Download - Learning Literacies in a Digital Age (LLiDA)
Joint Information Systems Committee 22/04/23 | | Slide 1
Learning Literacies in a Digital Age (LLiDA)
Helen BeethamLou McGillAllison Littlejohn
Small-scale JISC studyReporting end March 09
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 2
Scope and definitions
By ‘digital literacies’ we mean the range of practices that underpin effective learning in a digital age
We use the term ‘effective learning’ as characteristic of ‘skilled, digitally aware learners with the capacity to participate in learning using technologies of their own choosing’.
We use the term ‘digital age’ as a shorthand for technical, social, economic, cultural and educational contexts in which digital forms of information and communication predominate
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 3
Three-pronged approach
1. Review available evidence(a)Current research into literacies
(b)Conceptual and competency frameworks relevant to UK HE and FE
(c)The changing context and requirements for learning and literacy
2. Investigate current provision in UK HE and FE institutionsa) Institutional audits
b) Best practice exemplars
3. Test conclusionsa) Expert advisory group (institutional auditors, stakeholders)
b) Interviews with leading researchers and theorists
Joint Information Systems Committee 22/04/23 | | Slide 4
Reviewing the evidence
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 5
Key issues from research and theory Multi-modality
– text-based literacy is no longer enough– focus on ‘communicative competence’ across multiple domains
Socially situated:– contextual practices rather than individual skills
‘Net generation’ a contested concept– from ‘rewired brains’ to ‘nothing new ‘
Next-generation user skills (web 2.0) – do/don’t entail new forms of learning– for some learners, for some kinds of learning, for some of the time
Information skills vs knowledge practices– Poverty of information skills (high certainty)– Changing modes of knowledge and knowledge practice (uncertainty)
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 6
academic literacies
competence frameworksinformation and media literacies
ICT literacies
slow change, cultural and institutional inhibitors
rapid change, economic and techno-social
drivers
critical thinkingproblem solvingreflectionacademic writingnote-takingconcept mappingtime managementanalysis, synthesisevaluationcreativity, innovationself-directed learningcollaborative learning
searching and retrievinganalysing, interpreting critiquingevaluatingmanaging resourcesnavigating info spacescontent creationediting, repurposingenriching resourcesreferencingsharing content
ICT skillsweb skillssocial networkingusing CMCusing TELEusing digital devicesword processingusing databasesanalysis toolsassistive techpersonalisation…
engaging with academic tasks engaging with
digital tools
engaging with academic
knowledge/ content
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 7
digital = ‘tools are changing really fast!”
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 8
literacy = ‘learning stays much the same!”
Joint Information Systems Committee 22/04/23 | | Slide 9
Current provision – the evidence
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 10
Current practice: early indications Poor articulation of provision and support among central services Low awareness of digital and learning literacy in departments (some
exceptions) Little understanding among students of how they will be expected to
study and learn – even after induction Over-confidence in information skills among students Lack of confidence in ICT skills among staff ?Digital disadvantage (cultural capital like any other) ?clash of knowledge cultures (authority, ownership, media) Emergence of new policy and practice frameworks Pinch points: induction, information habits, assessment, plagiarism,
use of personal technologies, collaboration
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 11
Student expectations
Staff champions
Diverse student population
Changing technologies and digital practices
Employability agenda
External funding and policy drivers
Internal leadership and special initiatives
Other
Institutional drivers for change (evolutionary)
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 12
Supra-institutional drivers for change
Current trends
Educause Horizons
OECD schools
Beyond Current Horizons
Leicester, OU…
TLRPFuture scenarios
economic
educational
social/environmental
demographic
technological
public policy
high/low demand for UK graduate skills
collective/individual responsibility for ed.
retrenched/transformed teaching workforce
future of knowledge/disciplines
globalisation
socialnetworks
in(non)formal learning
lifelong learning
sustainability
consumerism
gamingskills, competences
fundingemployability
accreditation
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 13
Paradigm-breaking scenarios? Text-based practices of formal learning increasingly obsolete Online reputation more valuable than formal accreditation:
just-in-time, piecemeal, informal learning triumphs Collapse of publishing and IP arrangements Collapse in demand for UK-educated graduates … BUT little evidence for these
We see little evidence that even highly-skilled digital networkers are learning informally through social communities in the deep and
self-transforming way that is the aim of post-compulsory educationFormal, post-compulsory institutions remain uniquely placed to
support higher-level learning and knowledge practices
Joint Information Systems Committee 22/04/23 | | Slide 14
Conclusions (still to be tested!)
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 15
Institutions need to address: The capacities that are taught for, supported and assessed:
– Digital participation, production and enquiry– Multiple modes of knowing, multiple media, multiple communities– Self-management of learning, career and reputation– Creativity, innovation and agility
How these capacities are supported– Peer learning, informal learning, 360 degree support and review– Organisational upskilling (not ‘we teach u’)– Interdisciplinarity? Cross-contextual learning? Learner-generated contexts?
How these capacities are valued– Recognition and reward (staff and student)– Investment in literacies of the digital – cultural as well as financial
Digital competence needs to saturate institutional practiceDigital talent needs to be nurtured in teaching & research professions
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 16
JISC needs to address:
Upskilling of the community at large– or risk failing to embed outcomes and realise benefits
Development work must include consideration of how the resulting standards, services and technologies will be used – beyond the expert community
– beyond their basic functionality
– agilely and creatively
– for life-enhancing purposes i.e. for deep learning, self-realisation, progress towards life goals
Getting technology into the hands of learners is not enough to empower them
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 17
http://www.academy.gcal.ac.uk/llida/
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 18
Reflecting on the context and drivers for change
Please look at p3. (qu. 7.11) ‘drivers for change’
Are there any other drivers at GCal we have not included?
Please rank the three you think are most important, in order of importance (i.e. 1 to 3)
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 19
http://www.academy.gcal.ac.uk/llida/
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 20
literacies
access
skills
strategies
attributes
relatively stable aspects of the person
changeable and context-related aspects of the person
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 21
literacy as common entitlement
a foundational knowledge or capability, such as reading, writing or numeracy, on which more specific skills depend
a cultural entitlement – a practice without which a learner is impoverished in relation to culturally valued knowledge
access
skills
strategies
attributes
entitlementequality of
access
Ensuring all learners have functional access to core technologies, services and devices; developing core literacies; building capacity to learn across the lifecourse.
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 22
literacies as difference
communication – expressing how an individual relates to culturally significant communications in a variety of media
the need for practice – acquired through continued development and refinement in different contexts, rather than once-and-for-all mastery
a socially and culturally situated practice – often highly dependent on the context in which it is carried out
self-transformation - literacies (and their lack) have a lifelong, lifewide impact
an ongoing process which is never completedaccess
skills
strategies
attributesenhancementexpression of
difference
Enabling learners to access and integrate own technologies, services, and learning communities; supporting the development of socio-technical practices; supporting achievement of personal goals and learning journeys.