Tag Archives: digital access

03/20/21

Vision of the Future: Developing Digital Literacy Skills within a LLC Program

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(La Trobe University, 2010)

Earlier this term, while working as a teacher-librarian, a social studies teacher shared with me an assignment where students were studying a variety of protests across the world.  I pulled together vetted resources from news websites, databases, encyclopedias, video and podcast sources to support this assignment.  A few days later, I was asked to gather a research hub of material to support a science class. In both cases this was for junior classes and designed to guide students in the right direction for gathering resources for their research projects.

My research gathering for these assignments fell at the same time I was working on the LIBE 477 blog looking for key words for our first assignment. I kept circling back to the broad term of digital literacy.  As I collected material, I wondered if students were developing the skills they need to be able to pull resources together if asked?  Would they struggle to locate material? Would they select credible resources? Often as TLs, we pull books, bookmark indexed topics and guide students through their research queries and this is a part of the job I love.  This supports students and classroom teachers by condensing research time and supports subjects with assignments at hand.  I still wonder, however, if our LLC program could do more to support students with the discovery process of acquiring resources when faced with a research query.  Are they developing the necessary digital literacy skills?

I mulled these questions over earlier in the term after reading Will Richardson’s book Why School, specifically the chapter, “Our kids are illiterate”.  After some feedback working with teachers, it was clear to me that students would benefit in developing digital literacy skills.  Learning how to navigate topics and knowing where to find material that would best support their research challenges a number of our students.   It felt like a great opportunity to frame developing this skill within our library learning commons program for my vision of the future assignment.

Our LLC does an orientation with grade 8 students in September.  This is an introduction and exploration of the space, resources and services.  For my vision of the future assignment, I plan to create a mid-year booster to the orientation.  This booster will be a unit designed around developing digital literacy skills which will focus on the strands:

        • Create
        • Understand
        • Use
        • Access

(Media Smarts, n.d.)

My unit will explore elements of digital citizenship where using technology safely and responsibly will be promoted.  I will delve into how to find digital resources using our databases, encyclopedias and Focused Education digital bundle.  The unit will explore: where to start, using keyword searches and how to narrow which resource is best? I will also explore how to identify “fake news”, teach students CRAAP detection and how to evaluate a website.  I plan to develop a toolbox for students to learn from.  This toolbox will include interactive lessons that we can pull from and include video demonstration clips through Screencastify.

As I am developing this project, I am developing it to be thematically connected by the topic of digital literacy, but my lessons are standalone per topic.  This will enable short mini lessons or longer library block flexibility.  I am cognizant that developing this toolbox does not necessarily mean it will get used in its entirety.  It will however, give me options to share, with subject teachers, ideas for boosting digital literary skills that works best for their subject areas.

Digital Literacy “is 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” (Martin, A.,  2005, p. 135).

Works Cited:

eCampus News.  (2019).  “College Educated Adults Get an F in Digital Literacy”. [Image].  Retrieved 20 March 2021 from: https://www.ecampusnews.com/2019/07/02/college-educated-adults-get-an-f-in-digital-literacy/

Heick, Terry. (n.d.).  Teachthought: 4 Principles of Digital Literacy. [image].  Retrieved 20 March 2021 from: https://www.teachthought.com/literacy/4-principals-of-digital-literacy/

La Trobe University. (2010).  Why Can’t I Just Google? Retrieved on 20 March 2021 from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N39mnu1Pkgw.

Martin, A. (2005). “DigEuLit – A European Framework for Digital Literacy: A Progress Report.” Journal of E-Literacy. Vol 2.

Media Smarts. (n.d). Digital Literacy Fundamentals.  Retrieved 18 March 2021 from: https://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy/general-information/digital-media-literacy-fundamentals/digital-literacy-fundamentals

Richardson, W. (2012). Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere. TED Conferences. Kindle Edition.

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01/23/21

Exploring Digital Technologies within a School Library Program

 

My keyword generation for my first LIBE 477 blog assignment was centered on the use of digital technologies within a school library program. I had a rough idea based on my current teaching assignment of the areas where technology integration in our library program might benefit from me investigating. I work in a secondary school part-time as a teacher-librarian/film teacher.  With the current pandemic and necessity for some courses to ‘go online’ or use a hybrid learning approach, there has been an increased demand from teachers that require technology to record lesson intros, demonstrate interactive video learning tasks, etc.  Our library learning commons has seen so much interest in this area that we have considered increasing our technology expenditures on portable microphones and webcams.

My initial thinking with this assignment and task was to look at how audio tools for recording and editing could be maximized beyond teacher tools but rather be incorporated to our makerspace and promoted within our library program.  My initial inquiry was centered around the question – how can audio technology promote literacy?   Could I create lendable kits that would facilitate producing online learning/teaching resources, podcasting, oral storytelling, video-conferencing, voiceovers, speeches or even radio plays?  Better yet, could I partition some of the existing makerspace to create a controlled acoustic environment like a sound room?  I still think that this is an area I’d like to investigate more, but through my inquiry, I encountered new ideas and there were a number of other keywords that generated my interest.

Keywords Generated:
  • Digital Wellness
  • Digital Literacy
  • Media Literacy
  • Inspiration lab & creation stations
  • Online Library Learning Commons
  • Digital Access

Most of the above keywords have some sort of crossover and all can tie directly to curriculum and a library program. What jumped out to me the most in my searches when integrating technology was the importance of promoting digital wellness.

Digital Wellness emphasizes on the following strands:

  • Well-being – maintaining balance
  • Digital citizenship – fostering “responsible, ethical, honest, and litera(cy) in today’s digital world.” (WOSU, 2021)
  • Etiquette – promoting positive online exchange
  • Safety – safe online practice and protecting what we share.

These ideas can be reinforced throughout projects utilizing technology and beyond.  Our library program works hard to ensure safety and etiquette are incorporated as students navigate within the digital realm, but digital citizenship and well-being are areas that I would like to explore more.

Media Literacy:  promotes critical evaluation, creation and manipulation of media.  As media literacy encompasses a variety of mediums, I would like to learn more about how audio mediums can be used to promote literacy.  Curricular areas such as English, Languages, Social Studies and Drama could benefit from a broader inclusion of audio mediums in the LLC as courses explore topics with spoken language, storytelling, radio plays.

Digital Literacy: “is 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” (Martin, A.,  2005, p. 135).  The broad definition encompasses elements of other keywords on my list such as digital wellness as well as components of media literacy and much more.

Inspiration Lab & Creation Stations: are new terms to me that I discovered in my search about audiovisual elements within a makerspace. Vancouver Public Library offers inspiration labs “dedicated to digital creativity, collaboration and storytelling” (VPL, 2021) and I was very intrigued by their design. Our library learning commons already lends green screens out of our makerspace.  We haven’t tapped into video production, as this is done through our film department.  Though we are looking at acquiring more equipment facilitate videoconferencing and recording on devices, we haven’t looked at this outside of teacher use to facilitate lesson delivery.  The concept of inspiration labs and creation station as part of a makerspace is something I hadn’t fully considered.  Whilst the VPL model is more technologically advanced than what our school community would need, there are elements that can be drawn from this that would elevate a high school makerspace.

Online Library Learning Commons: currently our online profile is the space where students and teachers can go to find the catalogue, encyclopedias and databases.  I am curious how our online presence can be broadened.  From social media usage for community engagement to creating online collaborative workspaces, I feel that there is more within this topic to be explored.  Could there be a landing page for podcasts for example?  Our online library learning commons is very much a search, find, locate and leave space, which differs immensely from our physical space.  An area that I would love to explore is bringing our online space into more alignment with our LLC philosophy that fosters community engagement.

Digital Access: ties into ideas about fostering online community engagement with our LLC.   As technology expands, the ability for all members of our school community to participate digitally must lead our thinking.  I included it as a keyword because the reality of expanding digital technologies might require different ways for lending and even skills-based teaching.  Such as, adjusting open hours to enable access and offering overnight device lending.  Further tutorial/booster sessions might need developing to ensure accessibility and ease of use for new technology to support both staff and students.

Works Cited:

Martin, A. (2005). “DigEuLit – A European Framework for Digital Literacy: A Progress Report.” Journal of E-Literacy. Vol 2.

Media Smarts. (n.d). Digital Literacy Fundamentals.  Retrieved from https://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy/general-information/digital-media-literacy-fundamentals/digital-literacy-fundamentals

Vancouver Public Library. (2021) Inspiration Lab.  Retrieved from https://www.vpl.ca/inspirationlab

WOSU Public Media. (2021) Digital Wellness. Retrieved from https://wosu.org/classroom/digital-wellness/

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