Hodak-Saunders LIBE477: January 2019

Sunday, January 27, 2019

Reading Review: Part C

RESEARCH SYNOPSIS

Using the collection of files and links from Part B, consider your research experience and share your thoughts with the learning group via your blog. How many articles did you find? What is their relevance to your issue, interest, or opportunity? How was your topic discussed in the literature? Did you find an absence of literature pertaining to your topic? What are the key learnings and takeaways that you have generated through this deeper exploration into your topics of interest?

Overall I found there were a lot of resources available on digital literacy and digital citizenship. I did find it somewhat difficult to find recent journal articles that focused on digital citizenship at the elementary level. Because technology and the way we consume information is constantly changing, I didn’t use sources that were over ten years old for this exploration. Although I didn’t find a lot of journal articles on digital citizenship for elementary students, I did find a lot of blog posts as well as practical resources on digital literacy.

In fact, there were so many resources that I felt a little overwhelmed initially and wasn’t sure where to start because digital literacy is a huge topic. However, the process of searching for resources helped me narrow down my focus because I ended up breaking down my research into three categories – sources of reference, sources for further research and sources for future planning. After doing this, I now feel like I have a starting point. By exploring what I termed the ‘sources of reference’ including BC’s Digital Literacy Framework, the ISTE Standards for Students and the NCTE’s 21^st Century Competencies, I feel like I have a better grasp on what areas are encompassed within digital literacy.

In BC’s Digital Literacy Framework document, Digital Literacy is defined as “the interest, attitude and ability of individuals to use digital technology and communication tools appropriately to access, manage, integrate, analyze and evaluate information, construct new knowledge, and create and communicate with others” (p.1). After exploring my ‘sources for further research,’ one of my biggest takeaways from Miller’s blog post “Beyond Rules of Engagement” and Casa-Todd’s article “Reflections on Digital Citizenship” is that we need to teach digital literacy and digital citizenship throughout the year by incorporating these lessons in our everyday teaching rather than teaching a series of lessons and moving on.

As Richardson points out, “Access doesn’t automatically come with an ability to use the Web well. We aren’t suddenly self-directed, organized, and literate enough to make sense of all the people and information online — or savvy enough to connect and build relationships with others in safe, ethical, and effective ways” (2012, pp. 169-171). Similarly, ISTE CEO Richard Culatta points out that if we want to teach students to use technology to improve their community and distinguish fact from fiction, we need to teach them in context so they need to learn these skills not just in a physical space but also in a virtual space.

Rethinking Digital Citizenship

In order to integrate instruction on digital literacy and digital citizenship into our regular routine, I think making global connections would be a valuable experience for students because this provides the opportunity for students to recognize how these skills are crucial to communicating online. According to Richardson (2012), “the potential for all of us to learn from, and with, real experts in whatever subject we might be studying has never been greater” (pp. 443-444). In addition, I liked how Casa-Todd (2013) and Couros (2013) suggested we need to focus on teaching students to become digital leaders using social media to share their learning with an authentic audience and reach out to others in an attempt to improve the lives of others.

As I think about teaching digital literacy, I plan to refer to my ‘sources for future planning’ because while I have taught digital literacy in the past, a lot has changed in the last few years. I am particularly interested in exploring Mozilla’s Web Literacy because I’ve explored several lessons from Common Sense previously and I’m curious about the elementary level lessons available through Mozilla. I am also interested in teaching students research and information literacy skills. I plan to read more about fake news and ways to teach elementary students the skills to distinguish fake news from real news. While I want students to learn to recognize fake news and find information on their own, I would still like to create a site where students can go to access useful links for research because I am often working on inquiry projects with grade 2/3 students who are learning to research information for the first time.

References

Casa-Todd, J. (2013). Reflections on Digital Citizenship. Teacher Librarian, 45(3), 15-18.

Couros, A., & Hildebrandt, K. (2018, September 26). How to We Teach Students to Identify Fake News? [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://www.edcan.ca/articles/teach-students-identify-fake-news/

Couros, G. (2013, January 7). Digital Leadership Defined [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://georgecouros.ca/blog/?s=Digital+leadership+defined

Culatta, R. (2018). Rethinking Digital Citizenship [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/learn/digital-citizenship

C21 Canada. (2012). Shifting Minds: A 21^st Century Vision of Public Education for Canada, 1-40. Retrieved from www.c21canada.org

Filucci, S. (2017, March 20). How to Spot Fake News (and Teach Kids to be Media-Savvy) [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/how-to-spot-fake-news-and-teach-kids-to-be-media-savvy

Government of British Columbia. (n.d.). Digital Literacy Framework. Retrieved from the Digital Literacy website: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/k-12/teach/teaching-tools/digital-literacy?keyword=digital&keyword=literacy&keyword=standards

ISTE. (2016). ISTE Standards for Students. Retrieved from http://www2.ncte.org/statement/21stcentdefinition/

ISTE. (2017, November 2). Today’s News: Real or Fake [Infographic]. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=2093&category=Digital-and-media-literacy&article=Today%27s+news%3a+Real+or+fake%3f+%5bInfographic%5d

Krueger, N. (2017, November 29). Teaching Digital Literacy in a New Era of Skepticism [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/explore/Digital-and-media-literacy/Teaching-digital-literacy-in-a-new-era-of-skepticism

MediaSmarts. (2016). Use, Understand & Create: A Digital Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools. Retrieved from http://mediasmarts.ca/teacher-resources/digital-literacy-framework/use-understand-create-digital-literacy-framework-canadian-schools-overview

Miller, J. (2018, November 28). Beyond Rules of Engagement [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://www.edcan.ca/articles/beyond-rules-of-engagement/?utm_source=hootsuite&utm_medium=&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=

Mozilla. (2016). Web Literacy. Retrieved from https://learning.mozilla.org/en-US/web-literacy/

National Council of Teachers of English. (2013). The NCTE Definition of 21st Century Literacies. Retrieved from http://www2.ncte.org/statement/21stcentdefinition/

National Council of Teachers of English. (2013). NCTE Framework for 21^st Century Curriculum and Assessment. Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/governance/21stcenturyframework

Pilgrim, J., & Martinez, E. (2018, February 28). Media Literacy Starts with SEARCHing the Internet [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=2138&category=Digital-and-media-literacy&article=Media+literacy+starts+with+SEARCHing+the+internet

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

Richardson, W. (2011, March). TEDxNYED - Will Richardson [Video file]. Retrieved from https://premierespeakers.com/will_richardson

Roquet, M. (2018). What Happens Now? Computers in Libraries, 38(2), 34-36.

Snelling, J. (2018, August 2). 10 Resources to Boost Student Media Literacy [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/explore/Digital-and-media-literacy/10-resources-to-boost-student-media-literacy

Zumpano, N. (2017, December 27). 5 Things Students Should Do to Stay Safe and Secure Online [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=2127&category=Digital-and-media-literacy&article=5+things+students+should+do+to+stay+safe+and+secure+online

Sunday, January 20, 2019

Reading Review: Part B

LITERATURE RESEARCH AND DATA COLLECTION

Collect, link and publish descriptions of about 3-5 different resources that you have found useful in better understanding your topic(s) from Part A. This blog post will review and highlight the resources as potential citations for your more detailed explorations later in the course.

Once I started searching for sources on digital literacy, I realized there is a lot of information online on this topic. I decided to break down my research into three categories – sources of reference, sources for further research and sources for future planning.

A. SOURCES OF REFERENCE

I found these sources to be useful in understanding 21^st century competencies and digital literacy.

BC’s Digital Literacy Framework

The ISTE Standards for Students

NCTE’s 21st Century Literacies Framework

C21 Canada’s 21st Century Competencies

MediaSmarts’ Digital Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools

B. SOURCES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

For now, I am going to focus on this section because I want to better understand digital literacy and be able to share my knowledge with others. I spent some time watching TEDx videos, reading articles and blog posts and these were the sources that stood out to me most.

1. Richardson, W. (2011, March). TEDxNYED - Will Richardson [Video file]. Retrieved from https://premierespeakers.com/will_richardson

Richardson’s TEDx presentation has a similar focus to his book Why School? He suggests that the way students learn has change so the way we teach needs to change. According to Richardson, many schools have become test prep, which takes away from imagination, creativity and initiative. He suggests that since students can access information online whenever they need it, we should be helping them find their passions rather than having them memorize facts for a test. According to Richardson (2011), schools should focus on deep inquiry, helping students to collaborate globally and solve real world problems so that students can become life long learners. I chose this video because, like Richardson, I see the potential to facilitate global connections and deep learning through the use of technology.

2. Miller, J. (2018, November 28). Beyond Rules of Engagement [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://www.edcan.ca/articles/beyond-rules-of-engagement/?utm_source=hootsuite&utm_medium=&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=

According to Miller (2018), we need to foster an understanding of “healthy Internet uses” rather than limiting use and focussing only on rules and avoiding online threats (para 2-3). He suggests that rather than blocking content, we should focus on how students use the Internet and establish “a culture of appropriate use” (2018, para. 5-6). I chose this blog post because, like Richardson, Miller talks about the potential opportunities to connect with others around the world. While the opportunities are great, I agree that we still need to teach digital citizenship but we need to embed our discussions into everyday learning rather than teaching a digital citizenship unit and then moving on (para. 12).

3. Casa-Todd, J. (2013). Reflections on Digital Citizenship. Teacher Librarian, 45(3), 15-18.

Casa-Todd focuses on how we can model how social media can be used for good and to inspire change. Like Miller, she suggests digital citizenship shouldn’t be a unit where we complete a series of lessons and then we’re done (p. 15). Rather than focussing on cybersafety as our main goal, Casa-Todd suggests we need to “empower students to be social media leaders so that they may develop more positive digital identities” (2013, p. 15). I agree with this because while we want our students to be safe, we need to teach students how to navigate these technologies in context rather than by always telling them what not to do.

According to Casa-Todd, “The best way to see a transfer of learning is by embracing the use of social media as opportunities for students to learn how to behave online” (2013, p. 16). By exposing them to social media, students will learn how to express themselves, practice what appropriate commenting looks like and learn to evaluate news they see on social media by comparing it with more credible sources (Casa-Todd, p. 17). In addition, we can teach students to become digital leaders, to use social media to share their learning with an authentic audience, to reach out to experts and connect with other young people with similar passions and others who want to make a difference (Casa-Todd, p. 17).

Similarly, Couros (2013) suggests that rather than focussing on the rules of digital citizenship, we focus on digital leadership which he defines as “[u]sing the vast reach of technology (especially the use of social media) to improve the lives, well-being, and circumstances of others” (para. 2). He posts this video as an example of something good that can come from social media.

Couros, G. (2013, January 7). Digital Leadership Defined [Blog Post]. Retrieved from

https://georgecouros.ca/blog/?s=Digital+leadership+defined

4. Krueger, N. (2017, November 29). Teaching Digital Literacy in a New Era of Skepticism [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=2104&category=Digital-and-media-literacy&article=Teaching+digital+literacy+in+a+new+era+of+skepticism

According to Krueger (2017), in order to help students achieve the ISTE Standards for Students, media literacy programs should help students identify fake news by questioning their initial reaction to the news. She references ISTE’s Infographic “Today’s News: Real or Fake,” in which “3 in 4 students can’t distinguish between real and fake news on Facebook” and “ Fewer than 1 in 3 students are sceptical of biased news sources” (ISTE, 2017).

ISTE (2017, November 2). Today’s News: Real or Fake [Infographic]. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=2093&category=Digital-and-media-literacy&article=Today%27s+news%3a+Real+or+fake%3f+%5bInfographic%5d

I chose this blog post because while I want to focus on the potential good that can come from using the Internet and exposing students to social media, I think it is important for students to practice identifying fake news.

5. Roquet, M. (2018). What Happens Now? Computers in Libraries, 38(2), 34-36.

According to Roquet (2018), “Too much of what we teach as information literacy skills prepares students for an information landscape that has passed” (p. 34). He suggests that instead of teaching our students to check the “About” page of a website, we need to teach them to open another tab and check the information by performing a Google search or even visiting Wikipedia (p. 36). I already suggest this to my students, but what I hadn’t really considered when analyzing news articles is what Roquet terms the “personalized news ecosystem” (p.34). He suggests that because we read posts from people we follow and or from Google News or other apps which track our behaviour, much of the news we are reading reflects our current opinions and interests (p. 34). Thus, this “reinforces our existing beliefs and biases and makes it difficult to make smart decisions about what information we ingest” (Roquet, 2018, p. 34). While a lot of Roquet’s article focuses on the politics associated with fake news, I chose this article because although I visit various news sites and listen to the radio for news, I know a lot of young people who do rely on social media for news so this would be an important teaching point.

C. SOURCES FOR FUTURE PLANNING

When planning future lessons for my students, I would like to explore the Web Literacy framework created by Mozilla, which outlines competencies required to read, write and participate on the Internet.

In addition, I would like to explore the following resources on effective Internet searches, Internet safety and fake news.

Couros, A., & Hildebrandt, K. (2018, September 26). How to We Teach Students to Identify Fake News? [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://www.edcan.ca/articles/teach-students-identify-fake-news/

Mozilla. (2016). Web Literacy. Retrieved from https://learning.mozilla.org/en-US/web-literacy/

Snelling, J. (2018, August 2). 10 Resources to Boost Student Media Literacy [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=942&category=Digital-and-media-literacy&article=10+resources+to+boost+student+media+literacy