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13489 results in Education, history, theory

Page 388 of 675

  • 20 - Windward in an asynchronous world: the Antiguan initiative, unanticipated pleasure of the distance learning revolution

  • from Part II - Enabling and supporting digital literacies
    • By Cornel J. Reinhart, International Consultant, Centre for e-Learning and Literacy Bloemfontein, South Africa
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 215-225

  • Summary

    Abstract

    This chapter explores the e-literacy impact of Skidmore College's University Without Walls (UWW) online asynchronous bachelor degree programme on the Caribbean island of Antigua. Primarily enrolling the island's teachers, mostly women, UWW's online courses, the author argues, have played a fundamental role in bringing a new pedagogical philosophy and digital literacy to this small and somewhat isolated island nation. For island teachers, participation in asynchronous courses offered wonderfully exciting opportunities to share ideas, teaching experiences, and community histories with other students located around the world. Rum, Slaves and Molasses, an online history course concerning the African slave trade, brought these teacher-students, via the power of the internet, new insights into their own Afro-Caribbean history. These valuable perspectives were quickly introduced into the teacher-students’ own classrooms, offering new generations of Antiguan young people a more positive interpretation of their own African past and the important nation-building role played by their enslaved ancestors. In this learning process, these students were also taught how to create their own websites, to research archives around the world, and to access secondary sources totally unavailable on an island with almost no library facilities. The introduction of these web design skills and related valuable e-literacy tools to these teachers, and then to their students, ultimately brought their unique Antiguan story alive. The internet, coupled with constructivist e-learning strategies, allowed these island educators, previously isolated, to share their distinctive history with people around the globe.

    In UWW's Antiguan initiative we see not only the power of e-literacy to transform learning architecture, but also a glimpse of the pedagogical future: the revolutionary impact of ICT and e-literacy on human societies. As educators, this experience allows us to marvel again at the enormous learning capacity inherent in allowing students to speak directly to each other across the world's vast distances; to share diverse cultural experiences and confront deep historical divides; to explore new ideas and information; and to ‘construct knowledge’ from common collective information. In that process, we also see in Antigua the earliest transformation of an entire culture's educational pedagogical foundation (albeit that of a small island nation).

    Introduction

    In the age of sail, windward and leeward described crucial attributes for ships, often slavers, bound for Caribbean sugar islands.

  • 21 - A tale of two courses

  • from Part II - Enabling and supporting digital literacies
    • By Gill Needham, Head of Strategic and Service Development, Open University Library and Learning Resources Centre The Open University, UK, David Murphy, Director, Centre for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching Monash University, Australia
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 226-236

  • Summary

    Abstract

    This chapter describes a case study of two courses on information literacy presented by distance-teaching institutions from opposite sides of the world. The courses are ‘Mining Information in the Internet Age’, from the Open University of Hong Kong, and ‘Mosaic: Making Sense of Information in the Connected Age’, from the UK Open University, both of which are taught online. Designed and developed entirely independently, the courses have distinct similarities and differences, which will be explored in the chapter.

    Introduction

    In July 2002 the authors of this chapter, two course developers, one from the Open University Hong Kong (OUHK) and one from the UK Open University (UKOU), met for the first time in Hong Kong and began to discuss a mutual interest in information literacy. Information literacy is an important topic, particularly in the context of an online environment, but not one that at that time featured in stand-alone course offerings, particularly outside the USA and Australia. In the conversation, it transpired that both authors had been proactive in developing and delivering short courses in information literacy in their respective countries.

    Both courses were developed in response to similar circumstances. Both institutions are distance-teaching universities. The UKOU was founded more than 30 years ago and was the first university of its kind; the OUHK followed 20 years later using the same model of ‘supported open learning’. Before near-universal internet access enabled the use of digital library resources, students of these institutions were not required to use libraries as part of their studies. The philosophy of equi- table access meant that students had to be able to complete their studies without visiting a library. Instead they were provided with a rich array of multimedia course materials – now referred to as ‘the course in the box’.

    Both institutions have invested heavily in developing their digital library collections over the last eight to ten years, but had to wait until the majority of students had internet access before their use could be integrated into courses. As students were introduced to the use of digital library resources, it became evident that many lacked the most basic information literacy skills. Many students who had studied for several years with the UKOU had never learned to use libraries, databases or other tools. They had no experience equivalent to the library induction mandatory in most traditional universities.

  • 7 - Information literacy – an overview

  • from Part I - Literacies in the digital age
    • By Ola Pilerot, Deputy Head Librarian University of Skövde, Sweden
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 80-88

  • Summary

    Abstract

    This chapter aims to present an overview of the multifaceted concept of information literacy. It should be seen as an exploration of ways of comprehending information literacy. The main questions are: what are the dominating ways of seeing information literacy and why is there an information-literacy initiative? Many authors rightly claim that the task of educating information-literate students and people is not the responsibility of one single group or profession, and consequently this chapter also looks at collaborative aspects of information-literacy education. In accordance with the scope of this book the chapter also presents information literacy in the light of other literacies.

    Introduction

    That information literacy is of great interest to many is evident by the amount of publications that relate to the concept (see Rader, 2002). Among its advocates one group dominates, namely librarians, which is apparent by the number of contributions to the literature made by library professionals. Despite the fact that the term ‘information literacy’ is said to have been coined in the early 1970s (Carbo, 1997), it is evident that the pedagogical ambition which goes along with information literacy education was recognized by librarians long before that:

    A librarian should be more than a keeper of books; he should be an educator…. All

    that is taught in college amounts to very little; but if we can send students out self-reliant

    in their investigations, we have accomplished very much.

    (Robinson, 1876)

    Ways of comprehending information literacy

    When reviewing a number of documents with the common aim of defining or presenting an overview of the concept of information literacy (see e.g. Owusu- Ansah, 2003; Kapitzke, 2003) it becomes apparent that it is a concept that is often similarly regarded. Definitions and models, with slight variations, continuously appear, often in the form of lists that easily remind the reader of recipes or panaceas. The most widely spread of them all is formulated by the American Library Association (1989, 1):

    To be information literate, a person must be able to recognise when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.

    Seemingly stemming from the above definition, lists of desired attributes and standardized descriptions of how an information-literate student (or person) should behave or function have been developed.

  • 2 - Learners, learning literacy and the pedagogy of e-learning

  • from Part I - Literacies in the digital age
    • By Terry Mayes, Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland, Chris Fowler, Director, Chimera University of Essex, UK
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 26-33

  • Summary

    Abstract

    This chapter outlines the landscape of e-learning and considers how learners can flourish within it. It traces the development of understanding about pedagogy that underpins technology-enhanced learning, describing the shift in emphasis from the delivery of powerful representations of the subject matter, through the computer as tutor, to the current focus on dialogue in learning communities. Increasingly, the pedagogical focus is on the emergence of tools that support participation in learning groups, and the formation of learning relationships. The chapter describes one approach that attempts to capitalize on a neglected form of learning: ‘vicarious’ learning, which occurs as a consequence of observing other learners. This leads to consideration of Wenger's recent call for a new discourse based on the ‘horizontalization’ of learning. The chapter concludes by describing a view of ‘learning literacy’ that places willingness and confidence to participate in new learning relationships as the key requirements. These characteristics depend not on skill so much as on developing an identity as a learner.

    Introduction

    In a paper called ‘Learning Technology and Groundhog Day’ (Mayes, 1995) the author argued that the field of educational technology was locked into a cycle of high expectation followed by disappointment, reminiscent of the protagonist in the film ‘Groundhog Day’ who wakes up each morning to find that it is the same day, with the same outcomes repeated indefinitely. The moral of the film was that escape would be possible only when the victim acknowledged his true nature. Only when we understand the true nature of learning, the paper argued, could we expect the technology of learning to be applied in a genuinely effective way.

    Today we want to point to the first real signs that escape from Groundhog Day is close. It has not happened yet. For a lasting escape it is probably necessary for the policy-makers in education and training to question the assumptions about learning that underpin their role as ‘providers’.

  • 8 - Contemporary literacy – the three Es

  • from Part I - Literacies in the digital age
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 89-98

  • Summary

    Abstract

    Retooling classrooms for 21st-century teaching and learning will not be served by completely reinventing literacy. It is important to acknowledge the continuing value of reading, arithmetic and writing, as basic skills, and to build on that foundation and expanded model of contemporary literacy. This chapter seeks to start with the three Rs, and grow them into three Es, an expanded model for being proficient and efficient users of information.

    Introduction

    Before we begin a discussion of contemporary literacy, it is important to settle on a definition for ‘literacy’ that can serve as a framework. This is no small task, considering that the word has been used in a wide variety of contexts, addressing a broad range of skill sets. But, for the sake of this chapter, I want to suggest a consensus around the following definition:

    Literacy comprises those essential information skills required to accomplish goals within one's contemporary information environment.

    The only part of this definition that might seem out of place to most 21st-century inhabitants is the last part, ‘within one's contemporary information environment’. During most of the last two centuries, that environment changed very little. It was at the beginning of the 19th century that Sir William Curtis, Lord Mayor of London, coined the phrase, ‘the three Rs’. Not an extraordinarily literate man, as evidenced by his spelling, Curtis did effectively define an effective literacy framework for a published-print information environment.

    Today, however, that environment has changed, and it has happened in just 30 years – mostly in the last ten years. Information has changed in what it looks like, what we look at to view it, where and how we find it, what we can do with it, and how we communicate it.

    Any effort to effectively define a new literacy model that reflects this new information environment effectively requires us to drill down into the roots of how information has changed. Factoring all aspects of information reveals three new characteristics of the contemporary information environment that are fundamental to using this environment to accomplish goals: information is networked; information is digital; and information is in abundance.

    Information is networked

    Information in the published-print environment was networked. But it was a network based on transporting paper and other printed materials across oceans, rivers, mountains, towns and across the classroom.

  • 18 - Approaches to enabling digital literacies: successes and failures

  • from Part II - Enabling and supporting digital literacies
    • By Alex Reid, Professorial Fellow University of Western Australia
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 196-205

  • Summary

    Abstract

    This chapter outlines a range of approaches that have been adopted in various universities in order to address the issue of achieving acceptable levels of information and communications technology (ICT) literacy among the staff and student body. Some of these have been successful, while others have failed. In each case an effort is made to identify the reasons for success or failure, including local factors; it then seeks to draw out general principles evidenced by these cases, which should lead to improved success in future.

    Introduction

    Information and communications technology (ICT) literacy is now universally considered an essential skill needed by university staff to undertake their research and teaching, and by students to undertake their studies. Graduates in almost all walks of life are expected to possess ICT skills, in varying depth. Many different approaches have been adopted by universities to improving the levels of ICT literacy among their staff and students. Some have been more successful than others but, since ICT literacy is rarely an end in itself, it is hard to assess the degree of ‘success’ or ‘failure’ of any particular approach. Much depends on the prevailing culture of the institution, what current levels of literacy exist, and what goals one has. What does seem clear is that the establishment of clear, achievable goals and an institutional commitment are vital, along with an understanding that ‘ICT literacy’ is not something that can be achieved once and for all, since the desired level of literacy is a moving target, which will continue to move (perhaps even accelerate) indefinitely (Winship, 2001; CEPIS, 2005). The following variety of approaches is presented to illustrate these claims, and to offer ideas that may be more or less appropriate in different cultural and technical environments.

    Free and rich repertoire of classroom-based courses

    Some universities have taken the approach of providing free-of-charge a wide range of (ever-changing) face-to-face courses. They are usually open to all staff (academic and general) as well as to postgraduate students and sometimes undergraduates. These courses are typically organized and managed by a small full-time staff contingent, supplemented by contributions made by technical specialists for more esoteric courses. The courses aim to cover a full spectrum of ICT skills, being constantly upgraded as technology and demand vary.

  • 15 - Supporting students in e-learning

  • from Part II - Enabling and supporting digital literacies
    • By Martin Jenkins, Academic Manager, Centre for Active Learning University of Gloucestershire, UK
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 162-171

  • Summary

    Abstract

    The majority of e-learning developments are supplementary to face-to-face teaching. This means that support issues, which are best planned as part of the curriculum design, are not fully developed. In addition it means the opportunities presented by e-learning are not fully exploited. This chapter considers the reasons why support should be integral to e-learning provision, how this impacts on support provision and how the use of learning-design models can help to inform student support and skills development.

    Introduction

    The use of e-learning encompasses a wide continuum of potential uses of learning technology. Phillips (2004) identifies four e-learning design dimensions: student–student interaction, student–teacher interaction, student–resource interaction and student–computer interaction. However e-learning is employed, it is critical that students are supported in the development of the e-learning skills required and provided with the appropriate support structures and opportunities.

    The majority of e-learning developments have been supplementary to faceto- face delivery. This has meant that the full implications for supporting students in e-learning are not always fully considered. The reason for this is that supplementary applications are often ‘bolted-on’ to traditional forms of delivery. As a consequence e-learning is not considered in the design and delivery of the learning event.

    This chapter is divided into four main sections. The first considers the reasons for supporting e-learning students. The second focuses on developing and supporting the skills that students require to become ‘e-learners’. The third considers how learning design and delivery models can inform planning to ensure appropriate support is in place and how this can be delivered through the curriculum. The fourth section considers the impact of e-learning on learning support services and how the support they provide needs to change.

    Supporting students in e-learning

    Simpson (2002) suggests student support is required for practical, theoretical and moral reasons. Building on Simpson's list for students studying via open and distance learning, the reasons it is important to make student support integral for e-learning are:

  • • Retention: flexible and distance learning provision has been particularly associated with high drop-out rates; based on experiences with traditional correspondence forms of distance learning. E-learning presents opportunities to improve retention through monitoring, tackling isolation and helping provide structure.

Digital Literacies for Learning
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006
  • In the 21st century, digital tools enable information to be generated faster and in greater profusion than ever before, to the point where its extent and value are literally beyond imagining. Such quantities can only be meaningfully addressed using more digital tools, and thus our relationship to information is fundamentally changed. This situation presents a particular challenge to processes of learning and teaching, and demands a response from both information professionals and educators. Enabling education in a digital environment means not only changing the form in which learning opportunities are offered, but also enabling students to survive and prosper in digitally based learning environments. This collection brings together a global community of educators, educational researchers, librarians and IT strategists, to consider how learners need to be equipped in an educational environment that is increasingly suffused with digital technology. Traditional notions of literacy need to be challenged, and new literacies, including information literacy and IT literacy, need to be considered as foundation elements for digitally involved learners.

  • 19 - Professional development and graduate students: approaches to technical and information competence

  • from Part II - Enabling and supporting digital literacies
    • By Catherine Cardwell, Associate Professor Chair, Department of Library Teaching and Learning, and Instruction Coordinator, University Libraries Bowling Green State University, USA
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 206-214

  • Summary

    Abstract

    In recent years, institutions of higher education have increasingly recognized and emphasized the importance of improving, through a variety of initiatives, students’ technical and information competence. The focus of these initiatives has generally been on undergraduate students and teaching faculty, not on graduate students. In their formal course work, graduate students concentrate on acquiring disciplinary knowledge and participating in disciplinary research. Relatively few opportunities exist for professional development activities designed to develop graduate students’ technical and information competence. To remedy the situation, institutions of higher education need to rely on approaches typically used by faculty development centres in order to reach graduate students. An interdisciplinary learning community model used at Bowling Green State University in Ohio is presented in this chapter.

    Introduction

    Most initiatives regarding technical and information competence focus on undergraduate students or faculty, not graduate students. This is unfortunate since most graduate students will become faculty members or will follow equally challenging career paths requiring a high level of competence in these areas. As such, graduate students need more access to professional development opportunities. Their future employers and students will only benefit from their improved skills.

    In the USA, graduate student preparation has recently gained more attention since several important studies found a mismatch between graduate student education and the kind of work expected of students once they complete their degrees (Pruitt-Logan and Gaff, 2004, 177). One area commonly identified as needing greater attention is teaching, specifically teaching with technology. Increasingly, faculty are expected to apply innovative technological approaches to their teaching (Adams, 2002, 3–4). Relying on the expertise of staff at faculty development centres is one possible solution to this problem for colleges and universities. Faculty development centres are able to employ strategies they typically use with faculty to reach graduate students because graduate students are more like faculty members in training, not undergraduates. These strategies may include but are not limited to offering workshops, fostering campus partnerships, providing incentives for participation, and creating cohort-based or topic-based learning communities.

    A professional development project incorporating a variety of approaches used by faculty development centres is the focus of this chapter. In an attempt to improve graduate student information and technical competence, the Center for Teaching Learning and Technology (CTLT) along with University Libraries (UL) at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) launched an experimental interdisciplinary learning community.

  • 10 - Literacy, e-literacy and multiliteracies: meeting the challenges of teaching online

  • from Part I - Literacies in the digital age
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 110-122

  • Summary

    Abstract

    Online teaching and learning are challenging for both teacher and student. There are differences to be negotiated in the modes of learning and communicating and in the language of the technology, the language of the learning environment and the contextspecific language of the subject/vocation. It is estimated that there are at least seven literacies involved in teaching and learning in the online environment. Online learners in Australia are predominately middle-aged women; this is the group that is most likely to have problems with multiliteracies and particularly e-literacy. Even more concerning, this is the group in vocational education and training (VET) that is also likely to be asked to teach online. When both teacher and learner have difficulties with multiliteracies and e-literacy, there is a detrimental effect on the e-learning experience. This may contribute to the high attrition rates experienced in online courses and the reluctance of teachers to take up flexible-learning options. The Australian VET sector has taken some innovative approaches to materials development that are successfully meeting the challenges of multiliteracies.

    Introduction

    The Australian vocational education and training (VET) sector gives Australians the opportunity to gain the skills they need to enter the workforce for the first time, to re-enter the workforce, to retrain for a new job or to upgrade their skills for an existing job. More than 1.7 million students or about 13% of the working- age population take part in VET each year. In order to support and encourage a growing demand by learners for more flexible learning in VET, the Australian Flexible Learning Framework (AFLF) 2000–2004 invested millions of dollars in professional development for early adopters and in the production of high-quality e-learning materials to support the sets of Australian quality framework competencies known as training packages. However, despite the availability of such wonderful resources, e-learning has not been taken up on the scale that was expected.

    Problems with e-learners and e-learning

    I believe that one of the reasons for this is the lack of digital competence and multiliteracies among both learners and teachers in all sectors of education in general and in VET in particular. Traditionally, learners in the VET sector were apprentices and trainees in industry. They were most likely to be 15–18-year-old school-leavers, going straight from secondary education to trade training.

  • Preface

    • By Allan Martin, Director, IT Education Unit University of Glasgow, Scotland, Dan Madigan, Director, Scholarship of Engagement Bowling Green State University, USA
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp xxv-xxviii

  • Summary

    It is now nearly a decade since Paul Gilster published Digital Literacy. Gilster's book was stimulated by the emergence of the internet, which had ‘grown from a scientist's tool to a worldwide publishing and research medium open to anyone with a computer and a modem’. (Gilster, 1997, 1). Since that point, the world of the digital has changed still further (not that we should be surprised about that, as change is endemic to human society and to the human condition). Eliana Rosado and Claire Bélisle summarize the way in which our relationship to knowledge has evolved:

    The use of technological tools to access information (such as databases, digital libraries, or simply the Web) has resulted in the need to cope with information of immeasurable quantities, with great levels of complexity, accessible at inconceivable speeds. Knowledge skills needed include knowing how to be able to gather vast amounts of information from varied sources, knowing how to select and synthesize it, how to interpret it and evaluate it taking into account diverse cultural contexts and formatting. Because the human mind cannot deal with great quantities of symbols simultaneously, technological tools become absolutely necessary to organise such complex information in readable patterns.

    (Rosado and Bélisle, 2006, 4)

    The internet is still with us, as a means of communication – e-mail, instant messaging, chatrooms, discussion forums, blogs, virtual communities – as a publishing outlet and literally limitless source of ‘information’ – good or bad, true or false, beneficent or malicious, well crafted or careless, meaningful or incoherent, organized or random – and as a gigantic marketplace – for groceries, books (yes, they're still in demand!), holidays, houses, ideas and anything that can be bought and sold, auctioned, swapped or simply given away (although there's usually a catch). Cyberspace represents and purveys everything that exists in human society – it has become coterminous with it (‘of equal extent or scope or duration’ – http://wordnet. princeton.edu/perl/webwn). But there's more. As Rosado and Bélisle point out, the amount of information out there is too great for us to handle – it is simply beyond imagining. In many ways, the only way to deal with it is by employing more digital tools. And deal with the digital world we must.

  • 16 - The information commons: a student-centred environment for IT and information literacy development

  • from Part II - Enabling and supporting digital literacies
    • By Hester Mountifield, Assistant University Librarian, Information Commons and Learning Services University of Auckland, New Zealand
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 172-181

  • Summary

    Abstract

    This chapter discusses the concept of an integrated information commons, its success and the benefits it delivers to student learning. The Kate Edger Information Commons at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, is placed in the critical context of current information commons models. This large student-centred learning facility provides proactive integrated learning support in a collaborative, interdisciplinary physical and virtual learning environment. It is the hub of the City Campus, providing an optimum learning experience by facilitating access to the learning resources and support that students need in one location. This chapter examines how opportunities for IT and information literacy (e-literacy) development are integrated into service delivery. Some of the e-literacy challenges still facing the University are also considered.

    Introduction

    Developments in information technology and the changing student profile have prompted universities and, in particular, university libraries to reconsider the learning and teaching support they provide. The past decade has brought an increasing rate of computer use for learning, teaching, research and communication and has led to significant changes in student characteristics, needs and expectations. The Net Generation or Net Gen, as the group born after 1987 is sometimes called, are ‘digital natives’, implying that they have grown up with technology (Prensky, 2001). Several authors (Abram and Luther, 2004; Kvavik, 2005; Oblinger and Oblinger, 2005) regard the Net Gen as digitally literate, always connected, highly mobile, able to multitask, format agnostic, comfortable in a visual-rich environment, favouring teamwork and experimental learning, achievement oriented, able to move seamlessly between the physical and virtual environments, and expecting service excellence and immediate responses.

    Students arrive at higher education institutions with a variety of digital technologies they use for entertainment, communication and learning. They expect universities to be a continuation of the wired world they are familiar with and allowing them connectivity, control and convenience in their educational experience.

    Higher education continues to invest heavily in information technology infrastructure and systems to keep up with progress and to meet the expectations of students and faculty. Conventional and wireless networks, portals and online student services facilitate communication and connection, while course management systems, online library resources and systems, student computers, networked file storage and e-portfolios allow students to plan and manage their learning.

  • 12 - Supporting and enabling digital literacy in a global environment: preview of Part 2

  • from Part II - Enabling and supporting digital literacies
    • By Dan Madigan, Director, Scholarship of Engagement Bowling Green State University, USA
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 135-141

  • Summary

    Abstract

    We have learned in the previous section that our world is becoming increasingly digital and that this is profoundly affecting how we learn and live. Those that do not have access to this digital world, and those who cannot use digital tools to become independent learners and explorers of new ideas, will be at a distinct disadvantage as learners. As the authors in this section describe, and I summarize in this chapter, the educational process for much of the world is being significantly impacted on by digital technologies, and those parts of the world that are not yet there, as many envisage, soon will be. The questions that arise regarding such impact are many. For example, how will our lives change as a result of these new technologies? Who gets access to digital technologies? How are those points of access supported? And how do we as educational leaders transform ways of teaching and learning in traditional settings to accommodate new digitally enhanced learning environments? Within this chapter, readers will be introduced to a section preview of the many practical ways that educators throughout the world are using digital technology to enhance learning and the lives not only of a new generation of learners, but also of those generations who have been swept up in the digital revolution leading up to and into the new millennium.

    Introduction

    In January 2005, as the authors of this book were writing about enabling digital literacy among the world's populations, Nicholas Negroponte was following suit in his own way. As an MIT scholar, expert on digital technologies, and a leader in a new non-profit initiative, Negroponte was speaking at the World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland. His topic was ‘One Laptop per Child’ (OLPC). In his speech, Negroponte remarked that he and his team envisioned a laptop that would allow children from even the poorest countries a ‘window to the world’, and ‘a tool with which to think’. He envisaged a world where achieving literacy in such areas as reading, writing and mathematics were enabled through the digital world of computers, software applications and the internet. Ten months later, the first laptop prototype was revealed to the public in a world press conference. The $100 laptop had been born, reflecting a technology that according to Negroponte could ‘revolutionize how we educate the world's children’.

  • 1 - Literacies for the digital age: preview of Part 1

  • from Part I - Literacies in the digital age
    • By Allan Martin, Director, IT Education Unit University of Glasgow, Scotland
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 3-25

  • Summary

    Abstract

    Our society is characterized by the use of numerous terms emphasizing the primacy of information technology. Although the pervasion of the digital is only a symptom of a listless and uncertain society, ability to cope with it is important to social survival. The idea of literacy is taken as a focus for coping with the digital: the notion of literacy itself has changed in response to the digital, and new literacies have been proposed, addressing elements of it. Some of these, and their possible convergence, are considered, and the notion of ‘digital literacy’ is suggested as a useful general concept. An overview is also given of the first part of the book.

    Introduction: the ‘digital society’

    The world of the 21st century is digitally infused: an e-world, a world permeated by the effects and products of electronic technology. E-business, e-commerce, e-villages, e-health, e -government, e-learning: e is pervasive, although some parts of the world are more affected than others. In this e-world, e-encounters, that is, situations involving contact with electronic tools and facilities, are commonplace. E-encounters might encompass a washing machine or microwave oven, a camera, a telephone, a computer, or many other everyday items. E-encounters have become both ubiquitous and global: there are now few places in the world where electronic tools and facilities are not to be found, and, thanks to communications advances, e-encounters can themselves involve participants worldwide. Social activity can be enabled by and mediated through digital facilities. Electronic mail, discussion fora, mobile telephone texting, digital video conferencing and so on offer the enablement of social interaction at distances vastly greater than previous communication technologies, even those such as the telegraph and telephone, which offered immediate or almost immediate communication. Digitally enabled ‘communities’ have become a normal part of life. In addition to instantaneous communication, the internet also offers limitless information, extending beyond the scope of anything that might be considered for publication in a book, ranging from the products of governments, international agencies and multinational companies to the personal musings of bloggers or the whimsical websites of anyone who cares to invent one.

    It is tempting to think that our society has been created by digital technologies, and the temptation is encouraged by the many technologically inspired names given, over the last 40 years, to the age in which we live.

  • 13 - A ‘dense symphony of the nation’: Cymru Ar-Lein and e-citizens and e-communities in Wales

  • from Part II - Enabling and supporting digital literacies
    • By Stephen Griffiths, Assistant Registrar (Learning and Teaching) Cardiff University, Wales
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 142-151

  • Summary

    Abstract

    On 1 July 1999, following a referendum and elections to a new National Assembly, the UK government devolved full powers and responsibilities in the areas of health, social policy, economic development and education to Wales. Of the many new policies, strategies and initiatives pursued by the Welsh Assembly Government, one of the most innovative is Cymru Ar-lein (or Wales On-line in English). Cymru Ar-lein is an ambitious attempt to devise and implement a national strategy to empower the citizens of Wales with the e-literacy skills for a 21st century economy and society. Cymru Ar-lein is being used to address such economic matters as market failures in ICT infrastructure, and is the cornerstone of initiatives to transform public services and the ‘encounters’ between government, public bodies and citizens. Through major e-communities initiatives, it is seen as a means for overcoming some of the unique physical, social and linguistic barriers that exist to accessing online services and information in Wales. In the context of providing an overview of the Cymru Ar-lein strategy, and within a general analytical framework that considers questions about the relationship between technology and nation-building, this paper evaluates the nature and purpose of national initiatives of this kind.

    Introduction

    In 1997 the UK Government outlined proposals for devolution in Wales, the most radical change in terms of the governmental and administrative relationship between Wales and the rest of the UK since the Acts of Parliament of 1536 and 1543, that completed the process of assimilation which began with the conquest of Wales by Edward I in the 13th century (Richard Commission, 2004, 5). The proposals were subsequently endorsed in a national referendum, and the first elections for the Assembly took place in May 1999. The transfer of devolved powers and responsibilities from the UK Government to the Assembly subsequently took place on 1 July 1999.

    Of the many new policies, strategies and initiatives pursued by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG), one of the most interesting is Cymru Ar-lein: Online for Wales. Cymru Ar-lein is nothing short of an attempt to devise a national strategy for every aspect of a society's encounter with modern information and communications technology. In many ways, it is unique. Although, like many other comparable national strategies, it puts a great deal of emphasis on technical infrastructure, it is also a very human strategy.

  • Foreword

    • By Hannelore Rader, Librarian and Dean of the University Libraries University of Louisville, Kentucky
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp xxiii-xxiv

  • Summary

    Digital Literacies for Learning is written for a diverse community of educators, librarians, information technologists and researchers to help them enable students to successfully learn in the technological and digital global environment. This is most important in the 21st century since information is generated more quickly than ever before and is becoming the foundation for economic development throughout the world. Information-seeking behaviour is changing at a faster pace than ever before owing to the internet and the emergence of powerful search engines. Academic institutions in the electronic age have been undergoing a variety of changes to deal with new ways of teaching to prepare students for productive futures in an electronic information environment featuring increasing online access to digital and electronic information.

    Twenty-five authors from nine countries and four continents address new literacies such as information literacy, technological literacy, media literacy and digital literacy in the teaching and learning environment of higher education. The first part of this volume explores the landscape of digital literacy, learning and teaching environments and e-learning. Virtual learning environments are described and the change from traditional educational environments to the e-learning environment is explained. Online teaching and learning have been revolutionizing the entire academic environment and online scholarly communication is quickly emerging as a major academic enterprise and requires many changes in the publishing and research environments.

    The second part of this volume addresses the enabling of digital literacies and the teaching of information competencies, and outlines the information commons as a student-centred environment. Learning management systems are becoming more important on campuses and are described in terms of social elements, student feedback and equity. Achieving information and computer technology (ICT) literacy is also becoming a major goal on many university campuses, and successes and failures regarding these efforts are documented. A number of universities are beginning to instruct graduate students in information and computer skills to prepare them for the future technological information environment.

    It is important to note that not only do universities have to cope with major changes to be successful in the digital environment but academic libraries likewise are undergoing major changes at an increasingly fast pace to remain not only viable in the electronic information age but to evolve into major centres for learning, teaching and socializing.

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