E-Learning-Inclusivo (Mashup)

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.

“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?”

Information literacy is the ability to identify, access, evaluate, and synthesize multiple forms of information. Information is expressed in many forms: text, data, images, and multimedia. Becoming information literate is a multi-step, iterative process that includes articulating the need for information; finding information efficiently; thinking critically about resources; managing the abundance of information available; using information ethically; synthesizing and incorporating information into one’s knowledge base; and creatively expressing and effectively communicating new knowledge.

"Check out the 10 Trends for Personalized Learning in 2017,under the five categories: Process, Technology, Structural, Teaching & Learning, and Cultural ..."

Do a bit of research on the impact that the Web has had on writing, and you will find plenty of articles moaning about millennials and their use of ‘text speak’. It’s a shame that the conversation on this topic has been so rather narrow, because the truth is that the web has changed our expectations in some very profound ways. These changing expectations mean that the definition of literacy itself is changing. Educators who focus on simple literacy instead of digital literacy may be leaving their students at a disadvantage.

Nowadays, not only is information everywhere, it is also literally at our fingertips. I can ask my phone how many calories are in my food, self-diagnose my headache on a medical website, look up a research article on a database, or search for a tutorial about my favorite hobby on social media. Thanks to technology, I can retrieve a massive amount of information that I otherwise would never have had easy access to. It’s like living in a candy store…of information.

Not a bad thing, right?

But what happens if the information I look at is not credible? What happens if I am misled by false information or misrepresented facts?

Today, knowing how to distinguish between reliable and unreliable information has become a necessary skill.

Over the last few months I have been working hard to develop a set of commercially available lesson materials. These lesson plans aren't specifically designed for English language learners, though they will be useful for students at higher levels who want stimulating skills based practice or for any teacher interested in developing a CLIL or content based approach to language learning. They were designed to enable any teacher to develop students in a way that is more closely aligned to the kinds of skills they will need to function effectively and critically in the digital world.

"I'm a student voice advocate. Fortunately, my employer supports this and as such, we have been incorporating the voice of students in the guidelines around social media (You can see the teen guidelines at schools.nyc.gov/socialmedia) ..."

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.

The Digital Literacy Competency Calculator (DLCC) is a web-based tool for representing the connection between digital literacy competencies and the teaching and learning practices that produce them. 
For more information, read our White Paper.

Welcome to the Information and Digital Literacy Tutorials from the University of Sheffield Library. These tutorials, videos and guides will support you in your studies. Information and digital literacy is one of the Sheffield Graduate attributes.

Best content around Classroom Student Data Privacy selected by the EdTech Update community.

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2015/07/19/learning-path-for-professional-21st-century-learning-by-ict-practice/

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2016/02/18/the-new-possibilities-to-learn-and-teach-with-ict/