Digital Literacy, Faculty Development, and Generative AI Justin Hodgson | Indiana University

Framing Considerations

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)

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-jeapordy 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)

A Simple but Transformative Experience

My Digital Educator's journey begins with using video transitions to teach transitions in writing for students in Basic & Developmental Writing courses (~ Spring 2003)

Challenge:

• Choose 5 images (found online or personal images) that represent something meaningful to you
• Record yourself (voice recording) telling us your story through those five images
• Put those images in sequential order in Windows Movie Maker
• Add video transition between the images to help convey your narrative.

A Couple Reorientations

Myth of Expertise (and the Digital Native)

1. Technologies change rapidly so even "digitally inclined" faculty are always playing catch-up with industry.
2. The so-called "Digital Natives" that Mark Prensky wrote about in the early 2000s are now faculty who regularly struggle to make Zoom work correctly. "Can you see my screen?" ... "You're on mute."
3. The expert-to-student model works, of course, but there are advantages to embracing student directed learning approaches (self-learning and peer-to-peer models): i.e., this helps students form habits of practice for working in creativity technologies and learning how to learn new technologies.
4. For most instructors, the necessary 'expertise' resides elsewhere. As a writing teacher, you do not need to be an expert in video editing to recognize whether the rhetorical elements of a video are sound. Your focus is on providing guidance on the acceptable modes and means of representing knowledge, communicating ideas coherently and with impact, and on situating those expressions in ways that meet particular audience needs (whether they be rooted disciplinary oriented ways of knowing or more general appeals to pathos).

Pedagogy & Practice

When bringing digital literacy and digital creativity into the classroom, it is important to remember that the technologies are not the focus (i.e., it is not tech for tech's sake). Rather, we must remain people oriented, pedagogy focused, and purpose driven.

• What technologies are available to students?
• What kind of writing activities (from ideation to full on assignments) can students do with those technologies?
• Are there clear pedagogical values with this approach that align with course goals and student learning outcomes?
• What considerations are there for matters of access and accessibility?
• What kind of instruction will they need?
• What is your role: Expert? Coach? Co-Learner? Other?
• Are there existing resources to help orient students to the technology / assignment?

Pedagogical Transformation(s)

As instructors create space for more digital literacy and/or active learning in the classroom, some of the core policies and practices of the class may have to evolve as well to accommodate this new orientation.

Course Tokens: A gaming pedagogy approach

Tokens are a course design feature that can help lower student anxiety about course work and foster a climate committed to taking intellectual risks. They function as a form of currency (given and earned) that can be exchanged for a number of uses.

• In my courses, students start with 2 tokens and have the opportunity to earn 3-5 more based on specific course-related challenges.

Course Token Usage

• 72-hour Extension - Students can use a token for a "no questions asked" guaranteed 72 hour extension (excluding final course projects).
• Revise & Resubmit: Students can use a token to revise and resubmit any course assignment for an improved letter grade.
• Excused Absence: Students can use a token to offset an otherwise unexcused absence.
• 1% Final Grade bump: Students can use a token to receive a 1% grade final grade increase (only one token can be used in this manner).
• Collaborators' Pass: Students can use a token to turn any assignment into a collaborative project (each student involved must spend a token).

New Course Models | Digital Literacy + Active Learning (e.g., ENG-W171@IU)

This new course in the IU curriculum was co-created by Justin Hodgson and Miranda Rodak (IU Bloomington). W171 fulfills the First Year Writing Gen Ed requirement at IU, brings together active learning and digital literacy, and features a mentor / apprentice co-instructional model.