Gavin Dudeney

Gavin Dudeney

1. Digital Literacy Primer

   • A focus on redesign
     • (remix literacy)
       • To create something new, often to striking effect. This may refer, for example, to the trend for making 'literal versions' of music videos, or the doctoring of digital images to create memes such as lolcats. Understanding 'remix' is crucial to an understanding of media.
   • A focus on connections
     • They may include blogs (personal literacy) and wikis (participatory), as well as social networks such as Facebook (network). In such spaces users not only write about themselves and their lives, but also participate in wide social groupings that transcend geographical, religious and ethnic boundaries (intercultural literacy).
     • (personal, participatory, network and intercultural literacies)
   • A focus on language
     • (print and texting literacies, mobile, gaming, hypertext, code)
       • Print literacy is a familiar typology, texting literacy remains the domain of regular mobile phone users and is much maligned in educational circles for the supposedly negative effect it is having on literacy.
       • Gaming literacy: The ability to understand and work with games and game-like systems
       • Hypertext literacy :The ability to navigate complex sets of linked information,.
       • Code literacy: The ability to manipulate and change data, rather than simply consuming it.
   • A focus on information
     • (search, information and tagging literacies)
       • 3 of the most important literacies for any learner to acquire - the ability not only to find information amongst the mass of sites and sources afforded by technologies, but also to evaluate that information and to store it for later retrieval. These literacies are key to success in any of the other areas.

2. 21st Century Skills & Digital Literacy in Action

   • Critical thinking and problem solving
     • Information literacy involves learners considering sources of information in terms of their veracity, appropriateness and usefulness, gaming literacy invites learners to think about situations and dilemmas (from different points of view, from logistical to moral) and to solve problems before being able to move forward in gameplay, and code literacy teaches both logic and troubleshooting skills as learners acquire the skills they need to make technology work for them, in a constructive and creative manner.
       • Typical activities: ‘modern traditional’ activities such as web treasure hunts and webquests (http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/webquests) are particularly suited here, as are online games and apps which involve problem solving or scenario-based decision making, printed or e-readers and mazes in the format of ‘choose your own adventure’ readers (e.g. http://www.richmondelt.com/international/series/details?id=43).
   • Collaboration & Communication
     • personal literacy might incorporate ways of communicating with the outside world and of expressing oneself, whilst participatory literacy suggests working as part of a group or collaborating on distance produced content, taking part in discussions and group work, working towards a common goal.
       • Typical activities: keeping a blog (https://edublogs.org/), distance projects and collaborative content creation (http://www.britishcouncil.org/etwinning), email or online chat-mediated penpal exchanges (http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/penpals.asp), live chats between geographically-separated groups, Skype chat,
   • Creativity & Imagination
     • literacies such as multimedia literacy, with its concentration on multimodal content creation, or remix, where proponents not only combine and manipulate media, but subvert it at the same time.
       • Typical activities: activities which involve audio (e.g. https://audioboom.com/) and video creation or editing (https://slidepresenter.com/en/present-me-special/), poster design (https://www.canva.com/create/posters/), collaborative or individual story-writing (https://www.google.co.uk/docs/about/), image collections (https://www.flickr.com/) or video libraries (https://www.youtube.com/?gl=GB) also fit nicely into this category.
   • Citizenship
     • Digital literacies which might fold into the 21st century skill of citizenship include remix as a way of expressing values, political opinions or points of view, (inter)cultural literacy with its emphasis on the meeting of minds, countries, opinions and cultures, and participatory literacy, with a focus on working together and taking part in action or activism. It should be noted, however, that this is an area which will require a good deal of care and local knowledge if it is to be implemented safely and productively.
       • Typical activities: activities which involve research and evaluation of opinions, exploring critical issues (http://gisig.iatefl.org/elesson-inspirations) – both global and local, intercultural projects and exchanges and anything that encourages learners to examine their place on the planet, and some of the issues that affect that place.
   • Student Leadership & Personal Development
     • This might include personal, participatory and network literacies from the ‘focus on connections’ area, and might even extend to literacies in the ‘focus on information’ area, with activities aimed at researching and extending knowledge and learning.
       • Typical activities: activities involving personal development might concentrate on blogging (see above) or other types or reflective activity, as well as opportunities for personal and professional development through the reading of blogs, journals and other online sources of learning, and even study opportunities in the form of MOOCs (https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/explore-english-language-culture) or similar. Student leadership might be encouraged through the use of discussion fora or other collaborative areas where roles are fluid and constantly changing (http://wenger- trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/).