Digital Literacies for learning Week 1

Overview of the session Welcome, Introductions Overview of the learnonline site Course Outline Assessment Tasks Learning Tasks Introductions What are Digital Literacies? Your own Digital Literacies Reading Task Preparation for next week

Course site overview Navigating the Learnonline site Course Expectations Attendance Class preparation Course calendar Provide a bit of a ‘show and tell’ of the course site – access to course materials (lecture notes) – remind them that there is no formal lecture for this course and need to have completed the lecture readings and weekly reading in preparation for the class. Go through the components of a course outline with students Show where to find it on the course site – encourage them to save/print a copy as it is the guide of what is expected in this course.

Assessment overview

Assessment Task 1 Your task is to make a case for the importance of teachers making use of digital technologies in the classroom and then identify a tool that teachers can use to ‘overcome their struggles’ with making use of digital technologies. This assignment should be presented in the form of a report with the use of headings and a reference list. You should structure your report as follows INTRODUCTION: provide a brief overview about the importance of using digital technologies in a primary classroom. You will need to make use of academic literature to validate your case. (Approximately 300 words) TEACHING TOOL DESCRIPTION: (Approximately 500 words) Identify a digital tool (e.g. iPad/tablet, interactive whiteboard, smart table, digital camera, laptop/computer, games console, mobile phone, etc), appropriate for use by teachers or students in primary classrooms. Provide a brief description of your tool. Outline the potential strengths and weaknesses of such a tool in a primary classroom. You will need to use literature to support this discussion. You should try to include academic references if available, but it is appropriate to also make use of websites such as teacher magazines or blogs. CLASSROOM USE: Describe one illustration of how teachers could make use of your chosen tool in their classrooms. If you are making use of examples you have found online, ensure that you reference the sources appropriately. (Approximately 200 words) REFERENCE LIST: ensure that you acknowledge all sources of information using the UniSA Harvard system. Your reference list is not included in the word count. You should include a minimum of 5 references.

Assignment 2 Before starting placement or work in a school, it is extremely helpful to familiarise with the context in which you will be working. For those of you also enrolled in Professional Experience 1, this is particularly relevant as you will soon start your visits. This assignment requires you to produce an infographic to present information about a school site. An infographic is a digital poster that is used to present data and information in a visually appealing way. I haven’t gone into lots of detail about assignments 2 and 3, don’t want to overwhelm students anymore than necessary. Will elaborate on these in coming weeks.

Assignment 3 This assessment task is designed to assist you to build a portfolio of resources that you can use in your future teaching. These can include materials such as online games, websites, videos, applications (apps), etc. For each topic (weeks 4-11) you are required to source a relevant digital teaching artefact related to the content for that particular week. The resource should be appropriate for you as a teacher to make use of or for the children to use. You will need to provide a critical review of the resource and describe its relevance to the weekly content and Digital Technologies curriculum. Each entry should be approximately 300 words (maximum 2500 words for weeks 4 – 11). A template has been provided to support you in this process. It can be found on the course website, under the assessment tab. You will use this template for each week. You must include a variety of resources (at least 1 website, 1 app, 1 video). The remaining digital resources can be of your own choosing.

Course expectations Attendance Come to class having completed weekly ‘lecture’ materials and reading Workshop Protocols Start times Mobile phones Attendance – refer to course outline Feel free to add whatever other expectations are appropriate for you.

Introductions (with a difference) Monster Glyphs Choose your favourite shape to draw a body for your monster. If you live in the Adelaide metropolitan area, add a rectangular shaped mouth. If you live interstate/overseas or in a rural location, add a semi-circle shaped mouth. Add one eye for each member of your immediate family. Add a piece of hair for each letter of your first name. If you are a confident user of digital technology, add 2 legs. If you are not a confident user of digital technology, add 3 legs. Add one arm for each pet that you currently own. If you have left school in the past 2 years, add 4 teeth. If it has been longer than 2 years since you left school, add 6 teeth. Colour your monster using your favourite colour/s. Our very first learning task is designed to assist you to get to know each other, just as you would do on your first day teaching in a primary classroom. We’re doing this in a hopefully non-threatening, fun way by creating a glyph. A glyph is simply a picture or symbol used to represent a word. The Digital Technologies curriculum requires primary students to collect, represent and analyse data – you will learn more about this in a few weeks. However, as a way of introducing yourself to the rest of the class, you need to use the following information to create a monster glyph to represent data about yourself. You can simply draw your monster glyph but there are some class supplies to be more creative. Sort glyphs using each of the criteria to get a sense of the group. For example, how many eyes (members in immediate family), number of teeth (how long out of school). Introduce yourself to someone in your group that you don’t know. Repeat a couple of times….

discussion Wheeler’s Model Spires’ Model JISC Model Feel free to choose any aspect of this week’s content You may want to check the process students use to note the materials JISC Model

discussion Digital natives vs digital immigrants - Visitors or immigrants Are you a digital native, immigrant, visitor or resident? How did you make your decision? Feel free to choose any aspect of this week’s content You may want to check the process students use to note the materials

Activity – reading task It is essential to develop the skills to locate, comprehend and consume digital content on the Web. Central to being effective with the Web is strategically searching for information and evaluating its accuracy and relevancy (Leu et al.,2008). There is consensus that effective Web search skills must be developed for educational success in a digital society, and instruments such as The Teaching Internet Comprehension to Adolescents (TICA) checklist can ensure that students have the necessary prerequisite Web search skills (Leu et al., 2008). However, more challenging is how to incorporate the effective teaching and development of Web search skills in the classroom (Moraveji et al., 2011). Nevertheless, some important skills are considered necessary for locating and using digital content: domain knowledge, a working knowledge of how to use search engines, basic literacy skills, and a general knowledge of resources available on the Web (Moraveji et al., 2011). Students will have briefly read this week’s reading. This task is designed to help them develop/practice the skills of active reading to assist in their retention and comprehension of what they are reading. Ask students to read the excerpt from this week’s reading. The next slide has some questions regarding what they have read.

Activity – reading task What is the name of the checklist that can determine if the students have the necessary web search skills? What are the skills that are considered necessary for locating and using digital content? Name one of the references cited in the excerpt. ANSWERS Teaching Internet Comprehension to Adolescents (TICA) checklist domain knowledge, a working knowledge of how to use search engines, basic literacy skills, and a general knowledge of resources available on the Web Leu et al.,2008 or Moraveji et al., 2011 Discuss the answers and draw attention to their (in)ability to be able to quote exactly from their memory. Go back to the previous slide and ask them to double-check their answers. Did they need to re-read the entire passage again to find the correct responses?

Activity – reading task Take a copy of this week’s reading, together with a highlighter and/or pen/pencil and read through the article Underline key ideas – most paragraphs will begin with a topic sentence, which identifies the focus on that paragraph. Circle any phrases you want to remember. Place a star next to important ideas Put a question mark next to anything you do not understand or are unsure of – this could be ideas or words you are unfamiliar with and need to look up. Use the margins of the article to write any thoughts, ideas or questions you have as you read. You could use different coloured highlighters to do this.

Activity – reading task What categories do Spires and Bartlett use to divide the processes associated with digital literacy? What did Australia do in 2008 to provide a quality digital education? What does the term ‘deictic’ mean? Locating and consuming digital content. Creating digital content. Communicating digital content. Digital Education Revolution – provided computers to schools The changing nature of literacy which is prompted by the constantly changing technologies. Discuss their answers. How did engaging with the text affect their ability to find the specific answers? Did they better understand what they had read? Did they need to re-read the whole text to find the answers? Discuss which process was ‘better’ to them?

Your own digital literacy experiences Take some time to work through each of the questions and respond as being Very Confident, Quite Confident or Not Yet Confident. Once completed, and you click on Done, you will be able to see how your responses compare to others. Discuss your own strengths and limitations in relation to digital literacy and how these compare to your peers. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XGG3DRL For this online digital literacy audit, you will be making use of an online survey tool called Survey Monkey. It is free and will allow you to not only answer the questions, but to immediately see how your responses compare with those of your peers. Please note that other students will not be able to see your individual responses. You might want to take this opportunity to introduce students to QR codes. Apps can be downloaded for free – I use QR Reader. This is a great strategy for young children to access the website or materials you want them without having to type in a URL which can take a long time. If you have a QR code reader app, you can use the QR code to link to the survey on your device otherwise type in the URL. After completing the survey – discuss the results in small groups. How did the results of the individual compare with the larger group? Are there any surprises?

Before our next session………. Work through Topic 2 Read and note the lecture materials for Topic 2 Complete the reading and bring notes with you to class