What is Digital Literacy?
A Think-Pair-Share starter activity
STEP 1 | THINK (and write)
Take 1-2 minutes and jot down some ideas/responses to the either (or both) of the following questions:
- What does it mean to be digitally literate? (i.e., What is digital literacy?)
- What does digital literacy or digital creativity look like in your discipline/field?
Be sure to write down or type out your responses. While sentences are preferred, these can be in note form at this juncture.
STEP 2 | PAIR (and discuss)
Find a partner (or work in groups of 3), and take 2-3 minutes to discuss your responses.
STEP 3 | SHARE (report out)
Be prepared to share (and explain) your take-aways or key conversational points with the full group
What is Digital Literacy?
Digital literacy comprises knowledge, skills, capacities, and even attitudes that enable and empower individuals to flourish in an increasingly digital world--and to do so in ways that are safe and appropriate to their cultures and contexts (geography, age, etc.). But there are a range of related concepts that start to push and pull at the depths and problems we are facing in digitally-saturated world:
- digital competency
- digital skills
- data literacy
- information literacy
- AI literacies / GenAI literacies
- digital fluency
- digital agility
So, perhaps the question isn't "What is Digital Literacy" but rather WHY do these (or should these) collection of concepts & considerations matter to us?
College to Career Readiness
Students Facing a Transformative Job Market
- New Career Types/Tracks: 85% of all jobs available by 2030 will be positions/careers non-existent prior to 2020 (Institute for the Future 2017; World Economic Forum 2018)
- Landing the Position: "Soft Skills" remain top priority in hiring practices, but these are increasingly digitally inflected: digital communication, digital collaboration, digital creativity, digital problem-solving (see Petrone 2019; Marr 2022; World Economic Forum 2023)
"Increasingly, however, emerging technologies such as generative AI are reshaping workforce demands and employers are placing greater emphasis on 'soft' skills - World Economic Forum - The Future of Jobs Report 2023 (44)
Responsibility in Education
- INCLUSIVITY - The digital divide is most pronounced across issues of Race, Gender, and Class. When we fail to integrate digital literacy into higher education, we create double-jeopardy digital inequity (McLay & Reyes, 2019): a process by which we unintentionally widen that gap.
- ENGAGEMENT - Bringing digital literacy/digital creativity practices in the classroom has a positive impact on student engagement, performance, and retention. This is even more pronounced (nearly 2 times more) for BIPOC and first generation students (Civitas, Adobe, and UT San Antonio, 2020).
- ACCOUNTABILITY - In a recent survey, over 80% of Students, Faculty, and Administrators agree/strongly agree that teaching digital literacy skills should be part of the curriculum (Chronicle of Higher Ed, 2022).
Empowering Student Success
- When we give students the opportunity to learn digital literacy skills and new media authoring practices, we quite literally expand their capacities for expression. This helps students not only to tell better stories but, more importantly, take on greater (or different) degrees of agency.
- When we invite students to create with digital technologies, we give them access to course content, ideas, and practices in new ways. This is not only a matter of what they might make (i.e., a podcast), but fundamentally how they might engage a given course’s content.
- When working in and across digital modalities, students can have meaningful success outside traditional modes of academic discourse. This is especially important for DEI efforts, including 1st gen, non-traditional, and international students, for many of whom traditional academic discourse can be a major hurdle if not insurmountable barrier.
- When creating digital "things," students actively want to share their work. There is a sort of built-in public-facing condition when making digital things that creates a sense of a real world audience: i.e., real people in the world reading, hearing, viewing, scrolling through, interacting with the work. Digital creators, students and faculty alike, see and feel the reality of that persistent digital audience condition, adding a dimension not present in most other traditional course assignments.
A few sample projects
- Caitlin Alexander (IUB) - Names. Because One Just Isn't Enough [Archive Research Project]
- Rachel Yoakum (IUB) - Fear is Contagious: Is Aids? [PSA/Video Argument]
- Chloe Lambert (IUB) - Fabulous Scroll [Image as Social Commentary]
- Carolyn Ciolfi (IUB) - Mental Health on College Campuses [Multimedia Research Project]
Accessing Ideas in New Ways
Mia Freeman - Digital Monument to the History of Medicine
Project deliverables were created using Minecraft EDU & Adobe Express & Adobe Rush
NOTE: Additional student projects can be found below
Reimagining Course Models
This course (inspired by the work of Mia Freeman [see above]) brings together Active Learning and Digital literacy practices, leverages partnerships with IU Archives, UITS, Adobe, and Minecraft EDU, and uses a lead instructor/graduate student apprentice model to create a one-of-a-kind learning experience.
Why GenAI Literacies Matter?
- 75% of employers now prioritize AI-related skills (including in non-technical roles) (SF Chronicle)
- When hiring, more than 60% of employers prioritize AI skills over experience when hiring (Microsoft 2024 World Trend Report)
- 86% of faculty believe AI literacy improves job prospects (SF Chronicle)
The future workforce won’t be about humans vs. AI. It will be about humans who know how to use AI.
Sources: Digital Education Council, Ellucian, Inside HigherEd
"AI is not the enemy of education—it’s the catalyst for its evolution."
How many of you have used AI?
How many feel confident using AI in teaching?
- 84% of professionals use AI in personal or professional lives
- 61% utilize AI for both personal and professional purposes
- Saved faculty up to 40% of course preparation time
- 65% of faculty analyze student data using AI
- Only 14% of faculty feel confident using AI in teaching
Faculty need to become AI Enabled Mentors
- AI for role-playing and skill demonstration
- AI as a teaching assistant (assist with grading, improve student writing quality, generate discussion prompts, adapt course materials dynamically)
- AI for tutoring and/or functioning as a learning aid
- AI as personalized chatbot for course
AI can be an Amplifier for Faculty, Not a Replacement
Creating a Case Study
- Teacher Prompt: "You are teaching an undergraduate level course in the School of Education. You need to create a case study for your students to engage with and analyze. Please provide a sample case study of a classroom experience. Make sure there are discussion-worthy elements (i.e., a disruptive student or something else that does not go as planned during the class)."
Nursing Care Plan - A Student/ChatGPT conversation
Remedation: From Paper to Podcast
I used Notebook LM to turn my article, "Gaming Pedagogy: Course Design as Play in World of Warcraft," into a 15min podcast.
Additional Resources
Digital Gardener AI/GenAI Web Series - webinars are open to the public.
GenAI Essentials Skills course @ IU Expand
Additional Student Digital Projects
Multimedia Essays (Express Webpages)
- History of Vaccines (Digital monument) | Mia Freeman (IUB)
- The Crossroads of Indiana University | Ryan Canfield (IUB)
Journal/Magazine Articles: Research-based Writing
- A Hoosier's Home | Noah Benson (IUB)
- Scientific Tarheel (ENG 105 Class) | Tiffany Friedman (UNC)
Image Engagements: Infographics/Composites/Posters
- Plastination: Unlock a World of Post-Mortem Possibility | Hannah Moreno (UT Austin)
- Unhoused Poster Project (Reno) | Julia Regan, Celest Castellanos, & Hannah Buchell (UN Reno)
Audio/Podcast Engagements
- Podcast on Collins LLC | Kaia Wells (IUB)
- Sweet Interruption | David Bistline (UT Austin)
Video Engagements
- Role of a Step Parent | Keyshawna Fields (Winston-Salem State University)
- Picture Perfect (a remix) | Andrew Williams (IUB)
Thanks for listening!
Credits:
Created with images by SVETLANA - "Minecraft cubes made of plastic. Two brown minecraft cubes with glowing Windows" • 69'Continental - "Abstract dotted vector background. Halftone effect. Modern background" • 69'Continental - "Abstract dotted vector background. Halftone effect. Modern background" • 69'Continental - "Abstract dotted vector background. Halftone effect. Modern background" • 69'Continental - "Abstract dotted vector background. Halftone effect. Modern background" • 69'Continental - "Abstract dotted vector background. Halftone effect. Modern background" • 69'Continental - "Abstract dotted vector background. Halftone effect. Modern background" • 69'Continental - "Abstract dotted vector background. Halftone effect. Modern background" • 69'Continental - "Abstract dotted vector background. Halftone effect. Modern background" • 69'Continental - "Abstract dotted vector background. Halftone effect. Modern background"