Digital Literacy
Digital technology has created jobs that were non-existent even 10 years ago, and educators are preparing students for jobs that may not even exist yet. As such, developing skills such as problem solving, collaboration and critical thinking now take precedence over the ability to memorize and recall subject specific content (Voogt, Erstad, Dede, & Mishra, 2013). Many authors refer to the skills needed by today's learners as 21st century learning skills. As I reflect on the list of skills needed in today’s society, I question if they are truly unique to the 21st century? For example, early theorists such as Bloom discussed the need for higher order thinking skills, Dewey promoted inquiry in education and theorists such as Vygotsky stated the importance of communication and collaboration. While it appears these skills are not new, advancements in digital technology have created a connected world. This means that we must re-examine what these skills look like in a digitally enhanced environment. Today’s students are more connected to the world than at any other time in our history. This means they have access to more information and must be able to effectively organize and evaluate it. The ability to use, comprehend, contextualize, evaluate and create with digital tools requires a new competency known as digital literacy (www.mediasmarts.org).
I did not have the opportunity to take a course focusing specifically on digital literacy, however, I feel each course was instrumental in developing my own digital literacy skills and providing opportunities for reflecting on how I can support the development of digital literacy among my own students.
I did not have the opportunity to take a course focusing specifically on digital literacy, however, I feel each course was instrumental in developing my own digital literacy skills and providing opportunities for reflecting on how I can support the development of digital literacy among my own students.
Length - 6:18 min
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Artifact Description:
In the Learning Tools course I was introduced to MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses, a relatively new form of online learning. The culminating assignment for the course was to work with a small group of peers to create a web-based learning environment or “mini-MOOC” to enhance learning by incorporating the learning theories, instructional strategies and principles of e-learning design discussed in class. Anna Maria Ferraro Orfeo, Charlie Berger and I created an online learning environment for intermediate students that focused on learning and understanding the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals. |
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Reflection:
MOOCs were an innovation that developed from Open Educational Resources (or OERs). The term OER was introduced by UNESCO in 2002, to describe digital educational resources that are available to users free of charge for teaching and learning purposes (McGreal, 2013). In addition to open educational resources, George Siemens and Stephen Downes developed the theory of Connectivism in 2004 (McAuley et al., 2010). Connectivist learning theory states that knowledge is distributed across a network of connections rather than residing within a single individual. Learning occurs by making connections and being able to identify important, unimportant and new information. In this theory, technology plays a critical role as it allows learners to make connections and traverse multiple connected networks that are not possible in traditional classroom settings.
Since the original MOOC model offered by Siemens and Downes, two very distinct frameworks have emerged classifying MOOCs as cMOOCs and xMOOCs (McAuley et al., 2010). A cMOOC is based on connectivist learning theory, while xMOOCs follow a more traditional form of instruction in which information is transmitted from expert (teacher) to novice (student) (Saadatmand & Kumpulainen, 2014). The mini-MOOC that my group created was based on the cMOOC model due to its student centred pedagogical underpinnings. Downes (2014) identified 4 key design principles required for cMOOCs. The first is learner autonomy, where the learner selects what content and skills they wish to learn. The next is diversity in the tools used, content explored and knowledge level of the participants. In addition, cMOOCs emphasize interactivity between participants and finally openness in terms of access, content, activities and assessment.
The design features for cMOOCs closely align with the digital literacy model proposed by Ng (2012). I created the following graphic to illustrate how incorporating the design features of cMOOCs can support the development of digital literacy.
MOOCs were an innovation that developed from Open Educational Resources (or OERs). The term OER was introduced by UNESCO in 2002, to describe digital educational resources that are available to users free of charge for teaching and learning purposes (McGreal, 2013). In addition to open educational resources, George Siemens and Stephen Downes developed the theory of Connectivism in 2004 (McAuley et al., 2010). Connectivist learning theory states that knowledge is distributed across a network of connections rather than residing within a single individual. Learning occurs by making connections and being able to identify important, unimportant and new information. In this theory, technology plays a critical role as it allows learners to make connections and traverse multiple connected networks that are not possible in traditional classroom settings.
Since the original MOOC model offered by Siemens and Downes, two very distinct frameworks have emerged classifying MOOCs as cMOOCs and xMOOCs (McAuley et al., 2010). A cMOOC is based on connectivist learning theory, while xMOOCs follow a more traditional form of instruction in which information is transmitted from expert (teacher) to novice (student) (Saadatmand & Kumpulainen, 2014). The mini-MOOC that my group created was based on the cMOOC model due to its student centred pedagogical underpinnings. Downes (2014) identified 4 key design principles required for cMOOCs. The first is learner autonomy, where the learner selects what content and skills they wish to learn. The next is diversity in the tools used, content explored and knowledge level of the participants. In addition, cMOOCs emphasize interactivity between participants and finally openness in terms of access, content, activities and assessment.
The design features for cMOOCs closely align with the digital literacy model proposed by Ng (2012). I created the following graphic to illustrate how incorporating the design features of cMOOCs can support the development of digital literacy.
Figure 4. The relationship between cMOOCs and digital literacy skills
In our Millennium Development Goal (MDG) mini-MOOC we incorporated a range of activities in which learners would have to evaluate information from a range of perspectives to support the development of problem solving and critical thinking skills. The final activity in the MOOC was to participate in an online debate to discuss which MDG is the most important issue facing society today. The debate required students to support their opinions with credible references while also developing communication and digital netiquette skills.
Despite the potential to develop digital literacy skills, the unstructured nature of cMOOCs can present challenges to learners. While learners have the opportunity to develop their technical skills when working in a MOOC, users with limited technical competencies may feel overwhelmed when navigating the MOOC (McAuley et al., 2010). In addition, the amount of content contained within a MOOC is vast and learners may experience cognitive overload as they try to connect fragmented pieces of information in a coherent manner (McAuley et al., 2010). To address these criticisms and minimize cognitive overload, we integrated many of Clark and Mayer’s (2011) principles of e-learning design. The specific criteria we incorporated is discussed in the following video that was recorded by one of my partners, Charlie Berger, for our final project submission in Learning Tools. The one area that I would change in our original design is the amount of on screen text that learners were required to read. My personal experience has been that intermediate students are reluctant to read and comprehend large quantities of written text when working online. Incorporating information in the form of videos I feel would have been more engaging and easier to follow, particularly for students identified with exceptionalities.
The mini-MOOC assignment demonstrated how digital technology can be used to support the development of digital literacy and 21st century skills. It helped me to understand the importance of careful planning and design considerations when creating online learning environments. The following questions help to guide how I assess and design digital learning environments:
Despite the potential to develop digital literacy skills, the unstructured nature of cMOOCs can present challenges to learners. While learners have the opportunity to develop their technical skills when working in a MOOC, users with limited technical competencies may feel overwhelmed when navigating the MOOC (McAuley et al., 2010). In addition, the amount of content contained within a MOOC is vast and learners may experience cognitive overload as they try to connect fragmented pieces of information in a coherent manner (McAuley et al., 2010). To address these criticisms and minimize cognitive overload, we integrated many of Clark and Mayer’s (2011) principles of e-learning design. The specific criteria we incorporated is discussed in the following video that was recorded by one of my partners, Charlie Berger, for our final project submission in Learning Tools. The one area that I would change in our original design is the amount of on screen text that learners were required to read. My personal experience has been that intermediate students are reluctant to read and comprehend large quantities of written text when working online. Incorporating information in the form of videos I feel would have been more engaging and easier to follow, particularly for students identified with exceptionalities.
The mini-MOOC assignment demonstrated how digital technology can be used to support the development of digital literacy and 21st century skills. It helped me to understand the importance of careful planning and design considerations when creating online learning environments. The following questions help to guide how I assess and design digital learning environments:
- What is the purpose of the learning environment?
- What are the learning objectives or skills I want my students to develop?
- What format will I use to present content?
- How will students demonstrate their learning?
- What learning theory is guiding the design of the learning environment?