Beyond Technology Skills: Designing for Critical Digital Literacies

Dr. Sarah Lohnes WatulakMount Teacher Institute

June 26, 2012

Session Overview

• Introduction to critical digital literacy

• Designing for critical digital literacy

• Sample CDL activities

• Discussion

SOME CONTEXT

Participatory culture “relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations, … members believe their contributions matter” (Jenkins, 2006, p. 3).

Participatory culture values certain technological and cultural competencies needed to create and communicate through media (Jenkins, 2006)

“digital citizenship as critical for students to learn effectively for a lifetime and live productively in our emerging global society” (ISTE, 2007, para. 2)

Mishra & Kereliuk (2011)

Is this 21st century learning? Is this participatory?

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY CRITICAL DIGITAL LITERACY?

Critical Digital Literacy (CDL)• De-emphasize technology skills• Emphasize critical understanding of the

broader contexts of our technology use • Reflection and transformative action

“…the ability to be aware of oneself as a digitally literate person,

and to reflect on one’s own digital literacy development” (Martin, 2008 pp. 166-167)

CDL: 4 Components

• Understanding cultural, social, and historical contexts of technology use, including ethical and appropriate practices

• Critical thinking and analysis• Reflective practice• Functional skills with digital technologies

(Lohnes Watulak & Kinzer, in press)

“Critical”

• critical of digital literacy?

• critical in the sense of critical thinking and analysis

develop “critical attention…the ability to look at their experience with affectionate curiosity” (Reason, 1999, p. 212)

“Digital literacy”“…the current form of the traditional idea of literacy per se - the ability to read, write, and otherwise deal with information using the technologies and formats of the time…” (Bawden, 2008, p. 18)

“Digital Literacy(ies)”“…a shorthand for the myriad social practices and conceptions of engaging in meaning making by texts…via digital codification” (Lankshear & Knobel, 2008, p. 5)

WHY CRITICAL DIGITAL LITERACY?

Increasing Student Engagement

• Participatory learning (Project NML, 2011) – Relevance, creativity, co-learning– “connections between home, school, community and

world are enabled”

• Situated cognition: “authenticity has important motivational potential” (Choi & Hannafin, 1995, p. 56)– Context & authentic activity– Cognitive apprenticeship (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989)

CDL & Student Engagement

• Understanding contexts of tech use– Relevance, home-school connection, authenticity

• Reflective practice– Relevance, home-school connection

• Critical thinking– Creativity

• Functional skills– Relevance

Critical thinking + technology…

• Teachers should “understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices” (ISTE NETS, 2008, para. 4)

• Students should “understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior” (ISTE, 2007, para. 5)

CDL IN DEPTH

CDL: 4 Components

• Understanding cultural, social, and historical contexts of technology use, including ethical and appropriate practices

• Critical thinking and analysis• Reflective practice• Functional skills with digital technologies

(Lohnes Watulak & Kinzer, in press)

1. Understanding cultural, social, andhistorical contexts of technology use

• One framework for understanding today’s cultural and social context is participatory culture within a digital society

• Why? – Authenticity in the learning environment

(connecting to real life practices)– Helping students to understand what is valued

within their current context

2. Critical thinking and analysis

• Thinking that is “purposeful, reasoned, and goal-directed” (Halpern, 1997, p. 4)

• Question taken-for-granted experiences around technology

• Develop disciplined thinking about technology use

Do you see any issues or challenges with using social media to coordinate social action?

Reflective Practice

“…the ability to be aware of oneself as a digitally literate person, and to reflect on one’s own digital literacy development” (Martin, 2008, pp. 166-167)

Functional Skills

• The ability to manipulate technological tools for a specific purpose– i.e., your ability to use text messaging to complete

your technobiography

• Tools and skills change rapidly

• Learning in context

DESIGNING INSTRUCTION WITH AND FOR CDL

Design Approaches

• CDL as a set of competencies• Way of extending or deepening your approach

to tech-supported instruction• Not using the tools for the tools’ sake, but

using them in a critical, reflective way• Build CDL into existing lessons, or design

lessons around these ideas

Sample Activity 1

• Instructional Goal: Understanding and writing other forms of text – graphic novels.

• Final product: Create a digital graphic novel around a student-selected topic [of relevance to the content area].

CDL Competencies Activities ELA CCR Anchor Standards

Understanding contexts of tech use

Explore cultures of use around graphic novel design and consumption, including collective intelligence

Research to Build and Present Knowledge7. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

Critical thinking and analysis Apply understanding of graphic novel genre and discourse to final product (multimodal writing)

Text Types and Purposes2. Write informative / explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

Reflective practice Reflect on own experiences with (reading and writing) graphic novels

Functional tech skills Create a graphic novel with Comic Life or other comic creation software (image editing, word processing, using the Internet to find appropriate materials…)

Production and Distribution of Writing 6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

Sample Activity 2

• Instructional Goal: Understanding participatory culture and cultures of relevant technology tool use (i.e., mashups, YouTube, wikis, GoogleDocs).

• Final product: Short video presenting findings of the research. Video is uploaded to the web and reviewed by peers prior to final version.

CDL Competencies Activities ELA CCR Anchor Standards

Understanding contexts of tech use

Choose and explore the cultures of use around a particular technology (mashups, YouTube, wikis, GoogleDocs)

Research to Build and Present Knowledge7. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

Critical thinking and analysis Evaluate issues surrounding participatory culture

Research to Build and Present Knowledge9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Reflective practice Reflect on own participation in digital society (technobiography) and the development of own technology skills and knowledge

Functional tech skills Video editing and sharing via the web (capture and edit video, including images and audio; save in an appropriate format; upload to web; provide appropriate feedback to peers)

Production and Distribution of Writing 6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

Your Turn!

• What are some ways that you might address the following CDL elements in a lesson?– Understanding social, cultural, & historical context– Critical thinking & analysis– Reflective practice– Technology skills

Thanks to Dr. Chuck Kinzer and Lisa Twiss for contributing their ideas!