These are slides for a one-hour session on digital literacy with students on the Foundation Degree in Library and Information Practice at Glyndŵr University, 17 September 2013. The session was delivered remotely by videoconference and the slides were used to introduce the topic and provide the basis for discussion with the students and their tutor.
2. Image courtesy of spykster
www.flickr.com/photos/spykster
What’s our experience of digital?
3. What is digital literacy?
“By digital literacy we
mean those capabilities
which fit an individual for
living, learning and
working in a digital
society”
(Jisc, 2011 )
Image source: Jisc infoNet www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk
4. Some other definitions
“the confident and
critical use of ICT for
work, leisure, learnin
g and
communication“
(EU)
“digital literacy is
about mastering
ideas not keystrokes”
(Paul Gilster)
What does digital
literacy mean to
you?
5. Digital literacies: the need
• “Many learners enter further and higher
education lacking the skills needed to apply
digital technologies to education. As 90% of
new jobs will require excellent digital
skills, improving digital literacy is an essential
component of developing employable
graduates.” (JISC, 2011)
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programme
s/elearning/developingdigitalliteracies.aspx
6. What does digital literacy mean for
your learners/customers?
www.getcaerphillyonline.org.uk/digitalfridays
Image courtesy of Steve Paine http://www.flickr.com/photos/umpcportal/
7.
8. Digital: changing our relationship
with learners/customers?
Images : thanks to
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jisc
infonet/
9.
10. The role of the librarian: some
questions
• What professional librarian skills could be
useful for digital literacy?
• Are new skills needed?
• Does a shift to digital mean a threat to other
library activities?
• How can digital literacy help library advocacy
and professional networking in general?
11. Some key resources for digital
literacy
• Jisc guide “Developing students’ digital literacy”
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/developing-students-digital-literacy
• Jisc Digital Literacies Programme #jiscdiglit
• http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/developingdigitalliteraci
es.aspx
• PADDLE project (Grŵp Llandrillo Menai)
• http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/developingdigitalliteracies/paddlella
ndrillo.aspx
• Digidol project (Cardiff University)
• http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/developingdigitalliteracies/DigiDol.a
spx
• Jisc Regional Support Centres digital literacy support
http://www.jiscrsc.ac.uk/digitalliteracy.aspx
• Jisc RSCs digital literacy links
• https://groups.diigo.com/group/digital-literacy-resources
• Lis Parcell’s digital literacy links (under revision!)
• https://delicious.com/lisparcell/digital_literacies
12. Stay in touch
• Lis Parcell
• e.j.parcell@swansea.ac.uk
• @lisparcell
• Sharon Cook
• s.e.cook@swansea.ac.uk
• @S_Cook2013
Jisc RSC Wales website
www.jiscrsc.ac.uk/wales
@rscwales
Jisc main website
www.jisc.ac.uk
Notes de l'éditeur
Introduce selfToday I’d like to look at what digital literacy is and why it matters think about the needs of your learners / customers in the digital age look at how digital literacy may affect the role of the library and for you as librarianssuggest waysyou can explore the topic furtherI’d like to ask you to: introduce yourselves, your name and where you’re from, and tell us one type of technology that you have got with you that you plan to use today.
As I was revising this talk from the last time I’ve been struck by how much had changed in two years. There have been new developments in the topic: we’ve seen the rapid growth in society in the use of technologies such as mobile devices and apps, and I have revised my thinking on some aspects. Also the technologies I had used to put the session together has changed, and we’re doing this session via videoconference rather than face to face. A lot has changed in a short time.Take a couple of minutes with one other person to discuss a new digital technology that has affected your library in the last two years. How have you had to change?Now I’d like you to think about the first digital technology you came across in your work. How did you feel about it?Technology can stir up many different feelings – power, enjoyment, frustration, fear…To put the technology to work for us, we need to master some digital literacy ourselves and help our learners or customers to do so too.This isn’t just about knowing what buttons to press, it is about being able to understand behaviour in a digital environment, how to make choices, and how the technology affects us and how we perform our role.
The term Digital Literacies has been around for some time but it can be confusing: it is something of a buzz word it is sometimes usedto mean simply ICT or office computing skillsit is used in different ways by different people in different contexts“Digital literacy is a complex and contested term.”Cf ICT, media literacy, communication skills,learning literacies, new literacies, digital scholarship,academic literacies, professional literacies, information literacy...
There are several definitions. You may have your own. There is no absolute right or wrong definition, some are broader than others.
Student expectations, diversity, employabilityNeed for all engaged in education and workforce to be flexible, agile, able to make effective choicesDigital WalesLinked to EU A Digital Agenda for Europe (2010) - one of its main challenges “enhancing digital literacy, skills and inclusion”Welsh stats34% of the adult population still do not enjoy the benefits that digital technology offersLess than a quarter of the population make use of online public servicesLess than 40 % of SMEs sell online1 in 6 employers consider staff IT skills below standardCurrently Welsh Government is preparing to bring in a new Essential Skill in digital literacy to replace the current ICT essential skills qualification.
What does digital literacy mean for your learners or customers?For librarians as professionals?For our organisations?
Let’s look again at the flower image which breaks digital literacy down into seven different aspects.Maybe you use different terms in your community.e.g. e-safety, e-responsibility. That is fine. These definitions are there to be played with.There may be terms which you feel are missing.I’d like you to think about three things for about 5 minutes in total, discussing with your group.1. What things do your customers or learners do online that fit into this flower diagram?2. What things do you do as a librarian in your work which fit into this diagram?3. Is there anything you do outside of your formal work role which fits into this diagram (eg as a student, hobbies)
Need to engage learners (not a deficit model)Learners as content creators“Digital by desire”Unlike some other things that librarians do, digital literacy is not solely ‘owned’ by librarians and is a sphere which we share with many others. In some areas, librarians may be the acknowledged specialists, in others it may be appropriate to collaborate with other professionals.
Returning to the flower…We’ve looked at what digital literacy may mean for our customers/learners and to ourselves at work and outside work.What about the organisations we are operating in.How far do they seem to you to enable digital literacy?Are there any barriers?
These are not easy questions to answer.What do you think?I hope you’ll find that your foundation degree studies will give you the opportunity to develop some new digital literacy skills and when you are doing any module, think about whether digital approaches can help in some way.
Thank you for your participation and if you decide to research the topic of digital literacy further and have resources to share, we’d love to hear from you.We also have other members of our team who can advise on various aspects of digital literacy eg in a community learning setting.Feel free to contact us if you would like any further information or would like to be added to our mailing list for our bulletins and other communications such as events.If you tweet do follow us!