Digital Literacy, the Community College,and Student Success

Charting digital literacy: A framework for information technology and

digital skills education in the community college

www.lanecc.edu

A project by:

Jeremy RielPrimary Investigator

Georgetown University

Sonya ChristianVice President

Academic and Student AffairsLane Community College

Brad HinsonAcademic Dean

Instructional TechnologyLane Community College

- Present Lane’s digital literacy project & recent research

Our goals for this forum

- Discuss the findings and implications we see

- Ask our colleagues at Innovations what they see happening on their campus and

- Share ideas on how to use this research and to discuss our next steps for research to get your ideas

- Spurred by OER initiative at Lane in 2010

- Put the cart before the horse in many ways: researchers assumed a uniform degree of digital skills and information literacy and were surprised to the degree to which it varied

- Needed to figure out a common language and framework for our digital efforts

Why Did We Start This Research?

- We knew there was something drastically changing with how people used technology and the skills that the workforce demanded

- We wanted to know what was changing from a research perspective

- Plenty of anecdotal stories and ideas, but not enough evidence or actual formalized classroom integration

- Dual problem: Identifying what digital literacy is and how to disseminate it

Why Did We Start This Research?

- We are moving toward a knowledge-based economy that uses ubiquitous digital tools

Why Is Digital Literacy Important?

- Mission of the community college to empower student success and robust workforce skills

- National emphasis on STEM education, particularly the integration of STEM principles and tools into the social sciences to provide exposure

- A hunch that there are some universal tech skills that are required for success today

- 1st Paper entitled “Charting Digital Literacy”

About the 2011 Study

- Categorizes 4 dimensions of digital literacy

- Provides a framework for future analysis

- Allows for creation of actionable metrics

1) What technologies and functionalities exist today within the global information economy and how are they used?

Research Questions

2) What is digital literacy and what digital skills do students and faculty need to know?3) How do digital literacy and technology skills differ among educational levels and different groups of students?(i.e., high school, remedial learning,

career/techincal, transfer programs, four-year university)

- Hasn’t been defined uniformly across disciplines

Defining Digital Literacy

- Part of the problem is that we didn’t know what it even was or where to look to begin defining it.- Gilster (1997): “the ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it is presented via computers.”

- not just technical skills

- Martin & Madigan (2005): “the ability to succeed in encounters with the electronic infrastrutctures and tools that make possible the world of the twenty-first century.”

Defining Digital Literacy

- Similarities to other literacies appearing in the literature:

- Information literacy- Computer literacy- Library literacy- Media literacy- Network literacy- Informacy- Mediacy- Common to most themes: literacy is

contextual, changes based on the environment, intended outcomes, and social cues/rules

- Meta-analysis of 20+ studies on digital literacy:

* Theoretical Studies* Benchmarks for science/tech competency* Commissioned reports

Methodology

- Coded for the presence of specific digital or related skills that a “digitally literate” person would have

- Tools & Interface

Findings: Four Dimensions

- Information

- Sharing & Creation

- Historical & Cultural Context

Findings: Tools & Interface

Computational Basics

Computer Hardware

Computer Software & Applications

Networks

Design

Augmentation

Findings: Information

Representation

Search

Assembly

Analysis & Judgment

Synthesis

Archiving

Navigation

Findings: Sharing & Creation

Inventive Thinking

Documents (text)

Multimedia

Communication

Online Persona

Productivity

Sharing & Collaboration

Findings: Historical & Cultural Context

Digital Citizenship

Diversity

Intellectual Property

Privacy and Identity

Programmed Agendas

Technology Impact

- Assessment rubric

- Moodle course for faculty professional development opportunities- Documents, videos, walkthroughs, guides- Best practices sharing site and blog for faculty- Student challenges and contests- In-class assignment and project ideas

Our Next Steps

- We have yet to really start! Our goal to begin was to define what we were even looking at

- Have any campuses here had any wide-scale or pilot digital literacy initiatives and if so, what are they composed of?

Digital Literacy Initiatives & Ideas

- What are some of the ways that you could recommend to engage faculty to pilot some digital literacy initiatives or integrate practical digital literacy assignments into their curriculum?

Faculty Adoption of Digital Literacy Integration

- Have any campuses attempted to measure the digital literacy skills of their students?

- Have there been any efforts to analyze the types of digital literacy offerings in classes? If so, what do these look like?

(we think this could be useful to take inventory of what we’re offering and to see what is already working well)

Measurement

- Common framework and definitions to discuss material for innovative pedagogies

Implications: Short-term

- Common language by which to communicate the value of digital skills across the disciplines- Allows for creation of uniform resources for new innovations; common understanding- Research to find measurable correlations between specific digital skills and student success measures (completion, retention, grades, satisfaction)

- Students and faculty as better consumers of information and digital tools

Implications: Long-term

- Formalized coursework and best practices for assignments/assessment tools

- Common language that can be shared across institutions- Institutionalization of the value and practice of digital literacy instruction

- Text

TechLiterate.org

- We’d love to hear your feedback!

Any Other Ideas?

- Please take our cards and feel free to contact us

- Visit TechLiterate.org

Thank You!

Jeremy RielPrimary Investigator

Georgetown University

Brad HinsonAcademic Dean

Instructional TechnologyLane Community College

Sonya ChristianVice President

Academic and Student AffairsLane Community College