The last two years have presented academia with many challenges and endless possibilities. To close the digital divide, our university made digital fluency a strategic initiative for faculty development. As we continue to navigate instruction in a digital world, it is vital for institutions to increase the digital fluency of the campus community and equip students with digital skills that employers value. Join us as we review our digital journey.
🛠️ Name That Tool
Number your paper, Word file, Google Doc, or Notes app from 1-11. You will have one minute to unscramble the words. When you are finished, type the number 11 in the chat.
A 19th-Century Vision of the Year 2000
The Digital Journey
"WSSU provides access to digital tools for students, faculty, and staff, establishing support and resources to close the digital divide, and creating partnerships that will enhance creativity and digital fluency for all." (Chancellor Elwood Robinson, Winston-Salem State University, 2021)
WSSU is the 1st HBCU to Become an Adobe Creative Campus
- All faculty, students, and staff have access to the Creative Cloud Suite, which includes 23+ Apps
- Access includes storage and web-based portfolio features
- The most frequently used apps are Creative Cloud Express and Rush
A powerful digital tool to leverage to students
- Digital Literacy Projects (2018 - Present)
- Faculty "Boot Camps" for using the Apps
- Sponsored Contests for faculty
- Digital Literacy Champions emerged
- Use intensified due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Since 2018, we have made strategic steps to integrate digital skills, specifically the Adobe tools since we are an Adobe Creative Campus.
- First Year Experience and First Year Writing-2018,2019
- General Biology and Music- 2019,2020
- Education and Nursing- 2020, 2021
- Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy- 2022
Finding Ways to Train Effective Teachers for our Public, Private and Charter Schools is a Priority.
Adobe and K-12 Integration
Why is this Important to WSSU's Teacher Education and Preparation Program?
Winston-Salem State University has a long history of preparing classroom teachers. In fact, WSSU was founded as a normal school called Slater Institute and later become Winston-Salem Teacher's College because one of the main academic degrees conferred in the early 1900's -the late 1960s was the elementary education degree. During those decades, WSSU produced many of the African-American public school teachers in North Carolina, in the southeast, and nationally.
For this reason, we are proud that our current teacher education preparation and licensure program encourages faculty and students to use digital tools.
EDU 4339- Integrating Technology into the PK-12 Classroom
This is a 16 week, 4000 level course (juniors and seniors) provides students who are majoring in education (secondary, middle level, or elementary) a foundation for understanding the importance of technology integration and digital tools used for students in public and private school settings. The course focuses on historical approaches to technology, integrated lesson planning with technology, and the application of technology tools for engagement in the course.
A few of the major outcomes of the course are:
- To identify key components of how technology, digital tools, and media integration are critical for today's PK-12 education
- To explain and define the digital classroom, digital teacher, and digital literacy
- Describe the role of a digital learner
- Apply, integrate, and evaluate expectations from the state course of study to lesson planning to include technology integration
STUDENT DIGITAL ASSIGNMENT EXEMPLARS USING ADOBE CREATIVE CLOUD EXPRESS
Assignment #1- Introductory Adobe Spark- WHO AM I- Presentation-
This is an introductory assignment to acclimate students to using Adobe Creative Cloud Express for presentations in the course. This assignment will go into the digital portfolio for the course. AND it introduces them to me and their peers.
Meets Course Objectives: 1, 3, and 4
WHO AM I?
You began telling us in Week 1 discussion board about who you are and your future plans as a teacher. Now let us take it up a level. Let us create an Adobe Spark presentation capturing who you are as a WSSU student and as a future educator. Show us through your own creative lenses who you are now and in the future.
Directions:
- Log into Adobe Creative Cloud Express/formerly Spark.
- Using the Web Page/Presentation tool, Begin creating.
- Create an Introduction of yourself as a student at WSSU
- Add in your aspirations as a future teacher/educator.
- Share quotes that apply to your teaching philosophy (we will talk more about that next week)
- Share graphics that capture the impact you want to have as a classroom teacher.
- You are free to use graphics, links, tabs, sound, etc.
- Be creative. One thing you will find with Adobe tools is that you can be very creative.
Assignment Requirements:
- All Adobe CC assignments must have a minimum of 8 slides with content.
- You must show that you can use each type of tool in the Adobe CC options (Headings, video, tabs, and format).
Examples Tool Choices:
- Create slides,
- add in a button with a URL link,
- add a graphic,
- use headline titles, and
- embed a video of your choice from YouTube that relates to who you are.
*I will have an example posted in the module in Canvas.
Assignment #2 Technology Tool Presentations- Students have to select a technology tool of choice. Review it. Share the overview of the tool. Create a LESSON PLAN using the tool for their grade level and content area. Finally, rate the tool on a scale from 1-5 on its use for teaching and learning. We share the tools with the entire class to build their portfolio of technology tool options. Students must do 3 different technology tool presentations during the semester.
Students created FINAL DIGITAL PORTFOLIOS for the course and to serve as a portal for future digital projects. They had the option to use Adobe Creative Express, and most used it.
RN-BSN Adobe Scholar Initiative
Project Aims
To utilize Adobe Creative Cloud applications to create new learning activities that address the 21st century needs of mobile, digital learners in an online asynchronous RN-BSN program.
To improve digital literacy and fluency skills of RN-BSN faculty through a personal mentoring experience.
To foster an academic space for innovation and creativity.
Phase 1: Faculty Mentoring (2020-2021 AY)
RN-BSN Adobe Scholar Initiative Phase 2: Assignment Integration (2022-2024 Years 2 & 3)
Goal: By the end of year three, one-third of RN-BSN courses will integrate at least one digital learning assignment using an Adobe Creative Cloud application.
RN-BSN Adobe Initiative
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"Transforming higher education for the twenty-first century is not about throwing a lot of tech into classrooms. What we need instead is to rethink higher education so that our students are digitally literate-so that they understand, gain insight into, and maybe even exert more control over the technologies that have changed and sometimes dominated our lives and will do so even more in the future" (Davidson, 2017, p. 80).
REFERENCES
American Library Association [ALA]. Digital Literacy. (2022). https://literacy.ala.org/digital-literacy/
Borthwick, A. C., & Hansen, R. (2017). Digital literacy in teacher education: Are teacher educators competent?. Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, 33(2), 46-48.
Buchholz, B. A., DeHart, J., & Moorman, G. (2020). Digital citizenship during a global pandemic: Moving beyond digital literacy. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 64(1), 11-17.
Brown, J., Morgan, A., Mason, J., Pope, N., & Bosco, A.M. (2020). Student nurses' digital literacy levels: lessons for curricula. CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 38(9), 451-458.
Davidson, C. N. (2017). The new education: How to revolutionize the university to prepare students for a world in flux. Basic Books: New York, NY.
Kennedy, S., & Yaldren, J. (2017). A look at digital literacy in health and social care. British Journal of Cardiac Nursing, 12(9), 428-432.
Sparrow, J. (2018). Digital fluency: Big, bold problems. New Horizons: The technologies ahead. Educause Review. March, 12.
Credits:
Created with images by airdone - "Are You Ready" • athree23 - "board chalk business" • stux - "thought cloud idea" • sdecoret - "Tech devices and icons connected to digital planet earth" • Sinart Creative - "Equity Word Written In Wooden Cube - Newspaper" • karandaev - "Supplies over notepads in front of chalk board" • Andrey Popov - "Outcomes Block With Measurement Tape On Reflective Desk" • Zerophoto - "Portfolio. Orange hot key on computer keyboard" • projectio - "Books on wooden desk table and abstract background. Education background. Copy Space. Back to school."