Digital Futures

Digital FuturesSupport materials for use with the DEFT

resources

Aims of DEFT

• Understanding more about what it means to be digitally literate

• Exploring and sharing the potential of digital technologies

• Sharing and developing good practice in teaching

Exploring what is meant by literacy

What do you understand by the term ‘literacy’?

• Do you feel this term has changed its meaning during your life time?

• Has it changed since your parents and grandparents were young?

• What does literacy mean in the everyday lives of  the children you teach?  

Video: Glynda Hall from the University of California presents the changing nature of literacy

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Your use of literacy in everyday life

Map/list all the literacy-related activities you have done so far today/over the past 24 hours … 

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Compare them with others. 4

Experiment with grouping your uses of literacy in different ways: eg forms of texts, purposes, audiences, use of technology etc. What do you notice about your use of literacy in everyday life?  5                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              6

Views on literacy • As a set of cognitive skills • As social practice • ‘Autonomous’ and ‘ideological’ models of literacy (seeee Brian Street 1985)• Critical literacy• Video: Exploring definitions of literacy, what it means to be a literate person in t

he 21st century and implications for teaching

Other links: Merchant G (2007). ‘Writing the future in the digital age’. Literacy, 41(3): 118–128.Glynda Hull 2012www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvAlqheqLZgLankshear C and Knobel M (2011). New literacies: changing knowledge and classroom learning (3rd ed). Buckingham: Open University Press. Lankshear C and Knobel M. (2006). ‘Digital literacy and digital literacies: policy, pedagogy and research considerations for education’. Digital Kompetense: Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 1(1): 12–24.Beavis C and O’Mara J (2010). ‘Computer games: pushing at the boundaries of literacy’. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 33(1): 65–76.

Digital literacy How would you define ‘digital literacy’?In this project digital literacy has been defined as …

  

How does your definition compare with this? Compare views on the nature of digital literacy – or should we use the plural: literacies?

‘… a blend of ICT media and information skills and knowledge situated within academic practice contexts 

while influenced by a wide range of techno-social practices involving communication, collaboration and 

participation’ (JISC 2011)

Exploring what is meant by literacy for students at home and at school

• What does literacy mean in the everyday lives of the students you teach?

• What are the similarities and differences in the ways in which they use literacy in their home and in school?

• What are the implications of any similarities and differences?

Worth reading: • Marsh J (2004). ‘The techno-literacy practices of young children’. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 2(1):51–66. • Levy R (2009). ‘You have to understand words … but not read them´: young children becoming readers in a digital 

age’. Journal of Research in Reading, 32(1): 75–91.

Exploring school-based literacy• What kinds of literacies are used in school – in the formal and informal curriculum?

• What interpretation of literacy is conveyed by current policy documentation? Which skills and aspects of knowledge are emphasised? Which skills and aspects of knowledge are the focus for assessment? What references are made to digital literacies in curriculum guidance, statutory documentation and assessment materials?

• Merchant (2007) refers to competing discourses, ie ICT as: A set of skills/tools A vehicle for learning Transformative, ie having the potential to change the nature of learning in a radical way

What do you perceive to be the main discourse in statutory documentation – current and past? What about the discourse of your current school literacy and ICT policy? 

Draft National Curriculum for English KS1 & 2 Draft National Curriculum for KS3Draft National Curriculum for KS4

Worth reading on responses to the National Curriculum Review:Response from UK Literacy Association

Response from Naace - professional association for those concerned with advancing education through the appropriate use of ICT"

Exploring your students’ experiences of literacy

• What does literacy mean in the everyday lives of  the students you teach?

• How do your students’ uses and experiences of literacy compare with your own – in the past and present?

• What are the implications of any similarities and differences?

• What do you think of Prensky's idea of ‘digital natives’? Do you feel this would be an appropriate term for your students? For you? Do you see yourself as a digital immigrant? What do you see as the implications of such terms?

• Do you feel that your students can be considered as a uniform group in their uses of digital literacies, or are there differences, as Selwyn and Hargatti suggest?

Worth reading:

Prensky M (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. Available at:www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdfHelsper EJ and Eynon R (2010). ‘Digital natives: where is the evidence?’. British Educational Research Journal, 36,(3): 503–520.Livingstone S and Hesper E (2007). ‘Gradations in digital inclusion: children, young people and the digital divide’. New Media & Society, 9(4): 671–696. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/2768/1/Gradations_in_digital_inclusion_(LSERO).pdfSelwyn N (2004). ‘Reconsidering political and popular understandings of the digital divide’. New Media & Society, 6(3): 341–362.

How/why might you build on your students' home use of literacy in your classroom teaching?

Consider:• The technology used• Its purpose(s)• The affordances of texts used or produced• Particular language features of such texts or

groups of texts

Identify opportunities in your curriculum when you are planning to teach this type of language use.

The role of digital literacies in school

• Why include digital literacies in the curriculum?

Your views?

• Look through the case studies, blogs and materials and add to your list

Why incorporate digital literacies in school-based literacy teaching?

purposes and audiences for using literacy 

meaningful contexts for applying and developing 

language and literacy skills  affordances of screen-based texts and online 

communication 

relevance to students’ lives

opportunities for creativity and 

innovation

motivation …

opportunities to communicate and  interact with those beyond the classroom

speed and ready access of information AND

AND

What are your views on this statement? 7

Is the world changing? If so, how? And what are the implications of these changes for education and for literacy teaching and learning?

Worth reading:Marsh J (2007). ‘New literacies and old pedagogies: recontextualizing rules and practices’. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 11(3): 267–281.Jenkins H (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture. Chicago: MacArthur Foundation. http://digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF

‘Literacy teaching and learning need to change because the world is changing’ (Cope and Kalantzis 2000: 41) 

Review the role of digital literacies in the curriculum

Look through the case studies to review the following:• Form of technology• Activity and organisation• Literacy use• Links with formal curriculum• Benefits • Challenges/limitations

How can digital technologies be used to encourage critical literacy?

• In the case studies, where have students been encouraged to develop critical literacy? How?

• What opportunities are presented in your curriculum to engage students in critical literacy?

Worth reading: Burnett C and Merchant G (2011). ‘Is there a space for critical literacy in the context of social media?’ English Teaching, Practice and Critique, 10(1): 41–57. 

How can digital technologies be used to encourage creativity?

• In the case studies, where have students been encouraged to develop creativity? How?

• What opportunities are presented in your curriculum to engage students in developing their creativity?

How can digital technologies be used to encourage home school links?

• What opportunities are presented in your setting to use digital literacies to support links with home?

• Future Lab: Connecting digital literacy between home and school: http://bit.ly/RkDv4M

Challenges of using digital technology in school

• What challenges do you and your colleagues see in using digital technology with your students?

• How might you overcome them?

Challenges of using digital technology in school

How do the challenges you identified compare with those noted by Burnett (2011): inadequate access to equipment andcompeting pressures of the curriculum? How could you respond to these challenges in your own teaching?How can you embed digital literacy in your practice, and not have it as an 'add on' activity?Can you achieve a sense of 'appropriateness' in the kinds of literacy teaching that you do?

Education for the future

What possible changes do you envisage for education in the future?

Worth watching:• Mitchell Resnick on the power of ICT to generate creativity and innovation in the education process

• Keri Facer, Professor of Education, Manchester Metropolitan University, and author, discusses the future of learning in the context of an underlying shift in the foundation of society and its impact on the education superstructure.

Worth reading: • Rethinking learning in the digital age: Mitchel Resnick, The Media Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Video

• Partnership for 21st century skills: Framework for 21st century learning: A holistic view of 21st century teaching and learning that combines a discrete focus on 21st century student outcomes (a blending of specific skills, content knowledge, expertise and literacies) with innovative support systems to help students master the multidimensional abilities required of them in the 21st century.

• Beyond Current Horizons 2007: project considering the future of education beyond 2025: three potential worlds,: Considered three potential worlds, each built around a different set of social values – increasingly individualised, increasingly collective or increasingly contested approaches 

towards life and education.

Education for the future

Other reading:• Marsh J (2007).’New literacies and old pedagogies: recontextualizing rules and

practices’. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 11(3): 267–281. 

• Jenkins H (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture. Chicago: MacArthur Foundation. Available at:http://digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF

• Facer K (2011). Learning futures: education, technology and socio-technical change. London: Routledge.

Practical stuff 

• Twitter in the classroom• Using kindles and kinnects in class• Future Lab: ‘It’s not chalk and talk anymore’: s

chool approaches to developing students’ digital literacy

• Mobile technologies and learning literature review: www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/mobile-technologies-and-learning-literature-review

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attributions for pictures

1.  gayturner 2. Ed yourdon3. London College of Fashion short courses

4. Crossett Library Bennington College5. zsrlibrary 6. Tommi Komulainen7. old shoe woman