Reflections on 21st Century Learning- LIBE477B Reading Review Part B

While digital literacy is essential in preparing our students for tomorrow’s world, the term digital literacy encompasses a great many things.  The BC Ministry of Education’s Digital Literacy Framework, in line with those presented by the National Council of English Teachers (NCTE) and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), outlines the following digital literacies:

• Research and Information Literacy: Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information
• Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making: Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources
• Creativity and Innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology
• Digital Citizenship: Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior
• Communication and Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others
• Technology Operations and Concepts: Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. 

While all these literacies are important in developing digitally literate citizens, I am most interested in research and information literacy, critical thinking, problem solving and decision making, as well as creativity and innovation. I have also recently been interested in students using digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively.

I would like to begin with discovering ways to help both teachers and students become adept at critically assessing online information.  While analyzing or evaluating print resources has always been a part of the curriculum of the English language arts, critically thinking about online information may require additional skills that neither teachers nor students may be familiar with.  As a teacher-librarian, I hope to assist with the development of those skills.  There are an overwhelming number of resources I’ve identified that may help me to develop in this area. Alverman et al.'s book Popular Culture in the Classroom: Teaching and Researching Media Literacy is a good introduction to the topic, while Heather Jagman and Troy Swanson's Not Just Where to Click: Teaching Students How to Think About Information and Information Literacy and Libraries in the Age of Fake News edited by Denise Agosto are directed towards librarians. Both Frank Baker's book Close Reading the Media and Cyndy Schiebe's book The Teacher's Guide to Media Literacy offer practical lessons for critically evaluating various real world media.  In addition, Alexandra Kaklamanos' article  "Language Arts with a Focus on Media: Facilitating Student's Entry in the World of Literacy" is useful for English Teachers.

·         Using digital technologies to personalize learning and encourage creativity and innovation will no doubt increase student engagement in the curriculum. In particular, I am interested in the use of e-Portfolios to showcase student learning and encourage “deep learning.”  As a general guide to using e-portfolios in the library and classroom, I thought that Linda Cooper's article "Electronic portfolios to support the growth of digital identities in the school library" would be a good place to start as it offers examples of e-portfolios at different grade levels.  I am also interested in the idea of e-portfolios from the perspective of the student; how useful do they find it as assessment and self-reflection, and as a way to learn digital literacies?  For this reason, I think the article "Engagement with Electronic Portfolios: Challenges from the Student Perspective" by David Tosh et al. would provide a useful perspective.

Since the last assignment/blog post, the idea of “flipped” and “blended” learning has re-entered my radar. While I first encountered these terms when first developing my Personal Learning Network (PLN) on Twitter (I follow the excellent twitter and blog of Caitlin Tucker), my interest was re-engaged when reading the New Media Consortium’s Horizon Report 2012. They identified flipped or blended learning as a key trend that is emerging in education: “Education paradigms are shifting to include online learning, hybrid learning and collaborative models.”  As education systems must address the increased blending of formal and informal learning, I am interested in the best way to shift my own practice, as well as how to support teachers transitioning to this model of learning.  I found that Larry Cuban’s blog was very helpful in that many of the posts tagged "Technology" offered windows into classrooms where technology integration supported learning, and that these illustrated practical ideas for how to help other teachers find ways to incorporate technology to encourage meaningful learning.

·        These resources are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the subject of digital literacy. Doing a literature search on the topic of digital literacies and the abundance of articles, books and blogposts gave me a taste of how overwhelmed our students must feel as they grapple with research and information literacy!

Resources for research and information literacy:

Alvermann, Donna, Moon, Jennifer, Hagwood, Margaret. Popular Culture in the Classroom. New York: Routledge, 1999. Retrieved from https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/10.4324/9781315059327

      Baker, Frank. Close Reading the Media. New York: Routledge, 2018.  Retrieved from http://gw2jh3xr2c.search.serialssolutions.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/?sid=sersol&SS_jc=TC0001915847&title=Close%20reading%20the%20media%20%3A%20literacy%20lessons%20and%20activities%20for%20every%20month%20of%20the%20school%20year

     

      British Columbia. Ministry of Education, and British Columbia Government EBook Collection. BC's Digital Literacy Framework. Ministry of Education, Victoria, B.C, 2015. 

      Jagman, Heather, and Troy A. Swanson. Not Just Where to Click : Teaching Students How to Think About Information. Association of College and Research Libraries, 2015. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1057103&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

      Kaklamanos, Alexandra. Language Arts with a Focus on Media: Facilitating Students’ Entry in the World of Literacy. English Language Teaching. September 2009. Volume 2, Issue 3. 

     

      Schiebe, Cyndy and Rogow, F. The Teacher's Guide to Media Literacy: Critical Thinking in a Multimedia World. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin, 2012.       

   

      Resources for electronic portfolios:

       Cooper, Linda. Electronic portfolios to support the growth of digital identity in the school library. School Libraries Worldwide, v20 n2, 07/01/2014.

·       Tosh, David; Penny Light; Tracy,  Fleming; Kele and Haywood, Jeff. Engagement with Electronic Portfolios: Challenges from the Student Perspective. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, v31 n3 Fall 2005. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1073734

      Resources for flipped and blended learning: 

        Cuban, Larry. (2019). technology | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice. [online] Larrycuban.wordpress.com. Available at: https://larrycuban.wordpress.com/tag/technology/page/1/ [Accessed 17 Jan. 2019].

·       Johnson, Larry; Adams, Samantha and Cummins, M. NMC Horizon Report K-12. 2012. [online] Nmc.org. Available at: https://www.nmc.org/pdf/2012-horizon-report-K12.pdf [Accessed 17 Jan. 2019].