Education 2.0 & 3.0

"Digital literacy is crucial for society. We have a big challenge with Gen Z and Gen Alpha being digital natives but not digitally literate ..."

"Digital skills once meant having a basic grasp of computers. Now, it means being able to work adaptably and strategically across tools, devices and platforms ..."

One student wanted to know why so many nurses were spreading vaccine misinformation.

Other participants drew parallels to popular crime-fighting myths found in shows like “Criminal Minds.”

But most of the college students who participated in a fact-checking workshop from MediaWise, the social-first digital media literacy initiative of the nonprofit Poynter Institute, were simply happy to report feeling more digitally savvy after the hour they spent learning to spot fact from fiction online.

MediaWise and its Campus Correspondents have been working since 2020 to slow the spread of online misinformation. In 2022, the goal is to train at 100 diverse colleges and universities, and availability is now opening up for another 25 workshops.

In this blog post, Pip Divall, Clinical Librarian Service Manager at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and CILIP Information Literacy Group’s Health Sector rep, gathers together useful resources for tackling Covid-19 vaccine misinformation during the global pandemic.

On this week's podcast, Simon and Jade primarily discuss the work of Ito et al. (2020), which focuses on "connected learning," a seemingly more holistic approach to education that incorporates socio-cultural contexts, multiple literacies, and technology into curricula. With additional references to Soule and Warrick (2015), as well as Ken Robinson's talk on Changing Paradigms, we ultimately conclude that there are no alternatives to real-life interactions. Technology itself is merely a tool we can use to enhance learning experiences and our lives, but not to completely replace those human connections and interactions we need to develop crucial 21st century skills.

Data Literacy Playground is an online space where visitors can use, interact with, and understand the benefits and issues of using and sharing data so that they can make informed choices about data sharing and understand the data shared with them.

This afternoon I was talking with a few of my students about TikTok and its new relationship with Oracle. The course of that conversation brought up a lot of "I've heard X" and "I've read X" statements from my students regarding news about TikTok. As you might imagine would happen with teenagers talking about their favorite app, the conversation got animated. I spent a lot of time helping discern fact from rumors and opinions. All that to say, this afternoon reminded me to review facts vs. opinions with students. I used this Common Craft video, but there are some other good resources you might want explore. Those are outlined below.

Here is a handy visual you can use with your students in class to help them become better Google searchers. We have outlined 8 search tips that students can use to narrow down their search and get accurate results. All of these tips are nested in Google Advanced Search which is accessible from 'settings' in Google search homepage. This visual is also available in PDF format from this page.

A growing number of colleges and universities are announcing the cancellation of face-to-face teaching for what remains of the academic year, and continuing instead through online teaching. Given the technology available, this need not be especially problematic. But in practice, it is, and in many cases means the 2020 academic year is lost.

Things didn’t have to end like this: Learning online is not impossible, but will be difficult unless we start looking at things differently. Why is it a problem for teaching to continue through the internet? 

There are so many useful skills you’ll develop while doing your research – from critical thinking and being able to evaluate your work and that of others, to time management skills. But the research world is rapidly changing, so what skills can you develop now to make you ready for the research future? In this post we guide you through some of the key skills for researchers today.

"To equip yourself for success in the workplace of the future, you need more than technical knowledge. Find out which valuable soft skills employers will be looking for in the next ten years ..."

Public libraries are beginning to catch up with the technological need for education. Several public libraries across the country can be used as models for honing in on local public libraries’ digital literacy instruction. 

By using these models, these libraries will be able to help narrow the digital literacy gap that is created by generational differences. Not only can this digital literacy gap be created by that age difference but from education and cultural considerations as well. 

For almost 20 years, instruction librarians have relied on variations of two models, the CRAAP Test and SIFT, to teach students how to evaluate printed and web-based materials. Dramatic changes to the information ecosystem, however, present new challenges amid a flood of misinformation where algorithms lie beneath the surface of popular and library platforms collecting clicks and shaping content. When applied to increasingly connected networks, these existing evaluation heuristics have limited value. Drawing on our combined experience at community colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada, and with Project Information Literacy (PIL), a national research institute studying college students’ information practices for the past decade, this paper presents a new evaluative approach for teaching students to see information as the agent, rather than themselves. Opportunities and strategies are identified for evaluating the veracity of sources, first as students, leveraging the expertise they bring with them into the classroom, and then as lifelong learners in search of information they can trust and rely on.

"Digital literacy means being literate in digital tech. The idea is that a person using tech or, more specifically, web technologies must be aware of the right way to utilize them. The abundance of resources, tools, and apps makes it easy for anyone to fall prey to the ill effects of the web. Being digitally literate helps one to find and avoid practices that are not ethical."

As the world careens from one crisis to another—as COVID-19 brings us closed schools and massive unemployment, as horrific videos of police brutality spark more than a week of nationwide protests—one thing has been constant and concerning: We are devouring digital media, seeking out information and scrolling for solace.

And, let’s face it, we’re seeking and scrolling in the dark. We’re doing this literally, as we sit up at 2 a.m. in our bedrooms, scrolling and clicking and unable to sleep. And figuratively, clicking through mazes of media messages on social media, pushing through brush to find a trail. Most of us have had no guides to orient us in this streaming and screaming digital world.

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Digital and numeracy skills are amongst those that are most sought after by employers, and can help you progress in work and boost your job prospects. Digital skills can be anything from using social media and staying safe online to coding, programming or digital marketing.

“How did you do that?” This is a question I have been asked a few times in my career when using an element of technology in my lessons.

The thing is, this is not a reaction to my students tackling some carefully crafted web quest or using iPads to create animated video clips (simply because I don’t usually do those kind of tasks but more on that later!) It is often a reaction to my class using an app like Padlet to collaborate or Kahoot to create their own quizzes.

“I didn’t do that,” is usually my answer. “I just set it up and my students did the rest.”

“But it seems so complicated,” they continue. “I could never do something like that.”

When a teacher is reluctant to use technology in class, there are two reasons they may offer – “I don’t know much about technology,” and/or “my students are much better with tech than me so how could I teach them anything with it?”