literacy is not taught in just one class, but is instead taught in parts throughout the full curriculum, ensuring

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students develop increasing levels of digital literacy, which can be applied in the workforce. This is similar to the vignettes described in chapter 1 that show how authors designed campus-wide initiatives to teach students the basic digital literacy skills and competencies needed to succeed as a student. Chapters 5 and 11 explain how policies within courses can be reexamined to ensure that inequities in digital literacy are inhibiting progress in the course. By using an empathetic teaching approach, instructors can identify their own assumptions about students’ digital literacy (or lack of digital literacy) and consider new structures, provide training, or redesign assignments to encourage digital literacy while also supporting students who often face challenges when learning from home. Student-created content is a digital literacy teaching strategy used in chapters 3, 4, 6, 8, 13, and 18. The learner-as-creator approach (discussed in detail in chapter 3) empowers students to communicate in multimodal formats (i.e., podcasts, blogs, digital newsletters, infographics, or video) as a means of demonstrating digital literacy skills while also learning to produce quality content. Several chapters (3, 4, 11) specifically describe digital storytelling as an instructional strategy for both teaching and learning. What these teaching strategies demonstrate is that digital literacy can be incorporated in academic instruction in many different ways while maintaining a commonality in learning outcomes. Ultimately, what is important for students is that they become digitally literate or digitally fluent (e.g., see chapter 10). As teachers, we need to determine how best to incorporate digital literacy so that students leave our classes with the skills and knowledge they need. We hope these stories inspire integration of digital literacy in various disciplines across the college curriculum.

References EDUCAUSE. (2019, July 29). 7 things you should know about digital literacies. https://library.educause.edu/resources/2019/7/7-things-you-should-knowabout-digital-literacies Gilster, P. (1997). Digital literacy. Wiley. Murray, M. C., & Pérez, J. (2014). Unraveling the digital literacy paradox: How higher education fails at the fourth literacy. Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology, 11, 85–100. http://iisit.org/Vol11/IISITv11p085-100Murray0507.pdf Nelson, K., Courier, M., & Joseph, G. W. (2011). An investigation of digital literacy needs of students. Journal of Information Systems Education, 22(2), 95–110. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/301384456.pdf Willingham, D. T. (2008). Critical thinking: Why is it so hard to teach? Arts Education Policy Review, 109(4), 21–32. https://doi.org/10.3200/AEPR.109.4.21-32

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1 D I G I TA L L I T E R A C Y IN THE ACADEMY Jenna Kammer, Todd Cherner, and Lauren Hays

A

s digital literacy expands in scope and influence, many institutions have developed programming specifically related to digital literacy. At the same time, individual instructors must work to identify technological change occurring within their fields and ensure students have the skills and habits of mind to adapt with these changes and apply the latest technology to their work. The concept of discipline-based digital literacy assumes that there are specific applications of digital literacy needed depending on the context in which one is working. However, before students can apply digital literacy within a discipline-specific context, they must have a foundational understanding of fundamental digital literacy.

Foundational Digital Literacy Skills When looking across definitions, scholars have suggested that digital literacy represents a set of skills for purposely using technology. Hague and Payton (2011) explain digital literacy as “going beyond functional skills and the ability to complete basic internet searches and PowerPoint presentations. It means giving students the opportunity to use a wide range of technologies collaboratively, creatively and critically” (para. 7). From their perspective, digital literacy is not something done independently; rather, it requires multiple students working together to solve a problem or complete a task. Thatcher (2010) adds that digital literacy means “accessing, understanding, and appropriately using digital media in specific

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communications” (p. 169). This definition positions digital literacy as skills to be used when corresponding electronically with another entity of some kind—individuals, organizations, companies, and so on—and interpreting the quality, value, and truth of the correspondence before determining if and how to respond to it. A third example is from Ng (2014), who identifies digital literacy as consisting of technical, cognitive, and socioemotional elements. Ng explains technical as being able to operate the technology; cognitive as being able to locate and discern the credibility of digital information as well as staying within moral, legal, and ethical boundaries while using technology; and socioemotional as engaging in safe and responsible behaviors online. Though they each take a slant, the definitions cumulatively describe digital literacy as a set of skills for ethically using technology to locate and evaluate information, communicate with other individuals and entities, and work as teams for completing projects. Because digital literacy does not have a content-area distinction, it can be applied across the disciplines.

Campus-Wide Initiatives to Develop Digital Literacy Many institutions have taken efforts campus-wide to target digital literacy within the student population, recognizing that college students need to develop skills related to critical thinking, fluency, collaboration, privacy, and security when working generally with information, as well as specific digital skills within their subject areas. The New Media Consortium’s digital literacy brief recommends that campuses strategically address digital literacy across the curriculum and within three levels of institutional implementation: universal literacy (skills all students need to know), creative literacy (skills for creating new content), and discipline-specific skills (skills needed to succeed within a specific discipline; Alexander et al., 2017). Since the brief ’s publication, many campuses have developed digital literacy initiatives to support development of these skills. The purpose of this book is to showcase the ways digital literacy is taught across the curriculum and within a variety of disciplines. However, foundational skills can be developed outside of content areas when digital literacy instruction occurs within and outside of specific disciplines in higher education. This chapter highlights current practices for teaching digital literacy with the inclusion of three vignettes that showcase examples of cross-disciplinary and cross-­curricular digital literacy initiatives.

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Vignette 1 In 2016, the University Libraries at Virginia Tech embarked on a more coordinated effort for digital literacy education. Since then, digital literacy initiatives have included developing shared language and goals through a digital literacy framework; aligning existing programs, such as 1st-year information literacy instruction and advanced skills for undergraduate researchers, to this framework; and developing a variety of new teaching partnerships and opportunities for student learning that extend our library’s traditional liaison areas. Given the complex, varied nature of digital literacy, consensusbuilding has been an emphasis of digital literacy initiatives at Virginia Tech. Building on the work of an initial library task force, library faculty developed a framework to help visualize a multifaceted understanding of digital literacy. In this learner-centered framework, we identified seven core competency areas: identity and well-being, discovery, evaluation, ethics, creation and scholarship, communication and collaboration, and curation. These core competencies are informed by five key values: curiosity, reflection, equity and social justice, creativity, and participation. Ultimately our framework approaches digital literacy through the lens of multiple literacies, including information, media, and data. We developed this framework (see Figure 1.1) with feedback from Virginia Tech faculty and students, and it has been a useful starting point for digital literacy conversations, outreach, and lesson planning. (For more information on this framework, see the digital literacy framework toolkit; Feerrar et al., 2019.) Current digital literacy initiatives at the University Libraries reflect many different areas of this framework, ranging from media design and creation to inquiry and academic research to exploring identity and well-being online. In particular, digital wellness has been an area of recent curriculum development and partnership. We have developed a series of workshops, including “Build Your Online Presence With ePortfolios,” “Fact-Checking,” “Digital SelfCare,” “Declutter Your Digital Stuff,” and “Good Passwords.” These have been offered as open, drop-in workshops as well as adapted in partnership with specific courses and cocurricular programs, ranging from disciplinary 1st-year experiences, wellness peer educators, graduate teaching assistants, and living-learning communities. Since the summer of 2019, we have taught 50 digital wellness workshops or class sessions for over 1,000 students. Integrating topics like digital wellness into our instructional repertoire has expanded what we might have initially imagined digital literacy

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Figure 1.1.  Literacy framework. ata

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Note: © University Libraries at Virginia Tech. Reprinted with permission.

to include. While sometimes challenging to define, an expansive approach to digital literacy has meant opportunities to connect with learners across disciplines in new ways and to reflect more deeply on both their shared and unique needs. Julia Feerrar Head, Digital Literacy Initiatives University Libraries Virginia Tech

Vignette 2 In 2017, Vanderbilt University identified the need to develop a shared understanding of digital literacies on campus in order to further support the educational technologies pillar of the university’s strategic plan, as well as to ensure that students are prepared to participate as global digital citizens upon graduation.

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Under the lead of the associate provost for digital learning, the Digital Literacy Committee was charged with (a) providing a definition of digital literacy that will apply to undergraduate, graduate, and professional students in the context of their degree programs and professions and (b) recommending curricular and cocurricular initiatives to facilitate the development of the digitally literate student. The committee included a wide range of representatives from across campus, including the libraries; the Center for Teaching, digital learning and entrepreneurship offices; faculty from medicine, education, arts and science, engineering, and management. The varied representation allowed for unique disciplinary and functional perspectives, which resulted in a multidimensional definition of digital literacy. This definition focuses on what a digitally literate Vanderbilt student looks like and incorporates elements related to computational thinking; the ability to “produce, curate, share and critically consume and synthesize information in a variety of digital (and non-digital) forms” (Vanderbilt University, 2017); and the more ethical side of digital literacy, such as critical reflection on an individual’s own consumption and creation of mediated communication. The committee also sought to identify how elements of digital literacies are integrated into the curriculum, as curricular support was identified as a key component of creating a successful digital literacy program. The committee canvassed programs across all undergraduate colleges to determine which courses included coursework related to (a) critical digital literacy, (b) digital visualization and production, and/or (c) computational thinking. Courses including a digital literacy component were tagged on the university’s course catalog. Students taking 5 hours’ worth of credit in any given category receive a digital literacy micro-credential (badge). Close to 150 undergraduate courses were identified as fitting within the three defined areas of digital literacies. Future efforts include identifying a micro-credentialing pathway through cocurricular endeavors, including workshops and self-directed learning opportunities provided through the libraries and other student life departments. The work of micro-credentialing is still in progress, but the unified definition of digital literacy has highlighted the crucial need for students to develop the skills and mindsets necessary to succeed in a complex, digital world. Melissa Mallon Director of Peabody Education Library Director of Teaching & Learning Vanderbilt University Libraries Vanderbilt University

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Vignette 3 During the fall 2020 semester New Mexico State University (NMSU) constructed its first digital literacy course to help students navigate the sudden transition to online remote learning. The 8-week course, Digital Literacy: Navigating the Digital Learning Environment, came amid an ongoing transition to online learning due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was critical that all students, especially 1st-year students, understood how to be effective, successful, and responsible online learners. The purpose of the course was to help students define digital literacy, understand what that entailed, safely navigate on- and off-campus digital resources, and use technology to support their social, professional, and academic success. This was how NMSU demonstrated commitment to educational access, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Course Learning Outcomes In this course, students will: •• •• •• ••

Demonstrate technology skills and fluency. Apply digital literacy strategies for multiple purposes.  Identify digital literacy issues. Use digital citizenship skills and knowledge.

Through the collaborative efforts of several departments, which included Academic Technology, Career Services, Instructional Innovation and Quality, the library, faculty from the 2-year college (Doña Ana Community College [DACC]), and graduate students a course was designed that was not only informative but also engaging to learners. The goal was to foster real-life skills for use in academic, professional, and personal settings, such as innovation, time management, digital identity, communication, social consciousness, and collaboration. Today’s digital world requires every person to have some level of understanding of technology, so it was essential that students learn to effectively and responsibly find, evaluate, analyze, communicate, and share online content. Course modules: •• •• •• •• ••

Digital Literacy 101 Technical Proficiency: Netiquette and Technology Overview Career Development and Self-Assessment Communication and Collaboration Information, Data, and Media

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•• Creating, Innovation and Research •• Digital Citizenship and Civic Engagement •• Capstone Project Each module has several key components: •• •• •• •• •• ••

statement of learning objective, activities, and assignments PowerPoint presentation video activity to practice learning module quiz discussion question

During the course, students conducted online exercises using various digital applications, including Google Suite, Canvas, Adobe Creative Cloud, Zoom, and Studio. Students also participated in interactive activities to get them immersed in technology and NMSU’s cultural life. A pre-/post-course evaluation revealed that students found the course engaging, easy to navigate, and valuable. Comments made by students included “It was relevant to everyday struggles” and it “helped me think outside the box about digital literacy.” Moving forward the course will explore technology’s role in influencing current civic movements such as Black Lives Matter, the women’s rights movement, and other societal issues. Patrick Turner Director, First Year Initiatives UNIV 110, Digital Literacy New Mexico State University

Conclusion By taking different approaches, the three vignettes demonstrate how foundational digital literacy is for students. It must be woven throughout the university curriculum for students to gain the skills and mental habits necessary for success. Digital literacy is not discipline-specific but needed in all fields by all students. Nonetheless, for students to be fully successful in their chosen field, they will develop specific digital literacy skills needed in that branch of knowledge. The following chapters describe how digital literacy is integrated within the disciplines and by individual instructors applying digital literacy frameworks to their content areas. Our hope is that this book sparks additional interest in including digital literacy in your curriculum.

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References Alexander, B., Adams Becker, S., Cummins, M., & Hall Giesinger, C. (2017). Digital literacy in higher education, part II: An NMC horizon project strategic brief. New Media Consortium. Feerrar, J., Hammer, K., & Digital Literacy Framework Working Group. (2019). Digital literacy framework toolkit. http://odyssey.lib.vt.edu/s/home/item/256 Hague, C., & Payton, S. (2011). Digital literacy across the curriculum. Curriculum and Leadership Journal, 9(10). http://www.curriculum.edu.au/leader/default. asp?id=33211&issueID=12380 Ng, W. (2014). Investigating through concept mapping pre-service teachers’ thinking progression about “e-Learning” and its integration into teaching. In D. Ifenthaler & R. Hanewald (Eds.), Digital knowledge maps in education (pp. 83–101). Springer. Thatcher, B. L. (2010). Understanding digital literacy across cultures. Digital literacy for technical communication: 21st century theory and practice. In R. Spilka (Ed.), Digital literacy for technical communication: 21st century theory and practice (pp. 169–198). Routledge. Vanderbilt University. (2017, December 1). VU white paper on digital literacy. https://www.vanderbilt.edu/ed-tech/Definition-and-Statement-on-Digital-Literacy_FINAL.pdf

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PA RT O N E E D U C AT I O N

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2 R E P O S I T I O N I N G D I G I TA L L I T E R A C Y I N E D U C AT O R P R E PA R AT I O N P R O G R A M S A Digital Disciplinary Approach for Teaching Methods Instructors Todd Cherner

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cholars have defined digital literacy as a series of skills and dispositions that students need for using technology along with assessing the quality of information students locate online (Hague & Payton, 2011; Ng, 2014; Thatcher, 2010). They have not, however, provided a robust set of principles or frameworks that teacher-educators can use to integrate digital literacy across their educator preparation programs. In fact, scholars have called for an increased focus on defining digital literacy’s role in education (Casey & Bruce, 2011; Nichols & Stornaiuolo, 2019), and educator preparation programs can respond by intentionally integrating digital literacy into their teaching methods courses. In educator preparation programs, it is common for technology in general, and digital literacy specifically, to be emphasized in a standalone “technology” course that preservice teachers are required to take (Falloon, 2020). For example, I have taught many courses titled “Technology for Teachers” and “Instructional Technology in the Classroom” throughout my career. In these courses, I was responsible for teaching preservice teachers the bulk of technology-related topics they need to be successful in the classroom: instructional design principles, building courses in learning management systems, creating classroom websites, digital and media literacy skills, and a survey of emerging technologies. Those topics and skills are important, but it was 17

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challenging to deeply address them all in one course, especially knowing that they would likely not be readdressed in future courses. However, alternatives to standalone technology courses exist. Educator preparation programs can be more intentional with spreading their preservice teachers’ experiences with technology and digital literacy across their program. Though preservice teachers may take a technology course, it is not the only time they use technology in the program. As the preservice teachers progress through their program, they have multiple, highquality experiences using technology. Currently, educator preparation programs are free to choose either of those approaches because neither state nor national organizations that accredit educator preparation programs provide specific guidance regarding how they should structure their program (Song, 2020). Rather, these accrediting bodies only require that preservice teachers demonstrate the minimum competencies or standards for using technology while enrolled in an educator preparation program. The result is that preservice teachers completing educator preparation programs will have different ability levels for using technology in the classroom. To support educator preparation programs in preparing all their preservice teachers to use technology effectively, I explain disciplinary digital literacy as an approach that teacher-educators can use to blend technology in their methods courses. To frame that approach, I share definitions of digital and disciplinary literacy along with a theoretical framework that serves as the foundation for disciplinary digital literacy. I then model the disciplinary digital literacy approach to create lessons before concluding with recommendations for how teacher-educators can use disciplinary digital literacy in their methods course.

Defining Disciplinary Literacy in the Context of Educator Preparation Programs Outside of a technology class, educator preparation programs often have “methods” courses that focus on developing preservice teachers’ abilities to teach the content of their discipline. For example, in a secondary science methods course, preservice teachers would learn how to facilitate students completing a biology experiment and then assess student learning. In an elementary math methods course, preservice teachers would learn how to use manipulatives to engage third graders in word problems. At the heart of these methods courses is disciplinary literacy, which is “an emphasis on the knowledge and abilities possessed by those who create, communicate, and use knowledge within the disciplines” (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2012, p. 8).

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Disciplinary literacy happens when students generate knowledge by completing a learning experience in a discipline and then sharing that information. When technology is taught in a standalone class and not in a methods course, it separates digital literacy skills from the construction of disciplinary knowledge. Teacher-educators can change that dynamic by using the technology, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK; Mishra & Koehler, 2006) framework to bring disciplinary digital literacy into their methods course.

Leveraging TPACK as a Foundation for Digital Disciplinary Learning TPACK is a framework for conceptualizing the relationships and interrelationships between teachers’ technological, content, and pedagogical knowledge bases (Schmidt et al., 2009). TPACK is rooted in Shulman’s (1986, 1987) works where he argued that teachers must have a deep understanding of both the disciplinary knowledge they are teaching along with strategies for engaging students in that knowledge if they are to effectively design learning experiences for their students. As Shulman published his works prior to the Information Age, his original theories are absent of today’s digital technologies. In response, Mishra and Koehler (2006) extended Shulman’s work by weaving a technological component through it. Commonly depicted as the three-bubble Venn diagram shown in Figure 2.1, TPACK illustrates teachers using their technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge to create learning experiences for students within a given context (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). In brief, technological knowledge refers to teachers being able to operate the technology (e.g., websites, applications, devices) they plan to use in the learning experience, which is an essential element of digital literacy (Ng, 2014). Content knowledge is then the actual disciplinary knowledge to be taught specific to a content area. For instance, the order of operations taught in a prealgebra class, or the Shakespearean play being read in a world literature course, require teachers to have content knowledge. Finally, pedagogical knowledge is the teaching strategies as well as the assessment strategies and other skills teachers need to engage their students in learning content (Cherner & Smith, 2016). Circling TPACK’s perimeter is a dotted line that symbolizes the context. As learning experiences involve students who have individual needs along with unique background knowledge and experiences, it is crucial that teachers are responsive to the time and place of the learning experience. Jang (2010) explains that when teachers “know how

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Figure 2.1.  Technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge framework. Context

Technological Knowledge

Technological Pedagogical Knowledge

Pedagogical Knowledge

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Technological Pedagogical Content Content Knowledge Knowledge

Content Knowledge

technological tools transform pedagogical strategies and content representations for teaching specific topics” (p. 1744) it demonstrates their ability to create a learning experience aligned to TPACK. As a framework, TPACK graphically depicts the essential knowledge bases researchers have identified teachers need to use for creating learning experiences that are appropriate for the Information Age (Cherner & Mitchell, 2020). However, Hilton (2016) found that TPACK does not resonate with teachers because they see it as an ideal to be reached rather than a tool for planning instruction. For TPACK to be seen as that tool, teachereducators can adopt digital disciplinary literacy in their methods courses.

Digital Disciplinary Literacy as an Instructional Approach Digital disciplinary literacy is an instructional approach for designing learning experiences, so that students construct disciplinary knowledge within a learning community by using digital tools and resources. Digital disciplinary literacy is not the completion of online activities that utilize passive,

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read-and-recite learning strategies to deliver content to students (Minhas et al., 2012). Rather, it requires teachers to develop lessons that are rich with opportunities for students to find and evaluate information and use it as part of collaborative experiences within a learning community. By using digital disciplinary literacy, teacher-educators can provide these types of experiences to their preservice teachers in a methods class so that they can first experience them as learners before using digital disciplinary literacy to develop similar experiences that they can then implement in their student-teaching internships. To guide teacher-educators in using digital disciplinary literacy, I next provide an extended example of a teacher-educator using the digital disciplinary literacy approach to plan a lesson.

Example of Digital Disciplinary Being Used in a Methods Course The digital disciplinary literacy approach begins with teachers having a deep understanding of their learning community and disciplinary knowledge. The learning community is comprised of the teacher, students, paraprofessionals, the community’s location (e.g., in a physical space and digital environment), and the analog and digital resources and tools available to the community. Teachers must have a deep knowledge of the community so that they can leverage assets to meet needs and differentiate instruction based on the background knowledge and experiences students bring with them into the community (Maeng, 2017). Like Shulman (1986, 1987), teachers then use their knowledge of their students, the larger community, and discipline to develop a learning objective. The following example describes Professor Abbey, who is teaching a social studies methods course. Professor Abbey is preparing preservice social studies teachers for their upcoming student-teaching internship. She is working to intentionally model her planning process for this lesson by identifying a local area high school and contextualizing her lesson based on that school. Her goal is to be transparent in both her planning and instructional practices so that her preservice teachers can experience the lesson as learners while considering the instructional techniques and moves she makes during the lesson. To begin, Professor Abbey describes the learning community, or classroom context, for the lesson. She explains that the school provides a laptop for each student to use in the classroom. By 11th grade, students are technically familiar with the laptop, but they are still developing strategies for locating and evaluating credible information online. Professor Abbey then refers to TPACK’s technology knowledge component to cue her preservice teachers back to the framework, and she emphasizes that locating and evaluating

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information is part of that knowledge base. She continues by noting that skills for social discourse are listed in the academic standards required for 11th-grade social studies, which makes them representative of the content knowledge students are to develop. Professor Abbey then comments that the interchange of ideas, which are hallmarks of social discourse, makes debate an appropriate activity for students. At this point, Professor Abbey explains that a well-planned lesson for developing students’ digital disciplinary literacy should include these elements from TPACK, and she presents the following objective as a model to her preservice teachers: Objective: Students take a position regarding censorship on social media by preparing for and participating in a class debate.

With the objective, Professor Abbey is then able to unpack it by identifying its topic and disciplinary knowledge. To demonstrate, she first locates the direct object in the sentence, which is the recipient of the verb’s action. In this case, the object is “censorship on social media.” Next, Professor Abbey identified the verb phrases in the objective because they describe the learning experience for the lesson. As verbs signify action, the verb phrases include the object that receives the verb’s action. When engaging digital disciplinary literacy, the verb phrase is the experience that facilitates students’ active engagement with the topic. Once the objective’s verb phrase has been identified, teachers must use their pedagogical knowledge to plan the activities needed to facilitate those experiences in their learning community. In her case, Professor Abbey’s phrases are “take a position” and “preparing for and participating in a class debate,” and she will use those phrases as the basis for the learning experience she has planned. With the experiences identified, backward design (Graff, 2011) can be used to reverse engineer the learning experiences students will need to have in their community for the lesson to take place. For Professor Abbey’s lesson, the overall learning outcome is that students are “participating in a class debate.” For that to happen, students will need to “take a position” on the debate topic, and, prior to that, “prepare for” the debate by becoming more knowledgeable on the topic. By identifying and ordering these experiences, Professor Abbey explains that she can align instructional activities to the technological tools and resources students will need to have the experiences. Professor Abbey then shares the outline that follows with her preservice teachers because it briefly describes what students and the teacher will do during the activities under the “Instructional Activity” column. It then lists and describes the types of resources and how they will be used along with the tools needed for the activities under the “Technological Resources and Tools” column (see Table 2.1).

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TABLE 2.1

Outline of Professor Abbey’s Lesson Experiences

Instructional Activity

Technological Resources and Tools

Preparing for a class debate

•• Teacher provides a list of •• List of search terms search terms students can focused on censorship in use to locate online resources social media (e.g., websites, videos, blogs) •• Search engines for about the topic students to use •• Students annotate the online •• Hypothes.is—a digital resources they locate tool for annotating and bookmarking digital content

Take a position

•• Students review and •• Hypothes.is analyze their annotations to •• Canva—a digital tool for determine a position creating artifacts (e.g., •• Students create a digital flyers, infographics, slide artifact to represent their decks, etc.) position •• Students explain their artifact to another student and revise based on feedback

Participating in a class debate

•• Students post their artifact •• Dotstorming—a digital to a digital board, and they board for uploading have the option to include images and text that or not include their name on allows users to vote and the artifact respond to the uploaded •• Teacher pauses to provide content students time to review the artifacts and respond to them on the digital board •• Teacher moderates a debate by following a “point– counterpoint” discussion suited for the context

Professor Abbey explains that there are multiple active learning strategies, resources, and tools that can be aligned to these learning experiences, and the ones she listed are suited to the school’s community. For her preservice teachers, she explains that when they use this approach, they will need to be creative and innovative with the strategies, resources, and tools they select and ensure they are accessible and suited to their school’s community. Once

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they have identified the experiences and activities, Professor Abbey highlights that they can use online databases—App Ed Review, Common Sense Media, and EdShelf—for locating recommended digital resources and tools for their lesson. Once they have created an alignment, Professor Abbey recommends they assess their integration of digital disciplinary literacy. To demonstrate this integration, Professor Abbey continues to use her lesson as an example. To prepare students for the debate, Professor Abbey plans to first strengthen their skills for locating information online. Instead of providing students a list of websites to visit, she provides them with terms that they can enter in a search engine. Students then evaluate the content reported to them by the search engine based on multiple factors (e.g., credibility, media bias, genre, etc.). Professor Abbey explains that this activity is significant because assessing the quality of digital content is a key element of digital disciplinary literacy. By providing students with the search terms and instructing them to enter those terms in search engines, she is requiring them to assess online information about a disciplinary topic, not brainstorm their own search terms. As they engage content, Professor Abbey has students use the Hypothes.is tool to directly annotate it because the tool saves students’ annotations and the content’s URL to its cloud, so students can easily access it again. Plus, by annotating the content, students are building their understanding of the topic and identifying evidence, which they will use when they take a position on the topic during the debate. For the second experience, Professor Abbey emphasizes that students must take and articulate their position about the topic. This experience builds on the first one by having students review and analyze their annotations with the purpose of determining their stance for the upcoming debate. Professor Abbey has students use the Canva tool to create a digital artifact for expressing both their position and their rationale for it based on the information they annotated. Again, she explains, students are developing their digital disciplinary literacy skills by using Canva to create a flyer, infographic, or slide deck to articulate their position on the topic along with having to communicate and substantiate their position in the artifact. Professor Abbey also notes that students need an opportunity to explain their artifact to another student and gain feedback. This opportunity again requires students to use digital disciplinary literacy to interpret the information on the artifact as well as provide feedback to their classmates. For the culminating activity, Professor Abbey planned a student debate. To structure it, she suggests having students first upload or link their artifact to a Dotstorming board and then view their classmates’ artifacts. Dotstorming provides a digital board for students to post images and text, and other students can view, comment on, and vote for the different images and text

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posted to it. Professor Abbey notes that by allowing students the option to include their name on their artifact and responses, it provides students more comfort in posting their ideas in a public space. However, Professor Abbey emphasizes that the posted artifacts must be closely monitored to help ensure the board’s appropriateness. To her preservice teachers, Professor Abbey highlights again that by having students actively participate on the Dotstorming board they are engaging in a rich digital disciplinary literacy experience. In the model lesson, Professor Abbey notes that once students have finished sharing their thoughts on the Dotstorming board, they are ready for the debate. To structure it, Professor Abbey recommends her preservice teachers use a “point–counterpoint” format that begins with one student offering a response in the form of a counterpoint to one of the artifacts on the Dotstorming board. Professor Abbey explains that allowing students to respond to an artifact begins the debate quicker than asking students to begin the debate by offering their position and rationale on the topic. After the student has responded to the artifact, Professor Abbey encourages her preservice teachers to ask that student to share their position on the topic. At this point, Professor Abbey allows for and encourages other students to challenge the position by offering opposing views or critiques of it. The student who offered the original position then has an opportunity to respond. After that response, Professor Abbey explains that she likes to pause the debate and invite other students to share their position in order to repeat the process. Professor Abbey concludes the lesson by reemphasizing that digital disciplinary literacy is prominent in the debate because students are referencing online information from the Dotstorming board to debate their classmates on the topic. By engaging in debate, they are constructing their own knowledge of the topic because they have to defend and revise their positions based on their classmates’ points, which supports them coming into new understandings of the topic.

Supporting Preservice Teachers Becoming Practitioners of Digital Disciplinary Literacy Shulman (1986, 1987) argued that teachers must have deep knowledge of their content along with their pedagogy in order to create effective, engaging lessons. Mishra and Koehler (2006) added technology, and they further argued that teachers must integrate it with their content and pedagogy to ensure students are developing the skills they will need to be successful in an increasingly technological world. Whereas researchers see the value of TPACK, teachers do not share that same perspective (Hilton, 2016), as they see it as a theoretical framework and not a tool for designing instruction.

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In response, this chapter puts forward digital disciplinary literacy as an extension of TPACK for teachers to plan instruction by specifically focusing on digital literacy and disciplinary knowledge. To support the planning and implementation of disciplinary digital literacy-rich lessons, it is recommended that teacher-educators emphasize the following when working with preparing preservice teachers: 1. Contextualize the lesson. When planning digital disciplinary literacy lessons for the first time, teacher-educators can have their preservice teachers focus on an authentic context where they have familiarity with technologies, both devices and software, that are accessible in it. These contexts include schools, community organizations, on-campus centers, and other locations where the preservice teachers have observed, volunteered, or taught. Generic contexts without specific parameters will not support preservice teachers in developing awareness about contexts, which they will need when planning any learning experience. 2. Active engagement strategies. Because digital disciplinary literacy’s purpose is for students to develop and use those literacy skills for authentic purposes, teaching lessons that are aligned to digital disciplinary literacy requires students to be actively learning, meaning that students are collaborating, creating, critiquing, and/or participating in content and activities integrated throughout the lesson. As preservice teachers begin planning these lessons, teacher-educators can check their objectives to ensure they promote active learning that results in students participating in lessons that incorporate the development of learning artifacts (e.g., text, images, videos). 3. Assess the skills. The nature of digital disciplinary literacy is not to answer a question correctly, but to use digital and disciplinary skills in unison to respond to a prompt or scenario. To encourage this focus on the skills, teacher-educators can support preservice teachers developing rubrics, criterion checklists, and other evaluative tools to assess student learning of the skills, along with any learning artifacts they produced.

Outside of recommendations to support preservice teachers integrating digital disciplinary literacy in their instruction, educator preparation programs can also be responsive. One suggestion is for teacher-educators to use digital disciplinary literacy to bring the skills and abilities preservice teachers develop from their “technology” class into their methods classroom.

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Integrating digital disciplinary literacy into methods courses requires teacher-educators to be intentional with their design of instruction. As demonstrated by Professor Abbey, she purposefully integrated the digital tools and resources she provided in her model lesson by aligning them to the experiences and instructional activities. Even with her topic being censorship on social media platforms, teacher-educators from other content areas can use Professor Abbey’s lesson as a scaffold. They can change the topic (e.g., climate change in science classrooms, the meaning of a text in English language arts classrooms, the applicability of a theorem in geometry classrooms) so that it better aligns to their content area while using similar pedagogical techniques. Teacher-educators can then use that as their own model lesson with their own preservice teachers. In this way, teacher-educators will be able to provide their preservice teachers an authentic experience with digital disciplinary literacy as learners. Then, after the lesson, teacher-educators can unpack the learning experience by explaining their planning process, showing their alignment chart, and discussing how they integrated both digital literacy and disciplinary knowledge to achieve digital disciplinary literacy. From there, teacher-educators can have preservice teachers use that process to outline lessons, which they can analyze in their methods class before using it as the foundation for a full lesson plan. The results will be preservice teachers having meaningful experiences with digital disciplinary literacy and educator preparation programs continuing to more deeply integrate technology across their courses.

Conclusion Educator preparation programs have a unique opportunity to enhance their preservice teachers’ use of digital resources and tools. Whereas technology courses are commonly used to provide preservice teachers an introduction to digital resources and tools they can use in their instruction, teacher-educators need to continue developing their preservice teachers’ abilities to use a range of technologies to teach disciplinary knowledge in their methods courses. Digital disciplinary literacy provides teacher-educators an approach designed for that purpose, and it does not require educator preparation programs to restructure their curriculum. Rather, it requires teacher-educators to model appropriate uses of digital resources and tools in their methods courses followed by opportunities for preservice teachers to integrate those resources and tools into their own instruction. By developing preservice teachers’ abilities to plan lessons aligned to digital disciplinary literacy, it will further demonstrate that educator preparation programs are integrating digital literacy across their courses.

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References Casey, L., & Bruce, B. C. (2011). The practice profile of inquiry: Connecting digital literacy and pedagogy. E-learning and Digital Media,  8(1), 76–85. https://doi. org/10.2304/elea.2011.8.1.76 Cherner, T., & Mitchell, C. (2020). Deconstructing edtech frameworks based on their creators, features, and usefulness. Learning, Media, and Technology, 45(2), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2020.1773852 Cherner, T., & Smith D. (2016). Reconceptualizing TPACK to meet the needs of twenty-first-century education. The New Educator, 13(4), 1–22. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/1547688X.2015.1063744 Falloon, G. (2020). From digital literacy to digital competence: The teacher digital competency (TDC) framework. Educational Technology Research Development, 68, 2449–2472. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-020-09767-4 Graff, N. (2011). “An effective and agonizing way to learn”: Backwards design and new teachers’ preparation for planning curriculum. Teacher Education Quarterly, 38(3), 151–168. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23479622 Hague, C., & Payton, S. (2011, April 8). Digital literacy across the curriculum. Curriculum Leadership, 9(10). http://www.curriculum.edu.au/leader/digital_ literacy_across_the_curriculum,33211.html Hilton, J. T. (2016). A case study of the application of SAMR and TPACK for reflection on technology integration into two social studies classrooms. The Social Studies, 107(2), 68–73. https://doi.org/10.1080/00377996.2015.1124376 Jang, S.-J. (2010). Integrating the interactive whiteboard and peer coaching to develop the TPACK of secondary science teachers. Computers & Education, 55(4), 1744–1751. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.07.020 Maeng, J. L. (2017). Using technology to facilitate differentiated high school science instruction. Research in Science Education, 47(5), 1075–1099. https://doi. org/10.1007/s11165-016-9546-6 Minhas, P. S., Ghosh, A., & Swanzy, L. (2012). The effects of passive and active learning on student preference and performance in an undergraduate basic science course. Anatomical Sciences Education, 5(4), 200–207. https://doi.org/10.1002/ ase.1274 Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record,  108(6), 1017– 1054. https://www.learntechlib.org/p/99246/ Ng, W. (2014). Investigating through concept mapping pre-service teachers’ thinking progression about “e-Learning” and its integration into teaching. In D. Ifenthaler & R. Hanewald (Eds.), Digital knowledge maps in education (pp. 83–101). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3178-7_5 Nichols, T. P., & Stornaiuolo, A. (2019). Assembling “digital literacies”: Contingent pasts, possible futures. Media and Communication, 7(2), 14–24. https://dx.doi. org/10.17645/mac.v7i2.1946

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Schmidt, D. A., Baran, E., Thompson, A. D., Mishra, P., Koehler, M. J., & Shin, T. S. (2009). Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK): The development and validation of an assessment instrument for preservice teachers. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 42(2), 123–149. https://doi.org/10.1080 /15391523.2009.10782544 Shanahan, T., & Shanahan, C. (2012). What is disciplinary literacy and why does it matter? Topics in Language Disorders, 32(1), 7–18. https://doi.org/10.1097/ TLD.0b013e318244557a Shulman, L. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. ­Harvard Educational Review, 57(1), 1–23. Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. ­Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4–14. Song, J. S. (2020, March). Addressing pre-service capacity in ed tech: How can states reimagine educator preparation? Education Commission of the States. https:// ednote.ecs.org/addressing-pre-service-capacity-in-ed-tech-how-can-states-reimagine-educator-preparation/ Thatcher, B. L. (2010). Understanding digital literacy across cultures. Digital literacy for technical communication: 21st century theory and practice. In R. Spilka (Ed.), Digital literacy for technical communication: 21st century theory and practice (pp. 169–198). Routledge.

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3 D E V E L O P I N G D I G I TA L L I T E R AC Y I N T H E A RT S F O R P R E S E RV I C E T E A C H E R S Judith Dinham

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n the way that the transition from an oracy-based world to a text-based world changed the way we thought, engaged, and imagined ourselves in our world, so too is our transition to a digitally infused, globally connected world changing the way we function socially, culturally, economically, and politically in personal, local, national, and global networks (Hopkins, 2016; Postill & Pink, 2012). In this world, being digitally literate means more than being familiar with various digital tools and processes. Rather, it involves “new habits of mind, new ways of processing culture and interacting with the world around us” (Jenkins et al., 2006, p. 21) to construct meaning and function as agentic citizens within the ecology of the digital world we have created. In higher education settings, therefore, developing students’ digital literacy involves more than introducing digital affordances as digital analog for traditional teaching methods. Instead, it necessitates reimagining the nature of learning and teaching in ways that align to the ways we think and function in the digital world. My discipline area is the arts (dance, drama, media arts, music, and visual arts), and my students are preservice early childhood and primary school teachers who study in a fully online mode through Curtin University in Western Australia. For these future generalist teachers, who invariably have little arts background, the challenge has been, in the limited time available, to develop their personal capabilities in the arts along with their pedagogical skills. To do this, I have developed a “learner-as-creator” approach that, as a learner-centered pedagogy (Blumberg, 2009; Doyle, 2011), involves students actively participating in their own learning. Its distinguishing feature is that students learn discipline 30

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knowledge by producing videos, podcasts, and other digital, multimodal artifacts that imaginatively and artistically communicate information and concepts to new audiences. In this chapter, I provide a selection of examples to show how this learner-as-creator approach engages students in learning behaviors that facilitate the development of their digital literacy. While these examples relate to arts education, the general principles of this approach have broad applicability and have been adopted within my education faculty across a range of disciplines.

Underpinning Concepts of Learning and Teaching In the evolving literature about education for the digital world, the concepts pertinent to the learner-as-creator approach described in this chapter are social constructivism learning theory, participatory and active learning, higher order thinking skills (HOTS), and 21st-century skills. These make up a constellation of interrelated areas of pedagogical scholarship and are briefly outlined here. Vygotsky’s (1896–1934) widely influential social constructivism learning theory recognizes the role of the social context in the process of learning (Hausfather, 1996). Meaning is constructed by learners as they make connections between prior knowledge and new experiences. Learning doesn’t happen in a social vacuum: Collaborative processes such as discussion and active experiences in the social world play significant roles in the development of the learner’s understandings. To understand how the sociocultural context for learning functions in the globally networked, open-access, digital space, researchers have studied adolescents’ self-initiated participation. They observe how these adolescents work cooperatively in the digital space building games (Dezuanni, 2018) and creating media products (Jenkins et al., 2009). In what is described as a “participatory culture” (Jenkins et al., 2009), these adolescents form fluid social networks around shared interests and goals as they “learn by doing.” Their learning behaviors are navigational, interactive, collaborative, and playful. Expertise is dispersed within the network rather than held by an authority figure such as the teacher. Information and mentoring are sought at the point of need. The communication modality tends not to be fixed but selected to support creative and communication intentions. The observed participatory culture and learning behaviors of these adolescents relate closely to artists’ usual learning behaviors (Dinham, 2020) and suggest the direction in which to develop pertinent educational practices. Active learning involves students in the construction of meaning through processes such as discussion, inquiry, problem-solving, collaborative learning, and reflection (Bonwell & Eison, 1991). It is demonstrably more effective than passive, exposition-centered approaches to learning, exemplified by the

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lecture and exam model that’s still quite entrenched in universities (Freeman et al., 2014). When students are experientially involved in the learning process, they typically engage the HOTS of analysis, creation, and evaluation. The hierarchy of thinking skills, from memorizing to evaluating, is conceptualized in Bloom’s taxonomy (Bloom et al., 1956) and revised versions. A recent focus in education circles on HOTS related to concerns that students weren’t developing the capabilities to apply or transfer knowledge to new situations, think critically, problem-solve, and create new outcomes. Furthermore, reviews of teaching practices had revealed a preponderance of activities only requiring the application of lower orders of thinking (DeWitt et al., 2013; Hattie, 2009; Hattie & Yates, 2014). When teaching and assessments targeted students’ application of HOTS, the students’ educational achievement increased (Higgins et al., 2005; Wenglinsky, 2004). When HOTS are bundled with other applied skills, they constitute the 21st-century skills considered necessary for success in our rapidly changing, digitally mediated world (Kay, 2010). These 21st-century skills include communication and collaboration, creativity and innovation, critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making, information literacy, media literacy, and technology literacy (Trilling & Fadel, 2009).

The Challenge of Teaching Future Teachers Online Preservice teachers are learning to be teachers as much as learning about teaching. This necessarily demands that their university studies include active, experiential, and participatory ways of learning so that they graduate as classroom-ready practitioners. Being classroom ready incorporates skills in technology-enhanced learning and a capacity to educate children in ways that develop their 21st-century skills. In my university there are over 7,000 preservice teachers completing their education degrees online (with teaching practicums in schools). A range of online digital tools offer an attractive and engaging interface; however, a critical aspect of course design has been leveraging digital technologies to engage students in active learning that promotes higher order thinking and develops their agency as problem-solvers, creators, and communicators. In my learner-as-creator approach, students 1. engage in creative production, 2. communicate in multimodal formats, 3. use storytelling principles, and 4. apply learning to new contexts.

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Concomitantly, this approach develops the habits of mind, or ways of thinking and engaging, that are integral to digital literacy.

Engaging in Creative Production When students participate as creators in the digital realm—not simply as consumers and interactors—their agency and HOTS are being developed. As creators they design their own imaginative and engaging podcasts, digital storybooks, infographics, online newsletters, videos, and websites to communicate discipline knowledge to an audience. For example, a short video intended for the school’s parent community might describe an inclusive classroom philosophy, the strategies that will be employed, and the research that supports this approach. In all such projects, technical skills relating to digital processes, communication skills in different media, and safe, ethical practices, including those related to working with children, underpin the imaginative production and communication of information to a new audience.

Communicating in Multimodal Formats Being digitally literate means being an effective communicator using the appurtenances of the digital world. While many people manage the technical aspects of digital media, effective communication through the multimodal combinations of images, graphics, audio, text and so on (Cope & Kalantzis, 2009) is often elusive. PowerPoint, for example, is an ubiquitous and long-standing multimodal format that is regularly used poorly. Basic errors include too much text; underuse of images, diagrams, and graphics that would communicate information more effectively than text; and poor decisions about color, such as white text on a yellow background. When a PowerPoint is part of an oral presentation, it is not uncommon for the presenter to read the text on the screen to the audience, when instead the aim should be to produce an integrated combination of oral and visual information. Since multimodal digital communication formats are increasingly used in academia, teaching students the basics of effective multimodal communications is becoming as important as teaching the conventions of academic writing. For future educators who will go on to teach in technology-enhanced classrooms, developing authorial skills in different media is a critical skill. A key dimension of this is understanding the “language” of a media form (Huber et al., 2015; The New London Group, 1996; Spires et al., 2019). For example, effective communication in video involves understanding the power of the visual language, and how film techniques—lighting, camera

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angles, shot types, and moves—communicate subliminally: A close-up draws attention to important information; an up shot from below eye level makes the subject appear powerful; a down shot makes the subject appear vulnerable.

Using Storytelling Principles Storytelling as an artform may seem like a niche activity, but storytelling principles underpin all good public speaking and a range of other communications in academic and professional life. Within a number of leading organizations, it is regarded as an effective way to maintain corporate knowledge and organizational integrity (Hansen, 2009). The essential characteristic of storytelling is that the narrative socially contextualizes knowledge in terms of the audience’s interests, wants, needs, and goals. The intention of good storytelling is to create an emotional connection with the audience and take them on a transformational journey. Digital storytelling, whereby the story is told in a multimodal format, has garnered popularity in educational circles. Oral history projects are a natural fit. School students can “bring history alive” by drawing together the lived experiences of interviewees (grandparents, elders, veterans, migrants), the historical context, and photographic record, in well-orchestrated multimodal creations. A number of studies show that the benefits of using digital storytelling as a learning process include students’ assimilation of content knowledge, problem-solving, development of learning skills such as reflection, and competency with multimedia forms of communication (Chan et al., 2017; Lambert, 2013; Sadik, 2008).

Applying Learning to New Contexts Addressing a need in a real-world situation is an effective way for learners to take ownership of their learning. As self-directed learners, they communicate, or apply, discipline knowledge forward to a new audience and context rather than reflecting back to the tutor the content covered in the course. For example, early childhood preservice teachers, who are learning how to use different models of critical analysis for art appreciation, create digital storybooks designed to lead young children through the exploration of famous paintings. This approach, whereby discipline knowledge is applied purposefully in a specific and meaningful context, exercises higher order thinking, develops students’ confidence and agency, and leads to improved learning outcomes.

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Developing Digital Literacy With the Learner-as-Creator Approach In this section, the learner-as-creator approach is illustrated using examples related to the following types of media products: •• •• •• ••

an audio story or podcast an electronic newsletter a video presentation an animated digital storybook

For each media product, I provide a general and technical outline before describing a specific project I have given students (case study) and then detailing the learning challenges the project presents. In each of these examples, the technical challenge is modest, but importantly the projects require students to exercise the thinking and communication skills, and ways of working, needed in the digital age.

Audio Story or Podcast Audio stories and podcasts are spoken-word audio recordings. As audio files, they are technically the same thing; the difference is in how they are shared. Audio stories are shared locally, whereas podcasts are shared with everybody by signing up with an online hosting service. Whether an audio story or podcast, a clear sense of the needs and interests of the audience is important, as this shapes the style and structure of the communication. Students use audio software such as Audacity, which is free, easy to use, open source, and cross-platform. It can be used simply—students record in one take—or the content can be edited with sound effects and audio clips added in. Case Study Students watched Voices From the Cape (Vadiveloo, 2009), a 26-minute documentary about the transformational effect of a media arts project undertaken with Australian Aboriginal children in a remote community. The learning task was to devise a 3-minute recording in the form of an engaging audio news story that captured essential information from the online video. While students were to be the presenters, audio clips from the video were to be used to incorporate direct quotes from respondents. Creating cogent, informative, and engaging stories in an aural(-only) format, and within a much shorter timeframe, required students to analyze

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and synthesize the audio-visual content. The necessary inclusion of audio clips from the video involved learning a technical skill, but more importantly, offered an important way to respect peoples’ ownership of their stories and diverse points of view. Students were able to observe how activating the power and authority of the first-person voice strengthened the authenticity and immediacy of the story in a way that was akin to deciding when and how to include direct quotes in an essay. The performative dimensions of the audio story enabled students to develop their oral presentation skills, which are important skills for future teachers—and for all university graduates’ future employability and professional success (Heron, 2019; Jackson, 2014; Ritchie, 2016). The challenge of changing the modality and timeframe heightened students’ use of HOTS. Being presenters and harnessing the expressive power of their voices contributed to their personal investment and sense of ownership. Developing informative presentations, creatively designed to sustain listeners’ interest, strengthened students’ learning and sense of purpose.

Electronic Newsletter Students create an electronic newsletter for a specific lay audience in order to convey certain discipline knowledge. These creations combine text, images, and graphic design features, such as color, font (style, size, and color), symbols, and layout, to communicate the message effectively to the intended audience. Students use Microsoft Publisher, which is part of the Microsoft Office suite, or any equivalent software that has design tools for page layouts combining image and text. Case Study To familiarize preservice teachers with the research literature about the role that arts engagement plays in children’s cognitive, social, and cultural development, they were asked to design electronic newsletters educating school children’s parents about the nature and importance of arts education in the school curriculum. These newsletters were to be distributed to parents at their practicum school as preparation for an arts education demonstration lesson. For future teachers, being able to introduce new ideas to their own students in ways that are comprehensible is a critical capability that this type of task helps develop. The project, which began with preservice teachers investigating the research literature for the purpose of educating others, was a reminder that knowledge is socially contextualized. Therefore, a clear idea of the

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audience’s priorities (what’s in it for the reader?) was the basis for deciding how to cast the information in the newsletter. Since the audience was the parent body, a good approach was to begin with a statement or question related to this group’s priorities, such as “The ways arts education contributes to your child’s success at school” or “What does my child gain from being involved in arts education?” This set the tone and purpose of the writing. To translate academic learning into meaningful and informative communications for a lay audience required students to synthesize key information from the research literature and plan how to sequence and present it as an engaging narrative that facilitated readers’ comprehension and would sustain their interest. This included writing clearly and succinctly and incorporating features such as short paragraphs, subheadings, and informal forms of professional language. Layout, images, font, and use of color and graphics all contribute to effective multimodal communications, so these visual elements had to be carefully considered too. Different fonts, for example, convey different subliminal messages: Times is very formal, Calibri is straightforward and workaday, and Chalkboard is childish.

Video Presentation In online courses, video submissions are an excellent way for students to demonstrate their practical and performative skills such as sports skills and performing arts skills in dance, drama, and music. Video recordings that enable students to review and reflect on their own performances also have significant educational value (Tailab & Marsh, 2020). For example, I have asked students to video record teaching activities they undertake with small groups of children. They then review the footage to create edited videos for assessment by choosing four features of their teaching that they overlay with analytical and reflective commentary. However, besides being an excellent way for online students to demonstrate their practical skills, the video is also an excellent format for a range of creative productions and presentations. To record the footage, students use the video function on a smartphone or tablet. Basic video-recording techniques such as steady camera work and good lighting on the subject can be easily managed by a novice, with other filmic techniques such as panning, close-up, and angle of view used to strengthen the message. At a basic skill level, the video can be recorded in one take, rerecording as necessary to achieve the desired result. However, it is quite easy to edit the footage, insert titles, and include slides with text by using software such as Apple’s free iMovie or the Video Project option in Windows Photos.

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Case Study Developing future teachers’ confidence to stand up in front of a class is an integral part of a teaching degree. In this example, students in their performing arts unit created and video recorded a 3-minute oral storytelling performance based on a family journey. This could be any family journey (a vacation, an ancestral migration journey, a journey through tragedy) that was personally significant. Students were required to employ oral storytelling performance structures and devices and provide a moral to the story. The project required students to create a story that socially contextualized the facts by giving attention to roles, relationships, and relevance. Through self-directed inquiry and reflection, they developed the narrative structure and decided on narrative devices and props (or not) to capture the audience’s attention. Being an oral performance meant that voice modulation, facial expression, gesture, and pace were part of the communication. Since it was also a video-recorded performance, setting and lighting, as well as camera use (wide shot, close-up, angle of view, etc.), were important too. Students’ active investment in their own learning was heightened through the creation and realization of a product in which they were the protagonist.

Animated Digital Storybook Students create an animated picture storybook in a digital format for a nominated audience. Students use Microsoft PowerPoint from the Microsoft Office suite for creating the slides of the digital storybook. PowerPoint, which is widely known, robust, and easy-to-use, includes presentation features such as free format image and text configurations, voice-over, sound effects, animation, different transitions between slides, and timed release of components to create an audiovisual experience. The file can be saved for projection and as a PDF for hardcopy. Case Study Students investigated the online sites of cultural institutions around the world as the basis for creating digital storybooks designed to educate children on a topic related to the artistic cultural universe. The story was to be for a nominated age group and was to be educational as well as engaging. The narrator of the story and educational guide was to be a character created by the students. The production was limited to 12 slides in length, including the title page, and needed to make use of PowerPoint’s digital affordances to enrich the viewing experience.

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In the same way an essay is planned, multimedia productions need to be planned. Storyboarding, which is a staple tool in the film industry, is a useful means for planning any multimedia story that is episodic and visually based. It can be simply taught by planning and creating comic strips and helps students organize ideas, identify and tether key steps in the narrative to visual imagery, create a coherent whole by linking separate (episodic) events, and, in the case of a PowerPoint, craft the narrative across a set number of slides. To devise the digital storybook, students drew on their knowledge of the conventions of children’s picture books. They were free to generate the pictures themselves or curate and combine images from existing sources. As with the electronic newsletter, students needed to give attention to how the visual information (images, color, font style, layout) and text worked together to create a holistic communication. Since this was a digital format, the effective use of the digital affordances, such as transitions, animation, and voice-over were integral to the creation of the artifact. While this may have seemed a straightforward project, harnessing the communication power of the visual language and reducing the text to create a multimodal communication experience was a challenge for students whose communication capabilities were primarily developed in oral and written forms.

Conclusion While the context for the learner-as-creator approach is the education of preservice generalist teachers in the arts and arts pedagogy, the premise of this chapter is that developing digital literacy in any context is about developing students’ learning behaviors and digital media acumen as creative inventors and communicators. By exercising storytelling principles and developing authorial capabilities in multimedia forms to apply learning to new audiences and contexts, students are becoming literate and active participants in our digitally mediated world.

References Bloom, B. S., Engelhart, M. D., Furst, E. J., Hill, W. H., & Krathwohl, D. R. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain. David McKay. Blumberg, P. (2009). Developing learner-centered teaching: A practical guide for faculty. Jossey-Bass. Bonwell, C. C., & Eison, J. A. (1991). Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom. George Washington University, School of Education and Human Development. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED336049.pdf

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Chan, B. S. K., Churchill, D., & Chiu, T. K. F. (2017). Digital literacy learning in higher education through digital storytelling approach. Journal of International Education Research, 13(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.19030/jier.v13i1.9907 Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2009). A grammar of multimodality. The International Journal of Learning, 16(2), 361–423. https://doi.org/10.18848/1447-9494/ CGP/v16i02/46137 DeWitt, S. W., Patterson, N., Blankenship, B., Blevins, L., & DiCamillo, D. G. (2013). The lower-order expectations of high stakes tests: A four-state analysis of social studies standards and test alignment. Theory & Research in Social Education, 41(3), 382–427. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2013.787031 Dezuanni, M. (2018). Minecraft and children’s digital making: Implications for media literacy education. Learning, Media and Technology, 43(3), 236–249. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2018.1472607 Dinham, J. (2020). Delivering authentic arts education (4th ed.). Cengage. Doyle, T. (2011). Learner-centered teaching: Putting the research on learning into practice. Stylus. Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(23), 8410–8415. https://doi. org/10.1073/pnas.1319030111 Hansen, K. (2009). Tell me about yourself: Storytelling to get a job and propel your career. Jist. Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Routledge. Hattie, J., & Yates, G. (2014). Visible learning and the science of how we learn. Routledge. Hausfather, S. J. (1996). Vygotsky and schooling: Creating a social context for learning. Action in Teacher Education, 18(2), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/0162662 0.1996.10462828 Heron, M. (2019). Making the case for oracy skills in higher education: Practices and opportunities. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 16(2), 1–18. https://ro.uow.edu.au/jutlp/vol16/iss2/9 Higgins, S., Hall, E., Baumfield, V., & Moseley D. (2005). A meta-analysis of the impact of the implementation of thinking skills approaches on pupils. EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London. http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default.aspx?tabid=338 Hopkins, J. (2016). The concept of affordances in digital media. In H. Friese, G. Rebane, M. Nolden, & M. Schreiter (Eds.), Handbook of social practices in everyday digital worlds (pp. 1–8). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-65808460-8_67-1 Huber, A., Dinham, J., & Chalk, B. (2015). Responding to the call: Arts methodologies informing 21st century literacies. Literacy, 49(1), 45–54. https://doi. org/10.1111/lit.12054

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Jackson, D. (2014). Business graduate performance in oral communication skills and strategies for improvement. International Journal of Management Education, 12(1), 22–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2013.08.001 Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robison, A. J., & Weigel, M. (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. MacArthur Foundation. https://www.macfound.org/media/article_pdfs/ jenkins_white_paper.pdf Kay, K. (2010). 21st century skills: Why they matter, what they are, and how we get there. In J. Bellanca & R. Brandt (Eds.), 21st century skills: Rethinking how students learn (pp. 1–19). Solution Tree Press. Lambert, J. (2013). Digital storytelling: Capturing lives, creating community. Routledge. The New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60–91. https://doi.org/10.17763/ haer.66.1.17370n67v22j160u Postill, J., & Pink, S. (2012). Social media ethnography: The digital researcher in a messy web. Media International Australia, Incorporating Culture & Policy, 145, 123–134. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X1214500114 Ritchie, S. M. (2016). Self-assessment of video-recorded presentations: Does it improve skills? Active Learning in Higher Education, 17(3), 207–221. https://doi. org/10.1177/1469787416654807 Sadik, A. (2008). Digital storytelling: A meaningful technology-integrated approach for engaged student learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, 56, 487–506. https://doi: 10.1007/s11423-008-9091-8 Spires, H. A., Paul, C., & Kirkhoff, S. (2019). Digital literacy for the 21st century. In M. Khosrow-Pour (Ed.), Advanced methodologies and technologies in library science, information management, and scholarly inquiry (pp. 12–21). IGI Global. https://doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-7659-4 Tailab, M. M., & Marsh, N. Y. (2020). Use of self-assessment of video recording to raise students’ awareness of development of their oral presentation skills. Higher Education Studies, 10(1), 16–28. https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn Trilling, B., & Fadel, C. (2009). 21st century skills: Learning for life in our times. Jossey-Bass. Vadiveloo, D. (Director). (2009). Voices from the Cape [Film]. Community Prophets. Wenglinsky, H. (2004). Closing the racial achievement gap: The role of reforming instructional practices. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 12(64). https://files. eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ853528.pdf

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4 E N H A N C I N G D I G I TA L LITERACY THROUGH S C H O L A R L Y D I G I TA L S TO RY T E L L I N G Kelly Schrum

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cholarly digital storytelling simultaneously engages students in academic research, digital skill development, and storytelling. I have been teaching this as an interdisciplinary, graduate-level course at a large research-intensive university in the United States for more than a decade. The course is carefully scaffolded so that each reading, viewing, assignment, and discussion throughout the 15-week semester contributes to the final project development. While each semester is unique based on student interests and experience, digital literacy is always a core component. I have spent much of my career working across traditional academic boundaries and disciplinary lines. I am a historian with significant experience in digital humanities. My research focuses on teaching and learning in the digital age, and I am a faculty member in a higher education program housed in a college of humanities and social sciences. In 2010, I had the opportunity to create a new course titled Scholarly Digital Storytelling. It is cross-listed in higher education and history, drawing students from both disciplines in roughly equal numbers, but it also attracts students from other academic departments, such as sociology, rhetoric, and global studies. The culminating assignment is an authentic academic digital project, typically a 10-minute digital story. Students develop digital literacy skills through the process of doing, becoming producers as well as critical consumers of digital content (Burdick et al., 2012; Herrington, 2014; Iordache et al., 2017; Literat et al., 2018; Payton, 2012). The learning objectives for 42

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the class, as listed in the syllabus, focus on exploring “the meaning of scholarly digital storytelling and its potential uses” while developing the “digital skills to communicate scholarly work to an audience beyond the classroom” (George Mason University, 2019, p. 1). Digital literacy includes the ability to effectively utilize digital technologies to analyze information, create new knowledge within disciplinary contexts, and share results (Martin, 2008). In the scholarly digital storytelling course, this includes learning to create and edit video and audio to produce a scholarly story. Scholarly digital storytelling builds research skills and digital literacy skills grounded in disciplinary thinking and inquiry-based learning (Clement, 2012; Sleeter et al., 2019). Students select a scholarly topic related to their academic work, research and analyze relevant sources, and engage in ongoing problem-solving requiring both critical and flexible thinking. Some students, for example, conduct interviews. This involves identifying and contacting interviewees, drafting interview questions and consent forms, conducting and recording interviews, transcribing, selecting relevant segments, and editing those into the final project. Other students conduct research in digital or physical archives or analyze secondary data sets. Most select a new software or skill to master. I began researching scholarly digital storytelling in the fall of 2018 and ­conducted 32 individual, semistructured interviews with former students. Interviewees represent a range of student disciplines and degree programs, including history (five doctoral, 13 master’s), higher education (eight doctoral, three master’s, one nondegree), and rhetoric (two doctoral). Among the 32 students interviewed, 22 identify as female, nine as male, and one as nonbinary. Due to the timing of the research, students participated in interviews anywhere from 1 month to 10 years after completing the course, reflecting the immediate and long-term impact of the course. In addition, I collected and analyzed student work, such as blog posts, project updates, and course reflections. All interviewees consented to participate, and the university’s institutional review board determined the project was exempt. All names are pseudonyms. In addition to digital skills, the course teaches digital literacy habits of mind, such as resilience, persistence, and problem-solving (Alexander et al., 2019; Bozalek et al., 2013; Iordache et al., 2017; Jenkins, 2006; JISC, 2018; Murray & Peréz, 2014). Assignments require students to step outside of their “comfort zone,” a phrase students use frequently during the class and subsequent interviews. A history doctoral student, Sonia, wrote in her final reflection that creating a scholarly digital story was “a journey from ‘can I possibly do this?’ to ‘I can hardly believe I did it.’” A higher education doctoral student, Jessica, offered advice to future classes during her interview: “If you’ve

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got fear or trepidation about it, get out of your own head and embrace the process because it might be scary, but it was absolutely worth it in the end.” Building student capacity to learn new digital skills is one of the most valuable outcomes of this course. Students’ scholarly digital stories reflect best practices as defined by their disciplines. History students, for example, integrate primary and secondary sources and develop original arguments about historical topics, such as immigration to the United States or resistance during Nazi Germany. Higher education students address a central problem or question grounded in theory and practice, such as factors leading to degree completion or strategies for successful peer tutoring. All students learn to explain their work to classmates across disciplines. This challenges students to question underlying assumptions and to articulate why their work is important and how it connects to broader themes and issues beyond their own discipline. Brooke, a history master’s student, described in her interview feeling “a disconnect between me versus them,” meaning students in her discipline and students from other disciplines. During the semester, though, she came to appreciate that talking across disciplines “makes [her] have to think differently.” Adam, a history doctoral student, similarly shared in an interview: The big thing that I’m most proud of was several people coming up after class—not just for my presentation, but for some of the other history ones—and saying “I never thought I liked history, but this is actually really good and really interesting.”

He recalled those comments 3 years later and defined them as “the biggest compliment you can pay a historian.” Scholarly communication often refers to peer-reviewed publications, typically in print and designed to disseminate academic research within a defined scholarly community. Digital tools and open-access communication, however, have redefined the possibilities, including the ability to communicate scholarly work through multimedia formats such as digital storytelling (e.g., the Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication accepts submissions as a textual document or as other forms of media, such as video or audio; Alexander et al., 2017; Malik et al., 2019). Communication is an essential skill in all professional environments, and creating a scholarly digital story offers practical experience communicating complex ideas to broader audiences within and beyond the university. Students’ final project topics vary widely. For example, a higher education doctoral student explored the experiences of Afghan American college students, focusing on identity development, education, and discrimination.

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One history master’s student researched the construction of Shenandoah National Park, including the displacement of communities and the cemeteries, archeological remains, and fragmentary documents that tell their stories. A history doctoral student explored the life of an enslaved woman known as Kate who requested payment from George Washington for her services as a midwife. A doctoral student in rhetoric created an interactive digital story exploring narrative in open-world video games (Scholarly Digital Storytelling, n.d.). This chapter examines strategies for teaching digital literacy across disciplinary contexts through scholarly digital storytelling. The course is carefully scaffolded around three goals for students: (a) Learn digital skills and gain confidence in the ability to learn digital skills, (b) build toward the final scholarly digital story through smaller projects, and (c) think critically about scholarly communication through digital stories. This chapter explores each goal along with lessons learned and practical examples for teaching with scholarly digital storytelling.

Digital Skills and Confidence In this class, students learn digital skills and gain confidence in using those skills through four low-stakes assignments—digital projects A, B, C, and D. Table 4.1 lists the projects and relevant skills learned.

TABLE 4.1

Building Digital Skills Digital Project

Skills

A

Tell a story in 10 images

Visual thinking; creativity; awareness of audience; iterative development; communication

B

Short digital story

Audio and video manipulation; creativity; self-efficacy; awareness of audience; iterative development; communication; digital tools

C

Video diary

Audio and video manipulation; creativity; self-efficacy; awareness of audience; iterative development; communication; digital tools

D

Final project trailer

Audio and video manipulation; creativity; self-efficacy; awareness of audience; iterative development; communication; digital tools

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Digital project A asks students to tell a story visually on any topic using 10 images. Stories typically focus on family, pets, or hobbies. In class, students then work with a partner to retell the story using only five of the original images. This challenges students to think visually, to pay attention to audience reception as they hear a classmate’s interpretation of their story, to contemplate their intended message, and to revise their story. For digital project B, students create a 1- to 2-minute digital story about their final project concept with Animoto, a user-friendly storytelling tool. The technical requirements are minimal—students upload and arrange content and Animoto produces the story—allowing students to practice crafting a narrative. It builds confidence and allows students to see the value of more advanced tools as Animoto production options are limited. Students work with a partner in class to critique their Animoto story and then submit a revised version the following week, again emphasizing iterative development and editing. The third assignment, digital project C, requires students to work with the video editing tool they selected for their final project.1 Students create a 2-minute video diary based on a day in their life. They are encouraged to be creative and to include audio and video clips, and they are assessed on effort and skill development. They critique these videos as a class and reflect on their learning. For digital project D, students create a 30-second trailer for their scholarly digital story. As a class, we discuss the qualities of an effective trailer.2 The underlying goal is to encourage students to step back from research and production to reconsider their larger purpose, intended audience, and core message. What is the essence of the story? What do they most want to communicate? What provides a compelling hook? Students find these digital projects both challenging and rewarding. During an interview, Adam shared: It was trial and error. Just getting in there and using the tool. . . . I don’t think there’s any substitute for going in, just messing around with the program and learning the tool that way. You’re not going to hurt anything. You’re not going to break anything. So just go in and play around with it a little bit and try to figure it out on your own.

Other students commented on the value of hands-on practice more broadly. Tony, a history doctoral student, for example, stated unequivocally that “there’s a type of knowledge you acquire by doing and we should be giving, especially [doctoral students], more ‘doing’ tools.” Learning how to learn new tools and feeling comfortable with the role of experimentation in the learning process is an essential digital literacy skill

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(Alexander et al., 2019; Burdick et al., 2012). As digital historian Jeffery McClurken (2008, 2012) writes, there is value in creating a safe space where students can feel “uncomfortable but not paralyzed.” Digital tools, especially free digital tools, are constantly in flux. Teaching a student how to learn a digital tool is far more valuable than teaching students to use the current version of any one specific tool. Chad, a history doctoral student, reflected on this in an interview 10 years after completing the course, sharing that he valued that level of confidence that came out of the course in terms of, “Oh, I can do this.” I’ve proved that I can do it and I can see how to use these skills in other areas so that I continue to use them. So I think it was that boost of confidence that has really stuck with me.

Lauren, a higher education master’s student, similarly reflected in an interview that while she “felt like I got pushed out of the nest,” by the end of the semester she was “confident in being able to do this again.” Together, these small digital projects comprise less than 10% of the final grade. These are designed to be low risk. Students select familiar content, and they experiment without fear of failure. They receive feedback from the instructor and classmates, and they revise each assignment at least once to encourage iterative and reflective thinking and practice. The second goal builds on this learning and focuses on developing the final project one step at a time.

Final Project Building Blocks The building blocks for the final project intentionally begin small. The process starts in week 2 with a 1-minute project pitches about students’ proposed topics and possible approaches. The goal is for students to think creatively about scholarly communication without fear that it will negatively impact their final grade. In class, students pitch their ideas to classmates. Based on this interdisciplinary feedback, students submit a revised project pitch and, the following week, a project update describing their concept, progress to date, anticipated challenges, and next steps. Over the next 6 weeks, students complete a storyboard, interview questions and release forms (if relevant), annotated bibliography, and film treatment, or full description of the digital story including visuals, audio, and narration. After studying copyright, they assess each component of their digital story for rights issues. As we near the end of the semester, students submit a rough cut, or rough draft, of their project and receive extensive

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feedback from the instructor and from classmates on the content, argument, narrative, flow, and technical aspects. During the last weeks of the semester, students show their revised scholarly digital stories in class and submit a final reflection. Producing scholarly digital stories, and digital content more broadly, is time intensive. These assignments are designed to fully engage students throughout the semester. Chelsea, a higher education doctoral student, reflected on this in an interview: “There’s a lot of pieces. It builds, there’s iterative parts of it. And you’re never really done, so don’t let that bother you.” Similarly, Tracy, a history master’s student, recalled the experience of creating the first 20 seconds of her story in an interview: That was not the second or probably even the third or maybe even the fourth try at an opening that would be effective. . . . But once the final idea came along, I did recognize that, “Okay, this is it.”

Students often remarked that they cared deeply about all aspects of their final project and devoted significant time to revisions. Madison, a nondegree student, discussed this in a blog post: “Everything has taken longer than expected. I easily put in 10+ hours of work to get the first 2 minutes, because they really set the pace/mood/stage for the rest of the video.” These quotes not only reflect student dedication to their final projects, but they also indicate a growing awareness of the process. Students leave this course with a deep appreciation for iterative development, and this is a valuable skill across disciplines and outside of formal learning environments. Another goal of these assignments is to build slowly so that no individual piece feels overwhelming. A project pitch, by itself, is a few sentences in length, but it lays the foundation for the storyboard and eventually the rough cut. Feedback is constructive, ongoing, and, equally important, rapid. Students need feedback on each step before they progress to the next. As a strong, detailed outline provides a foundation for writing, these building blocks provide the essential foundation for a quality scholarly digital story. Throughout this process, students reexamine ways of communicating their academic research within and beyond disciplinary contexts.

Thinking Critically About Scholarly Communication As students develop essential digital literacy skills and the pieces of their final projects, they also engage with the nature of storytelling and scholarly communication through three blog posts and a digital story critique. The blog posts, in response to weekly readings and viewings, explore storytelling

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genres, teaching and learning with scholarly digital storytelling, and copyright, an essential yet often overlooked, digital literacy skill (Alexander et al., 2016; Ferrari, 2013; JISC, 2018; Koltay, 2011). For the critique, students select and review a 5-minute scholarly digital story or segment of a longer story and discuss genre, technical choices, narrative structure, strengths, and weaknesses. Each week, several students present their critiques, and the class deconstructs the stories together. This helps students become critical consumers and raises awareness of the production process (Burdick et al., 2012; JISC, 2018), habits that are reinforced throughout the semester and beyond. Nathan, a history master’s student, wrote in a final reflection that what he “learned most” was that “each and every choice WILL have an impact. Lighting, audio, angles, voice, background, etc., all convey certain notions which will influence the viewers and this needs to be considered.” Brooke similarly shared in an interview, “So every choice does matter. The music you choose matters. The pictures. Your whole story matters.” Keith, a history master’s student, expanded on this concept and captured one of the most valuable overarching lessons of the class during his interview, stating “If it works well, you don’t notice a lot of it.” This is an essential concept and one that can only be learned through experience—in this case by critiquing as well as creating scholarly digital stories. The course also challenges students to rethink academic research and scholarly communication. Chelsea wrote in a final reflection, “I completely doubted my ability to do this 15 weeks ago, and I’m so thankful to have gained the skills and perspective to look at my research in a completely new way.” Reflecting on the experience of creating a scholarly digital story on student activism among survivors of sexual assault, Chelsea talked about the opportunity to implement her “feminist framework in a meaningful way,” including collaborative storytelling. She called this project her go-to “example of something that [she’s] really proud of.” Mark, a higher education doctoral student, echoed a similar sentiment in an interview. The ability to explain holistic application review to high school counselors, parents, and students through his digital story “was something that was so meaningful . . . it’s propelled my own research in a lot of ways.” Creating a scholarly digital story in an interdisciplinary space provides an opportunity for students to think deeply about communicating their work to new audiences. In an interview, Jessica described how her project on student development theory changed based on conversations with classmates. The experience “helped [her] get really creative in terms of how you can explain complex subjects in ways to people that have no background in the subject.”

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By the end of the semester, Lauren similarly felt “confident in being able to tell that story . . . because [she] kind of struggled with that.” She described in an interview the experience of sharing her final project about students with intellectual or developmental disabilities with the class: It was the first time I’ve been able to show somebody and they got it really fast. They didn’t have to spend a half an hour reading my thesis proposal. So that was really cool. When we turned it off and everyone was immediately, like, “Oh, that was great. I get it. This is so important.” I was like, “Finally. It’s only taken two years.” So that was really cool. I haven’t had a reaction like that to my research before.

Scholarly digital storytelling requires students to integrate academic scholarship and digital skills intentionally. It also challenges students to think critically about framing their research and reaching intended audiences. This experience often leads students to rethink their work, including using digital formats to convey their research and findings in new ways and expanding definitions of scholarly communication and digital content.

Course Revisions Teaching a class several times allows for reflection and improvement, and I revise this course each time I teach it. During the fall 2019 semester, I drew on resources across my institution to implement several changes. For example, I needed additional technical support for students, in part because student needs spike at key moments during the semester and in part to allow me more time to focus on supporting student research and narratives. A colleague in the communications department identified an advanced undergraduate media production student, and we designed a practicum in coordination with the course. The media production student attended all classes, presented skill workshops, and worked individually with students to teach skills and resolve problems. This proved to be a valuable resource for the class and a rich learning experience for the media student. A similar arrangement might also be crafted through partnerships with libraries or instructional technology staff at other institutions. Another thing I learned over the years is that many people are uncomfortable listening to the sound of their own voice, and students often express displeasure with their narration. To address this, a communications doctoral student with a theater background visited the class three times, conducting breathing and articulation exercises and working individually with students on basic voice control. Morgan, a history master’s student, shared in an

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interview that the voice coach helped her improve her narration by speaking more slowly and paying attention to pitch: I tend to speak with a deeper voice, so she made me do this practice and I did it a bunch. I was sitting in front of my camera. I swear my roommate was laughing at me cause I was like, “I’m Minnie Mouse” [in a high voice]. But it was really helpful . . . just doing that a few times before I recorded, it felt funny, but I definitely noticed a difference.

Students appreciated both the opportunity to learn something new and the impact it had on their final projects. Another lesson I have learned is the importance of providing a safe intellectual and pedagogical space for experimentation. Students enter the class with a range of skills, and each student is assessed on growth. Only a few final products achieve broadcast quality, but all students learn and improve. This requires students to take risks, often significant risks, and requires a learning environment where productive failure is nurtured. Throughout the semester, students are encouraged to think creatively, to identify and solve problems, and to take risks, all of which can be a new experience in a formal learning environment. Some students readily embrace this, as Amanda, a history master’s student, reflected in an interview, “I think in the beginning you said something like ‘trust the process.’ And I was like, ‘okay, I’m going to trust the process.’” Other students find it more challenging. Jessica shared during an interview, “Stepping outside of my comfort zone is scary. And so I was intimidated . . . this was unlike anything I’ve ever done. So, I was worried about failing and being a failure.” She reflected 5 years later, however, that “there was nowhere for that to happen. The class was set up in a way that some ideas may not work, but at no point was it going to be a failure. There were no bad stories.” I learned from this to be more explicit about the “productive” aspect of productive failure throughout the semester and to be clear that each small step and each revision counted toward the final grade (Feigenbaum, 2021). Some students remembered this in the context of classmates who started the semester with minimal technical skills. Mark said in an interview, “I came with some of those skills, but seeing folks come in and seem so terrified of the tech and you see their end product and you would never believe that they did that.” Amanda recalled a similar situation in her cohort during an interview: “I think we learned, though, that anybody can do it, right?” She remembered one student who said on the first night of class: “I’ve never made a video before in my whole life and I don’t know what I’m going to do.” And it was kind of like, “Well, why did you come to this class?” But he made one of the most amazing videos.

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Former students have continued to value these skills and to create scholarly digital stories in their own disciplinary academic and professional settings after the course. As these examples demonstrate, however, students also learned resilience and problem-solving strategies. Belinda, a higher education doctoral student, for example, described during her interview a difficult moment: “I lost my audio. Just in tears. It happened to almost everybody in the class that there was some sort of technical glitch.” She continued, however, reflecting on what she learned: “And you know what, learning to deal with that, that’s a great skill, too. We know that it’s going to go on and it’s totally ok. You can recreate it. It’s not the end of the world.” This lesson cannot be learned through lectures or readings—it can only be learned by creating, facing obstacles, and overcoming them. That is a valuable lesson not only for digital literacy but for all learning as well.

Conclusion The need for digital literacy will continue to grow, and institutions of higher education are struggling to meet that demand (Alexander et al., 2019; Murray & Perez, 2014). Colleges and universities can play a key role by emphasizing digital literacy while continuing to teach ideas, content, and methods, but we must do so intentionally. Digital literacy exists at “the intersection between digital knowhow and academic practice” (Payton, 2012, p. 2), and in the case of scholarly digital storytelling it is also grounded in disciplinary knowledge. Scholarly digital storytelling requires a commitment to one’s own academic research as well as a willingness to rethink scholarly communication and learn the tools necessary to present research in new formats and to new audiences. The experience for most students is time consuming, immersive, and highly rewarding. Gillian, a history master’s student, wrote in her final reflection, “I think the biggest take away from participating in a digital storytelling class is that feeling of empowerment and confidence at the end.” By the last week of the semester, students often discuss their digital and academic experiences seamlessly. My goal is to blend the two together, to “integrate not only technology into the discipline, but perhaps more importantly, the discipline into the technology” (Hinrichsen & Coombs, 2013, p. 4). As an instructor, this means balancing time for skill development with time dedicated to research and to the craft of storytelling. Morgan described this experience in her final reflection. As a journalist, she had professional experience with digital tools and storytelling. She also had experience writing academic papers in history graduate classes. Scholarly digital storytelling, however, offered a novel bridge between the two: “It was really cool to take

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two parts of my world and put them together. And I’m very happy with what I created.” Madison similarly discussed the time spent integrating her digital and scholarly work: There have been a few projects in my graduate learning—there have only been a few—but they really, really stick with me. . . . I think I did devote 10 times the amount of time to [my scholarly digital story] because I’m problematizing. I’m digging in, I’m playing with it. I’m learning new things, either technical or that storytelling piece, that visual piece. So being able to kind of connect with all parts of that process has been really powerful.

Digital literacy skills are essential to scholarly digital storytelling and to the future of higher education. Students learn basic technical skills, such as audio and video editing, but equally important, they learn to rethink academic research and to communicate their scholarly work beyond an individual professor or classroom. Research on teaching and learning with scholarly digital storytelling indicates that students value these digital literacy skills and habits of mind and that they continue to integrate both into their academic and professional endeavors. As Keith reflected during his interview, “At the end of the day, the skills that I learned are more important than the video itself.”

Notes 1. I encourage students to select the software for their final project because it allows them to use their own equipment, build on existing experience, and/or master a new tool. Many students use iMovie while others use Adobe Spark, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, or online video editing software. 2. Master Class trailers work well for this as does a movie trailer created by artificial intelligence; see https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continu e=2&v=gJEzuYynaiw&feature=emb_logo.

References Alexander, B., Adams Becker, S., & Cummins, M. (2016). Digital literacy: An NMC Horizon Project strategic brief, Vol. 3.3. http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2016-nmchorizon-strategic-brief-digital-literacy.pdf Alexander, B., Allard, S., Archambault, E., Billings, M., Corbett, H., Crosby, S., Dove, J. G., Earle, L., Erdmann, C., Ho, A., Jahn, N., Kaufman, R., Matthews, B., Mitchell, C., Olson, E. L., Plutchak, T. S., & Samberg, R. G. (2017). ­Scholarly

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communication publishing experts stakeholders report. Open Scholarship Initiative Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.13021/g8osi.1.2017.1918 Alexander, B., Ashford-Rowe, K., Barajas-Murphy, N., Dobbin, G., Knott, J., McCormack, M., Pomerantz, J., Seilhamer, R., & Weber, N. (2019). Horizon report 2019. https://library.educause.edu/-/media/files/library/2019/4/2019hori zonreport.pdf Bozalek, V., Gachago, D., Alexander, L., Watters, K., Wood, D., Ivala, E., & Herrington, J. (2013). The use of emerging technologies for authentic learning: A South African study in higher education. British Journal of Educational Technology, 44(4), 629–638. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12046 Burdick, A., Drucker, J., Lunenfeld, P., Presner, T., & Schnapp, J. (2012). Digital humanities. MIT Press. Clement, T. (2012). Multiliteracies in the undergraduate digital humanities curriculum: Skills, principles, and habits of mind. In B. D. Hirsch (Ed), Digital humanities pedagogy: Practices, principles, and politics (pp. 365–388). Open Book Publishers. https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0024 Feigenbaum, P. (2021). Telling students it’s O.K. to fail, but showing them it isn’t: Dissonant paradigms of failure in higher education. Teaching and Learning Inquiry, 9(1), 13–26. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.9.1.3 Ferrari, A. (2013). DIGCOMP: A framework for developing and understanding digital competence in Europe. Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC83167/lb-na26035-enn.pdf George Mason University. (2019). HE792 HIST688 Syllabus: Scholarly digital storytelling. https://scholarlydigitalstorytelling.org/teaching Herrington, J. (2014). Introduction to authentic learning. In V. Bozalek, D. Ng’ambi, D. Wood, J. Herrington, J. Hardman, & A. Amory (Eds.), Activity theory, authentic learning and emerging technologies: Towards a transformative higher education pedagogy (pp. 61–67). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315771823 Hinrichsen, J., & Coombs, A. (2013). The five resources of critical digital literacy: A framework for curriculum integration. Research in Learning Technology,  21, 21334. https://doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v21.21334 Iordache, C., Mariën, I., & Baelden, D. (2017). Developing digital skills and competences: A quick-scan analysis of 13 digital literacy models. Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, 9(1), 6–30. https://doi.org/10.14658/pupj-ijse-2017-1-2 Jenkins, H. (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. MIT Press. JISC. (2018). JISC digital capabilities framework: The six elements defined. https:// www.jisc.ac.uk/rd/projects/building-digital-capability Koltay, T. (2011). The media and the literacies: Media literacy, information literacy, digital literacy. Media, Culture and Society, 33(2), 211–221. https://doi. org/10.1177/0163443710393382

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Literat, I., Conover, A., Herbert-Wasson, E., Kirsch Page, K., Riina-Ferrie, J., Stephens, R., Thanapornsangsuth, S., & Vasudevan, L. (2018). Toward multimodal inquiry: Opportunities, challenges and implications of multimodality for research and scholarship. Higher Education Research and Development, 37(3), 565–578. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2017.1389857 Malik, A., Heyman-Schrum, C., & Johri, A. (2019). Use of Twitter across educational settings: A review of the literature. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-019-0166-x Martin, A. (2008). Digital literacy and the “digital society.” In C. Landshear & M. Knobel (Eds.), Digital literacies: Concepts, policies and practices (pp. 151–176). Peter Lang. McClurken, J. W. (2008, January 22). Uncomfortable, but not paralyzed. Techhist: Teaching, Technology, History & Innovation. https://techist.mcclurken.org/ digital-history/uncomfortable-but-not-paralyzed McClurken, J. W. (2012, July 11). Confirmation for “uncomfortable, but not paralyzed”? Techhist: Teaching, Technology, History & Innovation. http://techist. mcclurken.org/students/confirmation-for-uncomfortable-but-not-paralyzed Murray, M. C., & Pérez, J. (2014). Unraveling the digital literacy paradox: How higher education fails at the fourth literacy. Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology, 11, 85–100. https://doi.org/10.28945/1982 Payton, S. (2012). JISC briefing: Developing digital literacies. https://www.jisc.ac.uk/ guides/developing-digital-literacies Scholarly Digital Storytelling. (n.d.). Stories. https://scholarlydigitalstorytelling.org/ stories/ Sleeter, N., Schrum, K., Swan, A., & Broubalow, J. (2019). “Reflective of my best work”: Promoting inquiry-based learning in a hybrid graduate history course. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 19(3), 285–303. https://doi. org/10.1177/1474022219833662

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5 T E A C H I N G D I G I TA L LITERACIES TO C H A L L E N G E N A R R AT I V E S OF COMPLIANCE AND DEFIANCE Leah Panther

A

somewhat cliché but nonetheless true saying within education is that teaching is the profession that creates all other professions. The discipline of education is an essential one; this was recognized in the earliest European universities and grew in prominence in North America with the common school movement of the early 1800s, which created a demand for teachers trained in pedagogy—how to teach—not just content knowledge—what to teach (Labaree, 2008). I teach within a college of education and work with preservice and in-service teachers where teaching digital literacies has a twofold purpose: first, to teach digital literacies to my own students, and second, to prepare them as educators to teach digital literacies in their own middle and high school classrooms. When I use the term literacies, I am referring to the skills needed to consume and compose a variety of texts to communicate across diverse audiences for diverse purposes (New London Group, 1996; Street & Street, 1984). That includes being able to read, view, and listen to multimodal texts ranging from a book to an online newspaper article to a podcast. It also includes being able to speak, write, and create multimodal texts ranging from a text message to a painting to a perfect pass during a football game. The valued skills, or literacies, change based on the context, audience, and purpose and range from linguistic representations to gestures to orality. Digital literacies, 56

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then, have unique demands for teacher education as students consume and compose technology as part of their learning. Digital literacies can range from navigating online learning management systems (LMSs) to interacting with required e-books (Casselden & Pears, 2019) to learning digital composition across disciplines (Mirra et al., 2018). These literacy skills are complex, unnatural, and rarely taught explicitly in postsecondary institutions (Walker & Patel, 2018). When they are not taught explicitly and assumed of our learners, the complex digital literacy skills remain hidden. As an educator in a college of education, I have mistaken students not having hidden digital literacies for defiance and their presence as compliance without challenging the underlying assumptions these narratives create (Kinloch, 2017). For example, higher education institutions were criticized for assessment practices during the 2020 coronavirus school closures that rewarded student compliance and punished student defiance without acknowledging the policymakers’ underlying assumptions about learners within these narratives: All students have consistent, reliable access to internet, technology devices, and digital literacy skills needed to navigate the online shift (e.g., Hartocollis, 2020). Reading the presence or absence of digital literacies as personal attributes or failures reinforces deficit ideologies about students and ensures hidden digital literacies within the disciplines remain hidden. This chapter reports findings from an ongoing qualitative self-study of teaching one teacher education methods course over seven semesters and the evolving work to name, challenge, and disrupt the hidden digital literacies that reinforced deficit narratives of compliance and defiance about students. Through the theoretical framework of critical sociocultural theory (Lewis et al., 2007), this action-oriented study sought to resist deficit readings of students and disrupt traditional hierarchical borders within education that digital literacies can create and reify.

Historical Roots to Modern Fruits Historically, literacy has been narrowly defined as reading and writing, and these literacy skills were largely accessible only to social elites—typically White, landowning males (Morrell, 2008). This historical pattern relied on two patterns. First, by limiting what counted as literacy, then other literacies such as orality (Smitherman, 2000), visual media (Janks, 2000), and digital performance (Ohler, 2013) can be viewed as less complex or less civilized literacies. Second, by limiting access to valued literacies, it remains under the control of those in positions of power to maintain their power. For example,

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attempts to expand access to literacy have been viewed as acts of defiance (Banks, 1996): Martin Luther’s translation of the Judeo-Christian Bible from Hebrew and Greek to German to ensure access for a larger population resulted in excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church (Prothero, 2007), antiliteracy laws banned enslaved persons from learning to read in the antebellum South (Morrell, 2008), Native speakers were banned by state legislation from speaking Spanish in Arizona public schools while non-Native Spanish speakers were viewed as progressive and innovative for learning Spanish (Rosa & Flores, 2017). As marginalized groups have gained access to traditional literacy skills, such as reading and writing, the definition of what is considered literacy has continually expanded, and the standard of what is considered literate has increased. By increasing the standard of what it is to be literate to include digital literacies without increasing access to learn these skills, the maintenance of power has persisted. Even more troubling, the demands associated with using digital literacies, such as access to computers, internet, and software, can be a means of surveillance and power maintenance (Philip & Garcia, 2013). This suggests the pressing need for explicit critical digital literacy instruction as part of education to develop modern citizenry (Garcia et al., 2015).

Upholding Digital Literacies as Compliance The teacher education course I examined trains education students on pedagogical methods. The course has evolved across seven iterations that were taught at two different institutions. The course was taught three times at a predominantly White institution (PWI) in the Midwest at a midsized public university. The students consisted of preservice educators completing an undergraduate degree, and their cultural identities reflected the predominant trends in teacher education: predominantly White, middle class, and in their early 20s (Milner, 2020). In these early iterations of the course, I relied on traditional teaching practices, including required electronic weekly readings, written reading responses submitted through an LMS, and online quizzes for reading compliance (Pecorari et al., 2012). These traditional instructional practices reinforced digital literacies as reading and writing in digital environments. This narrow definition assumes that digital literacies are universal skills and can be explicitly taught, typically long before students reach postsecondary education (Alvermann, 2011). By upholding narrow definitions of digital literacies and offering no digital literacy instruction, I was reinforcing historical systems that keep digital literacies hidden and elevated Western

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conceptions of literacies as exclusively reading and writing. The students, largely coming from populations with access to digital literacies, were successful. There were two exceptions worth exploring. First, I routinely made all assignments due the evening of our weekly face-to-face sessions to allow students to ask questions about assignments during class. For the first 4 weeks of class, one student consistently submitted her assignments several days late. These assignments were marked down while my internal dialogue grew frustrated at her lack of responsibility and repeated disregard for due dates. In my course notes, I noted the pattern and checked in with the student. My initial interpretation of the student’s action created a narrative about her: Every other students’ compliance to the due date meant she was intentionally defiant. The narrative I created did not interrogate the larger systems preventing digital literacy expertise. Holding her after class, I discovered she did not have internet access at home and could only use the school’s LMS to access and submit assignments the 2 days a week she was on campus. Part of digital literacies in education include recognizing that access to digital tools is a taken-for-granted assumption. In another critical incident, a student was dangerously close to failing the course. I had provided detailed feedback on each assignment by highlighting passages, writing in the margins, adding feedback on the electronic rubric, and occasional audio memos—everything the university’s LMS had to offer. When he approached me after class concerned about his low scores, I chided him for not applying the detailed feedback I had provided all semester. His blank look revealed the root cause: He did not know how to access feedback on his assignments. My initial interpretation of his action, or inaction, was defiance: a refusal to accept feedback. When his classmates applied my feedback, this further fed the narrative of their compliance and heightened his defiance. In both of these critical incidents, the individual students were exceptions to the norm who differed from a majority response; therefore, I built narratives about them, positing them as deficient without interrogating the larger systems that created the differing responses.

Upholding Digital Literacies as Defiance The same educational methods course was also taught four times at a midsized private university in the Southeast within a master’s degree program for in-service teachers. Within this program, teachers were actively recruited that disrupted traditional demographic trends in education. To this end, the students predominantly represented a diversity of socioeconomic backgrounds,

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ages, gender identities, languages, and religious backgrounds and were predominantly Black, African American, or Afro-Latinx identifying. Within this space, my own positionality as a White, middle-class, monolingual, midwestern female magnified the challenge that narrow definitions of digital literacies and lack of explicit digital literacy instruction caused when I made pedagogical decisions in a cross-cultural context. Cultural congruence frameworks recognize that cultures have different traditions, values, use of language, and literacies that cause communication to be ripe ground for miscommunication, offense, or marginalization (Hollins, 2015). The difference between a student’s culture and the school culture is especially pronounced for students from diverse linguistic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds who attend schools that have been historical sites for marginalization and erasure of their valued languages and literacies (Paris & Alim, 2017). When readingand writing-centric approaches to digital literacies were effective at teaching most students at the PWI, my digital literacy instruction appeared neutral. However, when reading- and writing-centric approaches to digital literacies were ineffective within cross-cultural spaces, I interpreted students’ agency at challenging and redesigning digital literacy demands as defiance. This was made vivid in three critical incidents. First, a student routinely submitted the weekly reading response about the wrong course reading. Each week, I left the same individualized feedback embedded in the LMS—to resubmit with the appropriate course reading because each text had been intentionally selected. Each week, I assigned narratives of defiance to her actions: a refusal to respect my instructional authority and expertise. After the 4th week, I wrote in my course notes that I kept her after class to ask about the assignments. She pulled up the LMS on her laptop and explained she was used to another professor’s course layout and was not adapting well to my differing design; she was uncertain where to look for each week’s assignment. I was asking the student to assimilate into my own instructional preferences without teaching her how to navigate the digital design rather than listening to the valued norms established within the program. In another example, a student stayed late to learn how to complete an assignment. She communicated her frustration that the directions and model were only available online and I did not take in-class time to review the assignment. My initial, internal response was to create a narrative of defiance about the student: She must be lazy or underprepared for coursework if she needed explicit instruction. I did not consider that the opportunity to discuss digital course content was a valued literacy being erased by purely individualistic digital course assignments. Similarly, another student asked why every student was completing the same electronic readings and written annotations and suggested that they could read the same texts but rotate the responsibility

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of writing an annotation since the LMS allowed group work. I had the same thought: This is another student who wants to do less work by taking advantage of the LMS’s affordances. The narratives I created about the students’ individual behaviors attributed deficient narratives to them, not the systems that reinforced reading and writing digital texts as individual, isolated tasks separate from valued literacies around discussion and collaboration.

Resisting Narratives of Compliance and Defiance The five narratives I share here represent narratives I created about students over the course of 5 years, each of which were rooted in assumptions: •• Digital literacy is made up of autonomous skills separate from social and cultural influences and contexts. •• Digital literacies have already been mastered when students enter postsecondary education. •• When the majority of students are compliant, then the individual exceptions are acts of defiance. These assumptions were challenged as I reexamined the incidents using critical sociocultural theory (Lewis et al., 2007). This expansive framework recognizes that students have socially and culturally developed literacy skills to interpret, construct, and communicate meaning across digital contexts (Alvermann, 2011). Therefore, students are active, agentive meaning-makers, which can be observed in their use of tools such as language, literacy, and digital texts (Mirra et al., 2018). The critical lens focuses on the macrosystems of hegemonic conflicts, power, and ideology that have created and sustained each of these literacy tools (Enciso, 2007). Thus, the micro practices of using digital literacies are deeply intertwined within larger macrostructures that can be reproduced or challenged in agentive practices (Lewis et al., 2007). Through peer observations, dialogue with students, and a guiding theoretical framework, I began to reshape my thinking about students and their digital literacies (see Table 5.1; Poole, 2018). Using these five critical incidents as examples, the analysis increasingly revealed digital literacy is not an autonomous set of skills but ideological practices that are embedded in social contexts and influenced by cultural experiences (Street & MartinJones, 2000). As I reexamined these interactions with students through critical sociocultural theory, my assumptions about students’ access to and use of digital literacies challenged the narratives of compliance and defiance to create more

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TABLE 5.1 

(Re)Reading Narratives of Compliance and Defiance Critical Incident Summary

Critical Sociocultural Reading

Student submits assignments late

•• Assumes digital access •• Denies nondigital tools as valued texts •• Upholds socioeconomic and geographic disparities

Student does not integrate provided feedback

•• Assumes digital literacies •• Keeps feedback hierarchical (instructor to student) rather than collaborative

Student submits incorrect assignments

•• Denies student agency and choice •• Challenges digital norms established locally

Student is frustrated at solitary coursework

•• Values Western, print-centric modes of digital literacies •• Limits opportunities for innovation and collaboration •• Keeps feedback hierarchical (instructor to student) rather than collaborative

Student is frustrated that information is only accessible online

•• Assumes digital access •• Limits opportunities for innovation and collaboration •• Challenges digital norms established locally

nuanced narratives about how culture informs school learning and instruction (Goodfellow, 2011). As a result, my instructional practices transformed in three central ways: 1. Explicit instruction on hidden digital literacies 2. Diversity of multimodal course texts 3. Facilitating student-led inquiries around larger macrostructures of power and Western literacies to understand how the hidden digital literacies in a discipline remain hidden.

Teaching Hidden Digital Literacies The first major shift in my digital literacy instruction for education students was providing explicit instruction around reading, viewing, and discussing

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electronic course texts during the first 3 weeks of the semester (see Table 5.2). This meant taking time in class to model the digital literacy skills I had previously assumed, such as accessing course materials, providing screencasts to tour the LMS, support with annotating digital texts, and having students access feedback on assignments in class. By ensuring the previously hidden and unnamed digital literacies of the discipline and course were made explicit, it ensured student behaviors that had previously been interpreted as defiance—missing due dates, reading incorrect texts, not incorporating feedback—were proactively avoided.

Diversity of Multimodal Course Texts Enciso (2007) cautions that a critical sociocultural analysis of literacy practices includes recognizing the history of colonization embedded within their designs and the ways they are taken up and used. In my self-study, that meant a further examination of what digital texts and which digital literacy practices had come to be valued in the discipline and why these digital texts and literacy practices were valued. Initially, digital literacies were isolated tasks that occurred outside formal instruction with print-based texts (e.g., articles, book chapters) to produce other print-based texts (e.g., written annotations). To expand these narrow conceptions, I introduced traditional, familiar digital texts to ensure students had access to discipline-specific organizational structure and language. However, this quickly moved toward centering students’ own experiences with digital print texts through whole group conversations, small-group explorations, and coconstructing a guide to support their peers’ experiences with digital texts to understand which literacy practices were valued by the discipline and their own sociocultural experiences (Hollins, 2015). The expansion of digital print texts also included what digital texts were provided. This included a range of empirical, practitioner, and theoretical electronic print readings, but in the 2nd week I introduced videos, documentaries, websites, podcasts, and interviews with disciplinary experts in the local community as other meaningful multimodal texts. This disrupted static conceptions of “expert” within the discipline and challenged why certain digital texts and literacies are valued within a discipline (Lankshear & Knobel, 2011).

Student-Led Inquiries About Macrostructures When I created narratives of compliance and defiance about my students, they were relatively unchallenged because the students’ micro practices were being read as individual failures rather than symptoms of larger macrosystems

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TABLE 5.2

Teaching Hidden Digital Literacies With Multimodal Texts Week

In class

Outside of class

1

•• I perform a think-aloud (Ness & Kenny, 2016) on how to read empirical articles. •• Students have small- and wholeclass discussion on the difference between close reading versus purposeful reading. •• Students collect their digital literacies tips on an anchor chart (e.g. using Control F to quickly find definitions of key terms). •• Students practice locating, downloading, reading, and annotating an article in class with teacher and peer support.

•• Students watch a video on how to annotate texts, create annotated bibliographies, and cite quotes. •• Students read or view a minimum of 2 hours of content, not a required number of pages.

2

•• Students have a small-group discussion on the questions and challenges from last week’s independent study. They problemsolve common issues (e.g., downloading course materials using university Wi-Fi before leaving). •• I model how to annotate multimodal, nonprint texts. •• Students complete a jigsaw activity to read, view, and listen to multimodal texts independently (e.g. Fisher & Frey, 2019). Then, they verbally share with students who read different articles about common topics.

•• Students read or view a minimum of 2 hours of content, not a required number of pages. •• Students submit their first text response in the format of their choice.

3

•• Students use a Socratic seminar •• Students read or view a (Jago, 2011) to discuss the research minimum of 2 hours of from their independent study. content. •• I model how to access feedback on their first text response on the LMS. •• Students revise their first assignment in class based on instructor feedback and peer feedback during their Socratic seminar.

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that maintain power. Applying critical sociocultural theory to the narratives redirects attention from individual actions to the larger system that creates and sustains such reactions. For example, when higher education institutions are required to measure their courses in Carnegie units for accreditation, the number of pages in an assigned text is quantified to account for instructional time (Fain, 2015). The macrosystem of standardization leads to a situation where an individual student’s micro practices, such as an English-language learner who needs more time to read and struggles to keep up with coursework, are read as deficient even as they exceed the amount of time needed using the Carnegie unit system. With the introduction of multimodal texts based on course themes, these macrosystems were challenged: Page numbers did not apply to a podcast or an interview with a disciplinary expert. Students were instead given an amount of time they were recommended to engage with the texts with a clear explanation of the macrostructure that created the requirement. This approach acknowledged the constraints of larger macrosystems within the discipline of education while adapting for differences in students’ digital literacy practices and valued texts. The shift in outside-of-class work represented a larger instructional shift around digital literacies. Most notably, I began facilitating student-led inquiries around larger macrostructures of power and Western literacies to understand how digital literacies in the discipline of education remain hidden. This begins in week 3 when students participated in a Socratic seminar to share findings from their study of multimodal course texts. I posed

TABLE 5.3

Prompts to Reveal Hidden Digital Literacy Macrostructures •• What publishing companies produce the textbooks that are available in your discipline? How do they select authors? Who makes up their editorial board? •• Why have electronic textbooks grown in popularity? How do e-books benefit companies? Schools? Students? What barriers do they create? •• Where does new knowledge in the disciplines come from? Who owns this knowledge? What are potential ways knowledge can be accessed? What barriers prevent access to knowledge in your discipline (e.g., paywalls)? •• How are authors compensated for their articles? How do journals make a profit? •• Whose preferred texts are centered in schools? What modes do these texts often take? Whose preferred texts are decentered? •• Whose preferred literacies are centered in schools? What literacy practices are rewarded and valued? •• Whose literacies are decentered? How are they punished or managed?

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not only open-ended questions (see Table 5.3) about course content but also how that course content was selected, accessed, and consumed with prompts such as “What texts are considered academic? What texts are considered entertainment? Who makes these decisions? How did these decisions get made within the discipline?” These conversations underline how larger structures, like publishing companies, influence the texts and literacies valued within the discipline of education.

Conclusion Digital literacies are demanded of education students and their future school-aged students but often remain hidden by a lack of explicit instruction or teacher assumptions about digital literacies. A sociocultural rereading of critical incidents within an education course revealed key practices for educators to make hidden digital literacies visible: (a) explicit instruction on hidden digital literacies, (b) integrating a diversity of multimodal course texts, and (c) facilitating student-led inquiries around larger macrostructures to understand how hidden digital literacies within education remain hidden. Through intentional instruction during the first 3 weeks of class and ongoing conversations, students leave the course knowing the hidden digital literacies within education, how to enact digital literacies in their own classroom instruction, and how narrow, Western definitions of digital literacies, digital texts, and their larger macrostructures can be challenged.

References Alvermann, D. E. (2011). Comprehension strategy instruction for multimodal texts in science. Theory Into Practice, 50, 116–124. https://doi.org/10.1080/0040584 1.2011.558436 Banks, W. M. (1996). Black intellectuals: Race and responsibility in American life. Norton. Casselden, B., & Pears, R. (2019). Higher education student pathways to ebook usage and engagement and understanding. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 52(2), 601–619. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000619841429 Enciso, P. (2007). Reframing history in sociocultural theories: Toward an expansive vision. In C. Lewis, P. Enciso & E. Birr Moje (Eds.), Reframing sociocultural research on literacy: Identity, agency, and power (pp. 49–74). Erlbaum. Fain, F. (2015, January 29). Sticking with credit hour. Inside Higher Ed. https:// www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/01/29/carnegie-foundation-says-credithour-although-flawed-too-important-discard Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2019). Listening stations in content area learning. The Reading Teacher, 72(6), 769–773. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1793

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Garcia, A., Mirra, N., Morrell, E., Martinez, A., & Scorza, D. A. (2015). Critical literacy and civic agency in the digital age. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 31(2), 151–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/10573569.2014.962203 Goodfellow, R. (2011). Literacy, literacies, and the digital in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education, 16(1), 131–144. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562 517.2011.544125 Hartocollis, A. (2020, March 28). With coronavirus disrupting college, should every student pass? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/us/ coronavirus-college-pass-fail.html Hollins, E. R. (2015). Culture in school learning: Revealing the deep meaning (3rd ed.). Routledge. Jago, C. (2011). With rigor for all (2nd ed.). Heinemann. Janks, H. (2000). Domination, access, diversity and design: A synthesis for critical literacy education. Educational Review, 52(2), 175–186. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/713664035 Kinloch, V. (2017). ‘You ain’t making me write’: Culturally sustaining pedagogies and Black youth’ performances of resistance. In D. Paris & H. S. Alim (Eds.), Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world (pp. 25–42). Teachers College Press. Labaree, D. F. (2008). An uneasy relationship: The history of teacher education in the university. In M. Cochran-Smith, S. Feiman Nemser, & J. D. McIntyre (Eds.), Handbook of research on teacher education: Enduring issues in changing contexts (3rd ed., pp. 290–306). Association of Teacher Educators. Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2011). New literacies. McGraw-Hill. Lewis, C., Encisco, P., & Moje, E. B. (2007). New directions in sociocultural research on literacy. Erlbaum. Milner, H. R., IV. (2020). Disrupting punitive practices and policies. Educational Researcher, 49(3), 147–160. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X20907396 Mirra, N., Morrell, E. & Filipiak, D. (2018). From digital consumption to digital invention: Towards a new critical theory and practice of multiliteracies. Theory Into Practice, 57(5), 12–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2017.1390336 Morrell, E. (2008). Critical literacy and urban youth: Pedagogies of access, dissent, and liberation. Routledge. Ness, M., & Kenny, M. (2016). Improving the quality of think alouds. The Reading Teacher, 69(4), 453–460. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1397New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66, 60–92 New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60–92. Ohler, J. B. (2013). Digital storytelling in the classroom: New media pathways to literacy, learning, and creativity. Corwin. Paris, D., & Alim, H. S. (2017). Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world. Teachers College Press.

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Pecorari, D., Shaw, P., Irvine, A., Malmström, H., & Mežek, Š. (2012). Reading in tertiary education: Undergraduate student practices and attitudes. Quality in Higher Education, 18(2), 235–256. https://doi.org/10.1080/13538322.2012.706464 Philip, T., & Garcia, A. (2013). The importance of still teaching the iGeneration: New technologies and the centrality of pedagogy. Harvard Educational Review, 83(2), 300–319. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.83.2.w221368g1554u158 Poole, G. (2018). Using intuition, anecdotes, and observation: Rich sources of SoTL projects. In N. L. Chick (Ed.), SoTL in action: Illuminating critical moments of practice (pp. 7–14). Stylus. Prothero, S. (2007). Religious literacy: What every American needs to know—And doesn’t. HarperCollins. Rosa, J., & Flores, N. (2017). Do you hear what I hear? Raciolinguistic ideologies and culturally sustaining pedagogies. In D. Paris & H. S. Alim (Eds.), Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world (pp. 175–190). Teachers College Press. Smitherman, G. (2000). Talkin that talk: Language, culture, and education in African America. Routledge. Street, B. V., & Martin-Jones, M. (2000). Literacy events and literacy practices: Theory and practice in the new literacy studies. In M. Marin-Jones & K. E. Jones (Eds.) Multilingual literacies: Reading and writing different worlds (pp. 17–30). John Benjamins. Street, B. V., & Street, B. B. (1984). Literacy in theory and practice, (Vol. 9). Cambridge University Press. Walker, S., & Patel, A. J. (2018). More than skills: What can approaches to digital literacies learn from academic literacies? Journal of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 1(1), 93–100. https://doi.org/10.29311/jlthe.v1i1.856

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PA RT T W O HUMANITIES

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6 D I G I TA L L I T E R A C I E S FOR ENGLISH Laying a Foundation in 1st-Year Writing Jessie L. Moore and Greg Hlavaty

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igital native. Net generation. As Generation Z enters college under the banner of these terms, it becomes too easy to assume that the nomenclatures fit. Outcome and standards statements from professional organizations, like the Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA), the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center), and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) reflect the need for increased digital literacies, reiterating the growing role of digital technologies in today’s society and education system. CWPA (2014), for instance, suggests that students completing 1st-year composition in college should be able to compose in electronic environments, conduct research using electronic databases, and understand how digital processes and texts change the rhetorical strategies students should use. Further, the NGA Center and CCSSO (n.d.) Common Core State Standards for writing for grades 11 and 12 indicate that students should “use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.” This standard suggests that students should be able to draft, revise, and disseminate their work, perhaps even collaboratively, using digital technologies. Clearly, these organizations believe that today’s students need to use technology as part of their writing processes. Yet does the digital native label mask the need for instruction to help students achieve these outcomes? Have high school graduates and 1st-year college students met these standards? While today’s students bring a familiarity with technology that their 71

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teachers likely didn’t have when they were students, 1st-year writers still are academic immigrants who need guidance in developing strategies for applying these technologies to academic and workplace writing tasks. Studies like Revisualizing Composition (Moore et al., 2016; Pigg et al., 2014) have established that students write a lot—for both academic and personal purposes—and use a range of technologies to compose their writing. Yet students often have limited experience with contemporary writing technologies like blogs and other Web 2.0 technologies. Jones et al. (2010) examined 1st-year university students’ self-reports of their access to and the importance of the internet, Web 2.0 tools, and other technologies. Their results suggest that some students use text messaging, instant messaging, and social networking sites for academics, but they use these technologies more extensively for self-sponsored writing, a trend reinforced by other studies (Rosinski, 2016; Waycott et al., 2010). In the “Revisualizing Composition” study, though, only 19% of students reported using blogs for their most often written or most valued types of writing, and only 11% reported using wikis; students reported that most of their use of these writing technologies was for academic writing tasks (e.g., academic papers, comments on peers’ posts), not for the types of writing they are likely to perform beyond college (Moore et al., 2016). Jones et al. (2010) also reported that only a small minority of students actively contribute material to Web 2.0 sites. Collectively, these studies suggest that students practice using writing technologies for self-sponsored and academic writing tasks but may not encounter opportunities to develop digital literacies appropriate for postgraduation workplace writing. Yet employers are increasingly likely to expect graduates to navigate new media and digital platforms, including social media (Peltola, 2018). In a 2019 survey of 1,575 college graduates, ages 18–34, living in the United States, 37% of participants indicated that they do multimedia writing at least weekly or monthly for their jobs; in addition, 48% reported composing social media at least weekly or monthly for their jobs (Elon Poll/Center for Engaged Learning, 2019). Therefore, college curricula need to include opportunities for students to learn and practice corresponding digital literacies. In “Writing in the 21st Century,” former National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) President Kathleen Blake Yancey (2009) issued “a call to action, a call to research and articulate new composition, a call to help our students compose often, compose well, and through these composings, become the citizen writers of our country, the citizen writers of our world, and the writers of the future” (p. 1). Her call prompted English faculty to ask how writing classes might capture students’ enthusiasm for digital technologies and apply that zeal to academic purposes, as well as to 21st-century writing beyond the classroom. As J. Elizabeth Clark (2010) asserts, the 1st-year writing classroom could be a

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rich location to “immerse students in analyzing digital media, in exploring the world beyond the classroom, in crafting digital personae, and in creating new and emerging definitions of civic literacy” (p. 28). A decade later, Lauer and Brumberger (2019) reiterated this call for writing classrooms to reflect “an understanding of writing-as-multimodal-editing” as practiced in professional workplaces (p. 657). In this chapter, we recount how our writing program responded to this disciplinary charge to foster digital literacies, and we share four activities that we continue to revise and adapt to teach digital literacies in our classrooms.

Assessing 1st-Year Students’ Digital Literacies In a 2010 study funded by the Revson Foundation, faculty from our campus’s 1st-year writing program (then directed by Jessie) and Center for Advancement of Teaching and Learning studied students’ entering digital literacies, developed and piloted class activities that would foster students’ development of digital literacies specific to writing, and assessed associated learning outcomes to inform revisions of the activities. Although the initial study occurred several years ago, the exigencies for the study still exist, and its outcomes continue to inform the writing program and instruction in individual sections of the program’s courses. In particular, the study resulted in collaboratively designed, hands-on digital literacies activities that have been consistently embedded in multiple sections of the required course. As significant for fostering students’ digital literacies, faculty participants also contributed to updating the learning outcomes for the 1st-year writing program to include digital literacies outcomes. In the original grant project, to establish a baseline understanding of the digital literacies that students brought to our classes, we administered a pretest to 26% of the university’s 1st-year students. We also surveyed faculty teaching 1st-year writing to learn what our colleagues expect their students to know about digital literacies for writing. In brief, across four categories of digital literacies, we repeatedly saw students struggle to successfully complete tasks associated with digital literacy skills and strategies, providing support for Clark’s (2010) claim that writing classrooms need to address this gap. Students’ struggles to work with citations for images and texts, for example, highlight an opportunity—and need—to enrich discussions of source use for 21st-century writing. We realized that we needed to address in our classes how to attribute information in today’s multimedia texts and how to interpret academic citation systems (e.g., MLA, APA) to identify the type of source and assess how scholarly a source might be based solely on a citation. Instruction in these types of digital literacies strategies could be integrated into larger discussions in 1st-year writing classes about rhetorical strategies and supporting

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arguments with evidence. In our survey, faculty agreed students should be able to use these strategies if they passed 1st-year writing, yet we also learned that few faculty taught these same digital literacies in the course. Given this discrepancy, we developed short activities that faculty could adapt for their sections of 1st-year writing—and for other English courses. We shared these optional activities in monthly professional development workshops where we facilitated discussions about how colleagues could integrate the activities into their course sections. In the years that have followed, variations of the activities have been adopted—and adapted—by many instructors in the program. Next we share updated versions of the four activities designed during that project.

Comparing Databases (Activity 1) When teaching the research process, many 1st-year writing courses start with an introduction to library databases and often include tips for distinguishing source types. While these introductions do help students navigate research databases and think critically about source types, they are often left as oneoff assignments; however, effective digital literacy requires more focused, and repeated, practice. This is especially true if we want students to develop a complex and nuanced research process that involves not only using databases but also a consideration of each database’s purpose. The exercise “Group Database Activity” is an in-class, small-group activity that asks students to choose a research topic and quickly work through the research process by choosing keywords and searching for relevant sources. They are required to use and compare results from four categories of databases/search engines: general, news, subject specific, and Google Scholar. After performing these searches, the students answer questions that point to essential differences between databases. If appropriate, the instructor can extend this exercise to include collaborative writing as well, which challenges students to position themselves as experienced researchers and to help incoming 1st-year students understand database research.

Group Database Activity: Student Guidelines Step 1: Search databases As a group, please work through the following questions to create a research topic, search for sources, and compare the various databases listed. 1. What is your research topic? 2. Choose five keywords you would use to search for articles on your research topic.

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3. Choose one academic discipline/subject area (e.g., chemistry, business) that would study this topic. This will help you focus your search in a subject-specific database. 4. Now that you have chosen your research question, some keywords to search for, and a discipline that would study this topic, use this information to compare the following four types of databases: {{ General academic database: Choose either JSTOR, Academic Search Complete, or ProQuest and search for information on your group’s topic. {{ News database: Choose Access World News (Newsbank) and search for information on your group’s topic. {{ Subject-specific database: Using the discipline/subject area you chose, choose one subject-specific database and search for information on your group’s topic. {{ Google Scholar One group member should search your topic on each database and then report the results back to the group. Step 2: Compare results Once your group has discussed the search results, quickly answer the following questions (bullet points are fine): 1. Compare the number of results that each database generated. 2. Using examples from your search results, generally compare the quality of sources that each database generated. Which database returned the most credible research material? 3. What seems to be the purpose of each database? 4. Compare the relative ease of use of each database. Did any features stand out as being particularly helpful? Step 3 (optional): Write a collaborative letter Using this database experience, write a short letter to incoming 1st-year students that describes these database types and tells them when each database would best be used. Be specific, using some of the information from the questions to prove your point.

Note for Instructors This activity should reflect your course goals and can be tailored to use the databases offered by your institution. The overall goal is for students to become aware of the variety of databases and to consider how each one returns different search results and could affect their research process.

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Upper level literature courses could offer a more focused version of this activity, requiring that students compare only subject-specific databases that would be used by your discipline. Professional writing courses could also spend more time discussing the functionality and design of each database.

Illustrating Arguments (Activity 2) Although English classes often focus on alphabetic texts, digital literacy instruction should also address visual culture, particularly because students spend so much time scrolling through images. One way to teach visual literacy is to pick an argumentative topic and let students find, cite, and integrate relevant images in their argument. We recommend using a timely topic, so for the following example, we will focus on the subject of bias. In her book Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do, Jennifer Eberhardt (2019) states that “our ideas about race are shaped by the stereotypes to which we are exposed on a daily basis” (p. 6). Although her primary research focus is race, Eberhardt (2019) also acknowledges that “people can hold biases based on all sorts of characteristics,” (p. 7), including age, skin color, class, gender, and so on. Most importantly, she suggests that we should acknowledge “the distorting lens of fear and bias” to see the “social harms” that bias causes (p. 7). Since Eberhardt suggests bringing personal biases to consciousness in order to heal, we like our 1st-year writing students to do the following visual literacy exercise. It works with the general concept of stereotyping and bias, allowing students to form a personal connection with the topic and to find and write about a relevant image.

Working Through Stereotypes: Student Guidelines Write a brief essay (400–500 words) that does the following: 1. Describes a particular stereotype that has influenced the way you view others or the way others view you (can be based on race, ethnicity, gender, class, age, occupation, or other characteristics) 2. Explains the personal and cultural significance of this stereotype 3. Follows the “Guidelines for Using Illustrations” (see https://bit.ly/EngDigLit) to present at least one image (e.g., a photo, cartoon, ad, or painting) within your paragraph(s) that vividly captures the stereotype you’re examining 4. Cites your visual following the citation instructions in “Guidelines for Using Illustrations”

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Note for Instructors For upper level courses, we recommend adding rigor and shifting the focus to make the content relevant to the course. For instance, students in a literature course could investigate an instance of bias in one of the required readings, using a visual to illustrate this bias. For professional writing and rhetoric courses, students could analyze the written and visual content of infographics (e.g., public health texts, voter information texts) for examples of bias and then create their own alternative versions of the infographics; as part of this activity, students can examine stock photo databases to determine which risk perpetuating stereotypes and which help professional writers and designers produce more equity-minded texts. For all courses, adding visuals can also be a generative revision project; students could add illustrations to a previously written argument and then reflect on the effect visuals can have on argument and analysis.

Collaborative Writing Tools: Drafting Class Expectations for Peer Response (Activity 3) Although collaborative writing is common in the workplace (e.g., 63% of recent college graduates in the 2019 Elon Poll reported that working with a team to accomplish goals was very important to their day-to-day lives), entering college students do not necessarily know how to use digital tools that could support collaboration. In our study’s pretest, only 35% of students knew how to track changes in a document and only 59% were able to insert comments. To help students develop these digital literacies, the “Drafting Class Expectations for Peer Response” activity introduces comment and track changes tools and gives students opportunities to practice them before using them for subsequent peer-response activities.

Drafting Class Expectations for Peer Response: Student Guidelines We will use the following process to draft our shared expectations for peer response: 1. As a class, we will brainstorm characteristics of helpful/unhelpful peer feedback. 2. Keeping these characteristics in mind, each of five groups will draft one of the following subsections of our shared class expectations for peer response: a. Writer’s responsibilities in preparation for peer response b. Writer’s responsibilities during peer-response discussions

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c. Reader’s responsibilities when making written comments d. Reader’s responsibilities during peer-response discussions e. Instructor’s responsibilities during peer response 3. Working with your group, draft your section in our shared Google Doc. 4. Review the “Google Docs Collaboration Tools” handout (see https://bit. ly/EngDigLit). Then offer another group feedback and suggestions for revision using comments and track changes. 5. After you finish your review, we will discuss the entire document as a class. The drafting group will introduce their ideas and the response group will share their suggestions/critiques. The drafting group is responsible for recording revisions (by accepting tracked changes or using Suggesting Mode to track additional revisions) based on the class discussion.

Exit write: Reflect on your experience using collaboration tools. How might you use these tools and strategies in other contexts (e.g., other classes, at work, etc.)?

Note for Instructors At the end of the activity, the class could discuss the students’ experience with collaborative writing; we also have suggested an exit write prompt that encourages students to think about how they might transfer this writing knowledge to other contexts. For upper level English courses, we use a similar process but introduce more choice regarding the word processing platform, particularly because our students have access to both Microsoft Word and to Google Docs. In professional writing and rhetoric courses, we add class discussions about the affordances of collaboration tools in each platform and how they shape communication (Swarts, 2013) and the role of these tools in managing projects (Dicks, 2013). In literature courses, we adapt the focus of the activity to explore strategies for annotating and analyzing texts; student groups can take the lead on using comments to share their analysis of a section of a shared text, leading into a class discussion of the entire—now annotated—text.

Adapting Writing for Web 2.0 (Activity 4) Students are frequent consumers of new media and active producers in some platforms. In Bleakney et al.’s 2019 survey of students and alumni, current students reported that image messaging or photo captions were among their most often written types of writing, alongside genres associated with their

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classwork. While we might assume that students are completing this Web 2.0 writing for personal reasons, as we noted in our introduction, a growing array of jobs require adeptness with writing for the web, including writing for social media. Moreover, students in our study initially struggled to identify the best Web 2.0 technologies for specific writing tasks and would benefit from discussing strategies for selecting digital technologies for different writing purposes. The “Adapting Writing for Web 2.0” activity lets students practice selecting an appropriate Web 2.0 platform and adapting rhetorical strategies for the medium in which they are writing.

Adapting Writing for Web 2.0: Student Guidelines Follow these steps to complete the Adapting Writing for Web 2.0 activity: 1. Prior to class, select your favorite writing product from the class and bring an electronic copy to class. 2. During class, complete a rhetorical analysis by answering the questions in Table 6.1. Compare characteristics of the project’s original form to possible features in a Web 2.0 text (e.g., blog post, social media campaign). 3. After you answer the questions, prioritize two aspects of their project that you could adapt to take advantage of a Web 2.0 interface. 4. Submit a revised version of your project, a discussion of the changes you made, and a brief reflection on additional Web 2.0 features you could use if you had more time to adapt your writing.

Note for Instructors In an upper level professional writing and rhetoric class on multimedia rhetoric, students often repeat this activity with different writing technologies (e.g., pencil, word processor, website, video), enabling the class to talk about the different affordances of each technology for reaching a specific audience to achieve a specific purpose or goal. In upper level literature courses, students could anticipate how a story might be retold via a Web 2.0 platform, and in creative writing courses they could experiment with composing multiple iterations of a story in still text, with multimedia, and in ongoing social media campaigns that might approximate a contemporary version of serial fiction.

Conclusion In the years following the initial grant-funded project, program faculty have continued to revise these activities to reflect new technologies and respond

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TABLE 6.1

Rhetorical Analysis Prompts for Adapting Writing for Web 2.0 Original project

If I adapt my project for a blog post or social media campaign

Who is the intended audience(s)? What are their expectations for this type of project? What is the primary purpose of my composition in this context? What types of evidence and examples can I integrate? Can I use pictures? Videos? Hyperlinks? What formatting options do I have? Can I change the font? Control the layout? Use tables? What options do I have for organizing my project? How might readers comment on/respond to my project? What are characteristics of the Web 2.0 platform that readers would expect me to use?

to changes in students’ entering digital literacies. We anticipate that we will continue—and we encourage readers—to adapt them as the context for digital literacies instruction in English courses continues to evolve. Ultimately, we would like to see more 1st-year writing courses integrate these types of digital literacies activities so that students develop a foundation on which they can build in subsequent coursework. That transfer of strategies requires our colleagues in the discipline—and beyond—to embed opportunities for additional instruction and practice. As one of our colleagues noted in her reflection on this project, repeated opportunities to apply new digital literacies helps students master them (see King & Moore, 2013). To better prepare our students to use digital literacies in their eventual workplaces and in their public lives—and to respond to Yancey’s, Clark’s, Lauer’s, Brumberger’s, and others’ calls to action—we must move digital literacies instruction in English from novelty to norm.

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References Bleakney, J., Li, L., Holland, E., Rosinski, P., & Moore, J. L. (under review). Rhetorical training across the university: What and where students and alumni learn about writing. Clark, J. E. (2010). The digital imperative: Making the case for a 21st-century pedagogy. Computers and Composition, 27(1), 27–35. http://newcenturynewreaders. pbworks.com/f/The%20Digital%20Imperative%20-%20King.pdf Council of Writing Program Administrators. (2019). WPA outcomes statement for first-year composition 3.0. http://wpacouncil.org/aws/CWPA/pt/sd/news_article/243055/_PARENT/layout_details/false Dicks, R. S. (2013). How can technical communicators manage projects? In J. Johnson-Eilola & S. A. Selber (Eds.), Solving problems in technical communication (pp. 310–332). University of Chicago Press. Eberhardt, J. (2019). Biased: Uncovering the hidden prejudice that shapes what we see, think, and do. Penguin Books. Elon Poll/Center for Engaged Learning. (2019, July 31). High impact undergraduate experiences and how they matter now. https://www.elon.edu/u/elon-poll/wpcontent/uploads/sites/819/2019/07/2019_7_31-ElonPoll_Report.pdf Jones, C., Ramanau, R., Cross, S., & Healing, G. (2010). Net generation or digital natives: Is there a distinct new generation entering university? Computers & Education, 54, 722–732. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2009.09.022 King, C., & Moore, J. L. (2013). Feeding many birds with one bowl: Collaborative inquiry as a context for faculty development. Journal of Faculty Development, 27(2), 19–24. Lauer, C., & Brumberger, E. (2019). Redefining writing for the responsive workplace. College Composition and Communication, 70(2), 634–663. Moore, J. L., Rosinski, P., Peeples, T., Pigg, S., Rife, M. C., Brunk-Chavez, B., HartDavidson, W., Lackey, D., Rumsey, S. K., Tasaka, R., Curran, P., & Grabill, J. (2016). Revisualizing composition: How first-year writers use composing technologies. Computers and Composition, 39, 1–13. https://iranarze.ir/wp-content/ uploads/2016/12/E3086.pdf National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & the Council of Chief State School Officers. (n.d.). English language arts standards: Writing: grade 11-12, standard 6. http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/11-12/6/ Peltola, A. (2018). Lead time: An examination of workplace readiness in public relations education. International Journal of Work-integrated Learning, 19(1), 37–50. Pigg, S., Grabill, J. T., Brunk-Chavez, B., Moore, J. L., Rosinski, P., & Curran, P.G. (2014). Ubiquitous writing, technologies, and the social practice of literacies of coordination. Written Communication, 31(1), 91–117. https://doi. org/10.1177/0741088313514023 Rosinski, P. (2016). Students’ perceptions of the transfer of rhetorical knowledge between digital self-sponsored writing and academic writing: The importance of authentic contexts and reflection. In. C. Anson & J. L. Moore (Eds.), Critical

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transitions: Writing and the question of transfer (pp. 247–271). The WAC Clearinghouse; University Press of Colorado. Swarts, J. (2013). How can work tools shape and organize technical communication? In J. Johnson-Eilola & S. A. Selber (Eds.), Solving problems in technical communication (pp. 146–164). University of Chicago Press. Waycott, J., Bennett, S., Kennedy, G., Dalgarno, B., & Gray, K. (2010). Digital divides? Student and staff perceptions of information and communication technologies. Computers & Education, 54, 1202–1211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. compedu.2009.11.006 Yancey, K. B. (2009). Writing in the 21st century: A report from the National Council of Teachers of English. http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Press/Yancey_ final.pdf

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7 OPEN AND CLOSED Open Education Projects, Indigenous Studies, and Teaching Undergraduate Students About the Ethics of Information Access Jennifer Hardwick

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igital literacy was famously coined in 1997 by Paul Gilster, who defined the term as “the ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it is presented via computers” (p. 6). In many undergraduate English classrooms, instructors approach digital literacy as an extension of information literacy and research skills. Students are taught how to locate information in digital environments, discern between scholarly and nonscholarly sources, analyze textual and audiovisual materials, and cite information according to scholarly conventions. As Rhona Sharpe and Helen Beetham’s (2010) model of digital literacy notes, the foundation of these skills is the ability to access digital information. Before students can analyze, evaluate, cite, employ, or remix information, they must have the skills and tools to obtain it. Given this, it is no surprise that digital literacy pedagogies often uphold access to information as an inherent good. The ability to access and mobilize knowledge becomes a form of currency within our classrooms, tied to stronger assignments, better grades, and presumably a better chance at employability and economic stability. The personal, economic, and social benefits of access to information are recognized well beyond the academy as well. For example, Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations, 1948) states that “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers” (p. 5). The United Nations (1948) 83

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acknowledges freedom of information, access to technology, and digital literacies as central to this article, with the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the rights of opinion and expression noting that article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Covenant was drafted with foresight to include and to accommodate future technological developments through which individuals can exercise their right to freedom of expression. Hence, the framework of international human rights law remains relevant today and equally applicable to new communication technologies such as the Internet. (La Rue, 2011, p. 7)

The belief that access to information is a fundamental right is also at the core of the growing open education movement, which advocates for educational resources, pedagogical practices, and publishing platforms that increase access and challenge systemic obstacles such as cost and institutional affiliation. As Patrick Blessinger and TJ Bliss (2016) note in the introduction to their book Open Education: International Perspectives on Higher Education, Open education is designed for access because it removes the traditional barriers that people often face in obtaining knowledge, credits, and degrees—including but not limited to cost. Access is fundamental to open education and is the basic principle that has informed and driven the open education movement from its inception. (p. 13)

Digital literacy pedagogies are a natural ally of many open education practices because both are interested in issues of “access, agency, and ownership” (Blessinger & Bliss, 2016, p. 14). Open education strives to “to move learners closer to the center of a community of practice, specifically through providing opportunities and infrastructure for participation and collaboration” (Blessinger & Bliss, 2016, p. 15); digital literacy is a necessary prerequisite for this engagement. Access to information is undoubtedly important, particularly given the barriers many learners experience while trying to obtain an education. A Hope4College survey of 86,000 American students across 123 postsecondary institutions in 2018 found that 45% of respondents had experienced food insecurity within the prior 30 days, 56% had experienced housing insecurity in the last year, and 17% had experienced homelessness (Goldrick-Rab et al., 2019). Additionally, Rates of basic needs insecurity are higher for marginalized students, including African Americans, students identifying as LGBTQ, and students who are independent from their parents or guardians for financial aid purposes.

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Students who have served in the military, former foster youth, and students who were formerly convicted of a crime are all at greater risk of basic needs insecurity. (Goldrick-Rab et al., 2019, p. 2)

It is often our most marginalized students who struggle to pay for books, who face barriers accessing campus resources (such as libraries), and who find it difficult to negotiate digital materials because of a lack of access and training. Fighting for open education has the potential to greatly improve accessibility for these—and all—students, and to fundamentally transform postsecondary education for the better in the process. However, I contend that we are often doing a disservice to our students by focusing on how they can access information without building an awareness of the ethics of that process. Digital literacy does not just mean reading, writing, researching, and citing in a different environment; it means radically rethinking the ways that we approach and use information. If we want our students to be truly digitally literate, we need to help them think through issues like privacy, ethics, control, collaboration, and relationship. We need to teach them to see themselves as both consumers and creators, and we need to give them the tools to negotiate the possibilities and pitfalls of engaging with digital knowledge. Pushing for access without teaching ethics or responsibility does not help prepare our students, and it has the potential to cause great harm.

The Ethics of Access and Indigenous Literary Studies The harm caused by uncritically championing open access is particularly evident within the field of Indigenous literary studies, which is a subfield of both English literary studies and Indigenous studies. Indigenous literary studies endeavors to attune students to the specific contexts surrounding Indigenous stories, including the ethics of listening and accessing Indigenous knowledges. One of the great lessons of Indigenous literatures (and Indigenous studies more broadly) is that not all knowledge is accessible to all people— nor should it be. Indigenous knowledges are governed by protocols and relationships and are grounded in the lived realities of Indigenous nations and communities; they do not belong to anyone who wants them. There are long histories of settler scholars and institutions ignoring the protocols and responsibilities tied to Indigenous knowledges and instead appropriating Indigenous ways of knowing for personal or academic gain. Drawing on the works of Edward Said, Ma¯ori scholar Linda Tuhiwai Smith (2012) argues that “knowledge and culture were as much part of imperialism as

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raw materials and military strength. Knowledge was there to be discovered, extracted, appropriated, and distributed” (p. 117). She notes that “Western knowledge and science are the ‘beneficiaries’ of the colonization of indigenous peoples. The knowledge gain through our colonization has been used in turn, to colonize” (Smith, 2012, p. 118). Settlers had and continue to have a deep sense of entitlement to Indigenous knowledges, and this entitlement is often replicated in rhetoric that privileges access over responsibility and lauds the benefits of accruing knowledge without exploring the harmful impacts of consuming knowledge without permission, relationship, or payment. We need to be very wary of how the expansion of digital literacies and open education can inadvertently continue violent legacies of colonial extraction in the name of scholarly access and benefit. However, I do not believe that the potential harms and violence of open access should mean that we close all systems of knowledge and education. Digital literacies and the open education movement have the potential to challenge systemic barriers that have denied generations of learners— Indigenous learners included—access to knowledge. Instead of closing education, we should instead build our students’ critical thinking and digital literacy skills so that they have the ability to engage with the continuum of open and closed knowledges ethically and carefully. Open education digital projects—which involve students building digital resources that are openly available—are a wonderful way to encourage this kind of critical thinking. Projects provide students with the opportunity to work on something that has the potential to be continual (although continuation is not necessarily required) or revisited and revised as the student progresses through their studies. Open education projects are also often creative, interdisciplinary, multimodal, and, depending on the scope, public-facing, which means student work can reach public audiences (i.e., audiences beyond the classroom and even the academy). The hands-on nature of digital projects encourages students to think about authorship, ownership, responsibility, and privacy in new ways; what was once theoretical becomes applied, and students see the complexity, challenge, and possibilities associated with these issues as they navigate their own positions not just as media consumers, but as media creators. I have seen firsthand how digital projects can help students build critical thinking skills, but as with all assignments, design and implementation are integral. It is imperative to help students position themselves and to give them the tools to think critically about how they access, engage, and mobilize knowledge. Students are often unfamiliar with digital projects, so it is important to begin building skills early. I have used projects in 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th-year classes focusing on topics ranging from digital writing to Indigenous digital media to placemaking.

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Although I have taught at institutions across the territories we now call Canada, I have most recently used projects in my 2nd- and 3rd-year classes in English and Policy Studies at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU). KPU (2018) offers small classes to an incredibly diverse student population in Surrey, British Columbia (BC); over 40% are first-generation learners, more than 75% work, 56% percent of domestic students are visible minorities, and nearly 30% of the entire student population is made up of international students (KPU Institutional Analysis and Planning, 2018). Unsurprisingly, KPU students come in with a wide range of experiences and knowledges of their own, and many of my students have never done project-based work (let alone digital project-based work) before. I have had my greatest project success using the following practices.

Locating Oneself Good critical thinking is not just an intellectual process; it is connected to self-awareness, and it requires both learning and unlearning (sometimes simultaneously). It can—and at times should—be an uncomfortable process. The success of open education assignments often depends on students’ abilities to locate themselves in relation to the knowledges, practices, and audiences they seek to engage. For this reason, it is important to get students comfortable reflecting on their positions—including personal spaces of privilege and marginalization—early. As an instructor, I spend the first few weeks of the semester working with students to develop vocabulary around different facets of their identities such as race, gender, ability, and class, and I encourage them to reflect on how those identities might shape their relationship with information. Do they feel safe sharing personal information online? What communities do they engage with in digital spaces and why? Have they ever had something (a picture, an idea, a phrase) stolen online? Have they ever seen elements of their identity appropriated or represented in a way that made them angry or uncomfortable? How do they approach people they do not know online? I use a mixture of in-class discussion, reflective writing, and group analysis to encourage students to think about their own positionality and to help them realize that their peers may have different experiences negotiating digital spaces. Activities can include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following: •• Introducing themselves to a small group using their cell phone home screens. Together, students analyze the photos, apps, and layout on each other’s screens and discuss how their home screen may or may

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not represent different facets of their identities. I always give them a few minutes before the exercise to clear/hide anything on their screens that they are uncomfortable sharing (which, in and of itself, is a lesson on what it means to control one’s information. As an early example of theft and appropriation I often ask students, “How would you feel if someone saw what was on your phone and shared that information or made claims about your identity based on their observations?”) •• Writing a brief digital introduction assignment where they explain to me how and why they represent themselves online through text, visuals, and data. They are asked to reflect on how their digital identities and physical identities do or do not intersect and to consider how they respond to different contexts and constraints. This assignment also asks them to consider the ethics of privacy, because they become more aware of what they are sharing (and not sharing) and why. •• Class discussions about online reading practices, experiences with privacy, and social interactions. Together, we talk about how we read online, whether we are mindful when we sign up for platforms and services, and what participating in a digital community has meant to us. Through activities such as these, students develop a vocabulary for talking about who they are and become more critically aware of other’s experiences and identities. They also begin to understand how important it is to have control over their own identities, knowledges, and representations. Typically, these activities are paired with readings and examples (such as Twitter movements, music videos, life writing, and digital maps) that illustrate how different communities mobilize digital technologies to assert identity, build relationships, challenge injustice, and organize information. Together we explore the positive and negative outcomes of actuating knowledge in digital environments, such as social change, support structures, harassment, and theft, and talk about why it is important to control your own knowledge and your own stories. These conversations help students connect the personal to the political; they begin to understand appropriation and theft on both large and small scales, and perhaps more importantly, these issues become personal to them.

Building Digital Skills and Digital Ethics I generally provide limited technological training to students; instead, I encourage them to explore and go with what feels right for their purpose and context. As a way to get them started, I provide brief (5–10-minute)

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overviews throughout the semester of a few key platforms with drag-anddrop functionality, such as a free website builder, a podcast app, and our institution’s e-portfolio system. If the class size and structure allow for it, I also encourage them to share their favorite platforms with each other in class or via a course website or learning management system. Rather than working on technological training, I work to build information literacy and ethical research skills. I introduce lateral reading and ask them to fact check news articles, Twitter postings, and political claims, and to reflect on the information they find. Depending on the class, we also discuss different ways that information is organized and governed by comparing open-access and pay-for-use academic journals, using library and online search engines, and exploring Creative Commons licenses. We explore different information governance structures, and I introduce them to the principles of OCAP (ownership, control, access, and possession), which are used by many Indigenous communities and nations in Canada. According to the First Nations Information Governance Centre (2020): The First Nations principles of OCAP® are a set of standards that establish how First Nations data should be collected, protected, used, or shared. They are the de facto standard for how to conduct research with First Nations. Standing for ownership, control, access and possession, OCAP® asserts that First Nations have control over data collection processes in their communities, and that they own and control how this information can be used. (para. 1)

Introducing frameworks such as OCAP shows students that there are different ways to govern information and that limiting access to information is not an inherent evil any more than access to information is an inherent good. They begin to see the possibilities associated with “closed” information systems and to think critically about what they can and cannot access and why.

Project Assignment Design While my project design can differ depending on the course and students, I generally ask students to apply the knowledge they gained in the course in order to address a problem they see and reach a specific audience. Students have created a wide range of digital projects, such as timelines of important historical events relating to Indigenous rights in Canada; podcasts that discuss a particular book or theory; blogs and e-portfolios that reflect on personal positionally or learning; and learning resources (such as websites or video essays) designed to reach particular communities (e.g., a youth

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or cultural community a student belongs to). Projects can be overwhelming for students, particularly if they have never produced a piece of digital media before. As such, breaking down the project into pieces is important. Typically, I split the project assignment into four phases: a proposal, a presentation or peer-review workshop, the final project, and a reflection. Students receive feedback on each phase.

Proposal The proposal stage asks students to provide an overview of their proposed project, including the background, their goals and audience, their medium, their timeline, and how they plan to deal with any ethical considerations. The proposal provides me with an opportunity to help students focus their projects and ensure that the goals are achievable within the constraints of the semester. I am also able to recommend resources, bring up any ethical concerns, and encourage them to think about issues such as privacy and authorship (Will they attach their name to the project? Why or why not?), citation (How can they cite orally in a podcast?) and intellectual property (Where will they locate photos for their web pages?) if they are not already considering those key elements. As students learn how to situate themselves and ethically engage with others’ knowledge, feedback is important. Before they create any publicfacing work, they deserve ample and thoughtful advice to ensure they are on the right track. During the proposal stage, I often pose ethical questions to students: How public do you wish to make this resource (public to me and/ or the classroom, public to friends and family, public to a specific community, public to all)? Do you think you have the knowledge, experience, and relationships to tell this story in a good way? Who does this work/project benefit? Do you have permission to use this source/picture/story? I have told students that they need to fundamentally reframe a project if it could cause harm to them or others. Examples of this have included students proposing projects that would ask strangers to share stories of sexual assault in a digital space, include photos of others without their consent, or share personal information that could open themselves to harassment. In my experience, students have always been open to these conversations. The vast majority of them do not want to cause harm, and they often (but not always) are already feeling anxious or uneasy about their approach. The safety and success of public-facing work are dependent on instructors taking the time to guide, and as such, the proposal is an essential stage to any public-facing open-access digital project. It is also a time-consuming stage, which is why instructors should be sure they have the energy and resources to devote to project-based learning.

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Presentation or Group Peer Review Students are used to having their professors see their work, but they are not always used to making their intellectual labor available to a broader audience. A presentation to the class or a group peer-review session often acts as an intermediary stage between receiving proposal feedback and having a public-facing project go “live.” Students are required to articulate their project goals to their peers and are strongly encouraged to ask for help working through challenges. This process shows them that their anxieties and struggles are shared and emboldens them to engage in group problem-solving and resource-sharing. It also provides them with an opportunity to see how different audience members might view their projects and to get feedback on the usability, clarity, aesthetics, and functionality of their work. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, a presentation or peer review exercise encourages students to begin to think about their responsibilities and to hold themselves and each other accountable in positive and helpful ways. Cherokee scholar Daniel Heath Justice (2018) refers to this as “accountable kindness”; he argues that “we can hold each other to account while we hold each other up—they needn’t be mutually exclusive practices” (p. xxi); and reminds us that “it’s not a kind act to allow problematic or even destructive ideas to pass unchallenged, but we can do so with generosity and empathy” (p. xxi). As students work together in my classes we strive for an accountable kindness by pushing each other to think deeply about ethics.

Final Project Final projects can take multiple forms: a digital essay that uses hyperlinks and images, a podcast that tells a story, a video essay that incorporates audio and visual components, a website that uses multiple tabs to engage different ideas, or something entirely of their own making. Students do not need to have skills in coding to complete these projects, and many of them can be completed with a cell phone. Producing a project makes the ethical and methodological questions we ask in the early part of the semester more immediate and pressing; theory meets practice as they debate where to locate information and how to use it. Public-facing projects also encourage a deep sense of responsibility because students become acutely aware that their work will have meaning to the broader community. They realize they need to be accountable for their methodologies and choices and that their work has the potential to make a positive impact or cause harm. As a result, their choices carry weight, and the ethical questions associated with accessing and mobilizing knowledge become tangible. While a fear of public criticism can definitely create anxiety

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for students, the proposal and presentation/peer-review stages ensure that they feel supported and receive ample feedback. They can trust that their professor and their peers will help guide them and hold them accountable. While it is important that students take responsibility for their ideas, approaches, and final products, it is also important that they have control over how public they wish to make their projects and how they wish to present themselves in digital space. I do my best to ensure my students are aware of privacy concerns—including the fact that the platforms they sign up for are tracking their data—and we talk about the risks and benefits associated with anonymity and taking public ownership as authors. Sometimes students use initials or pseudonyms, only release their projects to a limited audience of family or friends, or make some elements of their project public while keeping others private. These decisions help them understand the importance of agency.

Reflection It can be difficult for students to measure the success of digital projects, particularly within the constraints of a classroom. They often only have a few weeks to plan and execute their ideas and regularly find that they do not have the time to reach the number of people or build the infrastructure they initially wished to. They also often shift their projects based on feedback, technological restraints, or their own workload. While we discuss project scope and focus, logistical and ethical constraints, and project planning in class, it is important to get students to reflect on their projects once they are complete. I ask students to reflect on their process and their final product and to explain how and why their projects shifted over time. The reflection stage encourages them to articulate their decision-making processes and helps them see the relationship between goals, theory, and practice. Ideas that may have seemed sound when they wrote their proposal now might seem embarrassing given what they have learned about the communities they wished to engage, the technologies they used, or the knowledges they located. The reflection stage is an excellent way for me—and the students—to see transformations in their thinking. And it provides a powerful reminder that a final product is not the only marker of a successful project. The project itself might have faced challenges and even failed by the student’s original standards; however, if the student has learned a great deal and is able to articulate why and how the failure happened and what they would do differently next time, I know that the learning has been a success and can take that into account while evaluating.

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Conclusion Public-facing, open-access project work provides students with a number of opportunities to think deeply about what it means to create and consume information in a digital environment. When structured carefully and partnered with readings, classroom dialogue, and personal reflection, open education projects are a powerful tool to help students critically engage with ideas of access, privacy, authorship, and control. Through their own handson work, they come to realize that successful scholarship does not require universal and unfettered access to any knowledge they wish to acquire. Rather, it demands taking the time to think deeply about who benefits and who is harmed when accessing and sharing information online. I believe that an expansive digital literacy pedagogy that helps students understand the histories of colonial knowledge theft, the benefits of selflocating and relationship, and the limits of access leads to stronger scholarship and a greater awareness of the social and political contexts that inform and are informed by digital knowledges. To borrow from settler scholar David Gaertner (2018), “closure is an academic gesture: it facilitates the growth and rigor of knowledge and it opens up stronger lines of communication between and across communities” (para. 14). Teaching our students how to negotiate the continuum between open and closed knowledges has the potential to be transformative, and public-facing open-access projects provide a powerful and pragmatic starting point.

References Blessinger, P., & Bliss, T. (2016). Open education: International perspectives in higher education. Open Book Publishers. First Nations Information Governance Centre. (n.d.). The First Nations principles of OCAP. https://fnigc.ca/ocap-training/ Gaertner, D. (2018, December 25). Towards a methodology of closure. Novel Alliances. https://novelalliances.com/2018/09/25/towards-a-pedagogy-of-closure/ Gilster, P. (1997). Digital literacy. Wiley. Goldrick-Rab S., Baker-Smith, C., Coca V., Looker, E., & Williams, T. (2019). College and University basic needs insecurity: A national #RealCollege survey report. Hope4Change. https://hope4college.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/ HOPE_realcollege_National_report_digital.pdf Justice, D. H. (2018). Why Indigenous literatures matter. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Kwantlen Polytechnic University Institutional Analysis and Planning. (2018). KPU student profile: All students. https://kpu.ca/sites/default/files/Institutional%20 Analysis%20and%20Planning/KPU%20Student%20Profile%20Oct%20 30%2C%202018.pdf

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La Rue, F. (2011). Report of the special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. https://www2.ohchr.org/english/ bodies/hrcouncil/docs/17session/A.HRC.17.27_en.pdf Sharpe, R., & Beetham, H. (2010). Understanding students’ uses of technology for learning: Towards creative appropriation. In R. Sharpe, H. Beetham & S. De Freitas (Eds.) Rethinking learning for a digital age: How learners are shaping their own experiences (pp. 85–99). Routledge. Smith, L. T. (2012). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and Indigenous peoples (2nd ed.). Zed Books. United Nations. (1948). Universal declaration of human rights. http://www.ohchr. org/EN/UDHR/Documents/UDHR_Translations/eng.pdf

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8 USING PUBLIC MUSICOLOGY T O T E A C H D I G I TA L LITERACY IN MUSIC H I S TO RY C L A S S E S Reba A. Wissner

D

igital literacy, without debate, is an important skill for college students to have, but some disciplines have been quicker to adopt its implementation than others. One of these lagging disciplines is music history. After many years, digital literacy instruction and the use of digital tools in music history courses is becoming increasingly common. However, students are still unsure how to use some digital programs such as Omeka or evaluate digital sources like those contained in online databases. Both the use and evaluation of digital programs and sources are becoming increasingly important in the music history classroom where students are being tasked to work with digital sources, including archival documents, and illustrate knowledge in ways that stray from the traditional research paper. Further, the use of online and digital writing work has been shown to achieve gains in student writing in the music history classroom (November, 2010; November & Day, 2012). For some of my music history classes, students are asked to produce digital products such as podcasts that require the ability to use recording and editing software. At the same time, students are also responsible for deciding on the credibility of digital sources such as Wikipedia, which varies by entry. But despite their benefits, students are not always certain of the advantages of this added layer in a course overly bloated with content. Creating student buy-in for all these tasks can be difficult, especially since music history courses are those that many students do not want to take because students 95

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perceive them as boring and without relevance. One way I have tried to synthesize the skills and create buy-in is to incorporate public-facing work into music history courses. As a music history instructor, I am tasked with teaching my students skills that they will use in their careers as musicians, whether they become performers, music therapists, or music teachers; go on to graduate study in music; or obtain any other music-related career. Some of the most important skills for music students to have is fluency in digital music programs and writing for the public. Therefore, I incorporate blog posts, podcasting, and website building in tandem with using digital music research skills and digital tools in my courses to meet this need. This provides students with much-needed experience in using digital tools that they otherwise may not have learned. This chapter approaches the teaching of digital literacy in music history through public-facing work, known as public musicology. Digital public musicology products can take the form of blog posts, Wikipedia articles, digital archives, digital engraving of music notation, and website construction, and can be associated with various levels on Bloom’s taxonomy (McMahon, 2014). Each of these products encourage students to build analysis and technology skills in tandem with course content. The chapter shows how students can learn to use and evaluate digital sources to create a digital musicological product that adds to their digital footprint. The chapter also illustrates how such projects teach students to be literate in computer programs to build these products as well as evaluate digital sources and incorporate them into their own work. This chapter shows how to incorporate music history content and skills such as working with primary sources with hands-on digital activities to build digital literacy. I provide examples of how I teach digital literacy in my music history courses and how they interlock with content and public musicology. It is important to note that public musicology activities are not only present in my core undergraduate courses for music majors but also in a graduate public musicology seminar that I taught at a university with a graduate public musicology program.

Public Musicology for Students Similar to the subdiscipline of public history, public musicology is the outreach and engagement of musicologists with the public to present information on music history and culture in an accessible way (Robin, 2020). Public musicology is an increasingly important skill for music majors and music

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graduate students. With performance jobs dwindling, it is all the more crucial for students to be able to apply their musical knowledge in public-facing areas such as blogs, museum guides, and program notes, just to name a few. In fact, according to the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM, 2020), the accrediting body for music schools, departments, and conservatories, “professional undergraduate and graduate programs in music are shaped by the realities and expectations in the field to seek the development of competencies at the highest possible levels” (p. 80). Students who have these skills and can employ them will be at a distinct advantage in the job market over those who do not (Hobbs, 2017). Therefore, the employment realities in music make training in public-facing writing more important than ever. The American Library Association (ALA, 2020) notes that the ability to identify and locate information that can be used in projects that require critical thinking, which is a crucial skill in public musicology. The ALA’s (2020) definition has guided my teaching of public musicology and digital literacy. But I also add the ability to maneuver around digital technologies, such as blogging and curation sites, as a digital literacy learning goal, one that works in tandem with deciphering different areas of digital literacy (Eshet-Alkalai, 2004). The rise of fake news rhetoric is not exempt in digital works about music; one can easily find a multitude of inaccurate or false narratives on the internet (Polizzi, 2020). One of the most pervasive false narratives pertaining to music history concerns the riot at the premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (May 29, 1913) and was debunked by Shaver-Gleason (2018). Students must be able to use their historical music knowledge to identify facts from the fictitious accounts in order to cite appropriate public works in their own work. The student learning outcomes (SLOs) for my public musicology class, as well as any public musicology component of my classes such as courses in music history or music and gender, are threefold: First, students will be able to differentiate between scholarly writing and public writing. Second, they will learn to compile a series of public musicology writings in different media (blogs, articles, program notes, etc.). Third, they will employ a working knowledge of music history, theory, and performance to write for the public. Each of these SLOs remain at the forefront of the course assignment design and employ the use of digital media as part of hands-on activities to accomplish these goals. I find that students can better demonstrate their understanding of course material if they are able to articulate it to nonspecialists and in a scenario that makes it more practical and real. The breadth of study in music history makes a perfect ground for the teaching of digital literacy. No longer are music history classes confined to

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narratives of the genius composer. For many years, only the canonic composers, typically White, Christian, European, male, and dead, such as J. S. Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven, were considered worthy of study because of the ways that they changed the musical landscapes of their time and created what scholars considered important masterpieces. Rather, in the modern music history classroom, one can study Mozart, video game music, and hip-hop in the same semester with the same amount of seriousness. However, because of the breadth of music history study, and the large number of digital sources available, it can become overwhelming to know where to start when one is researching and writing. November (2011) argues that teaching digital literacy in a low-stakes environment, such as the music history classroom, aids in perfecting these skills for higher stakes assignments, such as writing for an outside audience. Additionally, incorporating digital activities into courses facilitates the integration of students’ everyday experiences in the classroom, making them more meaningful and allowing students to become more invested in them (Rinsema, 2017). Thus, students learn to blog, edit and compose Wikipedia entries, and create podcasts to make this happen, and they are able to operate in an environment where they make musicology rather than simply study it (Clague, 2011). Unsurprisingly, students think they often know where to start—Wikipedia—so that is where my digital literacy lessons begin.

Lesson 1: Wikipedia The editing and creating of Wikipedia entries has been shown to help improve students’ digital literacy skills because it allows them to not only evaluate the accuracy of existing entries but also find reliable information to create new entries (Snyder, 2018). Students, like everyone else, more often than not navigate to Wikipedia when they have a question that needs to be quickly answered; thus, the site is part of students’ everyday lives and often is their first stop in research (Brailas, 2011). However, students do not always know how to locate bias or inaccuracies or even things that are left out (Bowen, 2011). More and more universities are beginning to use Wikipedia to teach digital literacy in the creation and evaluation of digital sources and information to their students and improve their confidence when writing for the public (Ball, 2019). It therefore increases the number and types of voices that are heard in public writing, most of which are those voices who are often ignored. While Wikipedia has an often dubious reputation, more and more reputable organizations are beginning to find ways to use it, one of which is

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the New York Public Library, including the archives for the Performing Arts branch (Kosovsky, 2018). Kosovsky (2018) notes that those who are processing archival collections often add links to the Wikipedia page of the collection’s creator or subjects or, if those are missing, write new entries. This is an ideal project for students to take on as a class project by using materials in the university’s special collections. For my courses, I ask them to examine Wikipedia essays on music and composers to identify the types of information that people add to these entries. I also follow Bowen’s (2011) recommendation to have students find three important things in an article that were not included so that they can evaluate the information. Once they determine commonalities and tone of writing, I ask them to edit an existing entry on a composer, piece, or genre to adhere to the typical entry component. The result is that students begin to understand the way reference works are compiled (even when they are crowdsourced by the public) and gain firsthand experience with the process of editing Wikipedia articles, something most students do not consider (Ford & Geiger, 2012).

Lesson 2: Source Evaluation As discussed in my learning goals, I want students to be able to write for a public audience rather than a scholarly one, something they often are not accustomed to doing given the nature of research papers. My students quickly learn that writing a blog post is very different from an analysis paper, and they begin to learn how public writing differs from scholarly writing as they evaluate and edit Wikipedia entries. In order for my students to be able to differentiate these types of writings and use the appropriate tone in their own public-facing writing, I assign them the task in Box 8.1. This assessment aligns with my first learning outcome, which measures student understanding of what constitutes public versus scholarly writing, a skill that students must have a good grasp of before we can tackle the second and third learning outcomes in the course. Students must be able to evaluate what makes a blog post differ from a scholarly article so that they can write one. What they soon discover is that while a blog is not in itself unscholarly, the tone and the ways in which things are written and explained are often much more informal and colloquial, and those two components are not necessarily mutually exclusive. They must be able to negotiate between providing information and accessible writing. Once they understand this, they are able to begin assignments such as blogging and podcasting.

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Box 8.1 Evaluation of Types of Writing Read the following three articles, written for different audiences: 1. Hewlett, I. (2016, May 25). The riot at the rite: The premiere of   The Rite of Spring. British Library. https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature/ articles/the-riot-at-the-rite-the-premiere-of-the-rite-of-spring 2. Shaver-Gleason, L. (2018, June 15). Did Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring incite a riot at its premiere? Not Another Music History Cliché. https://notanothermusichistorycliche.blogspot.com/2018/06/didstravinskys-rite-of-spring-incite.html 3. Levitz, T. (2017). Racism at the rite. In S. Neff, M. Carr, G. Horlacher, & T. Levitz (Eds.), The Rite of Spring at 100 (pp. 146–178). Indiana University Press.

After reading these essays, write a one- to two-page response to the following questions, using them as a guide: Which of these is/are written for scholarly audiences? Which is/are for nonscholars? How can you tell? Do any of them overlap target audiences? How can you tell? What qualities does public writing have that scholarly writing does not? What makes for good public writing (give specific examples from these essays)?

Lesson 3: Podcasting Of the digital literacy methods used most frequently in college classrooms, podcasting is the most widely used, for a variety of reasons, including ease of access of educational information (Chung & Kim, 2015). In music history courses, students are often tasked with writing research papers and professors are, inevitably, tasked with grading them. However, I find it much more valuable for students to learn how to both create podcasts on a topic and engage with the material in a way that allows them to make the information accessible to nonmusicians. While students are not exempt from the research and writing components of a music history course to create these podcasts, they also must learn basic audio production techniques. Students have the option of podcasting alone or in pairs because collaboration is a fundamental tenet of digital public scholarship, especially in fields such as public history and public musicology (Leon, 2017). The

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prompt that I use for my music history courses is simple, straightforward, and scaffolded: For your final paper, you will create your own 15–20-minute podcast based on a genre, instrument/vocal literature type, composer(s), or piece(s) of music from 1710–1890, including musical examples, geared toward a nonmusical audience. You will submit an outline and a script (with an attached bibliography) and upload the recording to SoundCloud by the date of the final exam. You will produce the podcast either in Audacity or Garage Band before uploading it.

As the prompt shows, students have to first submit an outline so that they can get feedback from me as early as possible. This is important because it demonstrates to the student that they need to take this assignment seriously and consider how best to structure their work. Once they receive my feedback on the outline, the next step is to write a full script. While their citations are not always part of the script (though if they can work it in without sounding awkward it is a bonus), they do have to submit a bibliography with it so that I can make sure they are using reliable sources. I once again provide them with feedback and, before the assignment is due, I take some time in class to show them how to use and edit with Audacity and Garage Band. The students can, if they choose, submit a podcast draft to me for suggestions, but this is optional.

Lesson 4: Blog Posts Blogging plays a large role in both digital literacy and public musicology. There is no shortage of musicology blogs, and increasingly more music history professors are assigning blog posts as course readings with good reason: They not only are accessible and easy to read but also teach students appropriate ways of writing for public audiences, as well as writing and analysis in general (Haefeli, 2013). Blogging in the classroom also serves another purpose, one that is often overlooked: Like Wikipedia, it teaches students how information finds its way onto the internet and how it creates a sense of author presence (Preston & Gillan, 2017). As has been noted, blogging in itself is a “new kind of literacy” in which authors have to negotiate their own position with audience accessibility and actively consider how blogs function as interactive texts (Davies & Merchant, 2007). For student blog assignments, the first thing they need to do is learn to use WordPress, which is a valuable skill for them to possess as more industries use web-based publishing programs. After a short tutorial, then the students

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will work to choose a topic of interest to them that relates to the class topic. This can be as specific or broad as they wish as long as they present information in an easily digestible form. Once I know students’ topics, I pair them with another student who is blogging on something completely different so that they can peer review the blog for how the information is presented to the public and ask them to adjust based on those suggestions.

Assessment With all of these digital literacy activities, the two questions I am often asked are what I am assessing and how. Both digital literacy and content are assessed. Each assignment assesses different aspects of digital literacy such as the ability to use and navigate specific programs as well as content. Wikipedia assignments assess students’ learning and command of course content as well as the ability to edit a Wiki. Source evaluation assignments assess the ability to gauge whether a source is reliable and navigable, the audience that it is targeting, and how the medium where it is published differs from writing and layout for other media. Blog post assignments assess the ability to use programs such as WordPress while accounting for the context placed on the blog in a way that is easy to navigate. Podcasting assignments assess not only the use of programs such as Garage Band, Pro Tools, and Audacity but also a command of the content presented and taught and the ways that that content is framed in a listener-friendly manner. These assignments tend to use rubrics based on levels of understanding of the assessment parameters so that I and the students know whether they have meant the learning outcomes not only for the assignment but also the course.

Conclusion Ultimately, the guiding principle of digital literacy is “to create to learn” and requires students to embark on the process of “accessing, analyzing, creating, reflecting, and taking action” (Hobbs, 2017, p. 15). For music students, the act of creation is a core component of their experience, but they often do not think of it as a way for them to learn material. To incorporate digital literacy into music history courses is to provide students who may not necessarily have the opportunity to learn these skills with experience while also giving them the tools they need to put information that may seem pointless into practice as musicians. These skills, in turn, will make them more marketable as they look for jobs, especially for employers who might be hesitant to hire someone with “just a music degree.” It also provides them with material with

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which they can compile a portfolio for jobs that may require demonstration of creative material, proof of critical thinking and analysis skills, and experience with digital materials and public writing.

References American Library Association. (2020). Digital literacy. https://literacy.ala.org/digital-literacy/ Ball, C. (2019). WikiLiteracy: Enhancing students’ digital literacy with Wikipedia. Journal of Information Literacy, 13(2), 253–271. https://doi. org/10.11645/13.2.2669. Bowen, J. A. (2011). Rethinking technology outside the classroom. Journal of Music History Pedagogy, 2(1), 43–59. http://www.ams-net.org/ojs/index.php/jmhp/ article/view/47/69. Brailas, A. (2011). Using Wikipedia in a course assignment: Implications for Wikipedia literacy in higher and secondary education. In S. Sotiriou & A. Szu˝cs (Eds.), Never waste a crisis! Inclusive excellence, innovative technologies and transformed schools as autonomous learning organisations: Proceedings of the European Distance and E-Learning Network Conference (pp. 116–121). European Distance and E-Learning Network. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Demetrios_Sampson/publication/254201242_A_pilot_case_study_in_using_Scratch_at_School_ Education/links/558be52608aee43bf6ad11cf.pdf#page=124 Clague, M. (2011). Publishing student work on the web: The Living Music Project and the imperatives of the new literacy. Journal of Music History Pedagogy, 2(1), 61–80. http://www.ams-net.org/ojs/index.php/jmhp/article/view/48/81 Chung, M-Y., & Kim, H-S. (2015). College students’ motivations for using podcasts. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 7(3), 13–28. https://files.eric.ed.gov/ fulltext/EJ1088575.pdf Davies, J., & Merchant, G. (2007). Looking from the inside out: Academic blogging as a new literacy. In M. Knobel & C. Lankshear (Eds.), A new literacies sampler (pp. 167–198). Peter Lang. Eshet-Alkalai, Y. (2004). Digital literacy: A conceptual framework for survival skills in the digital era. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 13(1), 93–106. https://www.openu.ac.il/personal_sites/download/Digital-literacy2004JEMH.pdf Ford, H., & Geiger, R. S. (2012). “Writing up rather than writing down”: Becoming Wikipedia literate. In C. Lampe (Ed.), WikiSym ‘12: Proceedings of the Eighth Annual International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration (pp. 1–4). Association for Computing Machinery. Haefeli, S. (2013). Using blogs for better student writing outcomes. Journal of Music History Pedagogy, 4(1), 39–70. https://www.ams-net.org/ojs/index.php/jmhp/ article/view/101 Hobbs, R. (2017). Create to learn: Introduction to digital literacy. Wiley.

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Kosovsky, B. (2018). Embracing Wikipedia at the New York Public Library: A personal view. In M. Proffitt (Ed.), Leveraging Wikipedia: Connecting communities of knowledge (pp. 106–112). American Library Association. Leon, S. M. (2017). Complexity and collaboration: Doing public history in digital environments. In J. B. Gardner & P. Hamilton (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of public history (pp. 44–68). Oxford University Press. McMahon, M. (2014). Ensuring the development of digital literacy in higher education curricula. In B. Hegarty, J. McDonald, & S.-K. Loke (Eds.), Rhetoric and reality: Critical perspectives on educational technology: Proceedings ascilite Dunedin 2014 (pp. 524–528). https://www.ascilite.org/conferences/dunedin2014/files/ concisepapers/157-McMahon.pdf National Association of Schools of Music. (2020). NASM handbook, 2019-2020. Author. November, N. (2010). Integrating online group work into first-year music studies in New Zealand: “This IS a university.” In A. Ragusa (Ed.), Interaction in communication technologies and virtual learning environments: Human factors (pp. 314–330). Information Science Reference. November, N. R. (2011). Literacy loops and online groups: Promoting writing skills in large undergraduate music classes. Journal of Music History Pedagogy, 2(1), 5–23. https://www.ams-net.org/ojs/index.php/jmhp/article/view/31 November, N., & Day, K. (2012). Using undergraduates’ digital literacy skills to improve their discipline-specific writing: A dialogue. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 6(2), Article 5. https://doi.org/10.20429/ ijsotl.2012.060205 Polizzi, G. (2020). Information literacy in the digital age: Why critical digital literacy matters for democracy. In S. Goldstein (Ed.), Informed societies: Why information literacy matters for citizenship, participation and democracy (pp. 1–23). Facet. Preston, C., & Gillan, S. (2017, June). The role of blogging in digital literacy. MirandaNet Fellowship. https://mirandanet.ac.uk/role-blogging-digital-literacy/ Rinsema, R. M. (2017). Listening in action: Teaching music in the digital age. Routledge. Robin, W. (2020, May). Why public musicology matters. 21CM. http://21cm.org/ magazine/sounding-board/2020/05/28/why-public-musicology-matters/ Shaver-Gleason, L. (2018, June 15). Did Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring incite a riot at its premiere? Not Another Music History Cliché. https://notanothermusichistorycliche. blogspot.com/2018/06/did-stravinskys-rite-of-spring-incite.html Snyder, S. (2018). Edit-a-thons and beyond. In M. Proffitt (Ed.), Leveraging Wikipedia: Connecting communities of knowledge (pp. 96–105). American Library ­Association.

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PA RT T H R E E C O M M U N I C AT I O N A N D MEDIA STUDIES

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9 D I G I TA L L I T E R A C Y F R O M THE PERSPECTIVE OF J O U R N A L I S M E D U C AT I O N Digital Media Literacy Simge Süllü Durul and Tezcan Özkan Kutlu

I

n the current era, media literacy is defined as the ability to be aware of cultural, economical, political, and technological limitations (Lewis & Jhally, 1998). Media literacy, a term that was originally developed outside of digital contexts, has evolved into digital media literacy, which involves raising awareness about skills to meet the needs of today’s digital citizens such as digital surveillance, digital privacy, fact-checking, data mining, and copyright. Social changes encountered due to the developments in information and communication technologies in the 21st century caused a global interest in the advantages and disadvantages potentially offered by digital communication tools and new media environments. Incidents like the Arab Spring, Brexit, and U.S. presidential elections are shown as examples that emphasize the social importance of digital media literacy because they demonstrate how digital media affects societies. Digital media literacy offers a mixed educational pedagogy that aims to develop media literacy with the digital skills required in this era. In this context, an educational program is necessary for journalism students, who are the main users/consumers of digital media, to be equipped with skills to protect their digital privacy, to deal with the threats of cyberbullying and mob mentality on social media, and to access correct information and news. Especially for journalism students, who are candidates to become the professionals of the digital media sector, it is essential to increase their digital literacy levels in terms of both pedagogical and professional formation. In 107

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fact, it has become a necessity to include information and professional skills such as data-driven journalism, web scraping, digital ethics, digital fluency, verification, and fact-checking in courses for journalism students. In this sense, this chapter examines digital media literacy in journalism through several perspectives. First, we examine what it means to be literate in the digital era by elaborating on the necessary skills for journalism students to become digitally literate. Second, we explain why journalism students need to be digitally literate. The importance of media literacy is explained, which leads to a discussion of how media literacy evolved into digital media literacy due to the transformation of media in the last 2 decades, a critical concept for journalism students to understand. Finally, we explain how digital literacy can be taught to journalism students. In an effort to answer this question, new skills necessary for students related to data-driven journalism, such as web scraping, digital ethics, digital fluency, verification, and fact-checking, are put forth, followed by an elaboration of how these skills can be improved by focusing on various courses and modules.

Literacy in the New Media Age Literacy in the current era reflects many of the qualities necessary to define digital literacy. Digital literacy means understanding and using information presented through the internet with competencies of knowledge assembly, evaluating information content, searching the internet, and navigating hypertext (Gilster, 1997). Lankshear and Knobel (2015) mention that mainstream definitions of digital literacy involve features of creating, communicating, and interacting with information. Furthermore, digital literacy includes “the ability to research, organize, and synthesize information through digital technology while also having a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the use of such information” (Sparks et al., 2016, p. 6). A digitally literate individual can actively access, evaluate, and accumulate digital information regarding a problem (Onursoy, 2018). These definitions of digital literacy provide the basics for determining the necessary skills required for journalism students. A journalist’s main objective is to gather information and present it as news to help form public opinion by reporting facts. In other words, journalists find, assess, and disseminate information. Hence, journalism students should learn how to research, access, organize, evaluate, synthesize, and understand information, all of which are included in the definitions of digital literacy. For a journalist to deal with information in the digital age, they need to be equipped with these skills. Lankshear and Knobel (2015) suggest that digital literacy

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involves “meaning making mediated by texts that are produced, received, distributed, exchanged etc., via digital codification” (p. 13). Considering that journalists engage in meaning making and that they cannot be isolated from today’s digital environment, journalism students should be prepared to deal with information in that environment.

Digital Media Literacy and Journalism Education Media literacy is operationally defined as the ability to make sense, mentally process, and construct meaning of the messages coming from the media in all of their dimensions (Buckingham, 2003; Livingstone, 2004; Potter, 2008). Media literacy emphasizes people’s skills in critical thinking and analytical questioning about media content. Thus, a series of knowledge and skills of analysis, evaluation, and critical reflection are involved in understanding the media and using it effectively (Buckingham, 2003). Individuals in modern society, who have been bombarded with many media messages, must develop media literacy so that they are able to question the media, make sense of the messages within the media, and interpret how these messages impact society. The concept of media literacy was developed in relation to traditional media, which includes newspapers, radio, and television. However, new media platforms (e.g., Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, etc.) have emerged as a result of the technological transformation in the last century and require an expanding media literacy to include additional skills related to the problems of those platforms. Therefore, new knowledge and skills that go beyond media literacy are needed to cope with the instant and unlimited message flow coming through new media platforms that have an important place in people’s lives with the convergence of digital and mobile technologies and the internet (Livingstone, 2004).

The Evolution of Media Literacy Into Digital Media Literacy Digital media literacy combines the multimodal properties of media literacy with the technological capabilities of digital literacy. In order to be digitally literate, one must be able to critically consume and creatively produce multimedia texts using digital technologies (Kozdras et al., 2015). However, media literacy focuses on the understanding of media messages, while digital media adds a new dimension to message creation and transmission. Digital media literacy is more than the traditional understanding of being a critical reader or user. In the digital media environment, it is necessary for people to be able to not only find the relevant content and understand the meaning within

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context but also create and communicate messages. Another factor that differentiates digital media literacy from media literacy is that there is no uniform message delivered by digital media, but the type of messages largely depends on users’ technology and digital literacy (Park, 2012). Digital media continues to converge around computer and internet-based information and communication technologies (e.g., IPTV, smartphones) such as artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality applications, wearable smart technologies (glasses, watches), voice assistants (e.g., Siri, Alexa), photo- and video-shooting technologies (drones, high-resolution phone cameras), and of course social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.). Jenkins (2006) defines the political, legal, economic, and social developments brought by these technological innovations as convergence culture. The leading actors of the cultural convergence that emerge at the global level are digital media users. With the impact of developments in mobile communication technologies, digital media users can do online actions (e.g., like, dislike, comment, follow, share, etc.) anytime and anywhere, thanks to the increasing capacity of instant communication and interaction. According to the We Are Social report (Kemp, 2020), the rates of internet access (4.54 billion people) and social media usage (3.80 billion people) in the world clearly put forward the need for digital media literacy along with digital literacy. Content production in the digital media environment, where every internet user can also produce content, stepped out of traditional broadcasters’ monopoly. Unlike traditional media, both professional and amateur content producers can create digital media. Toffler (1981) drew attention to the “rise of prosumer” in his book The Third Wave. Today, prosumer (combination of producer and consumer) is a concept that is used when describing the effect of the internet and digital media users on media content. The term suggests that internet and digital media users both consume and produce content at the same time. Particularly, today’s students, who are mostly prosumers, are not just passive consumers of media. Today’s students use digital technologies and communicate their messages through social media. Due to the developments in the internet, video editing software, and mobile apps, even elementary school–aged children can create and publish professional-looking digital stories (Kozdras et al., 2015). On the other hand, these examples create a misconception that those who are exposed to digital media early in their lives naturally acquire the necessary skills and tools to navigate the digital world. The assumption about digital natives is that they will somehow acquire digital media literacy without specific training or education (Prensky, 2004). However, studies show that a considerable amount of

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variation in digital skills exists among younger generations (Hargittai, 2010; Park, 2012).

Importance of Digital Media Literacy in Journalism Education Digital media literacy is of great importance in terms of news production, consumption, and distribution in today’s journalism. Education in digital media literacy benefits both journalists as professional news producers and their readers. For instance, when a journalist receives various tips about a story or needs to synthesize different sources, they need to be able to evaluate the information they receive to verify accuracy and credibility. This can make it easier for readers to reach verified news or public information. In addition, journalists and journalism students should be informed about other digital media issues such as cookies, fake news, social media algorithms, and filters. For example, the news a person sees first is likely impacted by their browsing history captured through cookies, and social media algorithms determine what posts are seen by whom. An understanding of cookies, fake news, social media algorithms, and filters is necessary for journalists to work effectively online. One critical issue in journalism education is teaching ways to keep communication channels open that will allow the public to access correct, reliable news and information and stand against initiatives that will prevent the public from being informed. A large part of journalistic practices are inevitably concerned with ethical and political responsibilities such as freedom, objectivity, honesty, and privacy (Bersey & Chadwick, 1998). This is required for ethically and politically responsible journalism. Therefore, journalism students should also be reminded during their education that they have a public duty, and they should be taught that their priority is to respect the public interest. To do this, journalists must know how to best access valid and correct information and how to verify the information they receive. For example, it is expected that a journalist will verify the authenticity of a video or a photograph on social media to ensure it has not been altered. Refuting misleading, fake, or false news stories or images has become one of the main tasks of journalists. Journalists also need to be skilled at using technology to create and share content. In journalism education, theoretical education for majors such as politics, economics, history, and sociology are supported by applied technology such as camera, microphone, light, sound, photography, video editing, and page layout. Theoretical and practical courses on new communication technologies are included in journalism syllabi. Using current technological innovations (such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, mobile

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communication, etc.) at all stages of journalism education brings several advantages to journalism students. For example, having knowledge and experience about the correct and effective use of the internet and new media platforms positions new graduates to have a competitive advantage in the media sector. Thus, there is a need to increase their digital literacy levels due to both professional qualifications required by the digital age and their roles in the sound execution of public communication.

Teaching Digital Literacy to Journalism Students In journalism, techniques of gathering and writing news and publishing and distributing it have been impacted by technology. Pavlik (2000) identifies that technological change influences journalism in at least four ways: (a) the way journalists do their job, (b) the nature of news content, (c) the structure and organization of the newsroom and the news industry, and (d) the nature of relationships between and among news organizations, journalists, and their many publics, including audiences, competitors, news sources, sponsors, and those who seek to regulate or control the press. In addition to these influences, internet marketing practices, such as the targeting of clicks to increase the click-through rate, page views, click-bait, misleading headings, advertorial (advertisement plus editorial content), and search engine optimization are issues for journalists. Therefore, new skills are needed to ensure reliable news is seen by the public. Currently, a journalist makes efforts to reach the source of a tip and write a news story about it. The journalist is also expected to produce different visuals (photographs, videos, infographics) to support the story, share the story on social networks, use data effectively, verify the accuracy of information found on social networks, discover ways to deal with information pollution on social media, respond quickly to news stories, and be sensitive about ethical principles (such as privacy and copyright). Information shared on the internet and social media are widely accepted by journalists as sources of information and news. Due to this, journalism students should also be competent in determining digital sources’ reliability. Digital media competencies for future journalists require students to do the following: •• Understand the techniques of protection from fake news and deep-fake traps (such as web scraping). •• Use news verification platforms and tools effectively (verification and fact-checking).

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•• Use big data mines to create or elevate a news story (data-driven journalism). •• Consider ethical issues such as cyberbullying and personal privacy (digital ethics). •• Identify digital privacy issues, such as cookies and digital footprints. •• Use crowdsourcing in the research process. •• Identify content emanating from fake or bot accounts. •• Work independently in all these processes (i.e., digital fluency). Journalism students must also learn to analyze news coverage and identify trends in fake news. A report published annually by Reuters Institute shows that the proportion of the population concerned about “what is real and what is fake on the internet when it comes to news” is over 60% in Turkey (Newman et al., 2020, p. 19). Also, more than half (56%) of the research sample (across 40 countries) remains concerned about what is real and fake on the internet when it comes to news. Due to the prevalence of fake news, it is essential to teach news verification techniques and digital tools to journalism students. For instance, a journalism course may include fact-checking tools and guidelines for verifying the credibility of false news stories. Students use a short checklist to examine the credibility, accuracy, and reliability of a story that includes looking at the URL, the About Us page, or conducting a lateral search to learn more about the source.

New Courses for Journalism Students In Turkey, journalism education focused on print media, radio, and television journalism until the mid-2000s. Apart from a few innovative courses such as internet journalism or virtual journalism, the approach of journalism education is oriented to employment in traditional media, focusing on newspapers and television. However, the first crucial academic step toward digital journalism education in Turkey is the Department of New Media, founded in 2009 at Kadir Has University. In the years that followed, academic units for new media with similar names were established within other private foundation universities. Though there are departments for new media in more than 20 private/foundation universities, until now new media departments were established only in two state universities (Us¸ ak University and Pamukkale University). On the other hand, there are courses for digital media in almost every state university in Turkey with a journalism education program, albeit not under the name of a new media department. Some of these courses are

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internet journalism, online journalism, social media journalism, new media, new media and ethics, new media and advertising, social media, social media applications, desktop publishing, web publishing, web design, digital content production, digital literacy, digital citizenship, digital culture, digital advertising, digital marketing, digital public relations, digital sociology, digital game design, digital storytelling, digital photography, drone photography, data journalism, data visualization, new communication technologies, and mobile communication technologies. Based on these courses, it is seen that the concept of “digital” is preferred in course contents for new media. This situation can be interpreted as recognizing the effect of digitalization and digital technologies in the media sector by journalism academics and as an indicator of adaptation to the digitalization process. Digital culture shows its influence in many different areas of the media sector, from journalism to public relations, from marketing to advertising. Also, this situation gives an idea of the comprehensiveness of digital culture in today’s societies. Even this fact alone can be considered a reason to increase efforts toward improving digital media literacy.

Conclusion As Toffler (1981) pointed out in the 1980s, the development of literacy for productive consumers (prosumers) as the leading actors of digital participatory culture is one of the best solutions against the danger of fake news and post-truth. Providing journalism students with digital media literacy develops both theoretically enriched professional reflexes and practices and the formation of responsible citizenship awareness and public opinion. In this sense, digital and media literacy is recognized as necessary life skills for digital citizenship (Hobbs, 2010). Journalism students must learn to write news that drives conversation and informs the public about what is happening within their communities. Journalism students must also be aware of the problems created by new media sources as well as produce content that debunks false news and misinformation. In conclusion, journalism education should include specific courses to help journalists practice their profession in a digital society.

References Bersey, A., & Chadwick, R. (1998). Ethical issues in journalism and the media. A. Bersey & R. Chadwick (Eds). Nurçay Türkog˘ lu (Eng). Ayrıntı.

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Buckingham, D. (2003). Media education: Literacy, learning and contemporary culture. Polity. Gilster, P. (1997). Digital literacy. Wiley. Hargittai, E. (2010). Digital na(t)ives? Variation in internet skills and uses among members of the “net generation.” Sociological Inquiry, 80(1), 92–113. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1475-682X.2009.00317.x Hobbs, R. (2010). Digital and media literacy: A plan of action. The Aspen Institute. https://assets.aspeninstitute.org/content/uploads/2010/11/Digital_and_Media_ Literacy.pdf Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture. Where old and new media collide. University Press. Kemp, S. (2020, January 30). Digital 2020: 3.8 billion people use social media. We Are Social. https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/01/digital-2020-3-8-billion-people-use-social-media Kozdras, D., Joseph, C., & Kozdras, K. (2015). Cross-cultural affordances of digital storytelling: Results from cases in the U.S.A. and Canada. In P. Smith & A. Kumi-Yeboah (Eds.), Handbook of research on cross-cultural approaches to language and literacy development (pp. 184–208). IGI Global. http://doi:10.4018/978-14666-8668-7.ch008 Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2015). Digital literacy and digital literacies: Policy, pedagogy and research considerations for education. Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 2015(4), 8–20. https://doi.org/10.18261/ISSN1891-943X-2015-Jubileumsnummer-02 Lewis, J., & Jhally, S. (1998). The struggle over media literacy. Journal of Communication, 48, 109–120. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1998.tb02741.x Livingstone, S. (2004). Media literacy and the challenge of new information and communication technologies. The Communication Review, 7, 3–14. https://doi. org/10.1080/10714420490280152 Newman, N., Fletcher, R., Schulz, A., Andı, S. & Nielsen, R. K. (2020). Reuters Institute digital news report. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. https:// reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2020-06/DNR_2020_ FINAL.pdf Onursoy, S. (2018).Digital literacy levels of university youth: A research on the students of Anadolu University, Gumushane University E-journal of Faculty of Communication, 6(2), 989–1013. https://doi.org/10.19145/e-gifder.422671 Park, S. (2012). Dimensions of digital media literacy and the relationship to social exclusion. Media International Australia, 142(1), 87–100. https://doi. org/10.1177/1329878X1214200111 Pavlik, J. V. (2000). The impact of technology on journalism. Journalism Studies, 1(2), 229– 237. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616700050028226 Potter, W. J. (2008). Media literacy. SAGE. Prensky, M. (2004). The emerging online life of the digital native: What they do differently because of technology, and how they do it. https://marcprensky.com/writing/ Prensky-The_Emerging_Online_Life_of_the_Digital_Native-03.pdf

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Sparks, J. R, Katz, I. R., & Beile, P. M. (2016). Assessing digital information literacy in higher education: A review of existing frameworks and assessment with recommendations for next-generation assessment, (ETS Research Report Series, Vol. 2016, Issue 2). https://doi.org/10.1002/ets2.12118 Toffler, A. (1981). The third wave. Bantam.

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10 D I G I TA L L I T E R A C Y I N DESIGN, MEDIA, AND C O M M U N I C AT I O N S DISCIPLINES Fluency Is the New Literacy Phillip Motley and Derek Lackaff

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n order to live productive 21st-century lives, students must engage with a range of digital technologies. Students typically navigate their smartphone apps with ease, can buy goods and send money using mobile payment systems, play a range of video games, and maintain important relationships via a variety of social media platforms. Many young people have access to interactive technologies in the home and at school and develop a range of digital skills to connect to their friends and pursue personal interests. This autodidactic skills-based literacy is often supplemented with a formal media literacy curriculum in the school. In the United States, media literacy education has historically focused on the “reading” or “interpretation” of media texts, often framed as a critical or even adversarial orientation to the commercial mass media. As Tyner (1998) notes, however, communicative literacy is a key source of social power, providing opportunities for individuals to understand and impact the current social order. More recent conceptualizations in the United States and elsewhere have focused more on personal empowerment and competencies related to democratic citizenship (Erstad & Amdam, 2013). Informal exposure and formal education thus increasingly support higher levels of literacy in navigating digital media.

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Within the professional academic disciplines of design, media, and communications, this “digital literacy” may not be a sufficiently robust concept to describe the skills and knowledge necessary for success in the digital media workplace. As the media industries have transitioned from analog to digital formats and distribution platforms, such students must develop digital fluency. We use the term digital fluency to describe the ability to interpret, design, and produce digital media in a professional academic context, which is a further specification of a term used by previous researchers (e.g., Miller & Bartlett, 2012; Resnick, 2002; Sparrow, 2018). Digital fluency is a multiliteracy that integrates skills for consuming and processing information, as well as the ability to competently produce, manipulate, edit, and use digital content and information in ways that are ethical, responsible, and appropriate. Consider the following description for an entry-level marketing position: As the Recruitment Marketing Specialist, you will partner with the Director of Marketing and Director of Talent Acquisition to convey [our] culture to prospective talent in alignment with the employer brand and talent acquisition goals. This position contributes to the creation of branded careers content, the planning and development of recruitment marketing strategies and is responsible for the development of content in support of recruitment campaigns and other talent attraction efforts. You will also ensure the organization’s employee value proposition is represented in content and utilized within talent acquisition processes, with an eye toward industry trends and techniques to attract the best and the brightest talent. (Job Searcher, 2021)

The job description also includes that the candidate will “ensure the organization’s employee value proposition is represented in content . . . with an eye toward industry trends and techniques,” which suggests that a successful candidate will need to be able to exercise a level of fluency, rather than one of literacy, in communications and content creation. The digitally literate graduate might have a theoretical understanding of platforms and technologies, but the fluent graduate must have the knowledge and skills to predict, modify, create, and exert some control over mediated information flows— relevant, even necessary, skills in today’s workplace. Within the fields of media, communications, and design, such fluency is a prerequisite for both productive civic life and postgraduate employment. Although traditional research and writing skills remain relevant, journalists must now understand data, digital photography and video, and online distribution. Films, television, and other audiovisual content are now almost entirely created using digital production pipelines. Visual and communication designers must still understand how to implement design principles to

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create compelling visual artifacts but are increasingly required to understand code and interaction for digital platforms or mobile applications. The race to acquire the requisite skill levels needed for successful entry into the job market quickly becomes more competitive and sophisticated. This chapter describes how one multidisciplinary faculty in Elon University’s School of Communication developed an intentional, scaffolded curriculum that helps students develop critical competencies and navigate increasing digital complexity. While most other academic fields will not feel the need or be able to prioritize the development of their students’ digital skills at the same level, it is hoped that this chapter can further discussions on the definitions and requirements of fluency in this domain. As other disciplines aim for their students to fully engage in the contemporary communications processes of their respective fields, the model described in this chapter can provide a useful perspective for integrating digital fluency in their own domains.

Digital Fluency in Communications Digital literacy has been defined in various ways over the past several decades. Most definitions have drawn strongly from information literacy frameworks originating in the library and information sciences in the mid-1970s (Spitzer et al., 1998). Spitzer et al. (1998) clarified that “the concept of information literacy . . . advocates the preparation of people to be successful users of information” (p. 36). Teaching digital (information) literacy emerged as a priority in the late 1990s as the internet increasingly shaped everyday life and the web became the first (and often final) stop in students’ knowledge-seeking journeys. Gilster (1997) suggested that digital literacy supported successful information access and synthesis from emerging digital sources as well as nondigital sources. Buckingham (2010) likewise relates that early discussions of digital literacy typically focused on functional definitions of the term relating to information retrieval and basic computing skills. In many popular and academic contexts these initial framings of the term have persisted and been updated to address the rapid turnover of specific technologies and platforms but have maintained the focus on digital content navigation and consumption (Loewus, 2016). The contemporary networked information environment consists of websites and apps, TikTok videos, Snapchat and Instagram stories, algorithmically curated and deep-faked videos, and new media formats that will have emerged by the time a reader sees these words. This environment is characterized by intense competition for attention, evolving forms of social

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and human–computer interactivity and ever-faster distribution of content and ideas. Miller and Bartlett (2012) argued that “the epistemological hazards particular to the online realm”—the new challenges to understanding and interacting with information—“require a new mixture of competencies” (p. 38). They suggested that these competencies might be better termed digital fluency rather than digital literacy in order to “capture the cross-cutting, transecting nature of the skills required to meet the challenge of critical engagement with online information: traditional critical thinking skills, but also internet-specific technical knowledge and ICT [information and communication technology] specific competencies” (p. 38). More recently, Sparrow (2018) has suggested that digital fluency is “the ability to leverage technology to create new knowledge, new challenges, and new problems and to complement these with critical thinking, complex problem solving, and social intelligence to solve the new challenges” (p. 54). Digital fluency is thus a concept that suggests a broader and more comprehensive ability to engage with the digital world and one that reflects our goals more accurately. Digital technologies are part and parcel of academic programs in design, media, and communications. The communications undergraduate must learn not only how to locate and process relevant information but also how to communicate effectively and ethically within an increasingly complex digital context. Students must create and manipulate digital content; design and code applications, websites, and other delivery systems; tell visual stories; and analyze data sets. In our students’ domain, developing information or media literacy becomes a baseline entry requirement, and more sophisticated fluencies relating to digital production, distribution, and interaction emerge as the standards for academic and professional success. Fluency is the ultimate goal, as that level of skill and knowledge is what enables communications graduates to secure first jobs and thrive in their careers.

Foundation of Digital Literacy Elon University’s School of Communications is a professional school within a liberal arts university. Students pursuing professional majors take a core of liberal arts classes from outside the school’s departments as well as professionally oriented courses within their major department. The school houses six undergraduate majors and one graduate program. Five of the undergraduate majors are derived from a common curricular structure (the sixth major, sport management, has a distinct history and curriculum). Each of the five connected communications majors—journalism, strategic communications, cinema and television arts, communication design, and media

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analytics—share a core set of required classes and a five-course sequence that is specific to each major. Students complete their major with selections from a schoolwide menu of elective courses. The communications core curriculum is shared among all five of the majors and is designed to provide students with a breadth of knowledge about mass media and communications that is relevant to a variety of professional industries. The core curriculum is divided into two parts: an opening core taken by students in their 1st and 2nd years and an advanced core taken at the junior and senior levels. Students take a course introducing them to communications and mass media; a course on writing within communications disciplines and professions; a course that exposes them to content creation production tools and techniques; and a technology-centric course that teaches them about how web-based content and delivery platforms work. The opening core is a model of what Tyner (1998) describes as a “marriage of analysis and production” (p. 198), whereby “students analyze their own products and other media products in order to create more satisfying productions, thus strengthening their knowledge of media codes and conventions” (p. 200). The advanced core courses provide higher levels of knowledge and skills that push toward greater fluency within the overarching communications and media disciplines, but ones that are still applicable to all students regardless of their selected majors. For example, in Media Law and Ethics, one of the advanced core courses, students learn about issues such as copyright and trademarks, topics that are of heightened relevance in a world where digital content is readily and easily appropriated or even stolen. In the Great Ideas in Communications course, students are required to conduct original research and produce a scholarly article. The strongest articles—as well as accompanying explanatory videos—are collected in the digital, peer-reviewed Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications. The Elon Journal is the only research journal focused on undergraduate communications and has been published twice annually since 2010. With an acknowledgment that the advanced core communications courses clearly contribute to the development of digital fluency, true mastery of a particular domain most often happens within the courses of a specific professional major within the school. Each of the five majors is comprised of a five-course sequence that follows a proscribed structure: (a) a course that introduces students to the topics of that major; (b) an advanced writing course intended to further develop writing skills appropriate to the types of jobs related to the major; (c) a technology-intensive course that places emphasis on mastering the specific tools of a particular communications industry; (d) an advanced production course designed to help students

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Figure 10.1.  Structure of the communications curriculum, including opening and advanced core courses and the five-course sequence of each of the five majors (Elon University School of Communications, 2020).

generate professional, portfolio-quality artifacts; and (e) a culminating course in which students are given the opportunity to create a capstone-level project and/or develop and refine a professional portfolio to use when looking for first jobs. Figure 10.1 attempts to visualize both the opening and advanced core courses and the five-course sequences of each major.

A Three-Pronged Approach for Developing Fluency Our school’s definition of digital fluency becomes particularly apparent when examining the scaffolded experience provided by each major curriculum. Once a student in a particular major completes the required opening communications core classes, they take a sequenced set of courses designed to build toward a culminating experience—the fifth course in the sequence— where they are required to demonstrate professional-level skills by creating an artifact that showcases their fluency with relevant tools, technologies, and processes that are effectively all digital. As stated, the breakdown of the five courses within each major follows a prescribed sequence. In terms of developing digital fluency, the writing-, producing-, and technology-focused classes have the most relevance as they allow students to develop their skills and knowledge in these areas at both a

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more advanced level than what they learned in related core courses and in a way that is more germane to the specific needs and orientations of a major and its respective professions. The culminating course, the fifth one in each major’s sequence, is structured to allow students to put into the highest levels of practice the advanced skills that they have developed in the areas of writing, production, and technology.

Writing Writing is an important skill for communications students and professionals. The ability to create written content using a range of digital tools destined for digital platforms has quickly become a default standard for students studying in communications disciplines. In the School of Communications, COM 110, Media Writing, is a literacy-level course that is part of the opening core curriculum and attempts to teach students about writing in the context of professional media production and the ways in which digital technology allows them to write content (such as collaborative online writing platforms) or distribute messages to a wide range of audiences (such as through a content management system like Wordpress). In this course, students are exposed to journalistic writing standards, the creation of press releases, writing copy for advertising or public relations purposes, and even the basics of how television and film scripts are structured. As students advance into one of the five specific majors within the School of Communications, each incorporates a writing-oriented course that is germane to the specifics of a particular discipline and industry’s needs. While COM 110 attempts to cover writing related to all five majors so that students are exposed to why and how writing is produced in those disciplines, within each major writing processes become much more specific. For example, students in the strategic communications major (STC) are all required to take COM 110; within the STC major, they also take STC 312, Strategic Writing, where they learn about writing for all types of digital platforms, with social media writing becoming an increasingly important component of this course’s goals and objectives. In this course, the disciplinary aspects of writing include how to use digital tools such as Hootsuite, used to control and time social media posts, or how to write content for targeted messaging, including those found on social platforms, blogs, or commercial advertisements. Let’s consider another major: communication design. At its core, this major is focused heavily on visual communication and graphic design; the image is the primary component of consideration. However, even in an environment where images are the focus, students cannot work in an imagebased vacuum as visual content is rarely featured as the only media type in

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a professional communication artifact. Instead, writing is almost always a companion component to imagery. Given that reality, students in the communication design major are required to take COM 110 and also CDE 318, Writing for Visual Media. In this course, they explore how to create written content that pairs with or exists in conjunction with visual images. They write headlines and captions, learn how to create photo-based stories, or how to create motion typography for television or film platforms. They not only learn about the content-oriented requirements of this kind of writing but also the technical tools and platforms that enable them to create written content that works with visual media at a professional level of quality.

Producing The ability to produce content types that range beyond writing has always been a concern for communications programs. Digital tools and processes are now the standard methods for creating photographs, video and film, and a wide range of visual communication content. COM 220, Creating Multimedia Content, is a sophomore-level course that is part of the opening core. The goals and objectives of this course are to expose students to a variety of content production technologies, including software and hardware tools used for graphic design, digital photography, and video storytelling. Students become proficient, or literate, with the technologies that are common within the different communications majors for creating content but do not achieve the levels of mastery or expertise—what we would describe as fluency—that we would expect of one of our seniors who is about to graduate. In an effort to ultimately achieve digital fluency, this course is an essential building block, one that enables all students to move into their selected majors equipped to take a more advanced production course that will further their digital knowledge and skills relative to their intended profession. For example, students in the cinema and television arts (CTA) major eventually take either CTA 324, Television Production, or CTA 326, Cinema Production (dependent on their future career goals). In either course, they are exposed to more sophisticated levels of digital film and video production than they learned in COM 220. They are instructed in how to use professionally relevant hardware and software tools to produce content that approaches the level of quality produced by professional television and film companies. They create commercial spots, short films, and television content. The level of knowledge and skill that they learn in this course begins to approach a level of fluency that will give them the opportunity to develop professional-quality portfolios and apply for entry-level positions in these fields after they graduate.

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Technology Technology has always been a concern for professionals in communications industries. Today, however, the need to understand some level of technology has become a concern for virtually all media professionals, not just video engineers or film editors. COM 210, Web and Mobile Communications, is a technology-oriented course that all students take as part of the communications core curriculum. This course exposes students to the basics of the internet and web and mobile communications technologies, including how web-based media works, the logic behind web coding languages, and specific software tools that can be implemented to create and edit digital content for online use. The primary goal of this course is to achieve a level of literacy for all our students, regardless of major, so that they understand how web-based communications work at a basic level. At a more advanced level, students in the communication design (CDE) major take CDE 350, Web and Mobile Publishing. This course is focused on content that is similar to what is delivered in COM 210. However, COM 350 teaches students to become more adept at the technology behind websites and mobile applications and to think critically about designing visual content that is both sophisticated and user centered. In this course, students are expected to elevate their digital skills with both design software and technology development platforms to enable them to create a portfolio of work that has professional currency. Having a basic understanding of web-based content isn’t an expected outcome of this course; it is essentially a prerequisite. The knowledge that students learn in COM 210 becomes the scaffold for what they learn in COM 350. In the case of the media analytics (MEA) major, MEA 329, Applied Media Analytics, is the technology-focused course. Students are aware that Microsoft Excel is a useful tool for statistical analysis and manipulation. In MEA 329, they learn more advanced skills with Excel and how it can be valuable for tasks such as cleaning and sorting data. The School of Communications maintains a course handbook for all the classes taught in the school. The following learning objectives are taken directly from the description of MEA 329: Students will be able to: •• •• ••

describe concepts used to identify and define media audiences, such as demographics and psychographics. explain established media metrics and database resources to describe audience usage of traditional and emerging media. employ the tools of technology to gain access, measure and analyze media usage and engagement data using reliable methodologies.

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apply numerical concepts and descriptive statistical procedures for analyzing data using appropriate analytical computer applications. use data visualization to enhance clarity and report findings.

The majority of the bullet points describing the course objectives are focused on developing skills and knowledge of advanced practices with the analysis of audience data and media metrics.

Integration of Digital Fluency Following the introduction of literacy-level knowledge and engagement with fluency, students are provided with multiple opportunities to integrate and demonstrate their abilities in realistic but learning-centered experiences. Cocurricular opportunities such as student media and community-engaged projects provide extensive opportunities to practice their skills while on campus. Students can work for the Elon News Network, which is responsible for both print and broadcast student news for the campus. They can work for Live Oak, a student-run advertising and public relations agency that takes on real clients in the local area. They can join Cinelon or Elon Docs, two student organizations that work to produce either narrative films or documentaries that are routinely entered in film festivals and competitions. Service-learning courses and community-engaged projects are ways for students to practice their content production skills in the community for academic credit or professional experiences. Off-campus, students participate in closely supervised internships. COM 381 is a required internship course that is one of the advanced core courses. Internships are excellent vehicles for students to take what they’ve learned in either an opening core course or within a particular major and advance their knowledge and skills through authentic work in a professional setting. Many times, students are afforded specific opportunities to develop digital fluencies through internships as, often due to their age, they are asked to take the lead with digital work in the companies they intern with. Finally, we recognize that digital fluency as a concept is constantly evolving within broader disciplinary, technological, economic, and social contexts. In our school, the achievement of digital literacies is programmatically assessed by the individual majors. Within the school, the development and presentation of a “learning portfolio” is a graduation requirement and yields assessment data relative to program-level learning objectives, which include digital literacies. For all majors, the learning portfolio requirement is oriented toward internal assessment audiences of faculty and administrators.

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Some majors, such as communication design, additionally require and evaluate career-focused digital portfolios that are developed to meet professional standards and address external professional audiences. An ongoing tension exists between these two portfolio uses: One is related to assessment of learning growth over a student’s 4 years of education, while the other exists as a way for students to showcase the highest levels of skills and knowledge they have attained for the purposes of job seeking. In other words, the professionally oriented portfolio allows students to communicate to external viewers their relevant digital fluencies. The evaluation and reevaluation of this tension allow us to remain productively engaged with an ongoing interpretation and negotiation of literacy versus fluency and how each is assessed.

Conclusion In most academic disciplines, faculty work to ensure their students have the digital literacy to engage productively with their field. The goals are for students to graduate with the ability to be proficient with a variety of digital technologies, access and consume digital content, and communicate using currently relevant tools. In communications, media, and design disciplines, we work to move students beyond a threshold of literacy. Our professional counterparts—print and broadcast news companies, advertising and public relations agencies, film production studios, design firms and the like—are continually changing and advancing in the digital and technological realm. Students poised to enter these industries as young professionals must be able to demonstrate knowledge and skills that push beyond literacy if they want to be competitive. As journalists, filmmakers, media managers, graphic designers, and other professional communicators, our graduates will likely project their voices—and those of their clients and employers—forcefully into the public realm. Our hope is that these professionals are deeply knowledgeable and skilled; competent at evaluating, manipulating, and producing content; and able to shape the public sphere in positive, ethical, and effective ways.

References Buckingham, D. (2010). Defining Digital Literacy. In B. Bachmair (Ed.), Media education in new cultural spaces: The German-speaking and British discussion (pp. 59–71). Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-92133-4_4 Elon University School of Communications. (2020). Communications curriculum. https://www.elon.edu/u/academics/communications/wp-content/uploads/ sites/23/2020/06/COM-Curriculum.pdf

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Erstad, O., & Amdam, S. (2013). From protection to public participation. Javnost - The Public, 20(2), 83–98. https://doi.org/10.1080/13183222.2013.11009115 Gilster, P. (1997). Digital literacy. Wiley. Job Searcher. (2021). Recruitment marketing specialist: Cone Health. https://jobsearcher.com/j/recruitment-marketing-specialist-at-cone-health-in-greensboronc-1EAlbo Loewus, L. (2016). Digital literacy: Forging agreement on a definition. Education Week, 36(12), 5–6. https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/what-is-digitalliteracy/2016/11 Miller, C., & Bartlett, J. (2012). “Digital fluency”: Towards young people’s critical use of the internet. Journal of Information Literacy, 6(2), 35–55. https://doi. org/10.11645/6.2.1714 Resnick, M. (2002). Revolutionizing learning in the digital age. In M. Devlin, R. Larson, & J. Meyerson (Eds.), The internet and the university: 2001 forum (pp. 45–64). Educause. Sparrow, J. (2018). Digital fluency: Preparing students to create big, bold problems. Educause Review, 53(2). https://er.educause.edu/articles/2018/3/digital-fluencypreparing-students-to-create-big-bold-problems Spitzer, K. L., Eisenberg, M. B., & Lowe, C. A. (1998). Information literacy: Essential skills for the Information Age. Information Resources Publication. https://eric. ed.gov/?id=ED427780 Tyner, K. R. (1998). Literacy in a digital world: Teaching and learning in the age of information. Routledge.

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PA RT F O U R BUSINESS

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11 D I G I TA L S T O R Y T E L L I N G I N P O S T G R A D U AT E S T R AT E G I C MANAGEMENT COURSES Mo Kader

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his chapter examines the opportunities presented by integrating storytelling into business and management classes in online postgraduate management courses. Storytelling is a form of pedagogy used to enhance student learning (McLellan, 2007). This chapter illustrates the practical benefits as well as the challenges associated with teaching digital skills as part of the subject matter of management. It provides practical examples of solutions to common classroom problems that arise when integrating technology and subject content in strategic management classes. It also explores the use of practical steps that enhance the integration of digital skills to the subject matter. The chapter presents potential good practice approaches to teaching and learning in the context of digital storytelling.

Technology, Storytelling, and Disciplinary Context Storytelling is used as a teaching strategy in higher education to increase student interest and participation (Alterio & McDrury, 2003), including in online learning (Gouvêa et al., 2017). However, it requires students and lecturers to have sufficient digital skills to make it effective (Carvalho & Noronha, 2020). These skills are shown in Table 11.1. The teaching of strategic management at the postgraduate level is often associated with challenges due to students specializing in their chosen fields of study (Davies & Devlin, 2007). Strategic management is often a core unit in business degrees, which means students from many specializations may 131

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TABLE 11.1

Digital Skills Required by Students Digital Skills

Explanation

Navigate the online discussion forum and post and reply to messages on the forum.

The student knows how to navigate the online chat forum and can post messages to it, read messages, and reply to messages.

Post and read online content such as files, links, images, and other digital content.

The student can upload a file to the learning management system (LMS), knows what file formats can be loaded, can download and upload images, and share content on the LMS.

Use video-creating or video-editing software and basic graphic design tools to create a story.

Student can demonstrate basic skills to operate popular versions of software used to create or edit or merge digital content to create and share stories digitally.

Create and post short videos.

The student can record and upload a short video to the LMS and watch videos.

Activate and deactivate microphone and camera and use other basic functions on their device.

The student has basic skills in enabling and muting a microphone and camera on their device and can minimize and resize window views.

attend one class. The study of strategic management can sometimes be students’ first in-depth learning experience of an integrated set of competitive actions by a firm (business), selected as a case study, interpreting them and being able to use them. The extensive theories of strategic management and their frameworks and the relatively short period of time in which to complete courses can often make learning harder (Schneider & Lieb, 2004). The stories used in the teaching of strategic management include real-life management decisions that are found in very recent media such as news articles. The course in which storytelling was used is Strategic Management Theory and Practice, which is a postgraduate core unit from the Master of Business Administration program. The course is delivered online and has students from diverse professional and cultural backgrounds. Students have different levels of work experience and knowledge of strategic management as well as different levels of digital literacy. Digital storytelling was integrated in the course

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to provide better learning opportunities for the class by allowing students to work collaboratively and build on each other’s diverse experiences through engaging with and debating the story. Storytelling was used as part of the learning content and as formative exercises but was not used as an assessment. Lecturers delivering strategic management classes can use storytelling to make it easier for students to understand the classes’ concepts (Borghoff, 2018). The use of real-world, relatable stories about strategic management decisions and the people involved in making them can improve student engagement and reflective practice. Using digital storytelling can make the student–technology interaction richer and more meaningful for the student. The concept has been applied by the author in the teaching of postgraduate strategic management courses that included cohorts of international students from varied backgrounds.

Teaching Approaches The project under study in this chapter employs experiential learning, a constructivist learning theory that allows users to construct new knowledge by incorporating prior knowledge (Kolb et al., 2001). In this class, experiential learning is accomplished through digital storytelling. The use of stories in teaching can be considered part of the constructivist view of learning (Zhu et al., 2010). The constructivist view of learning uses the learner’s experiences to create new meaning and interpretation of topics (Bada & Olusegun, 2015). Students can use stories about their own work or study experiences and relate these to strategic management concepts. Lecturers use storytelling to explain strategic management theories and applications. These stories are often about companies and their strategic actions, external factors that affect the firm, recent news articles about strategic decisions, and the lecturer’s own consulting or industry experiences. Reflective accounts of how strategic management decisions are made can also be underpinned by students’ own workplace experiences. Commonly, as the digital story unfolds, students express connections with and relatedness to the story, recalling their own workplace strategies or those of people they know. They discover or recall that strategic management decisions lead to real-life impacts. Students are able to relate to all these as they connect with a digital story. Using the constructivist approach to learning and teaching, the author has identified that the best teaching strategy for using digital stories is when the stories relate to current business issues. The more contemporary and relevant the business for which the story is being told, the more interest students show in the story.

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The teaching approach developed by the author to implement digital storytelling comes from trialing different approaches over several years. It has evolved by reviewing teaching and student feedback through surveys. This approach is based on the following digital principles: 1. Accessibility to the story through the use of student-available and realistic technology. Ultra media–rich digital assets used to convey the story may not always function at the right speed or quality for all students. Web access is not uniform, so the digital story should work with average download speeds, not require significant configuration by the student or advanced settings. Failing this test has been found to mitigate the positive impacts of the digital story (Joo et al., 2016). 2. The digital story should take no more than 10–15 minutes to view. This is the attention span duration that yields the most positive engagement from different types of learners (Paul et al., 2012). Within this timeframe, there should be a ramping up of concepts where subject matter content learned in the previous 2–3 weeks is weaved into the story and a ramping-down where students’ critical thinking skills are challenged as the strategic management decision is presented at the end of the story. Designing the digital story in this way achieves a good degree of alignment between the learning outcomes and scaffolding of learning and the interest-creating, critical thinking elements of the story. 3. An opportunity for online dialogue after viewing the story will help engage the class in the critical analysis of the strategic management decision, and this is where opinions are created, debated, and negotiated. Using Zoom as an example of the online tool used for delivery, the creation of breakout rooms to discuss the story helps complete the learning process.

Digital Literacy Practice Students develop digital competencies at different rates and may benefit from digital tools such as e-tutorials or stories, which students perceive as valuable in reinforcing classroom learning as they allow students to revise concepts at their own pace and in their own time (McGuinness & Fulton, 2019). This is sometimes based on age groups; younger students often engage more with digital technologies. In this online course, learning facilitation requires that a benchmark be established at the start of the course where the lecturer shows students how to use Moodle and Blackboard, the learning management systems (LMSs)

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used at this school, which are the platforms where they will ultimately deliver their final product. Learning the basics of how to share, communicate, and navigate the LMS is essential before beginning higher level digital literacy projects. Before beginning the project, students are provided with instructions and benchmarks on how to create their story. Students create their stories using any available digital technology and then uploading them to the LMS. The story could use video, web links, graphic designs, photos, text, or a combination of these. The story must be authentic, it must be relevant to strategic management, and it must not include information of a confidential or commercially sensitive nature that is not in the public domain. The way in which the digital stories are told also requires that students are briefed. Late-enrolling students will need a special session covering the same digital benchmarks as those provided to those who enrolled on time. There is a need to democratize the technology and its use before the first digital story is told, and this is shown in Table 11.2. Explaining benchmarks and enabling democratization creates a more cohesive online community and minimizes technology-related barriers to participation. This can be achieved by enabling the uploading of different types of digital content to the LMS. Most LMS systems allow for file types and sizes to be configured, allowing for a wider range of digital content to be shared. The LMS, therefore, becomes a platform for equitably delivering stories regardless of the medium used to tell the story. The quality of content from a visual and audibility point of view is emphasized in instructions to students before they upload their story to ensure the best viewing experience possible. TABLE 11.2

The Principles of Digital Democratization the Author Uses Before the First Digital Story Is Told Digital Democratic Factor

Explanation

LMS configuration

In order for students to equitably upload their stories to the LMS, the LMS needs to be configured to allow for various types of digital content of varying sizes to be loaded. The quality of digital content needs to be high enough that a positive viewing experience is achieved for other students viewing the story. This requirement is shared with the students before they create their story and is reemphasized throughout the course. Students will normally adhere to this requirement, spending time on ensuring their digital story is produced in high quality.

(Continues)

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TABLE 11.2  (Continued)

Digital Democratic Factor

Explanation

Enrollment access

Students need to have access to the LMS enabled by the school IT department.

Useable hardware and software

Students must have established understand the hardware and software requirements of the course before enrollment and assisance with resolving basic issues before the class commences.

Established digital identity

The student’s name is correctly spelled in the LMS and their photo is correct.

Enabled online interactivity

Students have access to the LMS function that allows them to interact with other students within the system through chat, discussion forum, or other collaboration tools.

Completed LMS training

Students are provided with training in the use of the LMS on the 1st day of class and again in the following class.

Out-of-class basic technical support (available from lecturer)

The lecturer is reasonably contactable after class to provide basic-level support in accessing the LMS and using its functions.

Advanced technical support (available from school IT help desk)

The school provides an IT help desk that can address more advanced technical issues.

Time allocated in every class to resolve technical issues

Around 10 minutes is allocated in every class for the lecturer to resolve basic technical issues that students may have experienced or to escalate these to the school IT help desk.

The final story created should represent students’ understanding of strategic management and the digital benchmarks involved in creating the story. Table 11.3 shows the digital skills students need to have in the strategic management class. The lecturer assisted students during and after class with the acquisition or development of those skills when needed.

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TABLE 11.3

Digital Benchmarks Provided to Students for Storytelling Benchmark

Explanation

Authenticity

The story needs to be true and its events genuine.

Relevance

The story needs to be relevant to the strategic management topics being learned.

Content

Contents must not be confidential or sensitive.

Duration

The story needs to be read or heard in no more than 10 minutes.

Experiences

Stories where the student was a party to the events are preferred.

Outcomes

The story must be one where an outcome (result) can be achieved.

Accessibility

Other students must be able to find the subject of the story (e.g., the company) online or through the media so they can explore it.

Digitization

The story must be digitizable in written, voice-recorded, pictorial, or in another form so it can be accessed digitally.

Storytelling and Experiential Pedagogy Kolb’s theory of experiential learning has four parts: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation (Kolb et al., 2001). Students go through these stages, as shown in Table 11.4. There are several implications related to each part of experiential learning that are essential for digital skill development. First, students of strategic management sometimes perceive the same management action differently. As the digital story tells the audience the firm’s issues and presents the management’s decisions, students may form opposing views of the efficacy of those decisions. From a subject matter perspective, there is rarely right or wrong in strategic management, but from a digital storytelling point of view, this is an opportunity to harness experiential pedagogy. The lived experiences of students in their own work often come to life and are discussed. Second, digital storytelling appears to ignite a greater willingness from students to share their own experiences than the classical lecture. For example, the author observed less interaction on the LMS’s discussion board and a lower level of group participation when storytelling was not used in strategic

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TABLE 11.4

Kolb et al. (2001) Experiential Learning Parts and Their Application to Storytelling in Strategic Management Classes Experiential Learning Part

How Students Apply It

How It Supports Digital Skills

Concrete experience

Everyday experiences of students are used to relate to the strategic management story. For example, a student may have experienced a firm’s diversification strategy in the form of a new product they recently purchased.

Interest in the digital story is triggered because the student can see relevance and connection to their own life.

Reflective observation

Perceptions that students have of the strategic management issue are challenged by the story. This may lead to the possibility of modified views.

Engagement with the digital story occurs as the student’s interest is raised to express their own view of the story.

Abstract conceptualization

The student forms a new perspective on the strategic management issue, thinking about how they would handle the management decision after the story has been told and the student has reflected on it.

Interaction with other students occurs as the desire to see others’ perspectives starts to form.

Active experimentation

Students test the learning by applying the concept to another firm or another strategic management decision.

Exchanging views, considering counterviews, and making sense of the story commences as the student develops an approach to how they would solve the strategic management problem in the real world.

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management classes. More questions were asked, longer group discussions occurred, and a higher degree of group member participation was observed when storytelling was used. This will be the subject of a future study by the author. The author has also observed that students volunteer to share their experiences after a story is told. Third, the strategic management story needs to have context. Highly specialized firms that make products that are not easy to relate to may create less interest in the story than those that are well understood. It is important to explain to the audience the firm’s products, its market positioning, and its competitive advantage to enable students to understand the business of the firm before the story is told, as good practice dictates. This helps provide an authentic context and integrate previously learned skills in strategy. And lastly, integrating photos where possible with the story helps enhance authenticity. In one particular course taught by the author, the digital story was about a German manufacturer of shoe polish and its strategic decision to not diversify. In this story, pictures of the shoe polish product were shared with the class, followed by actual for-sale products online to show its price. Buyer reviews of the product were also shown before the story was told. This culminated by showing the location of the office and factory in Germany with pictures in Google Maps. Student feedback to the author in the classroom was that this made them feel like they had already been to the firm and experienced the product. This was followed by a digital story about the company, its decisions, and the people involved in that decision. Students were engaged as they asked many questions and exchanged views about the firm. Later, when a final exam question about a company that needed to make a similar decision was given, students did well in answering that question as they could relate it to the story told weeks earlier.

Benefits and Challenges of Digitized Strategic Management Learning The author observed more interactions among students when storytelling was used. This introduced potential benefits to both the class and the author as a lecturer. Some of these included the following: 1. The development of a real-world context to the strategic problem. The subject matter becomes more interesting and the chances of student learning, retention, and application of skills increase. Sometimes students discover their passion for strategic management as a result of this delivery method.

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2. Group and individual scaffolding of learning as the story is infused with strategic management subject matter content. This allows for the convergence of literature, practice, and theoretical models. In the example of the German shoe polish company, when asked to read two academic papers about diversification strategies, students did not hesitate but committed to the task and for the first time read the literature with a heightened sense of interest. 3. Storytelling served to develop student skills not just in the subject matter but also in digital skills and etiquette as they learn to interact with one another online and express views, consider counterviews, and reach a conclusion. Engaging with digital stories may help students feel more comfortable with using technology to collaborate.

The author also faced challenges and observed students experiencing ­challenges. Some of these included the following: 1. The quantity of subject matter that is needed to be covered can be significant. In 12-week semesters, there can be pressure to move quickly, which reduces the practical attraction of storytelling. 2. In student cohorts where attendance levels are low, the impact of the story is significantly reduced. Students who are late arrivals to the term or those who are not able to attend all classes or for the entire duration often miss the important contextual discussions that make the story relevant. This is particularly evident at debriefs after the story is told and when students are allocated to breakout rooms online. 3. Internet speeds have an impact on the learner experience when they are not optimal or when the hardware used to access online learning is slow.

Digital skills are defined in the context of learning as the ability to use digital media efficiently (Pirzada & Khan, 2013). Digital skills that are relevant to the learning of strategic management have been identified by the author in Table 11.1. The need to develop student digital skills is integral to the success of digital storytelling. That development needs to cover technical as well as online etiquette skills. As the lecturer trains students on the use of the LMS, the benchmarking of digital skills (Table 11.2) starts to occur and accessibility increases. The author’s experience has been that lecturer-driven training appears to be more impactful than generic university-wide digital training. Practically, this means that the strategic management lecturer should train their students on the use of technology and be confident of it themselves for digital storytelling to succeed.

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In the author’s experience, storytelling changes online classroom dynamics. It brings the cohort closer together perhaps due to the experiential nature of the pedagogy. Students showed a greater sense of class membership through increased online attendance and online interaction when the story is told and debrief occurs. This continues when they are placed in breakout rooms and work in groups to arrive at a strategic management decision. Students who would normally be passive or reluctant participants engage in these discussions to a greater extent.

Practical Implications Digital storytelling can enhance the digital literacy of students studying strategic management through more confident use of the strategy theories in real-world stories in a safe and equitable digital environment It enables students to develop their skills in collaborative decision-making and in critical analysis in a team environment. These skills can be used in the real workplace to work in a team to reach a strategic management decision. There are opportunities for lecturers of strategic management to use digital storytelling to bring this interesting subject to life. The process can help enhance student learning and create a better equipped student cohort—one that uses digital tools with greater confidence. There will most likely be a need to adjust certain elements of the storytelling framework or to eliminate them altogether, but this exciting tool opens new avenues in strategic management teaching.

References Alterio, M., & McDrury, J. (2003). Learning through storytelling in higher education: Using reflection and experience to improve learning (Vol. 1). Routledge. https://doi .org/10.4324/9780203416655 Bada, S. O., & Olusegun, S. (2015). Constructivism learning theory: A paradigm for teaching and learning. Journal of Research & Method in Education, 5(6), 66–70. https://doi.org/10.9790/7388-05616670 Borghoff, B. (2018). Entrepreneurial storytelling as narrative practice in project and organizational development. In E. Innerhoffer, H. Pechlaner, E. Borin (Eds.), Entrepreneurship in culture and creative industries (pp. 63–83). Springer. https:// doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65506-2_5 Carvalho, L. M. C., & Noronha, A. B. (2020). An outlook about the application of digital storytelling in higher education. In L. C. Carvalho, A. B. Noronha, & C. L. de Souza (Eds.), Learning styles and strategies for management students (pp. 35–48). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-2124-3.ch004

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Davies, M., & Devlin, M. T. (2007). Interdisciplinary higher education: Implications for teaching and learning. Center for the Study of Higher Education. https:// philarchive.org/archive/DAVIHE-4v1 Gouvêa, M. T. A., Santoro, F. M., & Cappelli, C. (2017). Digital group storytelling in knowledge management: Lessons learned in online tutoring. International Journal of Web Engineering and Technology, 12(4), 351–372. https://doi.org/10.1504/ IJWET.2017.089697 Joo, Y. J., Kim, N., & Kim, N. H. (2016). Factors predicting online university students’ use of a mobile learning management system (m-LMS). Educational Technology Research and Development, 64(4), 611–630. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/ s11423-016-9436-7 Kolb, D. A., Boyatzis, R. E., & Mainemelis, C. (2001). Experiential learning theory: Previous research and new directions. Perspectives on Thinking, Learning, and Cognitive Styles, 1(8), 227–247. https://www.academia.edu/31807473/Experiential_Learning_Theory_Previous_Research_and_New_Directions McGuinness, C., & Fulton, C. (2019). Digital literacy in higher education: A case study of student engagement with e-tutorials using blended learning. Journal of Information Technology Education: Innovations in Practice, 18, 1–28. https://doi .org/10.28945/4190 McLellan, H. (2007). Digital storytelling in higher education. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 19(1), 65–79. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03033420 Paul, J. A., Baker, H. M., & Cochran, J. D. (2012). Effect of online social networking on student academic performance. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(6), 2117–2127. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.06.016 Pirzada, K., & Khan, F. (2013). Measuring relationship between digital skills and employability. European Journal of Business and Management, 5(24), 124–133. https://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/EJBM/article/view/8524 Schneider, M., & Lieb, P. (2004). The challenges of teaching strategic management: Working toward successful inclusion of the resource-based view. Journal of Management Education, 28(2), 170–187. https://doi.org/10.1177/1052562903252646 Zhu, C., Valcke, M., & Schellens, T. (2010). A cross-cultural study of teacher perspectives on teacher roles and adoption of online collaborative learning in higher education. European Journal of Teacher Education, 33(2), 147–165. https://doi. org/10.1080/02619761003631849

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12 EXTENDING THE NOTION O F D I G I TA L L I T E R A C Y I N BUSINESS IT COURSES Thoughts on Process and Metaliteracy Jeffrey Mok and Damien Joseph

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ingapore has a long-standing movement toward technology-enabled processes and digital information access via the internet, with 59.5% (2000) to 93.6% (2020) of the population possessing internet access and a mobile population penetration rate of 74.8% (2000) to 153.9% (2020; Infocomm Media Development Authority, 2020). The immediate implication of the Singapore IT context is that Singaporean business undergraduates would have had ready access to technology since they started kindergarten. As such, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) undergraduates in Nanyang Business School (NBS) can be considered “digital natives” (Prensky, 2001, p. 1), having grown up with ubiquitous technology. However, the consumption of online content and the dexterity in using devices may not be equated to an ability in digital literacy. Digital literacy involves the ability “to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills” (American Library Association [ALA], 2012, para. 1). Such assumptions by Prensky and others that the “net generation” (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005) or “millennials” (Howe & Strauss, 2000) are naturally adept at learning online (Tapscott & Williams, 2010; Thomas & Seely Brown, 2011) has increasingly been challenged (Jones, 2011). Not only is there a lack of empirical evidence of digital natives being able to transition successfully from using digital tools for consumption to using it for learning (Swann, 2013), but the logic of this transition has also been criticized (Jones, 2011; Sheely, 2008). 143

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While the concept of digital literacy has largely been understood from Gilster’s (1997) seminal notion of a skill set (from Bawden, 2001 to van Laar et al., 2017), others see it as an automatic process (Dingli & Seychell, 2015; Wang et al., 2013). A skill set suggests explicit instruction to acquire these skills while an automatic process is naturally transferred from traditional reading and writing. Recently, some scholars have extended digital literacy to engagement with sociocultural digital environments, such as online communities of fanbase blogs and video games (Gee, 2014; Limberg et al., 2012). In this chapter, our focus is to continue the discussion on the skill set development of digital literacy within the discipline of business education. The skills of finding, evaluating, creating, and communicating should not be presumed in this net generation but are to be purposefully learned. These skills are fundamental to all disciplines. Adapting the ALA’s (2012) definition of digital literacy, NBS realized the need to teach students to not only find information but also evaluate, create, and communicate information. The ALA’s definition allows us to identify the skills of finding, evaluating, creating, and communicating what NBS is looking for. Workplaces are increasingly becoming digitalized even as the technology landscape is ever changing. The workplaces into which NBS graduates enter require more than basic digital literacies to be successful. As such, the intent of introducing digital literacy is to ensure that graduates of NBS are equipped to face this increasingly digital business environment.

A New Digital Literacy Framework for Business Education In this chapter, we present a new framework of digital literacy for business education students that considers both information creation as a process (Association of College and Research Libraries, 2015) and extends it to the meta level (Johnson et al., 2010). Digital literacy should be seen as more than just the product (skill set) and include learning the process of acquiring these skill sets. The meta level (Johnson et al., 2010) of digital literacy presupposes a hierarchical level of subskills, metaskills, and metaknowledge for this conceptualization to be better appreciated. For the purposes of this chapter, meta-level skills and knowledge are higher order thinking skills and are distal to the intended course outcomes, such as developing a report. Subskills are skills that are necessary for all students before they can work with digital information at a meta level, including finding, evaluating, creating, communicating, and self-reflecting. For example, searching for information is a “find” skill. There is a variety of knowledge bases available for consultation (e.g., students can find information via an

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institutions library or by using search engines like Google or Bing). While the basic search skills across these knowledge bases are largely similar, advance searching is unique and requires the use of subskills and metaknowledge to be successful. We feel that this chapter’s new conceptualization of digital literacy as a cycle of subskills and metaskills best serves business undergraduates as they learn digital literacy within the context of business education. Such a conceptualization reinforces our contention that graduates will be able to manage the ever-changing digital tools and services in the business world. We, therefore, propose a framework of digital literacy to be expanded to include metaknowledge, metaskills, and the inclusion of additional digital literacy subskills (Figure 12.1). This expanded set of digital literacy skills is particularly pertinent to graduates who readily need to use digital search engines to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information digitally and to navigate the increasing multidisciplinary, unstructured, and ever-changing nature of workplace problems that they will encounter, as well as graduates who conduct higher order thinking in digital technologies. Toward this end, NBS leveraged the foundational information technologies, new technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence, data analytics), and higher order digital competencies such as conceptual modeling and design to identify two courses for all 1st-year undergraduates to acquire the cognitive and technical skills for digital literacy: Decision Making With Programming and Data Analytics (AB0403) and Technological Innovations and Developments

Figure 12.1.  Proposed framework of an expanded set of digital literacy skills.

Find k Subs ills kills s a t Me

SelfReflect

Evaluate Metaknowledge

Communicate

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(AB1401). About 1,200 students in accounting and business undergo the same set of foundational courses. In these courses, students use internet search tools and structured query language (SQL) to find open and proprietary information (find), determine the quality of data (evaluate), and write analytics programs to draw insights from given data (create and communicate). At the metacognitive level, digital literacy involves first specifying the underlying creation process and second reimagining it with the support of digital technologies by focusing less at the skills level and more at the thinking level. For example, students may create data analytics solutions contextualized to address the domain problem through the incorporation of data analytics functions in Python by using spreadsheets and data visualization software. These visualizations of data allow students to visibly present their thinking.

Exemplars of Courses to Develop Digital Literacy Skills Both AB0403 and AB1401 are introductory courses designed for all 1st-year undergraduate students at NBS regardless of their major. They are scaffolded, with AB0403 building on AB1401 to move students across the suite of finding, evaluating, creating, communicating, and understanding the underlying metaskills and metaknowledge of digital literacy. AB1401 is a course that provides students with a general introduction to IT innovations and development and serves as a foundation for AB0403. The latter focuses on developing basic coding and analytical skills with the use of Python toward developing IT solutions to business problems. AB1401 provides students with the foundational, contemporary, and intellectual skills to navigate the ever-changing landscape of technological innovations and development. This course explores how IT work is deployed and used to create new ventures. A range of issues in hardware, software, and networks are discussed, including recent topics such as blockchains, the internet of things, and artificial intelligence. At the completion of AB1401, students gain foundational competencies in IT and appreciate its transformative power. AB0403 aims to prepare students to collect, prepare, manage, and process data for analysis. The outcome of this course is the communication of analytics results to intended audiences. In doing so, this course equips students with the ability to write customized reports to inform business decisions. At a broader level, Python is taught for automating work in the accountancy and business domains. At the completion of AB0403, students gain individual hands-on practice with coding and an opportunity to develop coding solutions in teams.

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From the digital literacy perspective, these two courses are also designed to ensure that students learn to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information. First, both AB0403 and AB1401 require students to solve problems set in business contexts using project-based learning as the pedagogical approach. As an example, students work in teams to resolve an IT business problem scenario (Figure 12.2) and present a solution in an appropriate way. Figure 12.3 presents a common informational requirement of a decisionmaker in a typical organization (e.g., searching and reporting of information Figure 12.2.  Example of an AB1401 case assignment.

Nanyang Technological University Nanyang Business School AB1401: Technological Innovations and Developments Case Study: SingHealth’s Data Breach in 2018 Singapore experienced its largest and most serious data breach to date.1 Hackers stole medical records of about 15 million patients from SingHealth’s IT systems. Previous data breaches were less severe, such as the SingPass data breach incident in 2014 that affected 1,500 account holders.2 Discussion Questions Using media reports only: 1. Describe the stakeholders involved and the timeline of events that have unfolded from the time of the actual breach of SingHealth’s IT systems to today. 2. Describe the failures and losses incurred by the various stakeholders (if any). 3. What were the remedial actions taken to resolve the IT security failures and the concerns of the various stakeholders? How effective are these actions? 4. What are your recommendations to prevent subsequent IT security failures? Irene Tham. More than 1,500 SingPass accounts could have been accessed illegitimately: IDA.” The Straits Times, 4 Jun 2014. 2 Irene Tham. “Personal info of 1.5m SingHealth patients, including PM Lee, stolen in Singapore’s worst cyber attack.” The Straits Times, 20 Jul 2018. 1

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Figure 12.3.  Example of an entity relationship diagram for an exercise in AB0403. Movie Movie_ID Movie_Title Movie_Year Movie_RunTime Movie_Rating Movie_Genre

Item Item_ID Movie_ID Item_Media Item_Status Item_Type Item_Charge

Rental

Customer

Rental_ID Cun_No Item_ID Movie_ID Rental_Out Rental_Due Rental_Return Rental_Cost

Cus_No Cus_Lname Cus_Fname Cus_DOB Cus_Phone Cus_Mobile Cus_Addr Cus_City Cus_County Cus_State Cus_Zip

Figure 12.4.  Example of a code to extract information for a database. Task 7.2- Movie Rentals SELECT Movie_title AS Movies, Movie_Year AS Years FROM Movie ORDER BY Movie_title; SELECT Movie_title As Movies, Movie_Runtime As Runtime FROM Movie WHERE Movie_Runtime > 120 ORDER BY Movie_title;

from a database). To do so, students need to comprehend the informational requirements of the decision-maker, in this case wanting to know the movies in a catalog that is sorted alphabetically with runtime. The students subsequently develop a set of codes (Figure 12.4, see task 6.2) in order to provide a report (Figure 12.5) that meets the decision-­maker’s informational requirement. Both courses use weekly seminars to support the students working in teams to resolve the problems. Both courses have a semester-long project, but AB1401 has two additional shorter term projects to manage simultaneously, a presentation (1 week), and a case study (3–4 weeks). AB0403, on the other hand, has a weekly asynchronous online video lesson using a learning activity management system (LAMS) before each face-to-face seminar. LAMS is a sequential learning process where teams go through learning

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Figure 12.5.  Results of an SQL query. Movies

Runtime

1 Aliens

137

2 Avengers: Endgame

165

3 Spider-Man

143

4 The Hunger Games

142

5 Toy Story 4

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stages regulated by the instructor. These seminars facilitate the presentations, case study, group discussions, and learning of the skills and content taught by the instructor. Second, the projects are contextualized to the business domain and require cognitive effort. Being contextualized, learning (of domain knowledge and technical skills) is situated in an authentic setting where students function as data analysts solving problems. In this sense, digital literacy skills are acquired while solving the problems. The digital literacy skills are explicitly taught and discussed at strategic points during the seminars. The cognitive level, as demanded by the problem scenario, affords students the opportunity to engage in digital literacy skills to find, evaluate, create, present, and argue for the solutions in teams. The problem asks questions at the cognitive level that necessitate students to engage in critical and creative thinking as digital literacy skills.

Finding, Evaluating, Creating, Communicating Information, and Self-Reflection In developing the digital literacy skills through problems (Figure 12.2), students search (find) for the relevant and related information about the problem and its context using internet search tools (technical skills). After gathering and sorting the information, students engage in ascertaining (evaluate) its applicability to the problem. This ascertaining requires them to evaluate the information based on relevance, applicability, and suitability (cognitive skills). Students do this in discussion groups or pairs facilitated by the instructor. The expected outcome is for the students to organize and select the relevant information based on the analytical requirements of the problems. In AB0403, students engage in the creation of Python codes to construct a customized solution using computational notebooks such as a Jupiter

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notebook. Students are taught the technical skills to use such notebooks. Python coding (technical skills) is taught by the instructor, which is interspersed with hands-on exercises. The outcome of the exercises is code that produces a set of results that is first interpreted (cognitive skills) and then communicated (communicate) to a student who takes the role of a decision-maker. The interpretation of the results is facilitated by the instructor. This exercise is similar to the real world where communication to a decisionmaker, such as a line manager, takes place in the form of a presentation (technical skills) and includes interpretation of results within the context of a problem. It is not expected that students get the code right at first. Errors in the codes resulting from carelessness or misunderstanding of course content are constantly debugged. The amount of time spent debugging allows students to revisit the process of identifying and correcting coding errors, thus reinforcing the finding, evaluating, and creating of the digital literacy skills while learning the technical skills as well. This process of correcting code also requires students to search the internet for the appropriate technical information for Python code, understand the content of that technical documentation, and apply the appropriate corrections to enable a workable code. Both technical and cognitive skills are reinforced, and even new ones are learned. This entire process is repeated, and the digital skills are reinforced over the series of problems students have to solve across the semester. In AB1401, the presentation exercise affords reflection on a technologyrelated article or a demonstration of an IT artifact of their own choice. With a deliberate design decision of having no required or recommended textbooks, students have to search (find) for relevant and pertinent information from the internet, determine (evaluate) the veracity of the information, and relate (create) them to the article or IT artifact to present (communicate) their arguments to the class. Examples of such artifacts are first-generation mobile phones, laptops, and personal storage devices from diskettes to zip disks to thumb drives. In the case studies and semester-long projects, students learn entry-level data visualization technology to perform basic data analysis, visualize their findings, and present their recommendations. Both AB0403 and AB1401 expose students to repeated cycles of acquiring and practicing digital literacy skills, and these are reinforced over different variants of problems.

Underlying Processes at the Meta Level (Skills and Knowledge) While both courses take students through finding, evaluating, and creating, AB1401 continues the cycle of digital literacy to include communication.

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When students find, evaluate, and create business solutions to their business problems, revisiting and correcting the finding, evaluating, and creating are quite separate skills on their own, which we label as subskills. These subskills help to determine a more efficient and appropriate manner of finding, evaluating, and creating the business solutions. These subskills can involve both cognitive as well as technical skills. Subskills are subsidiary skills at the secondary level that afford the digital literacy skill to be performed efficiently and adequately. Subskills are constructed from recognizing that the specific digital literacy skill requires these ancillary skills to manipulate and operate the digital tools. Subskills such as using a reliable web browser or establishing search criteria (see Table 12.1) are discerned and acquired through self-reflection while exercising the skill. They are also learned through feedback and dialogue with the instructor and a more experienced peer. When the instructor questions or guides the thinking process of the student to arrive at acquiring the subskill, the instructor is engaging in the metacognitive process of developing the student’s digital literacy skills. The study of metacognition suggests metaknowledge and metaskills are the underlying knowledge and processes that govern the use and application of digital tools. Metaknowledge refers to elements that could be explicitly identified, and metaskills are the voluntary actions based on executive functions (Koriat & Levy-Sadot, 2000). These knowledge domains at the meta level allow metaskills to be operationalized at the strategic and deeper level. At this level, students would be able to identify patterns, common threads, and underlying principles that govern how digital tools are being used. Having metaknowledge liberates students to transcend the rudimentary relearning of the mechanics of each digital tool from scratch. With metaknowledge, subskills are constructed with them to harness the ease of use with the digital literacy skills of finding, evaluating, and creating. Metaknowledge and metaskills are acquired in these courses. AB0403 requires students to construct customized data analytics solutions to inform business decisions, drawing basic knowledge and skills from three disciplines: statistics, IT, and the business domain. This integrative approach is unique as most business schools teach these functional domains separately. By blending these conventionally separated modules into a single course, students are compelled to engage at the meta level of relationships between these different domains to develop cross-disciplinary linkages. Doing so affords the identifying and learning of the underlying subskills that characterize the interplay and customized integrated knowledge of the three domains that are often needed in real-life data analytics solutions in business settings (Levinsen & Sorensen, 2015). These meta-level relationships involve identifying and

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TABLE 12.1

Examples of Subskills, Meta Knowledge, Meta Skills for Each Digital Literacy Skills  Digital Literacy Skills

Subskills

Meta Knowledge (foundational)

Meta Skills (Contemporary and Intellectual)

Find

•• Use reliable web browsers. •• Use mobile apps. •• Search appropriate databases.

•• Identify search syntax in search engines. •• Recognize cell, row, and column properties in spreadsheets. •• Having more text in search syntax leads to better search results.

•• Manipulate search syntax in search engines. •• Search for images. •• Address spreadsheet cells in relative and absolute terms.

Evaluate

•• Establish criteria of selection. •• Determine the accuracy, authority, coverage, objectivity, and timeliness of information.

•• Recognize critical specifications and levels of a computing processor.

•• Determine the accuracy of a formula in a spreadsheet cell. •• Apply a more lenient evaluation on the cells.

Create

•• Relate the information to the project. •• Use of Python, spreadsheet, and data visualization software. •• Design solutions.

•• Recognize properties necessary to create text, image, audio, and video file such as font type, and pixel. •• Recognize differences between presentation software tools.

•• Manipulate text, image, audio, and video properties to create the desired effect.

Communicate

•• Present their arguments, artifacts and recommendations. •• Write reports and documents. •• Produce videos.

•• Recognize components of verbal and written communication and their use. •• Identify the genres and rhetorical moves of speech and writing.

•• Manipulate the different media and its components. •• Execute the appropriate rhetoric in context.

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specifying the underlying creation process and then reimagining it with the support of digital technologies. For example, students create data analytics solutions contextualized to address the domain problem through the incorporation of data analytics functions in Python, with spreadsheets, and data visualization software. Students use SQL to find information (find), draw on their business domain knowledge to determine the quality of data (evaluate), and write (create and communicate) reports by drawing insights from given data. Examples of a student’s work are shown in Figures 12.3–12.5. In both AB0403 and AB1401, meta-level skills are developed by the questioning and guidance of the instructor or peer, also known as the dialogic learning method (Mercer, 2000, 2004; Ramsden, 1992; Trigwell & Prosser, 1996). This is done during the discussion between the students and the instructor during weekly seminars where space is given for instructor facilitation. In the absence of instructor facilitation, peer facilitation takes over in the groups. The dialogic learning facilitation is geared toward the problemsolving approach, which in turn develops metaknowledge and metaskills. Several metaknowledge and metaskills for each of the subskills within digital literacy skills (e.g., find, evaluate) were identified and acquired. Table 12.1 shows some examples of each of the categories of digital literacy skills. For example, in the finding skill, some enduring foundational metaknowledge is used to identify the search syntax needed to search for an informational artifact (e.g., document, web page, video). Also, students must recognize that spreadsheets are made up of rows, columns, and cells and that different cells afford addition and subtraction values. Some contemporary and intellectual metaskills include being able to manipulate the search syntax to force the search engine to search without requiring the usual and traditional characters, being able to search for images (not only text), and being able to address spreadsheet cells in relative and absolute terms. This requires understanding that these cells have an address, knowing when to address cells in relative terms (e.g., cell addresses B3, A2) and when to address in absolute terms (e.g., cell addresses $A$2) or mixed addressing (e.g., cell addresses $B3, A$2). In the evaluating skill, students must recognize the critical specifications and which levels help to determine the type of a computing processor that is relevant to different conditions. Students learn to determine the quality of information using criteria such as accuracy, authority, coverage, objectivity, and timeliness. Being able to evaluate a formula in a spreadsheet cell for error and knowing when to apply a more lenient evaluation on the cells are examples of contemporary and intellectual skills. For the “create” skill, students possess the metaknowledge of properties of text, image, audio, and video files such as font type and pixel. The other is to know the differences

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between presentation software tools (e.g., Microsoft PowerPoint, Tableau, and Keynote), why they would choose them, and how they would use them. The metaskills are being able to manipulate text, image, audio, and video properties to create the desired effect of the presentation. For the communicating skill, the metaknowledge is to be able to recognize components of verbal and written communication and their use as well as to identify the genres and rhetorical moves of speech and writing. The metaskills include manipulating the different media and its components and executing the appropriate rhetoric in context. For example, students need to know when business decision-makers need to hear the recommendations before the analytics and when the reverse is required. The former is usually recommended for decision-makers further removed from operations (e.g., C suite) while the latter is preferred for more operational decision-makers (e.g., operational managers).

Toward a Framework of Digital Literacy Subskills, Meta skills and Metaknowledge for Business Education The learning of subskills, metaknowledge, and metaskills described here suggest an extended understanding of digital literacy for business educators and curriculum designers (Figure 12.1). This expanded set of digital literacy skills is particularly pertinent to future business graduates who readily use digital search engines to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information digitally and to navigate the increasing multidisciplinary, unstructured and everchanging nature of workplace problems they will encounter. The framework proposed here is generalizable to educators and curriculum designers in other disciplines. It is evident that in the cycle of digital literacy skills, there exists subskills, meta-level skills and knowledge that underlie the skill set of digital literacy that affords a deeper and underlying understanding on how finding, evaluating, creating, and communicating really works. This not only enhances these digital literacy skills in terms of effectiveness but also affords a more enduring ability and perhaps a disposition that persists and weatherproofs the constant changes in technology and digital way of life. The additional ability that undergirds each of the digital literacy skills as well as bookends each digital literacy cycle is the metacognitive activity of “self-debriefing” where one engages in self-reflection or seeks feedback to the application of the skills. We are not just asking for this metacognitive activity to occur at the end of each digital literacy cycle but to undergird each digital literacy skill of finding, evaluating, creating, and communicating, where at

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every stage of application of these skills, there is persistent review and selfreflection of that particular application. Therefore, conceptualized as cycles within the digital literacy cycle, our framework encourages the continual and persistent evolution of digital literacy skills through individuals’ subskills, metaskills, and metaknowledge.

Acknowledgment The authors like to thank Nguwi Yok Yen, a senior lecturer of business analytics in the College of Business (Nanyang Business School), for her contribution of her course information, AB0403, Decision Making With Programming and Data Analytic.

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Levinsen, K. T., & Sorensen, B. H. (2015). Digital literacy and subject matter learning. Proceedings on the 14th European Conference of e-Learning (ECEL), 305–312. http://academic-conferences.org/ecel/ecel2015/ecel15-home.htm Limberg, L., Sundin, O., & Talja, S. (2012). Three theoretical perspectives on information literacy. Human IT: Journal for Information Technology Studies as a Human Science, 11(2). https://humanit.hb.se/article/view/69/51 Mercer, N. (2000). Words and minds: How we use language to think together. Routledge. Mercer, N. (2004). Sociocultural discourse analysis: Analysing classroom talk as a social mode of thinking. Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1(2), 137–168. https:// journal.equinoxpub.com/JALPP/article/view/13109 Oblinger, D. G., & Oblinger, J. L. (Eds.). (2005). Educating the next generation. Educause. Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants Part II: Do they really think differently? On the Horizon, 9(6), 1–6. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/10748120110424843/full/html Ramsden, P. (1992). Learning to teach in higher education. Routledge. Sheely, S. (2008). Latour meets the digital natives: What do we really know. Hello! Where are you in the landscape of educational technology? Proceedings ascilite Melbourne 2008. https://www.ascilite.org/conferences/melbourne08/procs/ Swann, J. (2013). Dialogic inquiry: From theory to practice [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Southern Queensland]. Tapscott, D., & Williams, A. D. (2010). Innovating the 21st-century university: It’s time! Educause Review, 45(1), 16–29. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2010/2/ innovating-the-21stcentury-university-its-time Thomas, D., & Seely Brown, J. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. CreateSpace. Trigwell, K., & Prosser, M. (1996). Congruence between intention and strategy in science teachers’ approach to teaching. Higher Education, 32, 77–87. https://doi. org/10.1007/BF00139219. van Laar, E., van Deursen, A. J., van Dijk, J. A., & de Haan, J. (2017). The relation between 21st-century skills and digital skills: A systematic literature review. Computers in Human Behavior, 72, 577–588. https://research.utwente.nl/en/publications /the-relation-between-21st-century-skills-and-digital-skills-a-sys Wang, Q. E., Myers, M. D., & Sundaram, D. (2013). Digital natives and digital immigrants. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 5(6), 409–419. https:// doi.org/10.1007/s12599-013-0296-y

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13 AN INFOGRAPHICS ASSIGNMENT AS A VEHICLE T O P R O M O T E D I G I TA L LITERACY IN A NONMAJORS I N T RO D U C TO RY BIOLOGY COURSE Isabelle Barrette-Ng and Patti Dyjur

A

basic understanding of biology and biological research underlies many real-life issues, ranging from public and personal health to pollution, climate change, and the green economy. However, this can be complicated due to rapid advancements and an explosion of information, which is likely to accelerate even more in the future. To efficiently navigate and evaluate this rapidly growing body of technical information, digital literacy skills are essential not only for students and academics who are focused on studying and teaching biology but also for nonexperts.

Exploring Digital Literacy in Biology With the specific context of biology in mind, it is useful to start by defining the key components of digital literacy in STEM. Gilster (1997) is generally credited with introducing digital literacy to describe “the ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it is presented via computers” (p. 1). Joosten et al. (2012) build on a similar definition from Pool (1997) to define digital literacy as an adaptation of “skills to an evocative new medium, [and] our experience of the Internet 159

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will be determined by how we master its core competencies” (p. 6). More recent discussions of digital literacy point toward the development of cognitive skills and competencies (Mishra et al., 2017; Spante et al., 2018). Bennett (2014) and Traxler and Lally (2016) explain further that the focus is typically on individual learning as opposed to the social dimensions of learning. Martin’s (2006) definition succinctly encapsulates many of these key ideas, defining digital literacy as 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 expressions, and communicate with others, in the context of specific life situations, in order to enable constructive social action; and to reflect upon this process. (p. 155)

The 2017 New Media Consortium Horizon Report further identified three distinct types of digital literacy (universal, creative, and interdisciplinary) that are particularly relevant to the context of biology (Adams Becker et al., 2017). This framework helps educators understand and distinguish the more basic and universal literacy skills involved with using word processing and spreadsheet software applications versus higher levels of literacy requiring the creation, production, and development of new tools and approaches for sifting through the large and diverse range of information about biology. The report also highlights the idea that digital literacy is an initial step toward developing a general competence in digital skills. Among the undergraduate learning activities that help promote digital literacy development are the development of research strategies for searching, collecting, and curating information from a variety of sources, presentation skills, graphic and content design, multimedia and video production, social engagement, and collaboration and programming. The Horizon Report also indicated that digital literacy training in STEM was mostly focused on the consumption and evaluation of information and media, as opposed to the creation, synthesis, and communication of thoughtful and critical analyses of technical information (Adams Becker et al., 2017). However, the report also emphasized the importance of encouraging “learners to take ownership of their work by generating digital artifacts and finding ways to create evidence of work, showcase their experiences, craft their own narrative, and participate in the collective verb” (Adams Becker et al., 2017, p. 7). The report especially emphasized the importance of learners transferring their skills and knowledge of digital literacy from higher education to the workforce so as to encourage continuous learning of digital skills and knowledge (Adams Becker et al., 2017).

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Extending Digital Literacy in Biology to Nonmajors The importance of biology in everyday life underscores the value of extending digital literacy in biology to nonspecialists, including nonmajors in higher education, and even more broadly to the general public. Providing valuable background to this issue, Cotner et al. (2017) explored some of the differences in the interests and attitudes of biology majors versus non-STEM majors. Although non-STEM majors were found to be slightly more likely to hold misconceptions about the nature of science and saw science as less personally relevant, there is a remarkable concordance between the general interests of non-STEM majors and their views on the importance of science in society. Cotner et al. (2017) contend that non-STEM majors may have specific interests in applying biology toward issues related to civic engagement, environmental policy, and public health that increase their motivation and interest in specific areas of biology relative to biology majors. These differences highlight the special opportunities that exist when reaching out to develop digital literacy in biology for non-STEM majors. Several studies also describe the great need and potential importance of improving digital literacy in STEM fields like biology for nonspecialists and the public in general. Interestingly, Guess et al. (2020) have shown that the introduction of a small amount of instruction in media literacy can help improve the ability of nonspecialists in the general public to identify false claims in online media. This highlights how a simple practical intervention can improve digital literacy skills in nonspecialists, thus helping to reduce the negative effects of politically motivated attempts to misinform the public.

Drawing and Scientific Visualization to Improve Digital Literacy in Biology In viewing digital literacy as described perhaps most clearly by Martin (2006), it seems natural to use drawings and other graphical representations as powerful tools to improve digital literacy. This is especially the case in biology where visualizing physical structures and using graphical representations of data can help support the understanding of complex concepts. For example, the careful use of a variety of graphical representations is often critical for the analysis and communication of complex results, particularly where quantitative data need to be evaluated and compared (Ellwein et al., 2014). Ainsworth et al. (2011) have shown that drawing can be an especially powerful pedagogical tool that enhances engagement, improves spatial and logical reasoning, and assists with communicating challenging concepts in all areas of science, especially in biology. Clear and thoughtful graphical representations often provide the context required to communicate and learn complex concepts.

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Infographics as an Instructional Tool to Promote Digital Literacy Student-created infographics can be used as a learning strategy to help students communicate more complex concepts. According to Lankow et al. (2012), the term infographic is a combination of the words information and graphic and can be defined as information presented in graphic form. Infographics can also be described as the “visual representation of data that creatively combine and arrange text and various graphical components to tell a visual story about a particular topic” (Gover, 2017, p. 3). Although infographics can be as simple as road signs, they are more typically characterized by the use of graphs, charts, and illustrations, with large print used sparingly and a vertical arrangement of blocks of information (Lankow et al., 2012). Infographics allow for the presentation of complex information in a more streamlined way than using only text and are meant to include stand-alone information not requiring a paragraph to explain it to the viewer (Toth, 2013). Infographics can fulfill a number of educational purposes. Some are created to convey information, show relationships between concepts, develop and support an argument (Yildirim, 2016), demonstrate understanding, or persuade the viewer (Toth, 2013). Others take complex information and chunk it into smaller steps that are easier to understand (Provvidenza et al., 2019). A recent study showed that learners preferred streamlined infographics that conveyed a central message without including a lot of filler (Yildirim, 2016). Students can develop many different skills when creating infographics, including how to communicate information visually and present complex information (Davidson, 2014). Matrix and Hodson (2014) noted that infographics assignments can foster innovation in students and develop multimodal and digital literacy skills. Studies have shown that infographics assignments require many of the same skills as writing a paper, including evaluating information sources and critical thinking (Jones et al., 2019; Toth, 2013). When using infographics in a chemistry course, a study showed that students strengthened their ability to convey science concepts to a general audience (Kothari et al., 2019). Six out of eight students in a study done by Gover (2017) reported that creating infographics helped them learn in terms of retaining information, memorizing content, reinforcing learning, deepening understanding, recognizing patterns, and making connections. This finding is supported by a study done by VanderMolen and Spivey (2017), in which 88% of students stated that creating an infographic was more helpful in retaining information than writing a paper. In addition to learning benefits, studies have shown that infographics assignments can be motivating to students (Matrix & Hodson, 2014; VanderMolen & Spivey, 2017). In a study of health economics students,

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about 80% stated they would rather create an infographic than write a research paper, and most felt it was more fun and engaging than a traditional written assignment (VanderMolen & Spivey, 2017). Jones et al. (2019) noted that students generally enjoyed the assignment, though some were not confident in their decisions about what content should be included and excluded. This could be seen as a benefit if students were trying to discern the most salient information. Previous studies provide guidance for some of the problems and solutions relating to the implementation of infographics assignments in higher education. Some students underestimate the amount of time needed to complete the assignment, as well as the amount of reading and research required and technical and visual design skills (Gover, 2017; Toth, 2013). Instructors can mitigate these issues by communicating expectations and structured practice activities. Others recommend a written reflective statement to submit with their infographic, outlining the challenges they had and what they learned (Matrix & Hodson, 2014; Toth, 2013). Studies such as these demonstrate that infographics assignments can be valuable learning opportunities for students, increasing their understanding of course content while developing digital literacy skills. In the following sections we provide an overview of how we successfully incorporated an infographics assignment into an introductory biology course for students who are nonmajors as a vehicle for promoting the development of digital literacy skills.

Infographics in an Introductory Biology Course for Nonmajors We designed and implemented an infographics assignment in a large-enrollment (100 students) undergraduate-level course for nonmajors in the faculty of science, titled The Organization and Diversity of Life. Although the course had been taught for many years in a traditional lecture format, there was substantial student dissatisfaction with the focus on the memorization of detailed technical content with minimal relevance to the diverse student population. To address these serious concerns, the focus of the course and the method of delivery were altered substantially. The teaching approach to the course was refocused on learning about biology through a series of case studies related to fake news or scientific misinformation in mass media. In addition, the traditional lecture approach was changed to a flipped format (Al-Samarraie et al., 2020) with both online and face-to-face components, in combination with a team-based learning approach. These changes in scientific emphasis and pedagogical approach were also planned to enhance the development of the essential skills in digital literacy described by Martin

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(2006) relating to the analysis, integration, and synthesis of information from multiple digital sources of information. The diversity of non-STEM majors and interests of this group of students provided a rich opportunity to engage with them in applying biologically relevant information to applications of personal interest (Cotner et al., 2017). In the course, students explored how to critically analyze information sources relating to claims about biology, health, and the environment in popular media. The focus on popular media was selected to address concerns about students’ ability to critically evaluate online information. To do so, the course comprised two main themes. First, students examined practical approaches to detect the presence of bias in the media by analyzing the logical structure and validity of arguments presented in reports. Second, they examined factors that influence how people develop and retain beliefs relating to scientific information. To provide students with an authentic assessment that aligned with these themes, teams of students were asked to make meaning by choosing a claim in popular media that related to biology and critically evaluating its scope, reliability, and validity. As the capstone project worth 30% of their final grade, student teams prepared an infographic that summarized their findings and helped dispel any misconceptions in the general population about the validity of that claim. By the end of the assignment, students in the course were expected to be able to do the following: •• Find reliable sources of primary scientific literature to support or refute claims made in the media. •• Analyze the logical structure and validity of arguments presented in media reports. •• Demonstrate scientific and digital literacy through the use, analysis, and evaluation of appropriate resources. •• Articulate a considered opinion based on the logical analysis of scientifically reliable information. To help students successfully complete the assignment, it was broken down into four scaffolded stages, each of which addressed some of the essential skills proposed by Martin (2006) as key abilities in the development of digital literacy. The first stage involved the development of a proposal, which focused on identifying, accessing, and managing a variety of digital resources. The second stage involved the production of an initial draft, which focused on integrating, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing the information from various digital resources acquired during the preparation of the proposal. The third stage involved the production of an infographic with documentation, thus focusing

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on the creation of a polished media expression of the information gathered and synthesized during the preparation of the proposal and draft. The fourth and final stage involved the preparation and delivery of a 5-minute oral presentation that focused on communicating technical information with others. A critical part of the design was that each stage was graded using rubrics, and students received feedback at each stage before they progressed to the next. To ensure that students could successfully complete each of the four stages of the project, each stage was integrated into the lecture component of the course. For most students in the class, this assignment provided them with their first introduction to primary scientific literature and the use of infographics. The CREATE method (Hoskins et al., 2011) was used throughout the term to help guide students as they engaged with the primary and secondary scientific literature. The acronym CREATE stands for the different steps to consider, read, elucidate and hypothesize, analyze and interpret the data, and think of the next experiment (Hoskins et al., 2011). The CREATE method makes extensive use of concept mapping, figure annotation, and cartooning to visually represent the key steps in real experiments during laboratory research. Hoskins et al. (2011) and others have shown that the careful application of the CREATE approach can help students make gains in critical thinking ability and content integration, as well as develop more positive attitudes and a deeper appreciation about research and the process of scientific investigation. Perhaps even more important, Hoskins et al. (2011) showed that the approach was successful in helping students appreciate how distortions and exaggerations can occur when findings are simplified or misrepresented from the original sources. To teach students how to use the CREATE method, several case studies were used to explore the validity of several newsworthy scientific claims that were somewhat misrepresented in the popular news media, providing students examples that illustrated how to critically evaluate information published in the popular media. Finally, time was set aside in class to allow students to gain familiarity with the technical details involved with using software to create effective infographics. A commercial product, Piktochart, was used, and an educational licence was purchased that allowed each team to create their own account as they worked on their infographic. Overall, the capstone project was successful in fostering both the critical evaluation of claims in the popular media and the development of the key skills underlying digital literacy as described by Martin (2006) and others. In examining the claims from each of their assigned topics, each team of students was challenged to first identify, access, and manage digital resources to show how the claims were portrayed in the media and how the different modalities that are employed influenced the general public’s perception of each claim’s validity.

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Through the process of generating their own infographic, each team was tasked with integrating, evaluating, and synthesizing information from multiple digital resources to ultimately summarize and clearly present their findings in a way that would convince their peers of their conclusions. Through several rounds of peer review, students could gauge the success of their initial strategy, make revisions, and produce thoughtfully prepared final products. A sample infographic generated by students in the course is shown in Figure 13.1.

Recommendations The common themes that emerged from our work on integrating infographics assignments in an introductory biology course for nonmajors suggest specific guidelines and best practices to develop digital literacy skills and improve learner engagement. Most importantly, the success of infographics assignments greatly benefited from the scaffolded, flipped learning approach highlighted in this chapter. To integrate infographics assignments more effectively in courses in higher education, we suggest the following specific recommendations. First, select an assignment in which the scope of the project matches the strengths of the infographics format. Infographics are especially well-suited for distilling complex information into a visually attractive format while helping develop a variety of digital literacy skills (Davidson, 2014; Gover, 2017; VanderMolen & Spivey, 2017). Second, clearly inform students from the outset why they are being asked to create an infographic. The key is to provide a rationale to learners from the outset that the infographics exercise will help them develop valuable digital literacy skills while providing a fair and effective means to assess their mastery of critical learning outcomes. Third, provide students with specific grading criteria that will be used to evaluate different components of their infographics at the beginning of the assignment. Carefully crafted rubrics can be used to emphasize how different digital literacy skills can be developed naturally at different stages of the project. Rubrics should help guide students to develop an effective step-by-step process in which they can see how each component of the exercise will build on previous stages. In this way, the rubrics can guide learners to achieve key learning outcomes and see how their work will be evaluated fairly. Fourth, provide students with sufficient time and technical support to use software that will be used to create the infographics. Incorporating discipline-specific tutorial practice exercises and encouraging the use of discussion boards to share helpful tips on creating infographics were effective for increasing student engagement, fostering digital literacy, and building a sense of community among learners while learning course-related content.

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Figure 13.1. Infographic example.

Sources: Aggarwal (2013); Alim-Marvasti et al. (2016); Antona et al. (2018); Kaido et al. (2016); Sadagopan et al. (2017).

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Finally, structure the assignment with multiple opportunities for formative feedback throughout the development process (Kothari et al., 2019). Providing feedback during the early planning stages of a project is particularly critical for defining the scope and overall objectives of the exercise. Feedback at later stages is especially important for developing linkages between critical concepts and for developing effective communication strategies for sharing information. By incorporating feedback throughout, students are encouraged to remain squarely focused on the central learning objective of developing digital literacy skills. Overall, it is clear that infographics can provide outstanding opportunities for students to develop key digital literacy skills, as described by Martin (2006). Most important, infographics provide a natural and intuitive approach to investigate the information presented by multiple digital resources, to find links between technically challenging concepts, and to critically evaluate and analyze the importance of different pieces of complex technical information. Infographics are also particularly well suited for helping synthesize information and to communicate it broadly to nonexperts through a visually appealing and highly accessible medium (Provvidenza et al., 2019). By following the guidelines developed from our work, we suggest that infographics assignments can be integrated more effectively in a wide range of courses to develop digital literacy skills while teaching disciplinary content.

Conclusion The overwhelmingly positive responses that we received from students after introducing an infographics assignment clearly demonstrate how infographics can be used to facilitate the development of a full suite of digital literacy skills, as outlined by Martin (2006). Our project was particularly successful because students received extensive technical support and formative feedback to reinforce the different digital literacy skills that are most useful at different stages of the project. The very positive peer feedback and high quality of the final infographics clearly demonstrate the high level of mastery of digital literacy skills by all students. By following the guidelines developed from our work, we expect that infographics assignments can be integrated more effectively into a wider range of courses to help achieve critical learning outcomes.

References Adams Becker, S., Pasquini, L. A., & Zentner, A. (2017). 2017 Digital literacy impact study: An NMC Horizon Project Strategic Brief, 3.5. The New Media Consortium. https://www.learntechlib.org/p/182080/

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Aggarwal, K. (2013). Twenty-six percent of doctors suffer from severe mobile-phoneinduced anxiety. Exessive use of mobile phones can be injurious to your health. Indian Journal of Clinical Practice, 24(1), 7–9. https://medind.nic.in/iaa/iaam.shtml Ainsworth, S., Prain, V., & Tytler, R. (2011). Drawing to learn in science. Science, 333, 1096–1097. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1204153 Alim-Marvasti, B., Bi, W., Mahroo, O. A., Barbur, J. L., & Plant, G. T. (2016). Transient smartphone “blindness.” New England Journal of Medicine, 374(25), 2502–2504. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmc1514294 Al-Samarraie, H., Shamsuddin, A., & Alzahrani, A. I. (2020). A flipped classroom model in higher education: A review of the evidence across disciplines. Educational Technology Research and Development, 68, 1017–1051. https://doi. org/10.1007/s11423-019-09718-8 Antona, B., Barrio, A. R., Gascó, A., Pinar, A., González-Peréz, M., & Puell, M. C. (2018). Symptoms associated with reading from a smartphone in conditions of light and dark. Applied Ergonomics, 68, 12–17. https://doi.org/10.1016./j. apergo.2017.10.014 Bennett, L. (2014). Learning from the early adapters: Developing the digital practitioner. Research in Learning Technology, 22, 21453–21466. https://doi. org/10.3402/rlt.v22.21453 Cotner, S., Thompson, S., & Wright, R. (2017). Do biology majors really differ from non-STEM majors? CBE Life Science Education, 16(3). https://doi.org/10.1187/ cbe.16-11-0329 Davidson, R. (2014). Using infographics in the science classroom. Science Teacher, 81(3), 34–39. https://doi/org/10.2505/4/tst14_081_03_34 Ellwein, A. L., Hartley, L. M., Donovan, S., & Billick, I. (2014). Using rich context and data exploration to improve engagement with climate data and data literacy: Bringing a field station into the college classroom. Journal of Geoscience Education, 62, 578–586. https://doi.org/10.5408/13-034 Gilster, P. (1997). Digital literacy. Wiley. Gover, G. B. (2017). Teacher thoughts on infographics as alternative assessment: A postsecondary educational exploration. Encompass. https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/449 Guess, A. M., Lerner, M., Lyons, B., Montgomery, J. M., Nyhan, B., Reifler, J., & Sircar, N. (2020). A digital media literacy intervention increases discernment between mainstream and false news in the United States and India. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117(27), 15536– 15545. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1920498117 Hoskins, S. G., Lopatto, D., & Stevens, L. M. (2011). The C.R.E.A.T.E. approach to primary literature shifts undergraduates’ self-assessed ability to read and analyze journal articles, attitudes about science and epistemological beliefs. CBE Life Science Education, 10(4), 368–378. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.11-03-0027 Jones, N. P., Sage, M., & Hitchcock, L. (2019). Infographics as an assignment to build digital skills in the social work classroom. Journal of Technology in Human Services, 37(2–3), 203–225. https://doi.org/10.1080/15228835.2018.1552904 Joosten, T., Pasquini, L., & Harness, L. (2012). Guiding social media at our institutions. Planning for Higher Education, 41(1), 125–135.

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Kaido, M., Toda, I., Oobayashi, T., Kawashima, M., Katada, Y., & Tsubota, K. (2016). Reducing short-wavelength blue light in dry-eye patients with unstable tear film improves performance on tests of visual acuity. Plos One, 11(4). https:// doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0152936 Kothari, D., Hall, A. O., Castañeda, C. A., & McNeil, A. J. (2019). Connecting organic chemistry concepts with real-world contexts by creating infographics. Journal of Chemical Education, 96(11), 2524–2527. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs. jchemed.9b00605 Lankow, J., Crooks, R., & Ritchie, J. (2012). Infographics: The power of visual storytelling. Wiley. Martin, A. (2006). A European framework for digital literacy. Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 1(2), 151–161. https://www.idunn.no/file/pdf/33191479/a_european_framework_for_digital_literacy.pdf Matrix, S., & Hodson, J. (2014). Teaching with infographics: Practicing new digital competencies and visual literacies. Journal of Pedagogic Development, 4(2). https:// www.beds.ac.uk/jpd/volume-4-issue-2/teaching-with-infographics Mishra, K. E., Wilder, K., & Mishra, A. K. (2017). Digital literacy in the marketing curriculum: Are female college students prepared for digital jobs? Industry and Higher Education, 31(3), 204–211. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950422217697838 Pool, C. R. (1997). A new digital literacy: A conversation with Paul Gilster. Educational Leadership, 55(3), 6–11. Provvidenza, C. F., Hartman, L. R., Carmichael, J., & Reed, N. (2019). Does a picture speak louder than words? The role of infographics as a concussion education strategy. Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine, 42(3), 102–113. https:// doi.org/10.1080/17453054.2019.1599683 Sasagopan. A., Rajajayakumar, M., Marimuthu, A., Nagaraj, H., Ratnam, K., Kumar, T., Selvarajan, L., & Genickson, J. (2017). Prevalence of smart phone users at risk for developing cell phone vision syndrome among college students. Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy, 7(299). https://doi.org/10.4172/2161-0487.10000299 Spante, M., Hashemi, S. S., Lundin, M., & Algers, A. (2018). Digital competence and digital literacy in higher education research: Systematic review of concept use. Cogent Education, 5(1), 1519143. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311 86X.2018.1519143 Toth, C. (2013). Revisiting a genre: Teaching infographics in business and professional communication courses. Business Communications Quarterly, 76(4), 446– 457. https://doi.org/10.1177/1080569913506253 Traxler, J., & Lally, V. (2016). The crisis and the response: After the dust had settled. Interactive Learning Environments, 5(SI), 1016–1024. https://doi.org/10.1080/1 0494820.2015.1128216 VanderMolen, J., & Spivey, C. (2017). Creating infographics to enhance student engagement and communication in health economics. Journal of Economic Education, 48(3), 198–205. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220485.2017.1320605 Yildirim, S. (2016). Infographics for educational purposes: Their structure, properties and reader approaches. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 15(3), 98–110.

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14 D I G I TA L L I T E R A C Y I N C H E M I S T RY Challenges and Opportunities in Undergraduate Education Jordan Mantha

O

ne of the unique challenges facing digital literacy in chemical education is that chemical information is often not encoded using “normal” language. Chemists often communicate through chemical formulas and structures, equations, and graphs, and so the tools and skills needed to transfer knowledge through the language of chemistry becomes an issue on its own. A less unique challenge is that many of the digital tools used in chemistry education were first developed for graduate-level research programs rather than the undergraduate or general education setting, and so they tend to be less student-focused, with steep learning curves and an assumption that the users know what tasks they want to perform. A third challenge is that digital literacy skills that our so-called digital native students bring with them to the chemistry classroom often have poor overlap with the kinds of skills chemists find useful for information gathering, evaluation, and creation. Finding, navigating, and reading scientific literature takes different skills than the types of projects most college students are used to. Many students struggle with the type of writing used in science as well, having mostly been trained in writing more typically seen in the humanities. Lastly, students in chemistry courses and programs, like many STEM students, have the expectation that literacy skills are irrelevant to the practice of science or at least should be limited to general education humanities courses. For this chapter, I focus on the first of these challenges, the challenge of chemical representations in a digital world. However, the picture for digital 171

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literacy in chemistry is certainly not all negative. When we find ways to overcome, or at least mitigate, the challenges facing chemistry education in the digital era, a whole new set of opportunities for enhancing student learning and providing a deeper, richer, and robust learning experience is possible. Therefore, in addition to focusing on the challenge of chemical representation in digital work, I briefly explore some of the ways digital tools are opening new and creative ways to approach teaching digital skills in chemical education. Before diving into these two topics, I should briefly acknowledge the particular education context and experience from which I am speaking. I focus on the undergraduate chemistry student, primarily chemistry majors, from the vantage point of a full-time practitioner rather than an expert in digital literacy or education theory.

Chemical Representations in a Digital World I recently overheard a general chemistry student sigh in exasperation as they worked with other students on a challenging gas law problem. When they saw me they exclaimed, “This is like a foreign language! I don’t know what any of these letters mean!” Sometimes such expressions are revealing a lack of conceptual understanding and are certainly not unique to STEM disciplines. However, there is a dimension to the intractability students find in chemistry courses that comes from using unique symbolism (mathematical formulas, molecular structures, nomenclature) that makes communication and understanding more difficult. While this challenge has been around as long as there have been chemistry courses, digital communication that does not make mathematical, let alone chemical, symbolism a first-class input creates an additional barrier. According to Grand View Research (2020), the educational technology market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 18.1% between 2020 and 2027. AngelList (n.d.) lists almost 2,000 startup companies in the Edtech sector. Many of the tools these companies are building are designed to facilitate communication, collaboration, and creativity in the classroom—important aspects of digital literacy. However, in the chemistry classroom these tools often face three specific technical challenges for digital communication: representing basic chemical formulas and equations, representing chemical structures, and turning a chemical structure into chemical information.

Representing Chemical Formulas and Equations In the chemistry classroom a particularly difficult challenge is that many digital tools, especially web-based ones, assume plain text inputs with no

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or minimal (bold/italics only) formatting that are not conducive to chemical or mathematical representations. In other words, just as a program would need to support speakers of a non-English language through support for language-specific input, the language of chemistry needs to be supported before the application can truly be useful for chemistry classroom learning. In introductory chemistry courses (i.e., general chemistry) the most common formatting needs are as follows: •• subscripts and superscripts for chemical formulas (e.g., H2O, NH4+, and CO3–) •• superscripts and “times” symbol for scientific notation (e.g., 6.022 × 1023) •• reaction arrows (e.g., 2 H2 + O2 ⟶ 2 H2O, or N2O4 ⇄ 2 NO2) •• equations with fractions, for instance, Full support of scientific typesetting with LaTeX and later support for equation editing in word processors (e.g., Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, and Google Docs) and presentation software (e.g., Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, and Google Slides) has made digital communication in scientific disciplines significantly easier for instructors, who are able to invest in the time required to learn how to use these tools effectively. Fortunately, the development of JavaScript LaTeX engines like MathJax and KaTeX has given application developers robust options to support scientific and mathematical typesetting. Students, on the other hand, rarely have familiarity or confidence using these tools to represent mathematical or chemical equations. Many are unaware that equation editing is even an option in the most common word-processing software. This means it falls to individual faculty to train their students in using these tools.

Representing Chemical Structures and Reactions Once students move to sophomore (i.e., organic chemistry) and upperdivision chemistry courses they often need to represent not only individual chemical compounds and simple chemical reactions but more complicated chemical structures and reaction schemes as well. Here, the challenge moves past typesetting and symbols to graphical structure and reaction representations that require completely separate and chemistry-specific tools that typically result in graphics files (e.g., PNG, JPEG, PDF). Chemical software packages have been developed to support chemical structure editing, publication-quality figures, and an input interface to computational chemistry tools. While many of these tools

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are high quality and extensively used in research programs, the most widely used tools, ChemDraw and ChemDoodle, can be quite expensive. Typically, these programs are limited to departmental student computer labs; instructors for preparation of lectures, assignments, and exams; and research groups for publication preparation. Few free/low-cost alternatives exist that are cross-platform, maintained, and easy to use for undergraduate education. At the beginning of the COVID-19 global pandemic in 2020, many chemistry classes that started in a face-to-face modality were hastily converted to remote learning. One of the major challenges faced by educators and students in organic chemistry courses was the lack of ready tools to collaboratively create chemical representations. While instructors were used to creating chemical structures for presentations, most instructors relied on formative and summative assessments that required the student to draw chemical structures and reaction schemes on paper. A common solution for instructors when teaching remotely from home was to use a tablet computer (e.g., iPad, Microsoft Surface) or input device (e.g., Wacom) to draw on whiteboard applications, either embedded within videoconferencing software or as a separate application. However, at many colleges and universities, students do not have ready access to such devices (unlike many K–12 school districts that use one-to-one device models). Inequality in digital access for students of lower socioeconomic status became a significant concern. A lowtech solution is to have students use small personal whiteboards or paper and markers to work problems and then put the board/paper up to their videoconferencing webcam. Many instructors also used collaborative whiteboard tools, like Google Jamboard.

Representing Chemical Data A surprisingly difficult digital literacy task in chemistry is searching for information on particular chemical compounds or reactions. Most search engines again use plain text as an input. While the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has created standard naming conventions that allow for unique naming of chemical compounds, the rules are very extensive and many of our commonly used compounds have multiple common names in addition to the standardized names. Additionally, the mapping of the three-dimensional (3D) structure of compounds to naming conventions is very difficult to encode algorithmically. Thus, a significant challenge to using tools like search engines and databases with chemical information has been the translation between a 3D or 2D representation of a compound that the chemist uses to visualize chemistry and a machine-readable textual

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format that can be processed by existing digital tools (databases, search algorithms, etc.). According to Weisgerber (1997) the Chemical Abstract Service (CAS), a division of the American Chemical Society, has maintained a registry of chemical compounds that have appeared in the chemical literature since 1965. The CAS number system provides a unique identifier for more than 100 million different chemical compounds, but it is proprietary and does not give any structure information. In 1988 David Weininger published a new machine-readable chemical information format called SMILES (Simplified Molecular-Input Line-Entry System), which has been widely used by researchers and chemical software packages to create representations of chemical structures that can be converted into 2D and 3D representations yet remain somewhat human-readable. An example of SMILES is the representation of the amino acid L-alanine: N[C@@H](C)C(=O)O . More recently, IUPAC and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) created the InChI (International Chemical Identifier) format in 2005 to provide a unique, algorithm-friendly representation of chemical structures (Heller et al., 2013). In InChI format our L-alanine example becomes InChI=1S/C3H7NO2/c1-2(4)3(5)6/h2H,4H2,1H3,(H,5,6)/t2-/ m0/s1, which is less human-readable than the SMILES format but has technical advantages. These machine-readable, algorithm-friendly chemical representations have allowed cheminformatics researchers to develop powerful chemical information databases. Cheminformatics is a field of study at the intersection of chemistry, computer science, and information science that has been active in the pharmaceutical industry for decades as a part of drug discovery activities. ChemSpider, run by the Royal Society of Chemistry, is a popular example of a freely available chemical search engine that pulls together chemical data (2D and 3D structures, physical and chemical properties, spectra, and journal references) for millions of chemical compounds. Tools like ChemSpider make finding chemical information much easier for students and researchers and are an important part of digital literacy in chemistry.

Pedagogy Suggestions In view of the challenges associated with chemical language described, over the last decade of teaching undergraduate chemistry courses I have developed some useful suggestions for instructors as they look to build digital fluency with the language of chemistry.

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1. Look for educational technology tools that support creativity and engagement but also have easy chemical/mathematical formatting options. Examples include the following: •• student response systems (“clickers”): Poll Everywhere, TopHat, Socrative (requires pro license for math/science input) •• discussion forums: Piazza, CampusWire 2. Help your students use equation editors and math/science input options by providing links in your learning management system (LMS) to relevant documentation for the digital tools you are using in your course and common word processors. You can also give common key commands (derived from LaTeX): •• superscript prefix with ^ and subscript prefix with _ •• Greek letters: “\” followed by the letter name (i.e., to produce λ type \lambda ) •• a multiplication symbol (not the letter x): \times •• a reaction arrow: \rightarrow •• a degree symbol: ^\circ 3. When math typesetting is not available, you can often use unicode characters for subscript/superscript numbers, arrows, and math symbols. Each character must be added individually. One common way of doing this is copying and pasting from charts of symbols (Unicode, 2020). 4. For molecular editing, especially for students working remotely, a few options do exist: •• MarvinSketch by ChemAxon has a free academic license (for students and educators). •• Both Marvin and ChemDraw (by PerkinElmer Infomatics) have web-based demo sites that are freely available. They may be useful for occasional student use. •• MolView is a free, open-source web-based molecular editor and chemical information tool that allows users to search for chemical compounds, view mass spectra and 3D structures, and export images. 5. You don’t have to do it all yourself. Consult with a research librarian about resources already available at your institution to help students navigate scientific databases and information resources. Talk to them about creating classroom resources not only for research tasks but also general chemical information tools like ChemSpider and even Wikipedia (Walker & Li, 2015). You have the domain expertise in chemistry, but library staff are often underutilized as partners in chemistry education and can assist in developing effective resources for helping students develop digital literacy skills.

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Some Opportunities for Chemical Education in a Digital World Having explored the challenge that chemical representations present for digital literacy in chemistry, I would like to turn to some of the opportunities digital literacy could provide chemistry education, particularly in the undergraduate context. In particular, one opportunity is the increased use of electronic lab notebooks, digital posters, and student-generated video, which have the potential to change the way students and faculty create and consume chemical information.

Electronic Lab Notebooks There is a culture around laboratory notebooks that seems particularly strong within chemistry. Each year thousands of undergraduates purchase permanently bound notebooks for their chemistry lab courses. Some programs require carbon-paper copies. For decades students have learned to date entries, write in ink rather than pencil, and tape or staple graphs and instrument printouts into their notebooks, while dutifully writing out procedures, observations, and ideas for future experiments. Especially within the pharmaceutical industry, where chemical patents and other intellectual property are immensely important to business success, careful attention to documentation in the research laboratory has been a major emphasis. As educators respond to the needs of industry, as well as graduate research advisors, the development of laboratory notebook-keeping skills has been widely seen as an important part of the undergraduate chemistry curriculum. Though digital records have been around as long as personal computing, widespread adoption of electronic lab notebooks (ELNs) in the chemical and biological industry began in the early 2000s when the Food and Drug Administration legitimized ELNs as equivalent to paper notebooks (Colabroy & Bell, 2019). The industry adoption combined with fiscal, environmental, and pedagogical efforts to “go paperless” (Amick & Cross, 2014; Weibel, 2016) have encouraged the exploration of electronic lab notebooks within the undergraduate curriculum. The advantages to electronic notebooks include the ability to •• automatically have digital timestamps that record when entries are made or modified, •• search within a notebook, •• backup and archive lab notebook data safely and cheaply, •• include digital data (Excel spreadsheets, image files, etc.), •• template and scaffold lab report elements, and •• share, collaborate, and observe notebooks.

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In education some of the same advantages that make electronic lab notebooks popular in industry can be leveraged to enable a more collaborative and efficient lab program (Colabroy & Bell, 2019). Electronic notebooks allow students working in pairs or groups to easily share data or collaborate on a common notebook. Students can add digital pictures, data files, and graphs to an electronic notebook. The ability for an instructor to easily see what has been placed in a student’s electronic lab notebook, and a timestamp of when it was added, gives a useful level of accountability in laboratory classes that are less directly supervised and makes it easier for instructors to quickly see student progress. A simple yet significant advantage to electronic lab notebooks is that both the student and the instructor can view the notebook at the same time, and both can keep copies. Compared to collecting, grading, and returning lab notebooks, being able to grade at any time is a considerable convenience. In the undergraduate setting, especially with large freshman- and sophomore-level labs, there are significant technological logistics that have to be worked out. Deciding on what ELN platform will be used, what devices will be used, and what workflow will be used are important. Bromfield (2018) used Google Docs as an ELN for an organic chemistry course. Google Docs is a low-investment and easy-to-use platform that is already widely used in education. Not specifically designed as an ELN, Google tools are well supported on many device platforms and are likely familiar to students. An instructor can simply create a Google Doc for each student and set the sharing permission appropriately to allow the student to edit their notebook. This is the strategy currently used at my own institution. The real-time collaboration features of Google Docs and Google Sheets allows for analysis of whole-class data and whole-class discussion of experimental results. Other options for repurposing existing tools as ELNs are Microsoft OneDrive (Soltau, 2020) and OneNote (Colabroy & Bell, 2019), Evernote (Van Dyke & Smith-Carpenter, 2017), and Notability (Amick & Cross, 2014). For a more professional, dedicated lab notebook platform, LabArchives (2020) is a widely used and highly recommended option (Dood et al., 2018; Howitz et al., 2020). Unlike multipurpose platforms like Google Docs or productivity applications like Evernote (2020), LabArchives specializes in ELNs and includes many specialized features. LabArchives can be used to create and house lab manuals and safety protocols and integrates with common LMSs. The disadvantage to a dedicated ELN is cost (LabArchives is $20/ student) and the need for students to learn a new digital platform. However, for students intending to pursue graduate studies or employment in the pharmaceutical industry it may be worth learning. Harvard Medical School maintains a feature matrix for 30-plus ELN platforms, primarily for research

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groups, that lists more dedicated ELN options and an overview of useful features (Harvard Biomedical Data Management, 2020). An often initially overlooked consideration when moving to ELNs is what devices students will use to access and use the notebook during the lab. Chemistry departments may choose to provide dedicated devices (Chromebooks, iPads, and Android tablets are common) that are replaceable in case of damage. Chemical and water damage are not uncommon, and therefore some institutions place the devices in protective cases. Other institutions leave the choice of device up to the student, which will often mean the student’s smartphone or laptop. Either way, it is important to work out policies for device usage, damage, and storage. It is also important to consider the technology requirements of the electronic lab notebook platform under consideration to ensure compatibility with existing or intended hardware. Lastly, developing effective workflows for using ELNs can go a long way toward making the transition more seamless. Major workflow elements to consider are what needs to be recorded in the notebook, what external tools students will use to create materials (pictures, graphs, etc.) for the notebook, how feedback will be given, and whether each student will have their own ELN or work in groups. Other considerations include how large the enrollment will be in each lab section, whether other students/ groups should be able to see each other’s lab notebook, and whether, in the case of multipurpose tools like Google Docs, the student’s notebook should exist as a directory with multiple files or as a single file. At my institution, for freshman- and sophomore-level classes each student has a single ELN file to make sure students have a clear place to document their work and instructors are able to manage larger classes. For upper division laboratory classes or undergraduate research projects, the logistics burden of electronic lab notebooks is less, and some of the more advanced features can be utilized. Van Dyke (2019) describes a complete process of choosing an ELN, data architecture and management, tool utilization, and student response across the chemistry curriculum at a primarily undergraduate institution. Colabroy and Bell (2019) also provide a more in-depth discussion on various ELN options and their implications for teaching. Both Van Dyke (2019) and Colabroy and Bell (2019) give example rubrics for assessment of ELN entries. ELNs can make overseeing student work in the lab much more transparent (compared to periodic paper notebook checks), allow the instructor to give better feedback (notebooks are easily accessible to both student and instructor) and can even be used to enhance teamwork and facilitate group discussion as notebooks can be displayed in the classroom by instructors and/

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or students. Giving students templates and exemplars at the beginning of the course and gradually removing them helps students understand expectations and gain confidence in their own work.

Digital Posters Another digital transformation of a long-used tool is the digital poster or e-poster. Paper posters are often created in presentation software like Microsoft PowerPoint and then printed on large format paper. There is increasing interest in being able to present research posters in electronic formats whereby posters are presented on TV screens and can be navigated, zoomed, or contain multimedia content. Some of the motivation is ecological, due to concerns about the amount of resources consumed in printing posters that are largely single use. Another consideration is the archiving of posters, which has largely been limited to titles and abstracts. Digital posters can easily be archived with conference proceedings. Lastly, and most interestingly, digital posters have the potential to give a whole new dimension to the communication of scientific research. Chemistry is a visual, abstract, dynamic, and quantitative field; therefore, the ability to incorporate multimedia content into a poster presentation could dramatically affect the ability for researchers, especially younger researchers presenting their findings for the first time, to communicate with audiences. One can imagine 3D chemical structures that rotate, dynamic graphs, and even videos of experiments or collaborators explaining their contribution to the project. A simple way to do a digital poster session with existing technologies is to combine PowerPoint presentations with mobile TVs.

Student-Generated Video The last topic in this chapter is one that will be familiar to many educators and education researchers. The rapid increase in video-based social media platforms (YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, etc.) has changed the way students think about communication. While many instructors have become more familiar with video as a content delivery medium (e.g., lecture videos, flipped classroom, Kahn Academy), video has been slower to be adopted as an assessment, feedback, and discussion tool in the classroom. In chemistry, the use of video or more visual communication formats can open creativity and levels of understanding that are difficult to do in a text-only world. Examples include the following: •• giving students the choice to respond to online discussion forums via text discussion boards or by submitting a video

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•• asking students to create visual representations of chemical concepts (e.g., bonding and reaction mechanisms) •• having students present course topics via creative videos instead of a traditional PowerPoint presentation A relatively new and exciting tool is Microsoft’s Flipgrid application. Flipgrid provides a familiar and easy-to-use web and mobile app to create short videos in response to an instructor prompt. For students, there are a lot of creative options, and for instructors there are helpful tools like moderation, feedback, assessment rubrics, and analytics. Having used Flipgrid in an upper-division thermodynamics course, I believe it has the potential to change the way students and instructors interact by giving a multimodal tool that helps students speak creatively about the content. It also gives instructors better insight into student comprehension by hearing students truly in their own words. On the end-of-semester course evaluation assignment my students consistently indicated that Flipgrid reflections were their favorite assignments in the course. As a practical implementation example, Grieger and Leontyev (2020) report on using Flipgrid in an organic chemistry laboratory class as a way to promote awareness of green chemistry principles during the COVID-19 global pandemic in 2020.

Conclusion My hope is that at this point the reader has gained an appreciation for some of the complexity and possibility that digital literacy holds in chemical education. Though there are challenges, the transition to digital tools is an exciting opportunity to not only make existing teaching and learning methods more efficient but also develop completely new ways of facilitating learning. As an example, Van Duzor and Rienstra-Kiracofe (2019) give an excellent view of what they call “Next Generation Digital Learning Environment for Chemistry.” I would encourage my fellow chemistry instructors to explore more ways to leverage digital tools to help our students consume, curate, and create chemical information.

References Amick, A. W., & Cross, N. (2014). An almost paperless organic chemistry course with the use of iPads. Journal of Chemical Education, 91(5), 753–756. https://doi. org/10.1021/ed400245h AngelList. (n.d.) Edtech atartups. https://angel.co/edtech-2

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Bromfield, L. D. (2018). Implementation and student perceptions on Google Docs as an electronic laboratory notebook in organic chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education, 95(7), 1102–1111. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00518 Colabroy, K., & Bell, J. K. (2019). Lab eNotebooks. In T. J. Bussey, K. Linenberger Cortes, & R. C. Austin (Eds.), Biochemistry education: From theory to practice (Vol. 1337, pp. 173–195). American Chemical Society. https://doi.org/10.1021/ bk-2019-1337.ch008 Dood, A. J., Johnson, L. M., & Shorb, J. M. (2018). Electronic laboratory notebooks allow for modifications in a general, organic, and biochemistry chemistry laboratory to increase authenticity of the student experience. Journal of Chemical Education, 95(11), 1922–1928. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00140 Evernote. (2020). Home page. https://evernote.com Grand View Research. (2020, July). Education technology market size report, 2020–2027. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/education-technology -market Grieger, K., & Leontyev, A. (2020). Promoting student awareness of green chemistry principles via student-generated presentation videos. Journal of Chemical Education, 97(9), 2657–2663. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00639 Harvard Biomedical Data Management. (2020). Electronic lab notebooks. https:// datamanagement.hms.harvard.edu/electronic-lab-notebooks Heller, S., McNaught, A., Stein, S., Tchekhovskoi, D., & Pletnev, I. (2013, January 24). InChI - The worldwide chemical structure identifier standard. Journal of Cheminformatics, 5(7). https://doi.org/10.1186/1758-2946-5-7 Howitz, W. J., Thane, T. A., Frey, T. L., Wang, X. S., Gonzales, J. C., Tretbar, C. A., Seith, D. D., Saluga, S. J., Lam, S., Nguyen, M. M., Tieu, P., Link, R. D., & Edwards, K. D. (2020). Online in no time: Design and implementation of a remote learning first quarter general chemistry laboratory and second quarter organic chemistry laboratory. Journal of Chemical Education, 97(9), 2624–2634. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00895 LabArchives. (2020). Home page. https://www.labarchives.com Soltau, S. R. (2020). Student and instructor perceptions of using electronic laboratory notebooks in Microsoft OneDrive to enhance communication skills and career readiness in chemistry laboratory courses. In K. Y. Neiles, P. S. Mertz, & J. Fair (Eds.), Integrating professional skills into undergraduate chemistry curricula (Vol. 1365, pp. 259–279). American Chemical Society. https://doi.org/10.1021/ bk-2020-1365.ch015 Unicode. (2020). Unicode 13.0 character code charts. http://www.unicode.org/ charts/#symbols Van Duzor, M. W., & Rienstra-Kiracofe, J. C. (2019). The next generation digital learning environment for chemistry. In T. Gupta & R. E. Belford (Eds.), Technology integration in chemistry education and research (Vol. 1318, pp. 247–267). American Chemical Society. https://doi.org/10.1021/bk-2019-1318.ch016 Van Dyke, A. R. (2019). Practical considerations for advancing undergraduate digital literacy through digital laboratory notebooks. In T. Gupta & R. E. Belford

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(Eds.), Technology integration in chemistry education and research (Vol. 1318, pp. 107–118). American Chemical Society. https://doi.org/10.1021/bk-2019-1318. ch007 Van Dyke, A. R., & Smith-Carpenter, J. (2017). Bring your own device: A digital notebook for undergraduate biochemistry laboratory using a free, cross-platform application. Journal of Chemical Education, 94(5), 656–661. https://doi. org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00622 Walker, M. A., & Li, Y. (2015). Improving information literacy skills through learning to use and edit Wikipedia: A chemistry perspective. Journal of Chemical Education, 93(3), 509–515. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.5b00525 Weibel, J. D. (2016). Working toward a paperless undergraduate physical chemistry teaching laboratory. Journal of Chemical Education, 93(4), 781–784. https://doi. org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.5b00585 Weininger, D. (1988). SMILES, a chemical language and information system. 1. Introduction to methodology and encoding rules. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, 28(1), 31–36. https://doi.org/10.1021/ci00057a005 Weisgerber, D. W. (1997). Chemical abstracts service chemical registry system: History, scope, and impacts. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 48(4), 349–360. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(199704)48:43.0.CO;2-W

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PA RT S I X H E A LT H S C I E N C E S

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15 T H E I M P O R TA N C E O F D I G I TA L L I T E R A C Y E D U C AT I O N I N A C A N C E R GENOMICS MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSE Louise Blakemore, Camille Huser, Aileen Linn, and Leah Marks

A

plethora of health information is available online, allowing patients to make more informed health choices than ever before. However, the lack of control over the information being presented online can also lead to infodemics of misinformation. As seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, misinformation about health issues can spread widely and rapidly via the internet and social media platforms. Other health misinformation spreading with disturbing impact include the antivaccination movement and, in the context of cancer, the popularity of numerous sham/bogus treatments. Health misinformation contributes to the development of health misconceptions, which was previously defined by Blakemore et al. (2020) as “holding a view about a factual healthcare matter that is unsupported by scientific evidence and expert opinion” (p. 2) based on previous work in this field (Nyhan & Reifler, 2010; Vraga & Bode, 2018). Misinformation and misconceptions are deeply detrimental to good health care. The recent surge in the antivaccination movement has led to outbreaks of measles in numerous countries such as France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, unfortunately with loss of life (Hussain et al., 2018). When it comes to the topic of cancer, advertising expensive sham treatments are commonplace, leading to false hope, potential personal financial difficulties (Garrett et al., 2019), and a greater mortality risk 187

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(Johnson et al., 2017, 2018; The Lancet Oncology, 2018). In 2020, hydroxychloroquine was reputed to be effective in the treatment of COVID-19 despite no clinical trial having taken place, leading to hydroxychloroquine poisoning cases in several countries and the death of a man after drinking a cleaner containing a similarly named compound (Spring, 2020). The impact of misinformation can be so great that during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO, 2020) and the UK government launched a joint campaign named “Stop the Spread” to raise awareness of the risks of misinformation. The focus of this campaign was to encourage the population to double-check facts with either national health authorities or the WHO directly.  Digital health literacy, defined as the “ability to seek, find, understand, and appraise health information from electronic sources and apply the knowledge gained to addressing or solving a health problem” (Norman & Skinner, 2006, p. 2), is therefore desirable for all persons using electronic means to gather health information. Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are particularly well-placed to fulfill this educational need, at least in part. MOOCs are online courses created for the general public, often by established universities. These courses are free (open) and attract large numbers of participants (massive). Due to their open and online nature, MOOCs attract thousands of learners each time a course is run. Furthermore, MOOC participants often partake from across the globe and represent a wide range of educational backgrounds (Chuang & Ho, 2016). MOOCs are therefore in an ideal position to spread digital health literacy skills to that portion of the population who use the internet to gather health information. 

Cancer in the 21st Century: The Genomic Revolution The specific MOOC described in this chapter is Cancer in the 21st Century: The Genomic Revolution. This 6-week course focused on recent advances in cancer understanding and treatment. The course was designed to provide an introduction to cancer biology and treatment for an audience ranging from health professionals to patients. The course, which we designed and ran on the FutureLearn platform, was the University of Glasgow’s first MOOC, with an initial run in the spring of 2014 and nine repeats since that time. The MOOC was primarily aimed at current and potential students interested in the field of cancer genomics, in addition to health care professionals. A secondary aim of the MOOC was to foster public engagement with cancer research undertaken at our institution.

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A demographic analysis of the participants enrolled on the cancer genomics MOOC revealed a heterogeneous range of learner stakeholders with different educational and professional backgrounds, including learners pursuing higher education, patients and family members of those with cancer, and current and past health care professionals.  Educators need to empower learners to ensure they become informed citizens and consumers who can readily assess the reliability of scientific claims (Höttecke & Allchin, 2020). The MOOC presents an exemplary opportunity to provide these skills to a community of learners by incorporating information literacy and critical thinking as fundamental skills necessary to evaluate the credibility of online information (Machete & Turpin, 2020), thereby creating discerning critical information consumers. 

What Aspects of Digital Literacy Did We Focus on Teaching? Previous studies have shown that health care professionals (Atique et al., 2016), patients, and members of the public (Sudbury-Riley et al., 2017; van der Vaart & Drossaert, 2017) frequently struggle with evaluation of online health care resources. Indeed, during the initial runs of this health care MOOC, learner comments indicated that they lacked confidence in evaluating online resources. Learners do not instinctively know how to evaluate the trustworthiness of online sources (Barzilai & Zohar, 2012), rarely seeking the source of information or corroborating multiple sources to confirm the scientific evidence provided as spontaneous evaluation strategies (Wiley et al., 2009). Novice learners often rely on superficial source characteristics such as the surface relevance or quantity and ease of use of the information provided. This reliance on these poor indicators of source reliability is often the result of the considerable difficulties learners experience in understanding and applying evaluation criteria (Brem et al., 2001). As a result, it was decided that improving this aspect of digital literacy would be most valuable to the majority of our learners and was prioritized.  The nature of this MOOC, run eight times over a period of 5 years, permitted an iterative approach for an educational intervention designed to encourage learners to become more mindful of the skills that are required to understand the nature of online information. It promoted students’ development and strengthened their information literacy skills by providing strategies for online knowledge curation (Blakemore et al., 2020). Scaffolding activities were created that focused on teaching students how to evaluate the validity and reliability of online resources. These included a sequence of activities in which the learners began to apply their learning

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on clearly defined tasks, with formative feedback from their peers or educators. For example, a poll exercise was undertaken in which learners were asked to vote for those resources they evaluated as the most reliable. Learners were then asked to review the overall poll results and comment on their choices (see Figure 15.1).  Figure 15.1.  Screenshot of the “most reliable website” poll results from Cancer in the 21st Century MOOC. Copyright University of Glasgow. Which of the four online articles did you think was the most reliable?

1 Goop (10%)

2 Stop Cancer Fund (16%)

3 Bra Free (6%)

4 CEBP Journal (69%)

10 Comments

Mark as complete

In the final iteration of the MOOC, videos were added to the course to aid learners in the evaluation of online resources. These included videos about online resource evaluation with a focus on appraising author and organization, as well as website content. The learners’ discussion about these new activities in their associated discussion forums suggested beneficial effects of these activities. This included improved understanding of concepts, such as source reliability and validity in the evaluation of online resources.

Approach Taken to Embed the Digital Literacy Teaching on the Cancer Genomics MOOC The FutureLearn platform has been designed to support a social-constructivist pedagogical model of learning based on Laurillard’s conversational framework (Ferguson & Clow, 2015; FutureLearn, 2019; Laurillard, 2002).

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As the conversational framework views the teaching and learning process as a dialogue, learning activities are designed to include cycles of discussion between teachers and learners, in addition to teacher and peer-to-peer feedback (Laurillard, 2002). The FutureLearn MOOC platform has embedded the conversational framework within its course design, supporting community-based learning whereby discussions are facilitated between the teacher and the learner, in addition to peer-to-peer discussions between learners (FutureLearn, 2019; Laurillard, 2002). This is in contrast to MOOCs with an instructivist approach that prioritizes learners progressing through activities relating to reviewing content and completing assessments rather than facilitating interactions and shared knowledge construction between learners (Ferguson & Clow, 2015). An emphasis was placed on storytelling throughout the cancer genetics MOOC, with a patient perspective thread running throughout the 6-week course that featured a series of videos and discussion forums. This patient perspective thread facilitated discussions between the learners on the MOOC with diverse educational and professional backgrounds. While the course was initially designed for learners with a basic understanding of concepts in biomedical science such as undergraduate students and health care professionals, resources were designed to be accessible to a secondary audience of learners such as patients and their families and cancer charity professionals who may lack an educational background in biomedical science. Ensuring that digital literacy education would be accessible to this diverse cohort of learners on the course was a key design consideration. From learner feedback in the initial runs of the course we discovered the requirement to develop additional digital literacy education. One area that learners specifically commented on was struggling to know how to evaluate online resources. We chose to embed this digital literacy education as a strand throughout the 6 weeks of the course and mainly focus on teaching learners how to evaluate cancer-related online resources, including websites and scientific publications. To develop the digital literacy education component, the MOOC educational leads collaborated with a senior academic with subject-specific expertise and a faculty of medicine librarian. These digital literacy educational resources included videos, discussions forums, and a poll, and the resources were also linked to the final written assignment and associated peer review activity. When designing educational activities, Laurillard (2013) proposed that there are six different types of learning experiences: acquisition, discussion, inquiry, practice, collaboration, and production. These learning experiences can be facilitated by a range of course activities. The learning activities on the FutureLearn platform have been previously mapped to Laurillard’s six types

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TABLE 15.1

Overview of the Digital Literacy Teaching on the Cancer Genomics MOOC Week Learning Experience

MOOC Activity

Digital Literacy Learning Objective

1

Acquisition and discussion

Learners watch a video developed by a faculty of medicine librarian called “Getting the Most Out of Google” with an associated discussion forum.

Improving information literacy by learning how to find information online using a common search engine

3

Inquiry

Learners complete a guided online search and describe their research findings in a discussion forum.

Improving information literacy by learning how to find information online and how to share this with others in an online forum

3

Practice and discussion

Learners are presented with links to four online sources to evaluate. They are then asked to vote in a poll on the online source they consider most reliable in a “poll” and explain the rationale behind their vote in the discussion forum.

Improving media literacy by learning how to critically evaluate online resources (websites)

3

Acquisition and discussion

Learners watch three videos, “Source Evaluation: Author and Organization,” “Source Evaluation: Online Content,” and “Source Evaluation: Summary.” Each video has its own discussion forum for learners.

Improving media literacy by learning how to critically evaluate online resources and considering strategies from the teaching team and other learners in the online forum

6

Acquisition and discussion

Learners watch a video developed by a faculty of medicine librarian, “Using a Scientific Literature Database (PubMed),” and can discuss this in the associated forum.

Improving information literacy by learning how to find information online using a publicly accessible scientific database (Continues)

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TABLE 15.1  (Continued)

Week Learning Experience

MOOC Activity

Digital Literacy Learning Objective

6

Practice

Learners are given a short (300-word) written assignment on cancer epigenetics (described in detail in Meek et al., 2017).

Practicing digital scholarship by creating a short, written, online assignment using online resources

6

Practice

Learners are invited to review their peers’ assignments using a set rubric with three questions to guide feedback. One question relates directly to the resources used in writing the assignment.

Practicing digital scholarship by critically evaluating the online written assignments of peers and sharing feedback

6

Discussion

Learners are asked to reflect on what they learned from the written assignment and from reviewing peers’ assignments.

To improve learners’ awareness of their digital learning skills

Each MOOC activity relating to digital literacy has been categorised by the chronological order in the MOOC and by the type of learning experience it has been designed to elicit (Laurillard, 2013).

of learning experience by Young and Perovic´ (2015) from the University College London (UCL) Digital Education Team, and we have built on these categories in recent work (Blakemore et al., 2020). After we identified the requirement to embed additional digital literacy education within the MOOC, we found that mapping the existing digital literacy activities within our course to the six different types of learning experience helped us identify gaps in the existing digital literacy education in our cancer genomics course. We found that within the MOOC we were missing digital literacy educational activities that facilitated practice and collaborative learning experiences. We were also missing activities that promoted acquisition and discussion learning experiences explicitly relating to the evaluation of online resources. As a result, we introduced a new poll in which students were asked to evaluate four websites and pick the one they thought was the most reliable. We also added three videos and associated discussions on how to approach the evaluation of online resources. The full and final list of digital literacy teaching on the course is shown in Table 15.1.

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Lessons Learned: Ways to Improve in the Future Through iterative improvements to teaching the digital literacy components of the course, our goals were to improve learners’ evaluation of web-based content and to foster discussion about different approaches to be considered when evaluating this type of information. In terms of measuring whether we achieved these goals, we used proxies such as appropriate citation practice in the written assignments. We also reviewed student feedback and discussions in the forums related to the digital literacy activities to gain insight into student experience. Preliminary analysis of the later iterations of the course featuring the full series of digital literacy educational activities showed a significant increase in the number of references included in each written summary and the number of references that included a detailed list of resources at the end of the assignment (Blakemore et al., 2020). These findings indicated that a greater number of learners had engaged more fully with the assignment guidance that asked them to list resources used when writing the assignment. This may indicate that learners (increasingly) understood the value of citing resources as a way to lend weight to their scientific writing. One area where students exceeded our expectations was in their comments in the discussion forums associated with the source evaluation videos explaining how to approach the evaluation of online resources. Students suggested that an additional factor should be considered when evaluating the validity of an online resource, stating that it was necessary to consider whether the website benefited from the sale of products to online customers (Blakemore et al., 2020). The ability to determine a website’s agenda has been described as a key feature of civic online reasoning, which has benefits for learners beyond the realm of the evaluation of online health care resources, particularly in the analysis of social and political information online (McGrew et al., 2018). When teaching digital literacy skills in a MOOC context, we found that considering the needs of a diverse group of learners is of critical importance. In our MOOC, these included learners in higher education, cancer patients and members of their family, and current and past health care professionals. The ability to evaluate online resources (and health care resources in particular) is a valuable skill not only in academia but also in everyday life. It is also a skill identified as insufficiently developed and thus constituting a weakness in those undertaking online health care courses (Atique et al., 2016). To successfully design activities to support and enable learners in evaluating online resources we relied on input from an interdisciplinary team. This included academics with teaching expertise in the subject area, faculty librarians with teaching expertise in the area of digital literacy education,

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and those with expertise in online education and with technical expertise in media production. The value of an interdisciplinary team in the course design echoes findings from a recent systematic review that found that some of the most successful MOOCs in supporting learners were designed by an interdisciplinary learner-centered team and took into consideration the needs of a heterogeneous range of learners (Lambert, 2020). The lack of confidence in evaluating online resources expressed by learners in the early runs of our MOOC was perhaps not surprising given the diversity of backgrounds. To overcome this, additional scaffolding tasks were introduced to support learners’ ability to undertake this type of evaluation. The idea of using both acquisition and practice to help learners move forward in their understanding was key. However, one of the challenges in a MOOC is encouraging learners to complete assignments and tests. A recent study investigating variation in learning processes in a FutureLearn MOOC suggested that more thought should go into designing activities relating to group discussions and assessments (such as quizzes) to make them more appealing to informal learners and to improve learner engagement with these activities (Rizvi et al., 2020). In particular, we found that using a poll format, familiar to users of social media platforms, was useful in fostering learner engagement with this digital literacy task. Over 10 times as many learners completed the short poll activity in comparison to the written assignment (Blakemore et al., 2020). The immediacy of feedback and the ability to view fellow learners’ answers may be attractive. An alternative would be to use a short quiz format; however, this may lack the same peer input. Discussion with peers may be particularly useful in promoting good practice. Providing tasks in which learners can then reflect on and share experiences with other learners can stimulate deeper learning and appreciation of the topic (Laurillard, 2002). One barrier to this is the trend within MOOCs for discussion threads failing to achieve a true discussion and rather to consist of many individual comments. Careful facilitation with discussion prompts throughout may be a way to stimulate discussion. Alternatively, although exemplars for the written assignment were not used in this MOOC, discussion of examples of good and poor practice could be considered. Inherent in this is the danger of learners becoming reliant on a template, but learners may benefit from hearing a range of peer views on examples of practice (Meek et al., 2017). Using the conversational framework proposed by Laurillard (2002), one challenge we face is that many learners may engage with the discursive and interactive activities in the course (i.e., the discussions surrounding the videos and the practice activity with the poll) without progressing to the adaptive and reflective activities (the production and collaboration written assignment, peer-review activities, and subsequent reflection). These learners

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who do not complete all types of learning activities perhaps do not gain the full benefit of the digital literacy education activities (Laurillard, 2002). Challenges with the analysis of our MOOC data makes it difficult to assess the full impact of learners only completing certain types of digital literacy activities, as we are unable to examine a fully representative sample of the cohort—an issue also identified by others (Knox, 2017). In summary, the use of a range of different types of digital literacy learning activities, including scaffolding and practice activities, appears to have a positive impact on the digital literacy competencies of learners in a MOOC context (Laurillard, 2013). Further work, including full evaluation of a greater range of learners’ written work, more opportunities for engaging peer discussion, and continuing to ensure a focus on the specific learning needs identified in our students are key to ensuring success in equipping learners to deal with an increasingly complex digital world. 

References Atique, S., Hosueh, M., Fernandez-Luque, L., Gabarron, E., Wan, M., Singh, O., Salcedo, V. T., Li, Y.-C. J., & Shabbir, S.-A., (2016). Lessons learnt from a MOOC about social media for digital health literacy. Proceedings of the 38th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering In Medicine And Biology Society, 2016, 5636–5639. https://doi.org/10.1109/EMBC.2016.7592005 Barzilai, S., & Zohar, A. (2012). Epistemic thinking in action: Evaluating and integrating online sources. Cognition and Instruction, 30(1), 39–85. https://doi.org/1 0.1080/07370008.2011.636495 Blakemore, L. M., Meek, S. E. M., & Marks, L. K. (2020). Equipping learners to evaluate online health care resources: Longitudinal study of learning design strategies in a health care massive open online course. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(2), e15177. https://doi.org/10.2196/15177 Brem, S. K., Russell, J., & Weems, L. (2001). Science on the web: Student evaluations of scientific arguments. Discourse Processes, 32(2–3), 191–213. https://doi. org/10.1080/0163853X.2001.9651598 Chuang, I., & Ho, A. (2016, December 13). HarvardX and MITx: Four years of open online courses. https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2889436 Ferguson, R., & Clow, D. (2015). Examining engagement: analysing learner subpopulations in massive open online courses (MOOCs). Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge, 51–58. https://doi. org/10.1145/2723576.2723606 FutureLearn. (2019). The power of social learning: An effective way to learn. https:// www.futurelearn.com/using-futurelearn/why-it-works Garrett, B., Murphy, S., Jamal, S., MacPhee, M., Reardon, J., Cheung, W., Mallia, E., & Jackson, C. (2019). Internet health scams—Developing a taxonomy and

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risk-of-deception assessment tool. Health & Social Care in the Community, 27(1), 226–240. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.12643 Höttecke, D., & Allchin, D. (2020). Reconceptualizing nature-of-science education in the age of social media. Science Education, 104(4), 641–666. https://doi. org/10.1002/sce.21575 Hussain, A., Ali, S., Ahmed, M., & Hussain, S. (2018). The anti-vaccination movement: A regression in modern medicine. Cureus, 10(7), e2919. https://doi. org/10.7759/cureus.2919 Johnson, S. B., Park, H. S., Gross, C. P., & Yu, J. B. (2017). Use of alternative medicine for cancer and its impact on survival. JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 110(1), 121–124. https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djx145 Johnson, S. B., Park, H. S., Gross, C. P., & Yu, J. B. (2018). Complementary medicine, refusal of conventional cancer therapy, and survival among patients with curable cancers. JAMA Oncology, 4(10), 1375–1381. https://doi.org/10.1001/ jamaoncol.2018.2487 Knox, J. (2017). Data power in education: Exploring critical awareness with the “Learning Analytics Report Card”. Television & New Media, 18(8), 734–752. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476417690029 Lambert, S. R. (2020). Do MOOCs contribute to student equity and social inclusion? A systematic review 2014–18. Computers & Education, 145, 103693. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103693 The Lancet Oncology. (2018). Oncology, “fake” news, and legal liability. The Lancet Oncology, 19(9), 1135. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(18)30610-7 Laurillard, D. (2002). Rethinking university teaching: A conversational framework for the effective use of learning technologies. Routledge. Laurillard, D. (2013). Teaching as a design science: Building pedagogical patterns for learning and technology. Routledge. Machete, P., & Turpin, M. (2020). The use of critical thinking to identify fake news: A systematic literature review. Responsible Design, Implementation and Use of Information and Communication Technology, 12067, 235–246. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-3-030-45002-1_20 McGrew, S., Breakstone, J., Ortega, T., Smith, M., & Wineburg, S. (2018). Can students evaluate online sources? Learning from assessments of civic online reasoning. Theory & Research in Social Education, 46(2), 165–193. https://doi.org/1 0.1080/00933104.2017.1416320 Meek, S. E. M., Blakemore, L., & Marks, L. (2017). Is peer review an appropriate form of assessment in a MOOC? Student participation and performance in formative peer review. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(6), 1000– 1013. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2016.1221052 Norman, C. D., & Skinner, H. A. (2006). eHealth literacy: Essential skills for consumer health in a networked world. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 8(2), e9. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.8.2.e9 Nyhan, B., & Reifler, J. (2010). When corrections fail: The persistence of political misperceptions. Political Behavior, 32(2), 303–330. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s11109-010-9112-2

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Rizvi, S., Rienties, B., Rogaten, J., & Kizilcec, R. F. (2020). Investigating variation in learning processes in a FutureLearn MOOC. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 32(1), 162–181. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-019-09231-0 Spring, M. (2020, May 27). Coronavirus: The human cost of virus misinformation. BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-52731624 Sudbury-Riley, L., FitzPatrick, M., & Schulz, P. J. (2017). Exploring the measurement properties of the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) among baby boomers: A multinational test of measurement invariance. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 19(2), e53. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.5998 van der Vaart, R., & Drossaert, C. (2017). Development of the Digital Health Literacy Instrument: Measuring a broad spectrum of health 1.0 and health 2.0 Skills. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 19(1), e27. https://doi.org/10.2196/ jmir.6709 Vraga, E. K., & Bode, L. (2018). I do not believe you: how providing a source corrects health misperceptions across social media platforms. Information, Communication & Society, 21(10), 1337–1353. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691 18X.2017.1313883 Wiley, J., Goldman, S. R., Graesser, A. C., Sanchez, C. A., Ash, I. K., & Hemmerich, J. A. (2009). Source evaluation, comprehension, and learning in internet science inquiry tasks. American Educational Research Journal, 46(4), 1060–1106. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831209333183 World Health Organization. (2020, May 13). Countering misinformation about COVID-19: A joint campaign with the government of the United Kingdom. https:// www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/countering-misinformationabout-covid-19 Young, C., & Perovic´, N. (2015). Arena blended connected (ABC) learning design for FutureLearn MOOCs. UCL Digital Education. https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/abcld/home/abc-ld-resources-futurelearn-moocs/

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16 I N T E G R A T I N G D I G I TA L LITERACY IN OPTOMETRIC CLINICAL REASONING Heather Edmonds, Sandra Mohr, and Aurora Denial

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he profession of optometry has changed significantly since its modest beginnings in the late 18th century. Over the years, it has developed into a full-fledged health care specialty that demands a significant level of education and training (Register, 2011). Today, doctors of optometry (ODs) are expected to be able to examine, diagnose, and treat and manage diseases, injuries, and disorders of the visual system, the eye, associated structures, and their related systemic conditions (American Optometric Association, 2020). To obtain a doctorate in optometry, candidates must complete a rigorous 4-year postbaccalaureate program that includes a combination of “didactic, laboratory, and supervised clinical experience in the examination, diagnosis, treatment, and management of patients” (Accreditation Council on Optometric Education [ACOE], 2019, p. 15). Upon degree completion, ODs who wish to practice must demonstrate competency by successfully passing both national and state examinations obtain licensure (National Board of Examiners in Optometry, n.d.). Among the many skills OD candidates are expected to master in the course of their education are the abilities to •• effectively communicate with other professionals and patients via electronic health records and email; •• apply knowledge of professional and ethical principles to patient care; •• acquire, analyze, evaluate, and apply evidence-based information quickly and effectively through the use of predominantly online resources; 199

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•• develop problem-solving and critical-thinking skills that integrate current knowledge and scientific advances in the field; and •• maintain an up-to-date practice via continual, self-directed learning (ACOE, 2019; Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry [ASCO], 2009). Although many of the aptitudes students of optometry must develop involve the use of modern equipment and technology, these competencies in particular require proficiency in the elements of digital literacy as defined by Jisc (2014). In their Developing Digital Literacies guide, digital literacy is considered by Jisc (2014) as “those capabilities which fit an individual for living, learning and working in a digital society.” It is, therefore, the responsibility of the optometric educational institution to graduate digitally literate doctors (Coldwell-Neilsen et al., 2019; Jisc, 2014). The expectation that students master these professional competencies by graduation means that an accredited college of optometry in good standing must ensure a comprehensive curriculum involving the seven Jisc-identified digital literacies: information literacy, media creation and critical consumption, digital scholarship, competence in communicating and collaborating via digital networks, online learning, career and identity management online, and the ability to use and modify apps, services, and devices. Graduates who have developed these skills will be ready to adapt to changes in clinical practice over time and across contexts to meet patients’ needs in a high-tech society (Deakin University, 2015).

The Role of Digital Literacies in a Core Optometric Course Sequence Founded in 1894, the New England College of Optometry (NECO, 2020) in Boston, Massachusetts, is the country’s oldest continually operating school of optometry. Throughout the years, the college has earned a reputation for providing students with early and diverse clinical experiences, a strong foundation in basic and applied sciences, and a unique approach to the acquisition of critical thinking skills. In 2007, NECO established the clinical reasoning course (CRC) sequence to specifically address specifically the listed expected competencies. The CRC comprises three core courses, each based on the key premise that clinical reasoning is an essential component of patient care. Critical thinking and reflective problem-solving are the cognitive processes driving clinical reasoning (Facione & Facione, 2007), and a mastery of several Jisc (2014)-defined digital literacies (information literacy, media creation and critical consumption, online learning, and competence in

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communicating and collaborating via digital networks) is the means through which a practitioner is able to arrive at and communicate logical, evidencebased conclusions in a modern clinical setting. CRC integrates critical thinking, problem-solving, and digital literacies to ensure that NECO graduates master the required competencies and are able to provide the highest quality patient care. Each of the courses in the sequence has gone through continual improvement over time, reflecting assessment, student feedback, and rapid changes in the technology involved in information communication, creation, and acquisition. Many components of the CRC sequence are team-based, explicitly designed to employ active learning, and incorporate real-world examples to maximize the relevance of concepts taught. Students are expected to collaborate both in person and through use of online communication and project management tools, such as Google Drive, Zoom, Zotero, and various social media platforms, to establish familiarity and comfort with the use of these technologies in professional circumstances. Student engagement, defined by Schreiner and Louis (2011) as “positive energy invested in one’s own learning, evident by meaningful processing, attention to what is happening in the moment and involvement in the learning process” (p. 22) is at the very heart of the course. The ultimate intent of the sequence is to synthesize the complementary concepts of critical thinking and digital literacy to ensure that students completing the course have acquired proficiency in both. Students access and evaluate evidence-based health information online (information and media literacies) and participate in interactive tutorials (online ­learning); effectively use the new knowledge gleaned to generate ideas and propose solutions to patient problems, which they discuss and debate with their teammates via online platforms such as Google Drive and the college’s learning management system (LMS), Moodle (communications and collaboration); and reflect on both the content learned and the processes by which they were learned through activities that are intended to mimic experiences they will have as practicing optometrists.

Implementing Digital Literacy Instruction: A Collaborative Approach Clinical Reasoning 1 (CRC1) is a two-semester, letter-graded course taught to students in the 1st year of study at NECO. General course objectives include the following: •• developing strategies for making decisions in a clinical setting •• understanding the impact and influence of critical thinking elements such as point of view, assumptions, and ethical considerations

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•• integrating and accessing knowledge about an ocular condition within the context of the whole patient •• developing skills in information and digital literacy related to accessing information online, evaluating research and study designs, and utilizing medical/optometric literature (Denial, 2020a). CRC1 is a combination of small and larger group seminars and is taught by the instructor of record, selected faculty, and NECO librarians. Primary course learning objects consist of both traditional problem-based cases as well as a novel approach involving the assignment of groups of three to four students each to a volunteer patient for the academic year. Volunteer patients include local residents and community members, hitherto unknown to the 1st-year students, who have a previously diagnosed eye condition, disease, or disorder. Patients share with students their real-life experiences and problems associated with health, vision, or aging issues through monthly dialogues (no physical examinations are permitted). Students are expected to use the information gleaned from these conversations to form a basic understanding of their patient’s overall health, ocular conditions, and lifestyle. Working directly with a patient in this manner not only allows students to reflect on critical thinking concepts such as assumption and point of view but also provides a concrete, tangible example with which students can approach the current medical literature both to build on their understanding of the patient’s condition and hone their digital literacies. The yearlong patient project culminates in a group presentation and reflection paper. Students are guided by a grading rubric that also serves as an assessment tool. Since the CRC was first developed, the instructor of record has regularly invited NECO librarians to participate in the course. In the early years, the librarians’ goal was to guide students toward finding and using library-based resources (in any format) for their patient project. Over time, three significant developments shifted librarians’ intent for the CRC: students’ general reliance on web-based resources increased, the NECO library’s selection of high-quality digital resources expanded, and health care began to move swiftly into what is known as the fourth industrial revolution, characterized by a wide-scale global shift to digital (Schwab, 2016; World Economic Forum, 2019). As a result, the focus of librarian involvement in the course sequence has become the development of students’ digital information and media literacies (Jisc, 2014) as informed by the principles of evidence-based practice (EBP), an inherently digital process. EBP is cyclical and involves the following phases: •• assessing the patient and locating the most current general/background information on their problem (typically found online due to the constantly changing nature of medical and scientific research)

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•• asking the right questions to help solve the problem •• acquiring the most up-to-date evidence in the literature that addresses the patient’s problem using online medical databases •• appraising the literature to ensure it is high quality and free from bias •• applying the evidence in patient care (Schardt & Myatt, 2017) EBP combines the most current scientific evidence, clinical expertise, and patient needs and choices (McKibbon, 1998) to arrive at the highest quality care possible. It is simultaneously necessary for and made possible by the rapid pace of the modern digital world. In the fall term of CRC1, librarians and instructors collaborate to present a lecture and workshop on finding and critically evaluating background information on the assigned patient’s vision problem or condition. At the beginning of the hour-long session, students are introduced to the NECO library website and given an overview of the online collections. Significant attention is given to evidence-based clinical decision support tools, such as DynaMed and UpToDate, in anticipation that students will continue to use these or similar tools as practitioners. They are asked to create an UpToDate account during the workshop, instructed to search for their patient’s condition using the tool, and then discuss the results within their group. Librarians also demonstrate searching the PubMed/MEDLINE database, emphasizing techniques and filters that will help students narrow down results only to those articles and studies that are most appropriate for each aspect of the project (diagnosis, treatment, etc.). The second half of the workshop is spent walking students through a process for evaluating websites that follows the CRAAP mnemonic (currency, relevancy, accuracy, authority, and purpose; Blakeslee, 2004). Using an evaluative scoresheet developed by NECO librarians, students are asked to conduct a Google search for, and evaluate, a website relating to their patient’s condition. The results are discussed with the class. In the spring term, librarians return to CRC1 to lead workshops in a small seminar setting, in which students are expected to work in groups on their shared report and presentation. To facilitate this session, librarians created online tutorials specifically tailored to each of the sections the students must address in their report and presentation. The asynchronous, selfdirected, activity-based tutorials were designed to walk students through the steps of EBP using their assigned patient’s problem or condition (Edmonds, 2020). As in the fall session, the emphasis is placed on finding, ethically using, and critically evaluating online information. Students can go through the tutorials within the workshop or on their own and may repeat them as many times as is necessary. A secondary intent of the tutorials is to familiarize students with an interactive, engaged style of online learning that they may

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not have experienced before but will likely encounter in the future when completing mandatory continuing professional education to maintain licensure (Association of Regulatory Boards of Optometry [ARBO], n.d.; Ressler, 2020). Assessment of student learning for both the fall and spring terms occurs at the end of the spring term, through evaluation of active participation in course discussions, the personal patient group project, and a quiz on learning materials. Students are assigned a letter grade based on how successfully they have demonstrated mastery of course learning outcomes. CRC2 is taught in the summer of the 3rd year of study and is 10 hours in duration. Graded as pass/fail, the second course in the sequence is dedicated to teaching the skills involved in case presentation, in particular a student presenting a case to their preceptor. CRC2 focuses on the reasoning processes needed to effectively communicate a patient’s case. Students have the opportunity to practice the Jisc-identified information and media digital literacies honed in CRC1 when forming the right questions to ask, gathering evidence, and justifying differential diagnoses for their patient in the preparation of the clinical case. The project also allows students the opportunity to sharpen their information and communication technology (ICT) literacy skills as they create their presentations in programs such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Canva. Course grades for CRC2 are determined by active participation in course discussions, presenting a patient case to the class and evaluating three classmates’ presentations during the course. Students must successfully achieve 82% or higher on these assignments to pass the course. The final CRC occurs in the spring semester of students’ 3rd year of study and focuses on the transition from student to clinician. Building on skills students developed in the previous courses in the sequence, CRC3 further synthesizes digital literacies, EBP, and critical thinking concepts to emphasize the components of exceptional patient care. Within the framework of a clinical case, course objectives include the following: •• determining a diagnosis and justifying it using evidence •• determining and justifying a treatment plan •• anticipating consequences that may interfere with the treatment plan and developing alternatives based on evidence (Denial, 2020b) Students are required to complete two online, asynchronous interactive tutorials that lead them through the entire EBP cycle (Edmonds, 2020). As with the tutorials in CRC1, these are designed by NECO librarians to be worked through using the course assignment, in this instance a clinical case presentation that each student is required to develop, write, and present to the class.

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Grading of the course is pass/fail, and students must obtain 88% or higher on assignments to demonstrate their mastery of the learning objectives of the class. Detailed grading rubrics provide specific criteria that must be included in the oral and written presentation. For the past 5 years, all students have met the criteria and passed the course.

Digital Literacies and the OD Program: Current Challenges and Future Considerations As the CRC is a crucial and foundational aspect of NECO’s didactic curriculum, and health care and IT are ever evolving, instructors and librarians must continually work to improve and update the course sequence. An area currently under development is how to most appropriately assess mastery of the digital literacies addressed within the sequence, both discretely and cohesively. The instructor of record and librarians are considering various assessment instruments, baseline establishment and pre- and posttesting opportunities, and discipline-specific requirements to determine the best way to measure digital skills acquisition. We acknowledge that there is work to be done to this end; as Covello (2010) notes, “Selecting the best assessment instrument for Digital Literacy involves consideration of many factors, including approach, feasibility, implementation, scope, reporting structure, and cost, as well as consideration of output needs and social context” (p. 19). Once a framework for assessment has been formally integrated into the existing evaluation rubrics, however, we hope to have the data to prove quantitatively that the CRC is instrumental in cultivating optometric students’ digital literacy skill sets. Additionally, a future component of this assessment plan will include a follow-up with students in their 4th year of the OD program, which is dedicated to clinical rotations. The intended goal is to determine both how 4th-year students employ their digital literacy skills in practice and whether the training they received in the CRC sequence is sufficient for providing real-world, high-quality optometric care. Concurrently, a large-scale project is underway at NECO to index the entire optometric program curriculum in an effort to address gaps, reduce redundancies, and increase alignment with program outcomes and professional competencies. Once the review is complete, the college will be able not only to identify additional courses into which digital literacies naturally and objectively fit, but also formalize the tacit digital literacy instruction that is likely already taking place outside of the CRC sequence (e.g., training in the use of digital diagnostic equipment, evaluating apps for patients with low vision, or assignments based on digital scholarship). While the CRC will

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continue to be the cornerstone of the college’s instruction in the digital literacies, exciting opportunities exist to develop an institution-wide strategy and community awareness, which will fully “enable digital literacy to flourish” at NECO (Jisc, 2014).

Conclusion The emphasis on developing digital literacy skills that speak to the unique needs of health care practitioners is what sets NECO’s CRC sequence apart from digital literacy instruction that is geared toward a general education population. Complementary proficiencies in ethical reasoning, critical thinking, and evidence-based practice, supported by a strong foundation in the digital literacies, are essential for any health care provider who aims to provide exemplary clinical care in the digital age. While intentionally designed to meet the professional expectations and requirements of optometrists, the CRC sequence at NECO serves as a model for a foundational course in the health sciences aimed toward those who intend to provide patient care, regardless of specialty.

References Accreditation Council on Optometric Education. (2019). Accreditation manual: Professional optometric degree programs. https://www.aoa.org/AOA/Documents/ Education/ACOE/OD_Manual_%2008_2019_PDF.pdf American Optometric Association. (n.d.). Home page. https://www.aoa.org/ Association of Regulatory Boards of Optometry. (n.d.). Home page. https://www. arbo.org/ Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry. (2009). Functional guidelines. https://optometriceducation.org/students-future-students/resources/functionalguidelines Blakeslee, S. (2004). The CRAAP test. Loex Quarterly, 31(3), 4. https://commons. emich.edu/loexquarterly/vol31/iss3/4 Coldwell-Neilson, J., Armitage, J. A., Wood-Bradley, R. J., Kelly, B., & Gentle, A. (2019). Implications of updating digital literacy—A case study in optometric curriculum. Issues in Informing Science & Information Technology, 16, 33–49. http://iisit.org/Vol16/IISITv16p033-049Coldwell5567.pdf Covello, S. (2010). A review of digital literacy assessment instruments. Syracuse University School of Education. https://www.academia.edu/7935447/A_Review_of_ Digital_Literacy_Assessment_Instruments Denial, A. (2020a). Clinical reasoning 1 [Syllabus]. Boston, MA: New England College of Optometry, PC12041.

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Denial, A. (2020b). Clinical reasoning 2 [Syllabus]. Boston, MA: New England College of Optometry, PC12042. Deakin University. (2015). Digital literacy framework, graduate learning outcome 3.  https://www.deakin.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/268748/DL_ framework_2014-CC_rev-_2015.pdf Edmonds, H. (2020). Clinical reasoning tutorials. New England College of ­Optometry. https://library.neco.edu/study/clinicalreasoning Facione, P. A., & Facione, N. C. (2007). Critical thinking and clinical judgement: Understanding and improving clinical reasoning. In P. A. Facione & N. C. Facione (Eds.), Teaching critical thinking and clinical reasoning in the health sciences (pp. 1–14). California Academic Press. Jisc. (2014). Developing digital literacies. https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/developingdigital-literacies McKibbon, K. A. (1998). Evidence-based practice. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association,  86(3), 396–401. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC 226388/ National Board of Examiners in Optometry. (n.d.). https://www.optometry.org/ New England College of Optometry. (2020). History. https://www.neco.edu/about/ history Register, S. J. (2011). A backward glance on optometric education: Institutional profile of schools and colleges of optometry. Optometric Education, 36(2), 76–81. https://journal.opted.org/articles/Volume_36_Number_2_Article3.pdf Ressler, K. (2020, November). 5 trends transforming the continuing education landscape. Learning + Leading. https://info.nhanow.com/learning-leading-blog/5trends-transforming-the-continuing-education-landscape Schardt, C., & Myatt, A. (2017). EBP and the medical librarian [Class handout]. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina, INLS 710. Schreiner, L., & Louis, M. (2011). The engaged learner index: Implications for faculty development. Journal of Excellence in College Teaching, 22(1), 1–32. http:// celt.muohio.edu/ject/issue.php?v=22&n=1 Schwab, K. (2016, January 14). The fourth industrial revolution: What it means, how to respond. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/ the-fourth-industrial-revolution-what-it-means-and-how-to-respond/ World Economic Forum. (2019, May 8). Health and healthcare in the fourth industrial revolution: Global Future Council on the Future of Health and Healthcare 2016–2018. https://www.weforum.org/reports/health-and-healthcare-in-thefourth-industrial-revolution-global-future-council-on-the-future-of-health-andhealthcare-2016-2018

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PA RT S E V E N P RO F E S S I O N A L D E G R E E S

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17 D I G I TA L L I T E R A C Y I N SCHOOL LIBRARIANSHIP Rene Burress

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he emergence of digital literacy in education has made school librarians more important than ever before. Twenty-first-century school librarians no longer just order library books, check them in and out, and put them back on the shelves. Twenty-first-century school librarians are very engaged with their patrons and support patron’s technology use. In library science education, instructors teach digital literacy skills, and in turn they expect the candidate to teach digital literacy skills to their patrons who are K–12 students, teachers, and parents. When library users understand digital literacy, they can search for truth and navigate their own digital worlds. This chapter focuses on library and information science curriculum in a graduate school program that is focused on school librarianship. Information literacy is a cornerstone in the field of librarianship. The American Association of School Librarians (AASL, 2018) defines information literacy as “knowing when and why information is needed, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner” (p. 277). This makes it easy for information literacy to be confused with digital literacy. AASL (2018) defines digital literacy as “the ability to use information and communication technology to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information” (p. 275). Therefore, if information literacy is the ability to identify, locate, and access information, then digital literacy is the ability to do all of that while simultaneously navigating the digital world. Librarians of all kinds have long been leaders in the world of technology, often being the go-to person in the school or community for technology assistance. As a result, various professional associations for librarians have been responsive to this role, helping provide professional development for librarians to learn more about their role as technology leaders. In schools, 211

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the Future Ready initiative specifically brings awareness to the technology role of the librarian. The major goal of the Future Ready schools is that K–12 schools will use technology to provide all students with equity-focused learning opportunities. The Future Ready (2020a) framework provides strategies to help educators with this goal. The Future Ready librarian framework provides school librarians with student-centered strategies as they utilize technology to support learning. The framework is displayed graphically as gears around a wheel, with literacy at the center (Future Ready, 2020b). The International Society for Technology Education (ISTE, 2020) has a community called the Librarians Network whose specific purpose is to “promote librarians as leaders and champions of educational technology and digital literacy” (para. 1). AASL (2021) asserts the importance of digital literacy in their position paper statement that outlines the role of instruction for school librarians. AASL provides training for school librarians via a biannual conference, a journal, and online communities.

Digital Literacy Within the Discipline of School Librarianship The Library Science and Information Services (LIS) program at the University of Central Missouri (UCM) prepares future librarians to work primarily in K–12 educational settings. It is a graduate-level program within a college of education that is accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) and focuses on preparing K–12 school librarians. The specialty program area (SPA) of this program is AASL (2016), which gives the program national recognition. Graduates of the program primarily work as school librarians, including elementary, middle, and high school librarians, and some may also become public librarians. One of the goals of the LIS program at UCM (2020) is that candidates will graduate with awareness of the most current technology that can be utilized in libraries and be ready to assist and teach patrons immediately. One of the CAEP (2020) cross-cutting themes is digital learning, meaning that courses throughout the program should address digital learning with each course in the program. This chapter explains how the crosscutting theme of digital literacy is incorporated throughout the LIS program at UCM. AASL (2018) has recently published updated national standards. Students are expected to purchase the AASL standards for the foundations course and keep the book for the entire program. Professors in the program are asked to include assignments that require use of the standards in each course. In these standards, there are six shared foundations: inquire, include, collaborate, curate, explore, and engage. These standards include three frameworks

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for students, librarians, and libraries that address digital literacy from different angles. While each of these standards touch on digital literacy in some way, the shared foundations of explore and engage are particularly focused on digital literacy. The foundation of explore has an emphasis on having access to digital tools both physically and virtually and using those same tools to create and share what they are learning. The engage foundation focuses on the digital citizenship aspects such as online safety and digital ethics.

Digital Literacy Across the School Library Curriculum Digital literacy is taught throughout the LIS program at UCM. The CAEP digital learning crosscutting theme and AASL’s standards are at the core of the program. In each course (see Table 17.1), students learn technology, theories, and practice skills by creating assignments utilizing various technology applications. Furthermore, the program is 100% online, which makes digital literacy of program candidates a necessity as they are expected to utilize a learning management system to communicate with their professors and peers digitally throughout the entire program. This makes professional online communication, or “netiquette,” necessary for ongoing digital communication in emails, discussion forums, and Zoom sessions (Seward & Nguyen, 2019). From the very beginning of the program of study, candidates are expected to search and access campus resources digitally from the campus library, create websites, and produce digital content for their current and future library patrons. Candidates start their program with the course Foundations of Librarianship. In this course, candidates are given a broad overview of librarianship. This includes a brief history of the field, the current state of librarianship, and a look into the future. Candidates are also briefly introduced to the six AASL shared foundations with mini tasks completed for each. One example for the foundation of explore is that candidates explore digital educational applications. They are each asked to pick a different application and describe it to their peers. Further, they are asked to apply critical thinking by creating a scenario where a librarian could tell someone about the application and teach them how to use it. Library Administration is the next class in the course sequence. In this course, librarian candidates are taught principles of how to manage a library, including the importance of teaching patrons various skills. In this class, they are expected to create a lesson for teachers on how to use a chosen technology. Digital literacy is a part of this task, as the candidate must be literate in how to use the technology themselves in order to explain and teach another

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adult how to use it with K–12 students. Another assignment in this course is writing a technology grant, which asks students to consider funding requests that would support development of K–12 student digital literacy skills. In the course Developing and Managing Collections, candidates are taught how to select and deselect (remove) the best resources for a library collection. In this course, digital literacy components are included in assignments, as candidates explore current digital resources available to be added to collections and defend their choices. Another course goal is budget and resources; as part of this school librarians are encouraged to strategically invest in digital resources such as e-books to support student learning. A balanced collection will include the careful selection of digital resources such as e-books, audiobooks, and various databases. The AASL (2018) foundation of curate highlights the necessity of a library program having a collection development plan that includes materials in all formats. The final assignment in this course is to create a comprehensive collection development policy, which includes students explaining their platform choice for digital resources and plans for purchasing e-books and providing access to them for all students. One of the most popular courses in the LIS program at UCM is a course about libraries and technology. This course is designed around the Future Ready librarian framework to ensure that all topics within the framework are covered in the class through readings, discussions, assignments, or a combination of them. Additionally, this course uses a unique pedagogy approach, with candidates having some choice of what assignments to complete, in order to differentiate between those who enter the course with a high level of comfort with technology and those who need more time to play and learn with the technology that is being introduced. There is a unit in the course that asks candidates to consider how to teach digital literacy to K–12 students, including coding and allowing students to create their own digital content. Throughout the rest of the course, candidates explore a variety of digital resources from apps to makerspace tools. Topics of discussion include digital privacy and digital ethics. Candidates create a digital citizenship lesson plan geared toward K–12 students. At first glance, the title of the course, Organizing Information, may not sound like a course where future librarians will deal with a lot of digital literacy. True to its name, this course introduces candidates to ideas on how libraries and library collections are organized within digital systems so that patrons can easily access materials. Modern-day organization information occurs in primarily digital systems. Librarians need to know how to use these systems, teach them to others, as well as work with metadata within the systems. Digital literacy comes in the form of digital fluency, as candidates learn to work between many different digital systems and make information

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findable for their patrons. One example of digital literacy that is assessed in this course is user-centered design. Candidates create a usability test to examine how students use the library management system and plan for making improvements. This is an exercise in articulating the candidates’ digital literacy (i.e., Do they understand how patrons will use the library systems?). Candidates are evaluated on if they show understanding of a library catalog and how a patron might interact with it. The reference course in the program has had a major shift in the past decade. Originally, the course covered print reference materials such as dictionaries, indexes, and volumes of encyclopedias. Since these resources are no longer commonly purchased and utilized in schools, faculty considered deleting the course. Instead, the course was redesigned with a focus on digital information sources such as databases, online encyclopedias, online periodicals, and online video documentaries sources. The final summative assignment is to reconsider a previously submitted reference collection as a result of a reduced budget. Along with the new reference collection list submitted, candidates write a reflective narrative explaining their rationale for their selections and must indicate an awareness of appropriate free online reference sources, particularly databases provided by the state or as part of consortiums. This helps candidates become aware of these types of resources that they can use in their own libraries. In the Children, Adolescent, and Young Adult literature course, candidates do not just discuss the basics of literature. Digital literacy is brought into the course by discussing the diversity of materials both in format and content, the need to purchase audio and e-books to increase accessibility of materials, and how digital tools are used to promote books. One aspect of digital equity is highlighted in the AASL (2018) foundation include, which discusses the need for high-interest literature information that is diverse. Candidates in this course create a digital book trailer as a way to create digital content they can share with K–12 students and teachers. In the Curriculum in the Library course, candidates take a deep dive into instruction in the library. AASL (2018) lays the expectation in the inquire foundation that librarians will be aware of a variety of information resources and multiple literacies, as well as ongoing professional learning of technologies for creating, making, and publishing in order to support students generating products. In the course, a variety of digital tools are explored to see how websites and applications are best used to enhance content knowledge. Candidates look at how digital tools can be used to informally assess student work and to collect data about student achievement and librarian effectiveness. Candidates’ digital literacy is assessed in this class as they use critical thinking to select one of the digital assessment tools they have explored and then create their own online assessment that is part of a full lesson plan.

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Toward the end of the program, candidates take a course on action research, during which they learn the action research method and apply the action of evaluating online information as they search databases to find literature to support their topic. In the research paper course that follows, candidates complete a literature review or conduct their action research. Candidates carefully write their papers in their own words ensuring they are following certain elements of information ethics, such as citing resources properly and thus avoiding plagiarism. They explore digital tools for collecting and analyzing data, like Google Forms and Sheets, and Zotero or Mendeley for organizing bibliographic information. Candidates are encouraged after their papers TABLE 17.1

Digital Literacy Skills Taught Through Library Science Courses at UCM University of Central Missouri Library Science Course

Digital Literacy Skills Taught

Foundations of Librarianship

Digital applications

Library Administration (being renamed in 2021 to Library Administration and Leadership)

Teaching with digital applications

Developing and Managing Collections

Digital equity

Library Systems and Information Technology (being renamed in 2021 to Technology in Libraries)

Creating digital literacy, teaching digital literacy, digital citizenship

Organizing Information

Digital fluency

Reference Sources and Services (being renamed in 2021 to Information Sources and Services)

Digital resources

Children’s, Adolescent, and Young Adult Literature

Creating digital literacy, digital equity

Curriculum in the School Library

Creating digital literacy, teaching digital literacy

Action Research in School Libraries

Digital ethics

Practicum in School Libraries

Teaching with digital applications, digital resources, digital equity, digital citizenship, digital fluency, creating with digital applications

Research Problem

Digital ethics, digital presentation

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are complete to consider sharing their topics at conferences and within the libraries and schools where they are employed. At the end of their program, the students complete a practicum course and a research paper course. The practicum course gives candidates an opportunity to demonstrate their digital literacy skills by practicing them in a library. Candidates create a practicum portfolio of items created and produced during their current practicum experience (they cannot include items created earlier in their program of study and submitted for a grade), which include all types of digital literacy tasks. Examples include creating library websites, creating online library public relations through social media and online newsletter tools, working with the online library catalog through adding new materials, selecting technology apps and makerspace tools for purchase, finding open educational resource materials available to patrons on topics of interest, and communicating with patrons through email and chat to help them with their needs.

Conclusion Library science has long been a leader and supporter of digital literacy initiatives. The future of school librarianship relies heavily on current and future school librarians being fully prepared to be technology leaders. By incorporating digital literacy throughout school librarian graduate programs, school librarians will be better prepared to meet the needs of library users. Beyond library school, library science professional organizations must continue to provide opportunities for the profession to become and stay literate in everything digital.

References American Association of School Librarians. (2016). AASL-CAEP school librarianship education programs. http://www.ala.org/aasl/about/ed/caep/programs American Association of School Librarians. (2018). National school library standards: For learners, school librarians and school libraries. American Association of School Librarians. (2021). Instructional role of the school librarian. http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/advocacy/statements/docs/AASL_Position_Statement_Instructional_Role.pdf Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. (2020). CAEP consolidated handbook. http://caepnet.org/~/media/Files/caep/accreditation-resources/caephandbook-final.pdf?la=en Future Ready Schools. (2020a). Equity. https://futureready.org/equity./

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Future Ready Schools. (2020b). Future ready schools: Librarians framework. https:// futureready.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/FRS_Librarians_Framework_ download-2020.pdf International Society for Technology Education. (2020). Librarian’s network. https:// connect.iste.org/communities/community-home?CommunityKey=8eeea0c35c52-40d0-9634-6b72170b3376 Seward, T. P., & Nguyen, H. T. (2019). The digital imperative in the 21st century classroom: Rethinking the teacher-leader dynamic. Issues in Teacher Education, 28(1), 80–89. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1212581.pdf University of Central Missouri. (2020). Library science and information services. www.ucmo.edu/lis

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18 TA K I N G T H E L AW I N T O T H E I R OW N H A N D S Innovative Digital Video Assessment in a Law Degree Eleneth Woolley, David Yammouni, and Gerry Rayner

D

igital skills are increasingly valued by employers as critical to meet the needs of more globalized digital economies (World Economic Forum, 2016). Indeed, recent research reported correlations between digital skill proficiencies and graduate employment rates (Bejakovic´ & Mrnjavac, 2020), which points to shortages of job seekers with the necessary digital literacies for industries that increasingly rely on the integration of a range of information and communication technologies (ECDL Foundation, 2018). The skills highly valued by employers (Rayner & Papakonstantinou, 2015), such as communication, teamwork, and critical thinking, become actualized through demonstrable digital literacies. Given this, tertiary educators must extend students’ capabilities beyond consumption of digital content to the creation of contextually relevant digital media. To achieve this, educators themselves will need to become more digitally literate, although Johnson et al. (2014) have noted the lack of suitable educator training. In disciplines such as law, teaching is firmly rooted in established and time-honored practices (Duffy & Field, 2014), such as exposition—for example didactic lectures by academics (Keyes & Johnstone, 2004) or practitioners—and Socratic dialogue. Correspondingly, the assessment of such learning has tended to focus on individual written assessments as the traditional vehicle for students’ understanding of legal principles (see Carter, 1982; Ford, 1982; Griswold, 1952). Duffy and Field (2014) have argued that the tradition and conservatism of legal education arises from a relationship of 219

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mutual influence between educators and the legal profession itself. The end result of this relationship is an obstinate resistance to change in the teaching of law. This is despite recognition by national accrediting agencies of the importance of contemporary skills, such as oral communication, for new law graduates (Vaughan, 2017). While traditional individual written assessments can occur in different formats of different lengths, in Australia they usually comprise short- and long-form answers under examination conditions (2–3 hours), with (open book) or without reference materials; research essays, and, less frequently, multiple-choice quizzes. Such formats assess students’ knowledge acquisition and its application to writing, reflecting an assumption that the most important skills needed for legal practice upon graduation are fact investigation, legal analysis, research, and drafting. Further, this approach undervalues the graduate skill of oral communication of complex legal information to less informed or uninformed audiences. Despite this, there have been calls for law curricula to better inculcate employability skills such as teamwork (Murdoch, 2015) and use of technology (Blissenden, 2015), notwithstanding limitations with the latter (Selwyn, 2016). However, as Herrington et al. (2014) suggested, appropriate use of learning technologies provides a suitable environment for authentic student learning. Scholarship over the past decade has highlighted an increasing need for university law schools to implement broader, practice-based curricula (e.g., Stickley, 2011). Graduate outcomes include enhanced communication skills for articulation of highly technical information to potential clients, teamwork skills, advocacy, negotiation (Bennett, 2010), and an ability to better embrace rapidly changing business models of legal service delivery (Campbell, 2016; Susskind & Susskind, 2016). The design and evaluation of learning activities that integrate and scaffold students’ digital skills, group work, and peer assessment of such artifacts exemplify the innovation called for in traditional law courses. This chapter describes a case study of the pioneering use of a group video assessment task in a final-year primary law1 course unit at an Australian university.

Teaching Context The unit of focus, Legal Practice and Professional Conduct (LAW30015) is a final-year unit in the Bachelor of Laws degree at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Victoria. In this unit, students examine the nature and foundations of professional responsibility that lawyers owe to clients, the courts, the profession, and others. It also develops a critical engagement with

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the regulation of the legal profession generally, and in the examination of a lawyer’s duty to promote the administration of justice in relation to matters of efficient consumer service and of professional disciplinary sanctions. The unit is a compulsory prerequisite for students to qualify for admission to practice law in the State of Victoria, Australia. In terms of timing, the unit was taught intensively in summer, with the curriculum compressed from 3 hours per week for a 12-week semester to 6 hours per week for 6 weeks. However, this program could be equally applied to a full-semester unit. The cohort of 11 students (three females, eight males) comprised eight undergraduates and three graduate-entry students. All students had previously completed a minimum of 40 days of paralegal work experience, which is a distinctive and compulsory part of the university’s law degree structure. A small number of the students had relevant allied work experience. Unit assessment comprised a group task (40%) and an end-of-semester written examination (60%). Features of the group task were that it was (a) a collective, small group assignment and (b) the product was a 5–7-minute video artifact. Video was selected as the medium to refine students’ communication and digital literacy skills and to enhance the increasingly important practice skill of using digital methods for work and client communications. The setting for the group task began with an initial, conventional foundation lecture on relevant unit content, followed by provision of research resources and technical guidance for the task (Figure 18.1). The content, comprising

Figure 18.1.  Chronology for the design, scaffolding, and assessment of group videos. Content Foundation lecture Questions drafted Guided critique of exemplars Creation, explanation of video design and assessment rubric

Weeks 1–3

Resources Provision of platforms and software Production rooms LT input/advice

Scaffolding Drop-in sessions Group peer review Rubric, constructive criticism, face-to-face feedback

Week 4

Groups Formation In-class design Two groups per question to compare approaches

Weeks 5–6

Evaluation and Feedback Completed artifacts screened to class and external audience Peer review in groups, face-to-face delivery to another group Completion of intragroup feedback Grading of artifact and written submissions 6 Weeks, Summer Intensive

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approximately 33% of the course, is fundamental to professional legal ethical practice. Rather than further lectures with additional unit content, students were asked to research relevant questions and present the outcomes via their digital artifact, outlining principles and their relevant application to a hypothetical fact situation on which a client had sought advice. As set out in the task guidelines, the principal objectives of the digital assessment task were to •• test students’ understanding and application of subject content, •• further develop students’ teamwork skills, and •• expand students’ range of communication skills via increased digital literacy.2 The task was designed to engage students in active learning by requiring them to undertake research of a specified topic and then consider how to best summarize and present their findings. In this, students had to consider their audience and create an appropriate message that conveyed, clearly and succinctly, important practical advice a lawyer would give to the client. The object of the task was not to make film directors of law students, but rather for them to use digital technologies to tell a contextually relevant story. The unit convenor (UC; instructor in U.S. context) randomly allocated students to groups in Canvas, the university’s learning management system (LMS). Randomization was important to ensure that students did not necessarily work with friends. This structure mirrors real workplaces, in which lawyers do not choose colleagues and yet are required to work with them effectively and productively. Small groups were preferred, mimicking graduates’ working conditions in assisting management and assigning tasks within the group (Burke, 2011). Despite the accepted importance of collaboration and teamwork as 21st-century skills, evidence has shown that a lack of communication among group members, perhaps due to time constraints in meeting out of class (Monk-Turner & Payne, 2007), is an obstacle to effective group work. To mitigate this, in-class time was allocated for groups to workshop their artifacts, with academic (the UC) and technical support (the education technologist [ET]) available. While every student was required to contribute to the artifact, group members decided how to allocate roles. As students had little technical expertise in video production, an ET in the university’s Learning Transformations Unit provided base-level training, including use of professional and university-supported digital platforms and examples of options such as use of screen text, voiceover, and images. As the university is an Adobe Creative campus, groups used Adobe Premier Rush® to create their videos. The design and format of the artifact were left to students to

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decide on. Nondeterminative presentation formats were suggested, including a practice management training video for a law firm, a know-how update session directed to a client, and creation of a role-play scenario to demonstrate to a client how some issues could occur, with potential resolution. Following this technical presentation, the class viewed several examples of know-how videos produced by large Australian law firms, and, using points provided by the ET, students reviewed those outputs. Technical elements for which students received instruction focused on key areas of video production, presentation, and design. These included (a) ensuring a straight eyeline at the camera lens, (b) use of a nondistracting visual background, (c) capturing high-quality audio, (d) ensuring appropriate positioning and lighting levels, (e) dressing appropriately for the camera/audience, and (f ) editing students’ raw video content. Students were informed that their performance in front of the camera would serve in part as a measure of their subject matter expertise. However, they were encouraged to have a lively presence and use natural dialogue and were discouraged from reading from a script. These skills were articulated in the assessment rubric. Questions for the task focused on common professional issues in legal practice and thus required that students demonstrate a clear understanding of parameters for ethical decision-making and judgment. The issues canvassed were the following: •• maintenance of the integrity of potential evidence, including preservation of discoverable documents and observance of restrictions on the use by a party of the other side’s documents outside the proceedings in which they are produced •• ethical responsibilities when making public disclosure about a client or client’s case for current or anticipated legal proceedings •• ethical responsibilities when using media, including social media, before a current or anticipated trial, and the duty of client confidentiality To complete the task, student groups also submitted a dialogue transcript and short bibliography, including references, so the UC could verify the accuracy and range of each group’s research and the depth of their understanding. The project structure incorporated peer review3 of artifacts. Each group exhibited its artifact without introduction or commentary. Another group evaluated the output, using the provided rubric. After conferring, the groups provided face-to-face peer-review feedback, together with an indicative grade range, at which time the presenting group had an opportunity to reply and explain their choices in making the artifact. Modeling another workplace skill, these remarks were given face-to-face.

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In this cohort, two groups were each allocated the same question so that each would gain a contextual understanding of the subject matter of the artifact to be reviewed and could then provide more meaningful, critical feedback in the peer review. Again, it was necessary to allow classroom time for this in the semester schedule. Production quality (video design and presentation) comprised 15% of the entire subject’s assessment (38% of this task’s total value; Table 18.1). The rationale for allocating marks thus was to (a) emphasize requirements for effective video communication in professional settings and (b) encourage students to take the task seriously (Boud et al., 1999). The assessment criteria did not cover artistic or aesthetic merit but emphasized aspects regarding clarity of communication in the artifact. The artifacts exhibited use of various video techniques, including visual effects, music linking sections of video, graphics, tight and different head angles, pacing, and voiceovers. The ET attended class screenings and provided specific feedback to each group and a general, overall commentary to the class. After completion of the class, the UC reviewed each group’s artifact, class commentary, and group response and awarded a final mark. Student groups used video content, design, and presentation criteria rubrics as the basis to do their peer review (Table 18.1).

Educational Outcomes Of the outcomes described, perhaps the most important was that in comparison to previous cohorts; students appeared to gain a greater understanding of the tested course content through active engagement in the production of their artifact rather than through conventional written assessment. A comparison of marks allocated to the video task with those of relevant sections of the exam (based on different course content) indicated that students did much better in the video group activity.4 This suggests that the requirement for students to research, actively synthesize, and then communicate difficult conceptual matter generated a deeper understanding of it. This is consistent with evidence from other disciplines (Bielaczyc et al., 1995). Although the artifact was only 5–7 minutes long, this length did not detract from the considerable intellectual effort required by students to produce it. They were required to research material beyond that presented in the foundation lecture, or which they may have subsequently presented in the video dialogue and message. Students would have been unable to synthesize complex information, and explain their findings cogently, without a deep understanding of the context, rules, and uncertainties in the law.

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TABLE 18.1

The Video Assessment Rubric Criterion

Facet

Marks (/40)

Content

Legally accurate and concise information Questions from task answered Information substantiated in the supporting reference document

20

Correct time length Camera angle clear Use of a variety of techniques (dialogue, images, graphics) Video and images in focus Minimal background distractions Visual material relevant to script message

7.5

Message pitched to appropriate nontechnical but informed audience (i.e., technical legal terminology, case or statute references not used in the video unless specifically required) Logical flow of information; viewers can follow transitions Scripted dialogue free of grammatical errors and no spelling or grammatical errors on text in the video Participation of all group members in development and production

7.5

Constructive comments on each of the listed items on the Review Comments form

5

Video design

Video presentation

Completion of peer review

In communicating with their audience, described in the instructions as an informed but nontechnical one (i.e., without legal training), students explained the legal position and gave helpful context, or jurisprudential rationale, for their response, without resorting to legal jargon or technical legal language. In that respect, student engagement in the project aligned with a defined graduate attribute of the course—effective communication skills—and was strongly tied to what they, as graduates, would do in their subsequent careers. The submitted transcripts confirmed students’ mature and serious responses to the nuances of the questions asked. Students engaged enthusiastically with the task and displayed collaborative team skills to produce the final artifact. All students appeared before the camera, although this was not prescribed. Teamwork was evident in the smooth flow of

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material from speaker to speaker, allocation of time on camera, and division of research responsibilities and editing processes. Illogical sequencing of information and/or repetition of information can show lack of team coordination. This resolved an often raised issue with group work: that not all members contribute equally to the task, or that one member, by virtue of some “special” skill or force of personality, makes executive decisions, preventing others from contributing.5 The process of group peer review facilitated engagement and teamwork and generated a positive dynamic for students and the UC. Not only did this remove the element of individual personality from the process, but it also required that each group first discuss and agree among themselves on the nature of the feedback. The structure of group-to-group feedback also lessened the possibility of comments inadvertently, or deliberately, being construed as personal criticism. Clear guidelines and explanation of the peer review process, with examples illustrating both helpful and unhelpful feedback, emphasized the need to be courteous and respectful. All the reviews were undertaken in this spirit and generated constructive critical dialogue about the content and video production.

Lessons Learned The higher grades received by students in the group task compared to the final exam may be explained by students’ high levels of engagement in the group activity to produce a digital artifact, a finding that has been reported elsewhere (Almutairi, 2018). Students’ engagement in the project and artifact was evidenced through meeting the assessment criteria (Table 18.1) and their joint participation in the video (every group member appeared), with smooth transitions and a lack of repetition throughout. Similar findings regarding the use of group projects to illustrate conceptually difficult concepts have been reported for climate science (Rooney-Varga et al., 2014). In addition, the video artifact allowed testing and displaying a set of different skills from those usually assessed in the course. In the creation of the video artifact, the learning was expressed as a contextual summary of the relevant topic, with conclusions as to the significance of that summary for the posited client and recommendations of strategies for action. These structure and output approaches differ from the typical law assignment answer; rather, they closely mirror advice that would be required in professional work settings. There is broad recognition that smaller, more focused tutorial learning can be effective in enhancing law students’ development of practical skills such as oral communication, despite the higher cost of such classes (Sullivan et al., 2007). This case study supports the value of engaging law students

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in activities that facilitate communication using contemporary, technologybased solutions. Ways of ensuring these outcomes in larger class groups are suggested through use of an alternative final screening session and the use of breakout rooms to deliver group peer-to-peer review. A special feature of this case study was the considerable pedagogical value generated through the partnership between the UC and the ET. This is illustrated by the codevelopment of the assessment rubric that guided students’ peer reviews and the feedback provided by the ET to students on technical aspects of their artifact. Students’ technical skills were thus scaffolded through peer and expert feedback, enabling them to apply these skills in other disciplines and domains and for their future employability. The value of similar partnerships that improve students’ digital literacies has been previously evidenced (Handley, 2018). Further to this is the described need for educators to be better skilled in using such technologies (Johnson et al., 2014) and, importantly, the integration of technology with pedagogy to enhance students’ overall learning experience. As an Adobe Creative campus, the university has developed a suite of professional learning resources to increase the proficiency and capability of educators’ digital skills. To expand this initiative further, these types of activities should be integrated at an earlier year level, together with resources that provide targeted skills development through how-to guides (Rayner, 2015), exemplar videos, and associated workshops. Further changes to improve the quality and professionalism of students’ video artifacts have also been planned for future implementation (Tables 18.2 and 18.3).

Conclusion The educational innovation reported in this chapter challenges traditional teaching and assessment methods in law education, which have relied on didactic transmission of course content and rote learning for too long (Boag et al., 2010). The educational innovation highlights the value of providing law students with nontraditional ways of learning to enhance their skills in teamwork, critical thinking, and the use of novel technologies to demonstrate their learning. This integrated model of legal education reflects the curricula creativity called for by Vaughan (2017). This chapter builds on previous scholarship regarding students’ digital literacies. To generate further momentum, educators themselves must become not just digitally literate (knowing how to use the tools) but also digitally fluent (using the tools in pedagogically authentic ways). Centrally based teaching and learning centers have a crucial role to play in upskilling educators to achieve this outcome.

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TABLE 18.2

Pedagogical Issues, Revisions, and Target Outcomes for Future Iterations of This Activity Pedagogical Issue

Suggested Revision

Targeted Outcome

Poor student performance in front of camera

Emphasize value of rehearsal before filming and provision more time in class for this Review previous artifacts to view how to appear on screen

Students more confident and with enhanced presentation skills in front of the camera Higher quality artifact

Lack of intragroup Allow students’ assessment review of fellow students group member contributions

Greater understanding of group collaborative skills

Maintain face-toface, intergroup feedback session in larger cohorts with larger number of groups

Schedule several sessions for artifact screening and use breakout rooms to deliver group-to-group peer review

Face-to-face delivery of feedback maintained

Poor range of video presentation formats

Set topics for creation of an interactive video quiz, talk show panel, and those applied in this task: training video, hypothetical scenario, or “know-how” video for internal law firm use

Artifact skills are expanded with a view to the objective of the video and with consideration of the audience

Notes 1. Primary law is used to distinguish between entry-level law studies necessary for admission to legal practice (in the majority of Australian universities taken as a bachelor’s degree, after completion of high school), in contrast to a master’s or postgraduate degree in the discipline. 2. The unit learning outcomes (ULOs) were as follows: •• ULO1: Describe and evaluate the legal and ethical responsibilities of lawyers to their clients, the courts, the profession and to others and apply it to a factual situation they might encounter in practice. •• ULO5: Collaboratively conduct legal practice and ethics related research and use the results of that research in the development of a legal argument.

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TABLE 18.3

Technical Issues, Revisions, and Target Outcomes for Future Iterations of This Activity Technical Issue

Suggested Revision

Targeted Outcome

Inconsistent framing of video shots and graphics

Use of exemplars to critique placement of text in video; use of template for title pages

Enables better processes of information by viewers

Poor voice and/or visual quality if video filmed on different devices/at different times

Specific instruction on editing in this context

Improved quality, flow, and cohesion for viewers

Inconsistent video file types (e.g., MP4, YouTube clips), with consequent difficulty of access for assessor, future users Uploading delays for large file size

Use Echo360 submission for videos and specify file type for upload Provide instruction on video file compression so future storage and downloading not limiting on subsequent use.

Consistency in file type submissions; increased speed of uploading final artifact Less storage for source and destination locations Better access to cloudbased tools

Relevant Swinburne graduate attributes were communication skills, teamwork skills, and digital literacies. 3. Specific guidelines were provided on undertaking the peer review: address objectives of the task, critically evaluate the work, highlight strengths and weaknesses, offer suggestions for improvement and hints for writing reviews; be specific and respectful in comments, including explanations and examples; focus on the material and content (not the writer). 4. The grade range of each student between the two tasks varied from pass– distinction, with four students having a variation of one grade range or more between the two tasks. 5. One technique to highlight and test this issue is to require each group member to submit a complementary individual reflection of the group’s operation. This was not considered necessary in this case.

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EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS

Editors Lauren Hays, PhD, is an assistant professor of instructional technology at the University of Central Missouri (UCM) where she enjoys teaching and developing new learning opportunities. Prior to her position at UCM, she was an instructional and research librarian. Her areas of research interest include digital literacy, educational technology, information literacy, and ­faculty development.   Jenna Kammer, PhD, is an assistant professor in library and information services at the University of Central Missouri (UCM) in Warrensburg, Missouri. She teaches organizing information, action research, and technology in libraries. Prior to her role at UCM, she was an instructional designer and a librarian in public and academic libraries. She conducts research in the areas of technology, information policy, and ethics. Contributors Isabelle Barrette-Ng is a professor and the head of the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Windsor. She was awarded the 3M National Teaching fellowship in 2018, the highest national award for teaching and educational leadership in Canada. Barrette-Ng is highly involved in teaching and developing undergraduate courses in biology and faculty development programs. She is the founding director of SoTL Advancing Graduate Education in STEM (SAGES), a program dedicated to supporting STEM graduate students develop an evidence-based, reflective teaching practice. Louise Blakemore completed her undergraduate studies in immunology at the University of Glasgow, progressing to an MSc in cancer cell and molecular biology and a PhD in biochemistry at the University of Leicester. She is an associate professor in medical education at the Norwich Medical School at the University of East Anglia. Blakemore was involved in the development of the cancer genomics massive open online course (MOOC) while working at the University of Glasgow and continues to collaborate with the MOOC team on educational research. Rene Burress, PhD, is an associate professor and program coordinator in the Library Science and Information Services program at the University of 233

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Central Missouri. Burress is a former school librarian. She is passionate about the librarian’s instructional role, advocacy for libraries and librarians, and curriculum and assessment in both libraries and higher education. Todd Cherner specializes in using technology to promote informed citizenry and critical literacy. Cherner started his career as a high school English teacher in Florida before becoming a professor. As he gained experience working with teachers in both secondary and higher educational settings, he honed his skills for identifying education technology that can be used for supporting student learning, collaboration, and engagement. Aurora Denial, OD, is a professor and chair of the Department of Primary Care at the New England College of Optometry (NECO). Denial is the developer and course master for the sequence of clinical reasoning courses taught at NECO. Her research interests focus on optometric education, specifically the teaching of critical thinking, clinical thinking, and faculty development. Denial is a fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, a member of the American Optometric Association, a member of the Massachusetts Society of Optometrists, and a community member of the Foundation for Critical Thinking. Judith Dinham is an associate professor and the director of learning and teaching in the School of Education at Curtin University in Western Australia, which offers a large program in online learning. She has published two market-leading university textbooks about children’s education through the arts in the contemporary digital age. She is the recipient of a Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) fellowship for her teaching scholarship and development. Patti Dyjur, PhD, is an educational development consultant and an academic lead for the Learning Technologies and Design Team with the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning at the University of Calgary. She is also a sessional instructor in education, teaching courses in digital media and program evaluation. Within these two roles she works on curriculum review and development, as well as collaborates with others to design courses and programs that incorporate intentional, meaningful student learning experiences. Her research interests include curriculum development and review in higher education, micro-credentialing, and universal design for learning (UDL) in higher education. Heather Edmonds is the director of library services at the New England College of Optometry (NECO). She received her Master of Library and

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Information Science from Simmons University in 2005 and has been a librarian at NECO since 2007. Her particular areas of interest include scholarly communication, research data management, and evidence-based medicine. Jennifer Hardwick is a settler scholar and a faculty member in the Department of English at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU). She teaches Indigenous literature, composition, and digital media and supports faculty development as an educational consultant with KPU’s Teaching and Learning Commons. Greg Hlavaty teaches writing and environmental literature at Elon University. His outdoor essays have appeared in NOC Stories, Wildlife in North Carolina, AJC.com, and Arts and Letters. Camille Huser, PhD, has a master’s degree from the Université Louis Pasteur and a doctorate from the University of Cambridge. After 7 years of postdoctoral experience, she became a lecturer in the School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Nursing at the University of Glasgow. She is the deputy director for the Health Professions Education online distance learning master’s program, deputy director of the student-selected component of the MBChB, lead for the Medical Independent Learning Exam, and was deputy lead on one of University of Glasgow’s first MOOCs. Damien Joseph is an associate professor of  IT and assistant dean (undergraduate) at the Nanyang Technological University (Singapore). His research seeks to understand why and how IT professionals, and more generally workers, sustain themselves in the course of their work and their careers. Specifically, his research interests are in examining themes relating to IT work, compensation, competencies, career, and culture. Underlying these themes of research is the contextual influence of subjective and objective cultures. Mo Kader is a management academic and business practitioner. He is a fellow of the Institute of Leaders and Managers and a chartered manager. He lives in Sydney, Australia, and teaches at several academic institutions. His research interests lie in education, assessment, and the transfer of strategic knowledge. He runs a boutique management consultancy and is an academic board member, corporate board member, and certified practicing marketer. In addition to his teaching and consultancy, he develops curriculum and specializes in educational quality management, including higher education institution accreditations and academic governance reviews.

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Derek Lackaff is an associate professor of communication design and the director of the MA program in interactive media at Elon University. He previously served as an associate director of Elon’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning and was a Fulbright scholar in the Information Science and Media Studies program at the University of Bergen. He researches and teaches digital contexts of social interaction and communication, including democratic participation and endangered language revitalization. Aileen Linn graduated with a PhD from Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, before progressing on to work as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Infection and Immunity at the University of Glasgow. Linn was employed as an e-learning development officer in the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing before becoming a lecturer in the undergraduate medical school. She is the academic lead for the Glasgow Access program, a foundation-year access to medicine program. Jordan Mantha is a professor of chemistry at MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas, where he has been teaching undergraduate chemistry courses since 2011. He earned his PhD in physical chemistry from the University of Nevada, Reno, working in the area of laser spectroscopy and nanotechnology. In addition to broad teaching experience across the undergraduate chemistry curriculum, he has also been an advocate for technology-infused classrooms and serves as the faculty development coordinator at MidAmerica Nazarene University. Leah Marks obtained her BSc in medical biochemistry and a PhD in developmental medicine from the University of Glasgow. She is a senior lecturer on the MSc Medical Genetics and Genomics program and the program director of the MSc Genetic and Genomic Counselling program. She has also taught extensively for the undergraduate MBChB program at Glasgow. She was the joint lead academic on the University of Glasgow’s first MOOC, which has now attracted over 50,000 learners and has led a range of subsequent MOOCs—including a number of student-educator partnerships. She also pioneered the use of MOOCs as student-selected components within the medical curriculum at Glasgow. Sandra Mohr is the dean of academic resources and administration for the New England College of Optometry. She has worked in the higher educational field for over 20 years in a variety of career roles where she focused on developing quality learning experiences that prepare students for successful careers. Her research has focused on faculty professional development and educational sustainability.

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Jeffrey Mok is an associate professor of English at Rikkyo University, Japan. He used to be a faculty developer at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research interests include teaching and learning at the university level, teaching methodology, online learning, English as a second language, English as a medium of instruction, communication skills, distributed cognition, and problem-based learning. Jessie L. Moore is the director of the Center for Engaged Learning and professor of English: Professional Writing and Rhetoric at Elon University. Jessie leads planning, implementation, and assessment of the center’s research seminars, which support multi-institutional inquiry on high-impact pedagogies and other focused and engaged learning topics. Her recent research examines high-impact pedagogies, the writing lives of university students and recent college graduates, and multi-institutional research and collaborative inquiry. Phillip Motley is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Design at Elon University, where he teaches communication design and interactive media courses to undergraduate and graduate students, and is Elon’s fourth faculty fellow for service learning and community engagement. His research interests include design and studio-based learning, community-engaged practices, and immersive pedagogies. He is coauthor of An Introduction to Visual Theory and Practice in the Digital Age (Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers, 2011) and coeditor of Redesigning Liberal Education: Innovative Design for a Twenty-First-Century Undergraduate Education (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020). Tezcan Özkan Kutlu received her PhD in journalism from Anadolu University in 2014. Her research focuses on internet and digital journalism. She is the author of The New Journalist Identity Within New Communication Technologies (Gece, 2016). Her main research areas are fact-checking and news verification, digital media literacy, new media studies, and sociology. Tezcan Özkan Kutlu is an assistant professor at Anadolu University in the communication sciences department and deputy head of of the journalism department. Leah Panther is an assistant professor of literacy education in the Tift School of Education at Mercer University in Atlanta, Georgia. She has taught preschool through higher education across urban, suburban, rural, and international school settings. Her experiences with teaching, teacher education, and research center on literacy instruction in urban educational contexts to support culturally and linguistically diverse adolescents and their teachers.

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Her work has been published in The Reading Teacher, Teachers College Record, and the English Journal. Gerry Rayner is an associate director, academic development and learning innovation, in the Learning Transformations Unit at Swinburne University of Technology. He is also an adjunct associate professor and educator in biological sciences at Monash University. He has been awarded national, state, and university grants and collaborated with colleagues to design, implement, and evaluate pedagogical innovation. His scholarly interests include academic identity and professional learning, work-integrated learning, peer-assisted learning, curriculum design and renewal, and the inculcation and evaluation of students’ critical thinking, digital literacy, and communication skills. Kelly Schrum is an associate professor of higher education at George Mason University and coeditor for the journal Teaching and Learning Inquiry. Schrum’s research and teaching focus on the scholarship of teaching and learning and on teaching and learning in the digital age, including online learning and scholarly digital storytelling. A historian by training, Schrum has directed more than 60 digital humanities education projects with funding from federal and state agencies and foundations. Simge Süllü Durul, PhD, graduated from the philosophy department at Bogazici University and completed her master’s degree at Kingston University London in 2011. She received her PhD in media and communication studies from Galatasaray University in 2018. She is currently working as a research assistant at Anadolu University, as a faculty of communication sciences, where she teaches courses such as Digital Literacy, Digital Media Ethics, and Digital Storytelling to journalism students. Her main study area includes digital news, digital media, and discourse. Reba A. Wissner is an assistant professor of musicology at Columbus State University. She received her MFA and PhD in musicology from Brandeis University and her BA in music and Italian from Hunter College of the City University of New York. She is the author of three books, A Dimension of Sound: Music in The Twilight Zone (Pendragon, 2013), We Will Control All That You Hear: The Outer Limits and the Aural Imagination (Pendragon, 2016), and Music and the Atomic Bomb on American Television, 1950–1969 (Peter Lang, 2020). Eleneth Woolley is a lecturer in the Swinburne Law School at Swinburne University of Technology. She has taught widely across a range of disciplines

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at Swinburne, including business, finance, and law, where she has pioneered innovative teaching practices, team teaching, and the use of nontraditional forms of assessment. She has embraced the possibilities that new forms of technology can offer to enhance overall student pedagogy, including peerassisted learning, curriculum design and renewal, and the development of critical thinking and digital literacy skills. David Yammouni is an educational technologist in the Learning Transformations Unit at the Swinburne University of Technology. In addition to other technologies, he creates video and multimedia content within online spaces for learning and teaching. He is a certified Apple Final Cut Pro video editor and works closely with teaching staff to assist and empower them in the use of video in their teaching.

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INDEX

AASL (American Association of School Librarians), 212 active learning, 23, 31 American Association of School Librarians (AASL), 211–212 American Library Association (ALA), 97, 103 annotations, 23–25, 60–61 assessment data collection, 126 of student learning, 102 of video, 37–38, 224–226 assignments adapting writing, 78–79 in Cancer Genomics MOOC, 192–193 censorship in social media, 23 comparing databases, 74–75 data collection, 126 digital posters, 180 digital storytelling, 132–134 essays, 76–77 group analysis, 87–88 infographics, 162–166 in law education, 220–222 locating information online, 24 participating in class debates, 23 small group, 74–75, 87, 221 source evaluation, 99 of student learning, 102 student-generated video, 37, 180, 220–222 of video, 37–38, 224–226 assumptions, 57, 61, 110, 171 audio stories. See podcasts authentic assessment, 164

Bachelors of Law degree, 220 backwards design, 22 Barrette-Ng, Isabelle, 159–169 biology courses digital literacy in, 159–160 drawing and scientific visualization in, 161 infographic assignments in, 162–166 for nonmajors, 161 Blackboard, 134 Blakemore, Louise, 187–198 blogging assignments, 100–102 platforms, 97 Blooms taxonomy, 32, 96 Bruff, Derek cryptography course, xi–xii foreward to book, xi–xii on students as producers, xi–xii Burress, Rene, 211–218 business and management courses digital skills needed in, 132 integrating storytelling into, 131 Kolb’s Experiential Learning in, 137–138 teaching approaches in, 133–134 business education courses to develop digital literacy, 146–147 digital literacy framework, 144–146 CAEP (Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation), 212–213 cameras, 37 241

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242  

index

campus resources availability to marginalized students, 83 barriers to accessing, 85 CampusWire, 176 Cancer Genomics MOOC. See Cancer in the 21st Century: The Genomic Revolution course Cancer in the 21st Century: The Genomic Revolution course digital literacy in, 192–193 lessons learned, 194–196 storytelling throughout, 191 Canva, 22, 24 Canvas, 13, 222 capstones, 13, 122, 164–166, 217 case studies in business education, 147 in teacher education, 35 CCSSO (Council of Chief State School Officers), 71 ChemDoodle, 174 ChemDraw, 174 chemical education, 171 chemical representations chemical data, 174–175 formulas and equations, 172–173 structures and reactions, 173–174 chemistry courses challenge of chemical representation, 172 common formatting needs, 173 communicating within, 171 moving to online learning, 174 opportunities for digital literacy, 177–181 pedagogy suggestions, 175–176 chemists, 171 ChemSpider, 175 Cherner, Todd, 7–14, 17–29 Chromebooks, 174, 179 Cinelon, 126 Cinema Production course, 124 citing sources, 73, 85, 194, 216

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classroom dynamics, 141 clinical reasoning, 200 Clinical Reasoning courses, 201–205 collaboration between instructors and librarians, 201–204 course objectives, 204 digital literacy instruction, 201–206 librarian’s involvement in, 202 at New England College of Optometry (NECO), 200–201 use of evidence-based practice (EBP), 202–203 collaboration with educational technologists, 223–224 with librarians, 203–204 in literacy framework, 10 skills, 8, 222 tools, 78 collaborative decision-making, 141 collaborative learning, 31, 194 collaborative writing tools, 77 Common Core State Standards, 71 communication courses, 117–128 communications design, 125 compliance, 58–61 confidence, 38, 45–47, 195 content knowledge definition, 19 in digital storytelling, 34 for teachers, 22, 56, 215 in TPACK framework, 20 Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), 212–213 Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), 71 Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA), 71 course evaluations, 13 course revisions, 50–52 COVID-19 global pandemic, 57, 174, 181, 188

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index  

CRAAP (currency, relevancy, accuracy, authority and purpose), 203 CREATE method, 165 Creative Commons, 89 creative production creating using HOTS, 33 preservice teachers, 32–33 critical sociocultural theory, 57, 61–65 critical thinking skills, 86–87, 109, 120, 134, 204 cryptography course, xi–xii currency, relevancy, accuracy, authority and purpose (CRAAP), 203 curriculum in communications, 122 in journalism, 113–114 in optometric program, 205 in school librarianship, 213–216 Curtin University, 30 CWPA (Council of Writing Program Administrators), 71 cyberbullying, 113 databases challenges, 174 for chemical information, 175 comparing, 74–75 demonstration of, 203 learning activities, 75 for locating digital resources, 24, 71 for medical information, 203 for research, 74–75 for scientific information, 176 searching, 74–75, 152, 174–175, 216 selection of, 214 for stock photos, 77 debates, 21–24, 134, 201 Decision Making with Programming and Data Analytics course, 145–147 Denial, Aurora, 199–207 Developing and Managing Collections course, 214

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243

digital boards, 23–25 digital content consumption of, 85, 219 creation of, 85, 219 digital democratization, 135–136 digital disciplinary literacy examples in a methods course, 21–24 instructional approach, 20–21 integrating into methods courses, 20–21, 27 for lesson-planning, 21 digital ethics, 88–89, 113, 223 digital fluency in communications curriculum, 119–120, 122 integrating into curriculum, 119–120 in journalism education, 113 moving from digital literacy to, 227 digital footprint, 96, 113 digital health literacy, 188 digital literacy approaches, 3–4 assessment, 73–74, 102, 126 assumptions of technological knowledge, 1 campus-wide programming, 8–13 changing definitions, 2, 119 curricular support for, 9, 11 definition of, 1–2, 56–57, 108, 143–144, 159–160 developing digital literacy skills, 8 focus of book, 2–3 foundations, 120–121 framework, 10, 144–145 hidden, 57 levels, 144–145 pedagogies, 84 as a set of skills, 17 skills, 45–47, 53, 57, 88–89, 132 in various contexts, 3–5 workshops, 9–10, 11 Digital Literacy: Navigating the Digital Learning Environment course

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index

course modules, 12–13 for first-year students, 12 at New Mexico State University (NMSU), 12–13 technology’s role in social movements, 13 digital media, 7, 33, 86, 97, 109–110 digital media literacy, 107–116 digital natives, 71, 110 digital portfolios, 10, 89, 126–127, 217 digital posters, 180 digital privacy, 113 digital scholarship, 193 digital storytelling in educator preparation programs, 34 research in scholarly digital storytelling, 42–45 in strategic management courses, 132–134 digital texts, 63 digital wellness, 9 digitally literate, 5 Dinham, Judith, 30–41 disciplinary literacy, 18–19 discussion technology, 176 discussions, 87–88, 149, 180–181, 195 diversity of materials in libraries, 215 of multimedia, 63 of students, 12, 59, 164, 195 doctors of optometry, 199 Dotstorming, 23, 25 drawings, 161 Durul, Simge Süllü, 107–116 Dyjur, Patti, 159–169 ebook. See digital texts Edmonds, Heather, 199–207 educational technologists, 223–224, 227 educator preparation programs disciplinary literacy within, 18 providing digital literacy throughout the program, 18

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with standalone technology courses, 17 TPACK framework, 19–20 educators of teachers. See teacher-educators electronic lab notebooks (ELN), 177–178 Elon Docs, 126 Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, 121 Elon News Network, 126 Elon University activities developed to teach digital literacies, 74–80 Center for Advancement of Teaching and Learning, 73 communications core curriculum, 121–122 first-year writing program, 73 Revson Foundation, grant funded research, 73 School of Communication, 119 three-pronged approach to digital fluency, 122 English courses English literary studies subfield, 85–86 first-year students, Elon University, 75–76 Indigenous literary studies courses, 83–94 upper-level literature courses, Elon University, 75–76 writing courses, Elon University, 74–80 entity relationships, 148 eportfolios. See digital portfolios equation editing, 173 essays, 76–77, 91 ethical decision-making, 223 evaluating CRAAP, 203 CREATE method, 165 health resources, 189–190

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index  

lacking confidence for, 195 resources, 112–113, 153, 165 evidence-based practice, 202–203 experiential pedagogy, 137 fact-checking, 3, 9, 107–108, 112–113 fake news, 97, 111–114. See also misinformation Ferrar, Julia, 9–10 Flipgrid, 181 flipped learning, 164, 166 formative assessment, 133, 174, 190 formative feedback, 168 Foundations of Librarianship course, 213 framework for digital literacy digital literacy skills within, 152–153 Nanyang Business School, 144–145 Virginia Tech, 9–10 Future Ready Librarian Framework, 212, 214 Future Ready Schools, 212 FutureLearn platform, 190 Generation Z, 71 Google Docs, 78 Google Drive, 201 Google Jamboard, 174 Google Scholar, 75 graphical representations, 161 groupwork assignments, 221 discussions, 64 reflecting real life situations, 222 habits of mind, 1–5, 7, 30, 43, 53 Hardwick, Jennifer, 83–93 Hays, Lauren, 1–6, 7–14 health information, 187 higher order thinking skills (HOTS), 31–32 Hlavaty, Greg, 71–82 Hope4College survey, 84 HOTS (higher order thinking skills), 32

Hays_Kammer_Integrating Digital Literacy in the Disciplines.indb 245

245

Huser, Camille, 187–198 Hypothes.is, 22 indigenous knowledges, 85 indigenous literary studies courses building information literacy and ethical research skills in, 89 open education digital projects in, 86–87 positionality within, 87–88 project design for, 89–92 as subfield within English literary studies, 85–88 technological training in, 88–89 indigenous literatures, 85 infographics educational purposes, 162–163 four stages for creating, 165–166 in introductory biology courses, 163–165 recommendations for teaching with, 166–168 skills developed by creating, 162–163 information access limiting access to literacies, 57–58 for marginalized students, 84 information literacy, 89, 119, 192, 211 input device, 174 inquiry, student-led, 63–65 Instagram, 119 International Society for Technology Education (ISTE), 212 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), 174 interviewing for research, 43 students conducting interviews, 43 iPads, 174, 179 ISTE (International Society for Technology Education), 212 IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry), 174

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246  

index

jigsaw activity, 64 Joseph, Damien, 143–156 journalism courses definition of digital literacy for, 108 educational programming for, 107 students of journalism, 107–108 journalism education changes in digital media, 109–110 digital media literacy within, 109–110 journalism students new courses for, 113–114 as prosumers, 110 teaching digital literacy to, 112–113 using digital technologies, 110 journalists digital media competencies for, 112 expectations, 112 Kader, Mo, 131–141 Kammer, Jenna, 1–6, 7–14 key commands, 176 Kolb’s Theory of Experiential Learning, 137–138 KPU (Kwantlen Polytechnic University), 87 Kutlu, Tezcan Özkan, 107–116 Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU), 87 Lackaff, Derek, 117–128 LaTeX, 173 Laurillard’s conversational framework, 190–192 Learner-as-Creator approach, 35 learners. See students Learning Activity Management System (LAMS), 149 Learning Management Systems (LMS), 134–136, 222. See also specific learning management systems legal education, 220 Legal Practice and Professional Conduct course assessment in, 221

Hays_Kammer_Integrating Digital Literacy in the Disciplines.indb 246

lessons learned, 226–227 objectives of assessments, 222 revisions and future iterations of, 228–229 small groups in, 222 summer course, 221 librarians collaboration with, 202–205 as leaders, 211–212 school librarians, 211–212 teaching digital literacy, 194 Library Administration course, 213 Linn, Aileen, 187–198 Live Oak, 126 macrostructures, 63–64 Mallon, Melissa, 10–11 Mantha, Jordan, 171–183 Marks, Leah, 187–198 MarvinSketch, 176 Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) Cancer in the 21st Century: The Genomic Revolution, 188–189 demographic analysis of enrolled students, 189 digital literacy in, 189–190 Massively Open Online Courses (MOOC), 187–196 math typesetting, 176 media literacy definition of, 107 education, 117 evolution into digital media literacy, 107, 109–110 Media Writing course, 123 metaknowledge, 144–145, 151–153 metaskills, 144–145, 151–153 micro-credentials, 11 Microsoft Surface, 174 misinformation. See also fake news concerns for students, 3 in health care, 187–188 in journalism, 224

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index  

scientific misinformation in mass media, 164 Mohr, Sandra, 199–207 Mok, Jeffrey, 143–156 molecular editing, 176 MolView, 176 Moodle, 134, 201 Moore, Jessie, 71–82 Motley, Phillip, 117–128 multimedia communicating with, 33–34, 39 Creating Multimedia Content course, 124 using for Socratic seminar, 65 multimodal formats communication in, 32–34 creating multimodal texts, 56 in digital media literacy, 109 diversity in course texts, 62–64 in open education, 86 production of, 31 telling stories in, 34 music history courses digital activities for, 98–102 the modern music history classroom, 98 producing digital projects in, 95 public musicology, 96–98 teaching with public-facing work, 96–103 Nanyang Business School (NBS) courses for developing digital literacy, 146–149 framework for digital literacy, 145 Nanyang Technological University (NTU), 143 teaching digital literacy, 144 Nanyang Technological University (NTU) digital literacy courses, 146–147 Nanyang Business School (NBS), 143 National Association of Schools of Music (NASM), 97

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247

National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center), 71 net generation, 71 New England College of Optometry (NECO) course sequences, 201 digital literacy instruction, 201–202 history, 200 librarians, 202 New Media Consortium Horizon Report (The Horizon Report), 160 New Mexico State University (NMSU) collaborative effort, 12 developing real-life digital literacy skills, 12 Digital Literacy: Navigating the Digital Learning Environment course, 12–13 future plans for development, 13 preparing new online learners, 12–13 news verification, 112–113 newsletters, electronic, 36–37 NGA Center (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices), 71 nontraditional literacies, xii OCAP (ownership, control, access and possession), 89 open access ethical considerations of, 85 impact on indigenous knowledges, 85–86 open education access to information, 84–86 expansion of digital literacies, 86 freedom of information, 84 students creating digital projects, 86–87 optometric education assessment of student learning, 204 digital literacies in, 199–200 at the New England College of Optometry (NECO), 200

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248  

index

student skills needed, 199–200 Organization and Diversity of Life course infographic project, 163–166 refocusing teaching approach, 164 student outcomes, 164 ownership, control, access and possession (OCAP), 89 Panther, Leah, 56–68 patients, 202 pedagogical knowledge, 19 peer review, 90–91, 193, 223 Piazza, 176 picture books, 39 placemaking, 85 podcasts assignments, 35–36, 89, 100–101, xi–xii teaching with, 63 Poll Everywhere, 176 portfolios, 217 power, 65 pre-tests, 73 presentation software, 173 preservice teachers assumed digital skills, 58–59 challenges for teaching, 32–33 communicating in multimodal formats, 33 creative production, 33–34, 38 demands of, 32 education of, 25–27 engaging in active learning, 32–33 learning online, 32 locating information online, 24 producing videos, 37–38 using “learner as creator” approach, 32 productive consumer, 110 professional organizations. See also specific professional organizations statements related to increased digital literacies, 71 programming, campus-wide, 8–13

Hays_Kammer_Integrating Digital Literacy in the Disciplines.indb 248

projects capstones, 164–166, 217 digital storytelling, 38–39, 42–47, 131–141 electronic newsletters, 36–37 essay, 91 infographics, 162–166, xi–xii open access, 90 open education, 86–87 podcasts, 35–36, 89 proposing, 90 video presentations, 37–38 prosumer. See productive consumer public musicology courses assessment in, 102 digital activities for, 98–102 importance of integrating digital skills in, 98 as skills for music majors, 96–97 student learning outcomes in, 97 Python coding, 148–149 Rayner, Gerry, 219–230 reflections, 34, 87–88, 92, 195 reliable sources, 164 research evaluation of, 89, 112–113 fact-checking, 112 skills, 74–75, 89 “Revisualizing Composition” study, 72 Revson Foundation study, 73 rhetorical analysis, 80 rubrics in assessment, 26, 102, 165 for electronic lab notebooks, 179 for video assessment, 225 scaffolding, 166, 220 Scholarly Digital Storytelling course building digital skills, 45 challenging students to think critically, 49 conducting scholarship of teaching in, 42–53 course revisions, 50–51

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index  

examples of digital projects, 46 research methods, 43 teaching habits of mind, 43 school librarians digital literacy in school librarianship curriculum, 212–215 digital literacy in schools, 211 digital skills taught to, 216–217 information literacy as cornerstone, 211 school librarianship courses, 211–217 Schrum, Kelly, 42–55 Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM), 160, 171–172 self-awareness, 86 Singapore, 143 skills assumed digital skills, 61–62 for business technology, 145–146 collaborative, 225 critical thinking, 134 in digital disciplinary literacy lessons, 26 digital literacy, 45–47, 88–89, 132, 145–146, 216 for doctors of optometry, 199–200 ethical research skills, 89 for journalists, 112–113 professional, 108 in school librarianship, 216 for strategic management, 132 technical, 53 traditional literacy, 57–58 Snapchat, 119 social constructivism, 31 social media, 22–23, 72, 78–80, 111 social studies methods course backwards design, 22 class debate activity, 23–25 creating digital artifacts, 24 locating and evaluating information, 22, 24 preparation for pre-service teachers, 21 TPACK, 22

Hays_Kammer_Integrating Digital Literacy in the Disciplines.indb 249

249

Socratic seminar, 64, 219 source evaluation, 99, 192 storyboarding, 39, 47 storytelling in cancer genetics MOOC, 191 and experiential pedagogy, 137 in Strategic Management Theory and Practice course, 132 as teaching strategy, 131 using relatable stories, 133 strategic management courses democratizing technology in, 135–136 digital literacy practices, 134–135 digital skills required by students, 132 lessons learned from storytelling in, 139–141 practical implications, 141 storytelling as teaching strategy in, 131 Strategic Management Theory and Practice course, 132 teaching approaches, 133–134 Strategic Management Theory and Practice course, 132 structured query language (SQL), 146 student learning outcomes in clinical reasoning, 201–202 in communications, 125–126 in digital literacy course, 12 in law education, 222 in public musicology, 97 student response systems (clickers), 176 student-generated video, 180 students assumptions of, 59–62 business education, 144–145 coding, 148 confidence, 38, 45–47, 195 as creators, 24, 30–31, xi critical incidents, 62 deficit narratives of, 57 diversity, 194

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250  

index

doctors of optometry, 199–200 expectations, 77–78 feedback, 194 first-year, 12, 73–74 journalism, 112–114 marginalized, 85 nonmajors, 161 optometry, 200 solving problems, 148 working in teams, 148 subskills, 144–145, 151 Swinburne University of Technology Learning Transformation Unit, 222 Legal Practices and Professional Conduct course, 220–223 synthesizing information, 168 tablet computers, 174, 179 teacher education methods courses application of sociocultural theory to, 65 assumptions about students in, 61–62 increasing explicit instruction in, 62–63 recruiting diverse students for, 59–60 reexamining for critical incidents, 58–59 digital disciplinary literacy, 21–25 early childhood, 30–39 qualitative self-study, 56–66 teaching, 18–19, 56–68 TPACK, 25–27 teacher-educators, 17–27 teaching adapting for digital literacy, 3–5 in chemistry courses, 175–176 communication, 111 critical thinking, 97 ethics, 85 hidden digital literacies, 62–64 multimodal communications, 33

Hays_Kammer_Integrating Digital Literacy in the Disciplines.indb 250

nontraditional literacies, xii partnerships, 9 research process, 74–75 revising, 50–51, 62 strategies, 19, 45 teamwork, 225 technical issues, 228–229 Technological Innovations and Developments course, 145–147 technological knowledge, 19 technological pedagogical and content knowledge framework (TPACK), 19–20 think-aloud, 64 three-dimensional representation (3D), 174 TikTok, 119 TopHat, 176 topic selection, 43, 44–45 TPACK (technological pedagogical and content knowledge framework) digital disciplinary literacy, 19–20 framework, 20 recommendations for working with preservice teachers, 26 Turner, Patrick, 13 tutorials, 203 Twitter, 88 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 83–84 University of Central Missouri Library Science and Information Services program, 212 Vanderbilt University “student’s as producers” approach, xi Bruff, Derek, xii Center for Teaching, 11, xi Digital Literacy Committee, 11 digital literacy program, courses, 11 digital literacy program, integrated into curriculum, 11

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index  

digital literacy program, microcredentialing, 11 engaging students, xi videos in assessment, 37, 225 production, 37, 223 for professional practice, 223 recording, 37 Virginia Tech (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) coordinating digital literacy, 9–10 expanding digital literacy topics, 9 learner-centered digital literacy framework, 9–10 University Libraries, 9–10 Wacom, 174 Web and Mobile Communications course, 125 Wikipedia, 96, 98–99, 102 Wissner, Reba, 95–104

Hays_Kammer_Integrating Digital Literacy in the Disciplines.indb 251

251

Woolley, Eleneth, 219–230 word processing, 173 workshops, 9–10, 11 writing assessment of, 220 blogging, 101–102 collaboratively, 77 evaluation of, 99–100 first-year writing program, 73 news stories, 112–113 skills, 123–124 using technologies for, 72, 77 for Web, 78–80 writing courses activities in, 74–80 Elon University, 71–80 Yammouni, David, 219–230 Zoom, 134, 201

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Creating Space for Democracy A Primer on Dialogue and Deliberation in Higher Education

Edited by Timothy J. Shaffer and Nicolas V. Longo Published in Association with Campus ­Compact and AAC&U This book, intended for all educators who are concerned about democracy, imparts the power and impact of public talk, offers the insights and experiences of leading practitioners, and provides the grounding to adopt or adapt the models in their own settings to create educative spaces and experiences that are humanizing, authentic, and productive. It is an important resource for campus leaders, student affairs practitioners, librarians, and centers of institutional diversity, community engagement, teaching excellence and service learning, as well as faculty, particularly those in the fields of communication studies, education, and political science. “If democracy is in trouble, higher education is in trouble, so it is encouraging to see the cast of scholars who are mounting a response. This book is a vital contribution to the emerging field of deliberative pedagogy . . . It is particularly encouraging to see new themes like the role of professionals in our democracy. Well done!”—David Mathews, Kettering Foundation

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Transparent Design in Higher Education Teaching and Leadership A Guide to Implementing the Transparency Framework Institution-Wide to Improve Learning and Retention

Edited by Mary-Ann Winkelmes, Allison Boye, and Suzanne Tapp Foreword by Peter Felten and Ashley Finley This book offers a comprehensive guide to the Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) framework that has convincingly demonstrated that implementation increases retention and improved outcomes for all students. Its premise is simple: to make learning processes explicit and equitably accessible for all students. “With the overarching goal of assessment being directly tied to the improvement of student learning, this book reinforces the general idea of the more information a student has about him/herself, the way they learn, and the subject being studied, the more successful they will be in achieving academic success. The authors present a process (the transparency framework) that includes the who, what, when, where, and why of what a student is expected to learn and how a faculty member can help ensure they do. Their research shows that the model is adaptable to every class size and institutional type. While not the proverbial silver bullet, it comes as close in its practical implementation of research-based theories on student learning as I’ve ever seen.” —Belle Wheelan, President and Chief Executive Officer, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools' Commission on Colleges

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17-08-2021 02:57:17 PM

Flipped Learning A Guide for Higher Education Faculty

Robert Talbert Foreword by Jon Bergmann Flipped learning is an approach to the design and instruction of classes through which, with appropriate guidance, students gain their first exposure to new concepts and material prior to class, thus freeing up time during class for the activities where students typically need the most help, such as applications of the basic material and engaging in deeper discussions and creative work with it. Robert Talbert, who has close to a decade’s experience using flipped learning for majors in his discipline, in general education courses, in large and small sections, as well as online courses—and is a frequent workshop presenter and speaker on the topic—offers faculty a practical, step-by-step, “how-to” to this powerful teaching method. “Think you know what flipped learning is? Think again. I had to. It’s not about technology, recording your lectures, or physical classrooms. This is why you have to read Robert Talbert’s Flipped Learning. It’s the definitive book on the pedagogy, with a new and refreshing perspective. Talbert relates flipped learning to theories of motivation, cognitive load, and self-regulated learning and gives step-by-step directions for flipping your course, along with plenty of examples, answers to typical questions, and variations for hybrid and online courses.”—Linda B. Nilson, Director Emeritus, Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation, Clemson University

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17-08-2021 02:57:18 PM

POGIL An Introduction to Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning for Those Who Wish to Empower Learners

Edited by Shawn R. Simonson Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) is a pedagogy that is based on research on how people learn and has been shown to lead to better student outcomes in many contexts and in a variety of academic disciplines. Beyond facilitating students’ mastery of a discipline, it promotes vital educational outcomes such as communication skills and critical thinking. Its active international community of practitioners provides accessible educational development and support for anyone developing related courses. “This collected wisdom of the POGIL community is immense, reflecting both practical classroom strategies and strong ties to theoretical frameworks in science education, sociology, and the learning sciences. With origins in undergraduate chemistry education, the ideas contained in this guide are relevant to any instructor—in any discipline and at any cognitive level— who aspires to structure an engaging and equitable classroom environment that also challenges students to be architects of their own learning.” —Kimberly Tanner, San Francisco State University

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17-08-2021 02:57:19 PM

Advancing Assessment for Student Success Supporting Learning by Creating Connections Across Assessment, Teaching, Curriculum, and Cocurriculum in Collaboration With Our Colleagues and Our Students

Amy Driscoll, Swarup Wood, Dan Shapiro, and Nelson Graff Foreword by Peggy L. Maki “A stark contrast to assessment processes that are aimed primarily at demonstrating fulfillment of externally established compliance standards, the authors’ learner-centered assessment process is aimed primarily at promoting individual students’ progress toward achieving course-, program-, and institution-level learning outcomes along their educational pathways, as well as engaging students in assuming agency for their learning. The authors provide readers principles, practices, processes, strategies, and campus scenarios and case studies that deepen and broaden a shared commitment to all learners’ success across the broad institutional system that contributes to their learning. Most important, this book achieves what, I believe, has always been our challenge: to humanize assessment—to uncover the challenges our individual students face and then develop or identify interventions, strategies, or practices to assist each student persist and achieve along the trajectory of that individual’s educational pathways.”—From the Foreword by Peggy L. Maki, Education Consultant specializing in assessing student learning

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Infusing Critical Thinking Into Your Course A Concrete, Practical Approach Linda B. Nilson “The ability to think critically is vital to our capacity to ‘routinely confront dishonesty’ in Linda Nilson’s words. In this lively and accessible book, Nilson reviews how students can be helped to investigate claims made across a wide range of disciplines. She provides numerous examples of classroom exercises and assessment formats for college teachers seeking practical guidance on how to infuse critical thinking across the curriculum.”—Stephen D. Brookfield, Distinguished Scholar, Antioch University

What Inclusive Instructors Do Principles and Practices for Excellence in College Teaching Tracie Marcella Addy, Derek Dube, Khadijah A. Mitchell, and Mallory SoRelle Foreword by Peter Felten and Buffie Longmire-Avital “The authors have created an essential resource for college instructors by bridging the gap between theory and practice. Their practical, adaptable guidance is informed by a national faculty survey and integrated with evidence from the educational literature. The book addresses why inclusive teaching matters and goes beyond classroom practices to consider inclusive institutional culture. Instructors and administrators at all types of institutions will benefit from this timely approach to a critical topic.”—Jennifer Frederick, Executive Director of the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning, Yale University

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17-08-2021 02:57:21 PM

Facilitating the Integration of Learning Five Research-Based Practices to Help College Students Connect Learning Across Disciplines and Lived Experience

James P. Barber Foreword by Kate McConnell “Facilitating the Integration of Learning provides invaluable information for educators. Barber adeptly uses findings from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education to illuminate practices that support students’ abilities to integrate of learning in a multitude of contexts. Rather than dictating how to engage in these practices, Barber provides readers with the tools to reflect upon, design, and assess educational experiences that promote integration of learning. It is a must-read for college educators.”—Rosemary J. Perez, Assistant Professor, School of Education, Iowa State University

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Also available from Stylus Creating Wicked Students Designing Courses for a Complex World Paul Hanstedt “A must-read for anyone who cares about educating the next generation of change agents. Hanstedt combines practical advice for all college teachers committed to learning outcomes that will help students thrive postgraduation with a thoughtful analysis of what our true jobs as educators should be in a world that is in flux, deeply inequitable, but also in need of many more wicked problem-solvers.”—Debra Humphreys, Vice President of Strategic Engagement, Lumina Foundation

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17-08-2021 02:57:22 PM