Welcome,

I’mDanielWesta graduatestudentinthefinalstagesofearningmyMaster’sdegreeinDevelopmentalEducation

I’mAmarilisCastilloa2nd yeardoctoralstudentinDevelopmentalEducationwithafocusonliteracy

I’mDaveCaverlywith 40yearsexperienceteachingandresearchingdevelopmentalreadingandtheroleoftechnologyinsupportingthatreadinginstructionProfessor,GraduatePrograminDevelopmentalEducationDirector,DevelopmentalReadingProgramDirector,TechnologyInstituteforDevelopmentalEducatorsDepartmentofCurriculumandInstructionASBN406DTexasStateUniversitySanMarcos,TX78666DCaverly@TxState.edu512-245-3100(office)512-245-7911(fax)512-665-6424(mobile)

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Recently,theSmithandPage(2015)atthePew ResearchCenterpublishedasurveyandfound64%ofadultsover18owneda“smartphone”

Thisisnottoosurprising,asitisverydifficultnottogetasmartphonefreewhenyouenrollinadataplan.

However,Smith andPagealsofound15%havelimitedonlineaccess astheyhavedon’thaveaccesstootherdevices(suchasatablet,laptop,oradesktop).Moreover,10%havenoWiFi(specificallybroadband) athomeotherthantheirdataplanfortheirsmartphone.Finally,7%havebothnoWiFiathomeantheirsmartphoneistheironly device.d

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Note,asthetableontherightshowyou, thisdigitaldivideisnothavingthedevice,buthavingaccessforstudentsofcolorandstudentsofpoverty.Ofthose18-29(typicalcollegeagestudents),15%onlyhaveasmartphoneforInternetaccess(orare“smartphonedependent”).Disproportionatelymoreminoritygroups,andthoseclosetopovertyaremorelikelytobesmartphone-dependentusers.

Moreover,51%ofsmartphone-dependentusersfrequentlyoroccasionallyuseuptheirdataplanbeforetheendofthemonthcomparedtothosewhohaveotherInternetaccesspoints.

So,cautiontousifwethinkstudentswilldotheirhomeworkinsteadofFacebook neartheendofthemonth.

Moreover,whiledigitalliteracyisprevalentamongstudents,notallhaveavailableaccesstotheInternet.

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Ourquestionis,canwetakehowstudentsdeveloped theseliteracieswiththeirsmartphonesandadaptthatknowledgetonewcommunity,an academiccommunity?

Toward thisend,wedevisedaDigitalTechnologyLiteracyAutobiographysurveytooltogatherinformationaboutstudents’past,present,andfuturetechnologyuse.

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The theoreticalfoundationweareusingforintegratingDigitalTechnologyLiteraciesintoacademiaisLeaandJones(2011)researchframeworkusedtoexaminestudentsuseofdigitaltechnology.Theydevelopedauseful“researchmodel”ofthefactorsthataffectmeaningmakingwithdigitalliteracies.

• Participants – howstudentsareintegratingdigitaltechnologyintotheircoursesthrough“digitalapps”

• Modes - what“texts”thatarebeingaccessed(broadlydefinedasprint,audio,video,graphic,gestural,multimodal;(Cazden,Cope,Fairclough,&Gee,1996).

• LiteracyPractices – whatarethe“situatedtasks”orpurposesforwhichthestudentsareusingthedigitalliteracyappsincludingphysicalorvirtuallocation,institutionalandsocio-culturalconstraints(Street,2003)

Then,theinteractionsbetweeneachofthesethreefactorsresultingin“meaningmaking.”

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Towardthisend,wedevisedaDigitalTechnologyLiteracyAutobiographysurveytooltogatherinformationandmakestudents’awareoftheirpast,present,andfuturetechnologyuse,howtheydevelopedtheirliteracies.

Thesurvey,whichisavailableatDigitalTechnologiesLiteracies,asksquestionssuchas:

- Whatwereyourearlyexperienceslearningtousedigitaltechnologiesanddigitalspaces?Whatkindofdeviceswereyouusingandforwhatpurposes?

- Howdidyourvalueswhenusingdigitaltechnologiesanddigitalspacesdevelop?Whoandwhatinfluencedtheseusesandyourvalues?

- Describeyourtypicaluseofdigitaltechnologiesanddigitalspacescurrently.Arethereotherdigitaltechnologiesandspacesthatyoudon’tuseorvalueregularly?Why?

-Inthefuture,imagineandexplainhownewdigitaltechnologiesandspaceswillbeusefulandhowwillyouvaluetheminthepersonal,academic,andworkareasofyourlife.Howwillyouadapttoandvaluethesenewdigitaltechnologiesandspaces?

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Thenextfewslidescontainanexampleof aDTLAwrittenbyoneofAmarilis’studentsinlastspringsemester.

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Thisstudent’sfirstmemories involvingtechnologywerefromkindergarten.Asyoucansee,sheincludedtaperecordersandoverheadprojectors.Sheexplainedvariousgamedevicesandnamedquiteafewvideogames:Tetris,Sonic,TheHedgehog,PacMan,Mario,Contra,StreetFighter.Shealsodiscussedusingadisposablecamerabecauseshelikedhowthepicturesdevelopedinstantlyandthenumberofpicturesleftonthecamera.

Note,howshereferredtoinformationsources(suchasherteacherorherfriends)forhowtolearnthesetechnologies.

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Continuingwithpastexperiences,shereminiscedabouthaving nomobilephone,butusingafriend’sortheschool’sofficephonewhenneeded.Here,weseemoregraphicsthatgiveanindicationofherevolutionintheuseoftechnology:fromhandheldrecorderandWalkman withheadphonestocomputers.Shewroteaboutherfirstexperiencewithacomputerwasintheseventhgrade,andrememberinghowshe lostherfirsteverUSBkeyandtheburdenttosavetoafloppydisk.Interestingly,therecalledhowtheclassroomtechnologychangedfromprojectorsandchalkboardstoTV/VCRscreensonacart.

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Shespentquite abitoftimewritingaboutpasttechnologyuseincludingmovingtosocialmediatoolssuchasMySpaceandFacebook.Iimportantly,forher,wasthepointwhereshewasabletoupgradeagamingsystemstoXbox360 andPlayStations.Alsoimportant,washerdiscussionofhowtechnologyintheclassmovedfromprojectorsoncartstotheteachersusingsmartboardsandclickers.

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Currently,incollege,shewrote abouthowshenowownsa computer,acellphone,and hasseveralsocialmediaaccounts.Shebelieves“Wi-Fiisoneofthegreatestinnovations”andislearningaboutvariousresourcesinthearea,likethosethatprovidefreeinternet.

Note, shedid notdiscuss muchaboutwhatrolesheexpectstechnologywillplayinherlifeinthefuture.Still,thisDTLAgivesmeaverygoodindicationofhowliteratesheisabouttechnologyandhowithasprogressedovertheyears.

Wecanusethisinformationtomakeaconnectionbetweenthestudent’suseoftechnologyingeneralandsocialmediainparticularasweencouragecriticalreadingstrategies.

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• Wecanturn,therefore,fromexamples ofcriticallyreadinginformationfoundonasocialmediasite,suchasFacebook anddemonstratehowtousethosesameskillstocriticallyreadanacademictext.

• Wecanshowthestudenthowsimilarelementsareusedtocriticallyreadbothtexts;infact,wecanarguethattheonlydifferenceisthedeliverysystem.

• Oneisdeliveredviaasocialmediatoolandtheotherviaatextbook,academicjournal,orthroughotherwrittensource.

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- The goalistohelpstudentsrecognizethedifferentelementsinatext. Forexample, thestructureofanarrative,whichisdifferentfromthestructure ofanexpositorytext.

- Also, ourgoalisthestudentsunderstandthestructural elementsthatarepresent(e.g.,macro-structuresspecific toeachgenre)andseeingtheparallelismbetweenmulti-modaltextandtextbooks.Inmanyways,itisadifferentdeliverymechanism(ingraphic,novel,TVshow,Advertisementetc.)

- Bymakingstudents awarethattheyalreadyhavetheknowledgetocritically readbasedupontheirdigitaltechnologyhistory.

- Wewanttohelpthemunderstand thatitworksinasimilarfashionforcriticallyreadingworksinahistory,philosophy,orbiologybook,for instance.

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Letmeputon myteacher’shatnowtoshowyouhowweteachalessonguidingthestudenttounderstandthetranslationofdigitalliteraciestoacademicliteracies.

As anexample,considerteachingyourstudentshowtocriticallyreadFacebook postsfromtwodiametricallyopposednewssources:FoxNews andTheHuffingtonPost.

ThesevideosarepostedontheFacebook pagesofeachofthesenewssites.TheyaresnippetsofCongressionalproceedingsthisweekwiththepresidentofPlannedParenthood;Ms.Richard.Forbackgroundinformation,theCongressmanwasveryinterestedintheorganization’sbudgetnumbersthatshowedthemoneywasnotbeingusedasindicatedbytheorganization.Duringanintenselineofquestioning,Ms.Richard’slawyercameupandwhisperstoherthatthenumbersarenotfromPlannedParenthoodbutfromanotherorganizationthatmayormaynothavefabricatedthenumbersfortheirownagenda.

Thisisimportantteachablemomentwheretheycanapplytheircriticalreadingquestions.

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Inmy(Amarilis’)classthisweek,Ibeganmyvisualanalysisunit.ThisawarenesslessonwiththesetwovideosisoneIwillusewithmystudentsnextweek.Thesevideoareeachlessthanaminutelong.Iwillaskthemtowatcheachvideooneatatime.Aftereachone,Iwillaskthemtoconsiderandwritedownsuchcriticalreadingquestionssuchas,

Whatisthepurposeofeachvideo:-- HereyoucanseeIcircledthetextthatspeakstothepurposeofeachvideo-- -- FoxNews isinterestedinshowingthattherewasaconfrontationbetweenaRepublicancongressmanandthepresidentofPlannedParenthood-- -- TheHuffingtonPost isinterestedinhighlightingthequestionabledatausedbythecongressmantomakeanargument

Whoistheintendedaudienceofeachvideo;-- forthesesiteswecanlooktothenamesoftheorganizationsputtingouttheinformation;Ihavethedasheddark-orangelineshere;-- -- eachofthesenewssourceshasaveryspecificaudience.Iwillworkwithmystudentstopulloutwhotheybelievetheaudienceisforeachofthesesites.-- IexpecttohearthatFoxNews isaconservative,largelyRepublicanvotingaudience,andtheHuffingtonPost isamoreliberalnewssitethatinthiscaseistryingtopainttheRepublicansinanegativelight.

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-- NoticethattheFoxNews sitebringsattentiontothecongressman’sstatementaboutanincreaseinabortions.Fortheirside,theHuffingtonPostbringsattentiontowhattheycallthecongressman’sflat-outlied.

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Asfarastheclaimbeingmadebyeachauthor, inthiscasetheauthoriseachindividualnewssite

-- Whethertheinformationthecongressmandependsonisquestionableornot,

-- -- FoxNewswantstomakesurethewordsareouttherethatmoneyisgoingtosomethingotherthanwomen’shealthcare;

-- -- theHuffingtonPost wantstomakeclearthatRepublicancongressmencannotbetrusted,bothsitesstandfirmlybehindtheirindividualagendas.Iputagreensquarearoundwordsthatcanhelpstudentsdecideontheclaimeachauthorismaking.

So,let’sdothesamecriticalreadingwithanacademictext.

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Byanalyzingavideotext,IbegintomovemystudentsfromdigitalliteracytoacademicliteracywhenIintroducethemtodoingthesamethingtheyjustdidwiththetwovideopostingswithatexttheymayfindintheirsciencetextbook.

Workingwithatextthatrequiressomemorethoughtandcarefulreading,thestudentscandeciphercriticalreadingelements,suchas:

- WhatisthePurposeofthetext?Herethepurposeisunderlinedinred.Itisanargumentfortheimportanceofphysicsandwhatthefieldofphysicsprovidesforhumanity.

- Whatistheclaimtheauthormakes?Inthiscase,theauthormakesanargumentforscienceasimportantbecausehumanshaveaninnateneedtomakesenseoftheirreality,theybelievethereisanexplanationforthethingsthathappenorthatthereshouldbe,thisisexpressedinthelinesIunderlinedhereindarkgreen.

- Iunderlinedinyellow thetextthathighlightswhytheauthorismakinghisargument. Thisisprobablyaplacewherethestudentscanmakeaconnectiontothetext;thedesiretoknowandunderstandwhatishappeningaroundthem.Here,wecandiscusstheconnectionsstudentsmaketothistextandhowthiscanconnectbacktothosevideopostsbecauseisitpossiblethatboththosenewsoutletsand

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thissciencetextaretryingtosellusaveryspecificviewoftheworld?Itisourjobasconsumersoftexttoreaditcriticallyandexaminealltext withoutmakingadistinctionbasedonthedeliverysystemused.

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Next,let’sseehowwecanbuildondigitalliteraciestodevelopwritingliteracies.

I willaddress:

• AffordancesofTextingvs.E-mail

• DigitalTechnologyinstructionalconstraints

• E-mailvs.Texting:Howwouldyoudoit?

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-- Let’sbegin withthe affordancestextingande-mailprovidestudents;thatis,theopportunitytocommunicateindifferentcommunities.

-- Textingallowsstudentstocollaborateinaninformallearningcommunity,whilee-mailisframedaroundaformallearningenvironment.

-- Dependingonthesituationanduseofdigitaltools,certainvisualandaudiocuesarealsoavailable.-- -- UsersofWeb2.0toolsmayreadandwritemorewordsinadaythantheirunconnectedpeers.

-- Textingcangenerateamoreinstantaneousorfasterresponse

-- Finally,textingaffordsaconversationwherebothproducerandconsumercanbeactiveparticipants.

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-- Whiletextingisfaster,andallowsstudentstowriteinanon-standardlanguage,theymaystilllacktheskillsnecessarytocommunicateinanacademiccommunity.

-- Thinkaboutthis:Whyisitimportantthatstudentsknowhowtowriteaproperemail?

-- Acoupleofexamples:Communicatingwithprofessors,administrativeassistants,applyingforgraduateschool,andcollaboratingintheworkplace.Additionally,studentshavetheopportunitytoproofreadandspellchecktheiremailspriortosending,whichallowsthemtocommunicateinamoreacademicandprofessionalmanner.

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Texting: Textingallowsstudentstocommunicateinaninformal,non-standardcommunity.Theycanusetextlingo,emoticons,pictures,forexample.Thetextmessageontheleftiswritteninalanguagemostofusprobablydonotwriteinonadailybasis.EventhoughJohnisaskinghisclassmatewhatthehomeworkis,associety,wenormallydonottalkinabbreviations.Whiletextingaffordsstudentsinstantaneouscommunicationinaninformallearningenvironment,withaudioandvisualcues,whatbenefitisitprovidingthemacademically?Asyoucansee,textingallowsstudentstosendmessagesinabbreviations,buteffectivelycommunicatingisaproblem.(TWshouldbeTY).However,usingtextinglingoinanacademiccommunityisnotcommonpracticenorappropriateinmostsituations.

Email:Whiletextingisfaster,andallowsstudentstowriteinanon-standardlanguage,theymaystilllacktheskillsnecessarytocommunicateinanacademiccommunity.Think about:Whyisitimportantthatstudentsknowhowtowrite aproperemail?Acoupleofexamples:Communicatingwithprofessors,administrativeassistants,applyingforgraduateschool,andcollaboratingintheworkplace.

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Priortoincorporatingdigitaltechnologyintoyourclassroominstruction,youshouldconsidertheinstructionalconstraints.Students’abilitytoproductivelylearnandmultitaskislimited.• Somestudentsmayusetextingasameansforprocrastination.• Limitedabilityandaccessincertainenvironments.• Searchability:Studentsmayhavetodigdeepertoaccessinformationandknowledge.

• Unknownifstudentsaretakingfulladvantageofemails.

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We wanttohelpthemadapttheirnonacademicliteraciestobuildacademicliteracies.Thinkaboutworkingwithyourstudents.

Whywouldyou,asaprofessor,be askingthemtosendyouanemail?

• Request dateandtimetomeetwiththeinstructor.• Whattimeareyouavailableandwhy?• Whatclassareyouin?• Subjectline• Nameonthetitleoftheassignment• Thankyou

• Howmightyoucomposethate-mail?

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Howhaveyouanysuggestions howyoumightusestudents’digitalliteraciestobuildacademicliteracies?

Anyquestions?

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Herearesomeresourcesforyou.

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