Leveraging Tools, Texts, and Talk in My Teaching Context

    The opportunity for educators to design classroom activities across spaces is very exciting. However, the learning must extend, as educators are left with the following question: How can activities be designed to support practices beyond the screen? The author of the article, “MORE THAN BITS AND BYTES” discusses how educators can go beyond the screen by engaging students in meaningful conversations surrounding new literacy practices and helping students to navigate digital literacies in a purposeful way. Aguilera (2017) states, “By exploring issues like intellectual property, internet censorship, and government surveillance, we can help students ask more critical questions about the impact of digital media and technologies” (p. 13). This quote demonstrates that teachers must provide opportunities for students to explore (whether through direct instruction, through student-led learning, or through a mixture of both) issues that arise from digital literacies in the classroom and other environments. Aguilera (2017) suggests educators provide their students resources by Electronic Frontier Foundation to support them in navigating digital literacy and media in an informed and responsible manner. This resource can be found here: https://www.eff.org/  Once students are knowledgeable about these topics or tensions, educators should provide a safe space for students to present on their learning, debate about their thoughts and stances, and share how they’d address these current issues surrounding the digital world. I could see the following ideas being implemented in different grade levels to successfully engage students in these conversations: a formal debate, circle time share out, and a group project/presentation.

    Although digital literacy has its place in the classroom, it does not come without tensions and issues that must be addressed. For example, Garcia (2017) argues that non-digital skills, including analog literacies, allows learners to make sense of the world in ways that digital skills such as digital literacy cannot. This argument can be addressed by limiting digital literacy in the classroom to encourage an increased amount of real life learning experiences. As an educator, I simply cannot expect all of my students to learn best from digital literacy all the time. Thus, I must be thoughtful where I am incorporating this type of learning. There needs to be a balance, and Garcia’s work reminds us of that. Other tensions surrounding engagement concerns and equity issues are apparent. When explaining why audioblogging can support English learners and their language-learning while also increasing student motivation, Hsu and Wang (2017) suggest students complete their assignments at home, rather than in the classroom. This presents an equity issue because if a student is asked to complete work that utilizes digital literacy and media, they must have sole access to a device of some sort, as well as WiFi. They must also have a quiet space to work. These are privileges that not every student is afforded and when this is the expectation, unfortunately, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. This can be addressed by educators by providing plenty of class time to complete any digital expectations with school issued devices. Lastly, Semingson (2017) brings up the issue of using screen time with children, which may impact their ability to engage in learning for extended periods of time in the future. This issue of engagement can be addressed by strategically using smartphones and other devices in a purposeful manner with young children to work on academic skills such as reading, storytelling, and alphabet knowledge. Young learners will have screen time, but it will be used in a positive way to help them succeed. This can also be addressed by limiting screen time. So, if a young child has already used the smartphone to read with grandma and watched nursery rhymes on Youtube, it might be appropriate to skip the e-reading for the night and opt for traditional story time before bed. The point is the following: like anything, there are issues associated with digital literacy; however, this doesn’t mean we should just knix it completely. Digital literacy and media has true value in the classroom and beyond, and educators can actively work to address tensions and mitigate issues.

Questions to ponder (Inspired by Brittany Clark’s blog posts https://bmclark713.blogspot.com/ :))

• How will you as an educator address tensions and concerns in regards to digital literacy? 

• How can you make digital literacy and media more accessible in the classroom and beyond?

• In your opinion, what conversations need to happen with your students in correspondence to digital literacy learning? 

References 

Aguilera, E. (2017). MORE THAN BITS AND BYTES. Literacy Today, 35(3), 12-13. https://sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/more-than-bits-bytes/docview/1966006470/se-2?accountid=8067 

Doctorow, C., Gullo, K., Srago, M., Femia, L., York, J. C., Richman, J., Zhao, H., Budington, B., Mackey, A., & Gilligan, B. (n.d.). Electronic Frontier Foundation. https://www.eff.org/  

Exxorian. (n.d.). Multi-ethnic group of student discuss in front of blackboard. iStock. https://www.istockphoto.com/vector/classroom-discussions-gm1054288940-281698855 

Garcia, A. (2017) NonDigital skills, Literacy Today, 24-25  https://www.proquest.com/docview/1966005428/4E1DCD1AA7D54D6EPQ/17?accountid=8067&sourcetype=Trade%20Journals 

Hsu, H.-Y. & Wang, S.-K. (2017) Rethinking Language Learning , Literacy Today https://www.proquest.com/docview/1966005990/4E1DCD1AA7D54D6EPQ/19?accountid=8067&sourcetype=Trade%20Journals 

Semingson, P. (2017) Digital literacies for young readers and writers. Literacy Today 30-31, https://www.proquest.com/docview/1966005551/4E1DCD1AA7D54D6EPQ/20?accountid=8067&sourcetype=Trade%20Journals