Week 4 Synthesis: Digital Leadership & Information Ethics

Week 3 Synthesis: Connected Learning

Week 2 - PLN Master Plan

Defining Literacy in a Digital World

There is no doubt that technology has changed the way that we read, write, learn, and think. According to Holly Clark, “students spend up to 5 times as much time dealing with media than print.” What skills do our students (of all ages) need to navigate this digital world? How can we foster these skills in ways that create memorable experiences for our students and patrons? Technology creates new opportunities for collaboration and creativity, but not every problem requires a digital solution. As future librarians, we should think carefully about what skills we cede to apps and online programs, and which literacies we expect our patrons to practice without the aid of a mobile device.

We live in an interconnected world, thanks to technology. That doesn’t necessarily mean that kids are “born digital,” or that they inherently understand every new program or piece of technology they encounter. Being comfortable with technology, and willing to experiment with it, is not the same as knowing how to use it effectively. The digital world can be a scary and overwhelming place, but we, as librarians, should stand ready provide a safe, sane space in which to explore technological frontiers. Kathy Schrock offers 13 sets of literacies in which students should be versed if they are to succeed in today’s world. Traditional literacy is perhaps the most recognizable category, and reading, writing, and communicating effectively provide a foundation upon which we can develop other literacies. If kids are spending so much more time with multimedia, however, is there really such a thing as “traditional” literacy anymore? Kids read, write, and think in shorthand. Our digital world, with its instant feedback and rewards, encourages short attention spans and impatience. Must we accept this as the new normal?

Teaching thirteen literacies sounds like a potentially endless task, and teachers (and librarians) have limited time as it is. Do we privilege some literacies over others, or is it possible to scaffold these skills over a series of grades, projects, or activities? As Schrock and my classmates have noted, these literacies can be taught across content areas. Imagine a group of students studying World War I. They can practice historical literacy skills as they search for primary sources, visual literacy skills as they analyze propaganda posters, critical literacy as they analyze the written sources they’ve collected, and tool and/or digital literacy as they create a multimedia presentation to share their research with classmates. The world is a classroom and technology makes it possible for students to access “new” sources and information every day. Students have the potential to become more creative and efficient researchers, as long as librarians can be there as “guides on the side” to help them understand how to find reputable and trustworthy sources.

 Technology offers libraries an opportunity to become transformational spaces. Transformations require action, and in order to make our students’ and patrons’ learning experiences meaningful and memorable we need to make them more interactive. What does that look like? A participatory culture flourishes when teachers provide safe spaces where students can pursue interest-driven projects or self-directed opportunities. In order to feel authentic and natural, learning should be interactive and as hands-on as possible. Learning is messy! Give students room to make mistakes, experiment, and reflect on their experiences. Students should be allowed to delve into the process of developing a question or identifying a problem and seeing it through to completion. Make them care about what they are doing and why, and perhaps they’ll learn without even realizing they are learning. We will never escape the need to teach traditional, foundational skills, but we should always attempt to find ways for every student to explore their own interests within the library.

 If we are committed to following the digital road we must also be committed to promoting the rights and responsibilities of digital citizenship. Students need to know how to keep their information safe on the web and how to use Creative Commons. They also need to know how to collaborate with people they will never meet in person (random example!) and how to deal with internet trolls. As we teach students to use technology we should still feel compelled to teach them how to function without it. What does one do when the wi-fi signal is lost or the tablet runs out of battery life? As teachers and librarians it is our duty to ensure that kids can cope in the absence of electronic devices and apps that organize information for them. We must also be prepared to acknowledge that we don’t always know how the technology works. Cursive might be a dying art, but critical thinking will never go out of style (although Alexa is getting a little too smart for my liking…).

 My colleagues provided me with some wonderful points to ponder for this week’s synthesis. Since our discussions took place via Flipgrid during week one, I thought I would try a more visual presentation style. I chose to use smore, which I had never used before. I found it intuitive, and the templates provided are easy to manipulate. This was great for me, since I have virtually no graphic design sense. The format wasn’t quite as visual as I would have liked, but I hope viewers find it more visually stimulating than a series of plain old paragraphs!
 

Welcome to our class blog for the Fall 2017 Rutgers School of Communication and Information Emerging Literacies: Learning and Creating with Digital Youth Class. This semester the class is numbered and identified as 599 Special Topics IV, but it will become 515 after this semester, so we are using the hashtag #RU515 for all Twitter postings. Each week, one member of the class will be responsible for leadership in the Canvas discussion forum and for creatively synthesizing the week's learning here in this blog. We look forward to your weekly postings! And, of course, you are welcome to respond to classmates' syntheses in the comments.