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Empowering Students Through Digital Literacy Justin Hodgson | Indiana University

or go to justinhodgson.com for the link

Transformative Job Market

  • New Career Types/Tracks: 85% of all jobs available by 2030 will be positions/careers non-existent prior to 2020 (Institute for the Future 2017; World Economic Forum 2018)
  • Landing the Position: "Soft Skills" remain top priority in hiring practices, but these are increasingly digitally inflected: digital communication, digital collaboration, digital creativity, digital problem-solving (see Petrone 2019; Marr 2022)

Responsibility in Higher Education

  • Inclusivity: The digital divide is most pronounced across issues of Race, Gender, and Class. When we fail to integrate digital literacy into higher education, we create double-jeapordy digital inequity (McLay & Reyes, 2019): a process by which we unintentionally widen that gap.
  • Engagement: Bringing digital literacy/digital creativity practices in the classroom has a positive impact on student engagement, performance, and retention. This is even more pronounced (nearly 2 times more) for BIPOC and first generation students (Civitas, Adobe, and UT San Antonio, 2020).
  • Accountability: Over 80% of Students, Faculty, and Administrators agree/strongly agree that teaching digital literacy skills should be part of the curriculum (Chronicle of Higher Ed)

A Digital Educator's Journey

Beginning the journey: Video Transitions in Basic & Developmental Writing

  • two-course sequence to help students prepare for first-year composition (credits do not transfer)
  • populated by underrepresented groups

Continuing the journey: The importance of multimedia for undergraduate students?

2009 | Bringing Remix into the Classroom

A remix approach to the Taylor Swift / Kanye West / Beyonce "event" at the 2009 VMAs (and its aftermath).

I had a smoother time creating this project than I do with most traditional writing assignments. I looked forward to working on it rather than dreading its due date - David Bistline (JUMP+)

2011 | A (Creative) Scholarly Response

2 "acts" from "The Importance of Undergraduate Multimedia: An Argument in Seven Acts," a collaborative production between Justin Hodgson, Scott Nelson, Andrew Rechnitz, & Cleve Wiese. Published in 2011 in Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, & Pedagogy (16.1).

The clips above feature audio content from interviews with (in order) Drs. Justin Tremel & Will Burdette.

2023 | The Practical Values of Digital Literacy Today
  • When we give students the opportunity to learn digital literacy skills and new media authoring practices, we quite literally expand their capacities for expression. This helps students not only to tell better stories but, more importantly, take on greater (or different) degrees of agency.
  • When we invite students to create with digital technologies, we give them access to course content, ideas, and practices in new ways. This is not only a matter of what they might make (i.e., a podcast), but fundamentally how they might engage a given course’s content.
  • When working in and across digital modalities, students can have meaningful success outside traditional modes of academic discourse. This is especially important for DEI efforts, including 1st gen, non-traditional, and international students, for many of whom traditional academic discourse can be a major hurdle if not insurmountable barrier.
  • When creating digital "things," students actively want to share their work. There is a built-in public-facing condition when making digital things, and many of us, students and faculty alike, see and feel the reality of a persistent digital audience, that underlying ‘meant to be seen’ condition as when we are engaged in digital making.

Success Outside Traditional Academic Discourse

Tanya Patel's "10 and 2, Are You?" Interactive Image Project

Created using Adobe Photoshop and wix.com

Tianqi Cai's "Winter in My Community" Video Essay

created using Adobe Premiere Pro

Accessing Ideas in New Ways

Mia Freeman's "History of Vaccines" Digital Monument

Project created using Minecraft EDU & Adobe CC Express

Video walkthrough created using Adobe Premiere Rush

Expanding Capacities of Expression

Andrew William's "Picture Perfect" - A Remix Video

This video was a remix of Kat Napiorkowska's "Living with Depression"

William's remix was published in the Journal for Undergraduate Multimedia Projects jumpplus.net

Remix project (re)created using Adobe Premiere Pro

3 Approaches for Integrating Digital Literacy

ACTIVITIES, ASSETS, and ASSIGNMENTS

  • ACTIVITIES | In-class engagements that get students involved with course content/ideas/issues in critical and creative ways, and doing so through the use of particular digital technologies and practices. Examples include Think-Pair-Make-Share, TikTok Creations, Meme Challenge, etc.
  • ASSETS | Instructor-produced deliverables that guide students through content or practices, illuminate concepts or methods, set-up (or extend) in-class engagements, etc.
  • ASSIGNMENTS (or assessments) | Opportunities for students to create particular kinds of output and for instructors to assess student learning and development based on those outputs. These assessments can range from low-stakes activities (e.g., SSS Vlogs) to capstone projects.

Activities

Think-Pair-Make-Share

Think-Pair-Share is a popular Active Learning strategy used in classrooms. The modified version, Think-Pair-Make-Share, brings Digital Literacy and Active Learning together, adding "making" (and reflection/explanation) as a key component. This allows instructors to use what students make as a means to facilitate engagement.

OVERVIEW

  • 1 minute: to write down a response to a prompt.
  • 2 minutes: Pair up (or group up) and discuss your responses. Select one key takeaway.
  • 5-7 minutes: As a pair/group, create an image (using Adobe Express) that conveys that takeaway.
  • Share image creation with instructor/class; be prepared to explain both the creation and to expound on the takeaway.

Instructor uses student creations to facilitate a discussion.

Example Prompt & Creations (Digital Gardener Faculty Fellows Program): What is Digital Literacy? What does it look like in your Discipline?

Social Media as Model

This activity invites students to "social media making" as a way of knowing/developing understanding. For example, instructors might have students create a TikTok video or an Instagram post that conveys a practice, concept, or structure related to class.

Example Prompt: Pumpkin Challenge in Minecraft EDU (ENG-W171)

Welcome to the pumpkin patch / Minecraft EDU / TikTok challenge! Today we are practicing drafting, building, documenting, and discussing our work.

  • Draft: On a piece of paper, plan how you're going to build the pumpkins in Minecraft EDU at different scales (e.g., one that fits in 6x6x6 area; another in a 15x15x15 area). Think about how to represent rounded shapes in a cube form!
  • Build: Using the fill command, fill a cube of your desired dimensions with your chosen material. Then "carve" your pumpkin by removing blocks. Do this for both pumpkins.
  • Decorate: Decorate your pumpkins and pumpkin patch. Bonus: create Jack O' Lanterns!
  • Document: Create a TikTok video introducing your build and build process to an audience of freshmen students at IUB.
  • Submit: You should submit an mp4 file or a link to a TikTok. You are not required to publish this video if you do not feel comfortable.mit
  • TIPs & TRYs: Use voice-over, sync to music, incorporate transitions, participate in popular trends, etc. Get creative! This will service as your soft launch into the next unit on video/podcasting.

Assets

Assets can be understood in two primary categories: instructional assets and professional assets. The former are things we use to help facilitate the learning experiences in our courses; the latter are things we use to enhance our own career.

Instructional Assets

Assignment Handouts

Instructional Resources

Professional Assets

Assignments

Course assignments are opportunities for us to assess student learning and development with course content, practices, and approaches.

  • This is the most common way faculty integrate digital literacy into work with students and typically starts by providing students a "digital option" in addition to the more traditional assignment.

This page has featured student work from many course assignments, but below are more student examples (working from simple to complex) across a range of modalities. Collectively they start to gesture toward what digital literacy, digital creativity, and digital learning can look like in the classroom.

Multimedia Essays

Journal/Magazine Articles: Research-based Writing

Image Engagements: Infographics/Composites/Posters

Audio/Podcast Engagements

Video Engagements

Pedagogical Transformation(s)

As instructors create space for more digital literacy and/or active learning in the classroom, some of the core policies and practices of the class may have to evolve as well to accommodate this new orientation.

New Course Models | Digital Literacy + Active Learning (e.g., ENG-W171@IU)

This new course in the IU curriculum was co-created by Justin Hodgson and Miranda Rodak (IU Bloomington). W171 fulfills the First Year Writing Gen Ed requirement at IU, brings together active learning and digital literacy, and features a mentor / apprentice co-instructional model.

A Place to Start (20min)

Challenge Option 1 - The Maker's Challenge

In 10 minutes: Think-Pair-Make-Share | Create an image using Adobe Express.

  • Step 1 (1 min): Write down one key takeaway from today's talk -- one quote, concept, or talking point that stuck with you.
  • Step 2 (2-3 min): Partner up with someone and share your ideas. Agree on one key takeaway.
  • Step 3 (5-7 min): Go to express.adobe.com & login. Then create an image that represents your takeaway. {Be sure to play around with templates, adding content, manipulating multiple elements (images/text), etc.}
  • Step 4 (1 min): Publish & Share the work with the class/group - i.e., Share/Publish the image as a URL and then paste the URL in our shared GoogleDoc.
  • Step 5 (5-10 min): Discussion - Be prepared to discuss your creation: focus not only the content you shared, but your reflections on the making of the creation.

Challenge Option 2 - The Teacher's Challenge

In 10 minutes: Think-Pair-Share

  • Step 1 (1 min): write down a series of ways you can see adding digital literacy elements to your course - think assets, activities, and assessments.
  • Step 2 (2-3 min): Partner up with someone and share your ideas. Identify one practice, approach, or place to focus on implementation and describe it in a sentence (think of a title for it or a line you might post on twitter).
  • Step 3 (5-7 min): Go to express.adobe.com & login. Then create an image that represents /conveys / communicates what you identified in the previous step. {Be sure to play around with templates, adding content, manipulating multiple elements (images/text), etc.}
  • Step 4 (1 min): Publish & Share the work with the class/group - i.e., Share/Publish the image as a URL and then paste the URL in our shared GoogleDoc.
  • Step 5 (5-10 min): Discussion - Share with the class/group your idea, its implementations, and key considerations.
Created By
Justin Hodgson
Appreciate

Credits:

Created with images by EFStock - "Young coworkers digital entrepreneurs working together during meal break. African and latin students using laptop for project" • Tierney - "University with man holding a tablet computer" • Tierney - "Future technology concept with person using a laptop computer" • mrmohock - "Businesswoman hand working digital marketing media in virtual screen with mobile phone and modern compute with VR icon diagram at office in morning light " • SVETLANA - "Minecraft cubes made of plastic. Two brown minecraft cubes with glowing Windows" • DC Studio - "African video editor working with footage and sound, editing new project cutting film montage sitting in modern agency office. Woman using computer processing movie in post production software" • Dilok - "Hand holding virtual world with connection and technology icon for globalisation by metaverse and digital transformation concept." • mantinov - "Black casual shoes standing at just start line" • MarutStudio - "Hand of a young woman showing global business internet connection application technology. and digital marketing Internet connection around the world. Business."