As I begin to compose this blog post, my browser has more tabs open than I think I've ever had open at one time before. I've bookmarked 30+ articles about digital literacy the past couple of years, with each post linking to a plethora of additional resources on the subject. My goal in this post is to increase our literacy about the topic of digital literacy.

My Quest

I want to write a post about digital literacy, as a means of recapping my conversation with Mike Caulfield that was published last week.

The Trouble

It is so challenging to even just begin by defining digital literacy, let alone to begin to discuss some of the criticisms of the more popular publications on the topic.

My Compromise

Instead of trying to give readers a thorough exploration of the topic (Mike Caulfield admitted on Twitter that his Digital Literacies: Which One? post was initially intended to be just a few hundred words, but before he knew it, quickly grew into thousands), I'm going to introduce a few places to get started with the subject.

Digital Literacy: A Definition

JISC defines digital literacy as:

Digital literacies are those capabilities which fit an individual for living, learning and working in a digital society.”

They go on to explain:

Digital literacy looks beyond functional IT skills to describe a richer set of digital behaviours, practices and identities. What it means to be digitally literate changes over time and across contexts, so digital literacies are essentially a set of academic and professional situated practices supported by diverse and changing technologies. This definition quoted above can be used as a starting point to explore what key digital literacies are in a particular context eg university, college, service, department, subject area or professional environment.”

Lest I leave you assuming that this is the agreed-upon definition for digital literacy, there are as many definitions as there seem to be publications on the subject. Belshaw cautions us about the ambiguity that emerges, when we refer to digital literacy.

Belshaw's TEDx talk on the essential elements of digital literacy provides a wonderful overview:

Essential Frameworks

There are a few frameworks that are critical to understanding the ways in which we might think about digital literacy. Some of these frameworks focus on domains, while others are more tool/skill-oriented.

• Developing Digital Literacies from JISC
• Digital Literacy: An NMC Horizon Project Strategic Brief (though also reading this critique of the brief is helpful)
• ALL ABOARD: Digital Skills in Higher Education
• The Essential Elements of Digital Literacies
• Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education from ACRL

While not specific to solely digital literacy, I do think Mozilla's web literacy map is worth exploring, as well.

Domain-Specific Sites

As Mike Caulfield asserted, a big part of increasing our digital literacy is improving our knowledge within the specific domain being evaluated. Here are just a few resources to help with that endeavor:

• Politifact
• SciCheck
• Quote Investigator
• Snopes

Next Steps

There are two specific ways I plan on taking action on what I have been learning about digital literacy. I plan on sharing the ALL ABOARD digital skills framework with the faculty development committee I chair, as a means of brainstorming on possible breakouts for our annual Fall faculty gathering. I also hope to introduce students to some relevant domain-specific sites that could support them in increasing their own digital literacy. Like Mike Caulfield, I also hope that these types of sites continue to grow.

What steps are you taking in developing your own or someone else's digital literacy?

I was helping a student get prepared for a job interview yesterday. She said that half of her time at the company was going to be spent in a one-on-one interview, while the other half of the time would be devoted to an assessment of her Word and Excel skills.

She admitted to not being adept at Excel, but touted her Word skills, since she had been using it extensively in her current internship. I inquired as to whether or not she knew how to set tabs. She said she knew how to “tab over,” but didn't even know what I meant when I asked about “setting” a tab.

I have the utmost confidence in her ability to do well on the interview. She will quickly be able to learn more of the word processing and spreadsheet skills she needs and the organization she's interviewing with will have an exceptional intern.

However, it did get me thinking about the most common features in word processors that many faculty don't utilize, which ultimately make their work harder in the long run.

Here are the most essential features I recommend you leverage, when using a word processor:

Use Styles

If you've written an academic paper, or a manual of some kind, you've likely made use of headings and subheadings. However, most people don't know that you can create a style in your word processor that, when applied, automatically places that formatting on a given line/paragraph. There are some built-in styles in most word processors, which you can modify at any time to have the look-and-feel that you want.

This documentation shows you how to create styles in Microsoft Word, but you're only a search away from discovering how to use styles in whatever word processor you happen to use.

Here's a video of how to create styles in Microsoft Word from Lynda.com*.

Auto-create a Table of Contents

Once you have styles set up in your document, it becomes incredibly easy to auto-create a table of contents in your document. After you auto-create a table of contents, you can come back later and right-click and choose update, to have the table of contents reflect any changes you have made in your document since you first created it.

Here's how to auto-create a table of contents in Microsoft Word.

This video shows you how to quickly create a table of contents, and incorporates a review of applying styles, as was discussed, above.

Insert Page or Section Breaks (Versus Pressing Enter a Bunch of Times)

When you want to move down to a new page in your document, many people are tempted to accomplish this goal by pressing enter a bunch of times. The problem with this is that, if you make changes to your document down the road, your page breaks will all likely be shifted a bit and your pages will not appear as you originally desired.

Instead, if you insert a page break, or a section break – new page, you can be assured that no matter what changes you make to the document, a new page will appear where you originally intended. Section breaks are helpful if you want to have a different page numbering scheme (like roman numerals at the start of a document that then move into regular numbers), or if you want each section of a document to have a different header (like perhaps the name of the chapter or section of a document). Page breaks can be inserted and also can be deleted, if you change your mind later.

Here's the documentation on how to insert a page break in Microsoft Word.

Below is a short video on how to insert a page break in Microsoft Word.

Next Steps

Those are just three features in a word processor that have a lot of leverage, but it is really just the beginning of finding ways to save yourself time. I've found that the website Lynda.com* has plenty of video tutorials to help me work more effectively with many different technology tools. Here's a referral link* that will allow you to receive a free, 2-week trial to their service*, which I highly recommend.

Your Turn

What features do you consider most essential in getting the most out of a word processor?

I was honored to get to speak with Lina Gomez for the Utopistica YouTube television show, from the Universidad del Este, Puerto Rico, a few weeks ago.

Utopística, programa de discusión y análisis que procura constatar la realidad como precondición para la formulación de alternativas verosímiles de futuro

Lina asked challenging questions that really got me to reflect about how my experience with Teaching in Higher Ed has changed my teaching, since June of 2014, when it launched. Their professional setup for the show made me really wish that we had a green screen in our home studio.

It looks like I'm shaking my fists in anger (or celebration?) in the still shot for the video. Instead, I'm imitating myself playing the Ellen Head's Up game (without using my iPad as a prop).

The interview is in English.

Resources Mentioned During the Interview

• Attendance2 app
• Retrieval Practice
• PollEverywhere
• Ellen’s Heads Up Game with Custom Decks
• Research in Action Podcast
• Plickers
• Sticky Notes as a Teaching Tool
• Peer Instruction episode with Peter Newbury
• Harold Jarche: Personal Knowledge Management
• Episode with Ken Bain
• Episode 100: The Failure Episode
• Inbox Zero episode
• Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences
• Music’s Role in Our Teaching
• Choose Your Own Adventure Assessment
• Episode with Linda Nelson on Specifications Grading

Paul Simon

I also reminisced about how one of my college professors got me to learn more about history by playing Paul Simon before and after classes.

As most of you who have been listening to the Teaching in Higher Ed for a while already know, I'm a huge fan of podcasts.

I still chuckle when I recall this segment of This American Life when Alex Bloomberg shares about his Nielsen families fallacy, as well as the woman who received a special gift from trained monkeys.

And who could forget:

Xing

I'll never look at crossing signs the same way, again.

I've been having fun catching up with The Revisionist History Podcast (thank you, Roger Heuser). Revisiting the movie, Memento, with the Very Bad Wizards was great fun, too. I still could listen to them talk about Mr. Robot on every single episode and not be left wanting, though…

This week, something amazing happened in my podcast listening universe. Someone came out with a podcast that combines my passion for teaching with my love of audio storytelling.

Mike Wesch just launched LIFE101 – Real stories about real students seeking a real education.

The Chronicle shares highlights from the first episode, though I won't even attempt to capture what's happening in a single headline.

When this professor got into a frat party, a line of people formed to take selfies with him: https://t.co/HKGFrHt6lg

— Chronicle (@chronicle) August 28, 2016

As I went down a delightful rabbit trail on Mike Wesch's YouTube channel, I came across his animated story called The Sleeper:

Take three minutes out of your day to watch it.

Here's what I hope you didn't miss:

1. The moral of the story isn't that the student stopped sleeping. He didn't.
2. Mike hasn't ever animated anything before. This video is his first attempt. He regularly puts himself into the role of learner, to have better empathy for his students and to become a more effective teacher.
3. There's a shift that can occur when we go from thinking a student's behavior is about us (our teaching, etc.) to perceiving that just maybe it's about her… And some part of her that isn't instantly evident…
4. The student he shares about is a real person. Not a caricature  of “kids today…”

Mike is perhaps most famous for his video entitled A Vision of Students Today… It's been viewed over 5 million times and shown in plenty of faculty workshops.

I'm looking forward to episode 2 of LIFE101 and all that will be released after that. If you listened to his first episode, I would love to read your reflections in the comments.

 

We just started our semester this week. My second day of classes begins tomorrow. It has been fun getting to know our students a bit and experiencing all the energy and chaos that a new academic year can bring.

Here is what I've got “packed” in my bag for the start to school:

Grit-It Organizer

I discovered the Grid-It organizer a couple of years ago and have found it extremely helpful in not leaving things behind in the classroom. One of my colleagues will tell you that as recently as yesterday, I left my adapter behind in the classroom. But, it sure doesn't happen nearly anywhere near as often as it used to… And I make sure and label everything I might potentially leave behind, to lessen the likelihood of losing items forever.

Poll Everywhere

This polling service has been my go-to tool for helping the students discover the power of retrieval practice. I get by with the free version, which allows for up to 40 anonymous respondents at one time. While I do have times in the classroom when we are device-free, there's something about starting a semester by encouraging the students to take out their phones and to engage in that manner that surprises them.

Wireless Presenter

My preference is to move about the classroom, without being stuck behind a laptop to advance my slides. While I know there are now options to advance slides on one's Apple Watch or mobile phone, I still have a preference for a wireless presenter remote. I own two different types of wireless presenters, which I like equally well. As long as they fit easily in my hand and I'm unlikely to accidentally press the button to advance a slide when I didn't intend to, they work great for me.

Apple Pencil

I've been a user of various stylus devices for decades now. Apple Pencil is hands down the best one I've ever used. I use a blended learning approach in most of my classes. I typically don't lecture in the in-person classes, but instead create what I call pencasts (which are videos of me talking about a topic, while drawing like a seven year-old, images that make the main points much more memorable). The Apple Pencil glides across the iPad screen and allows for adding color and varying the pen/pencil thickness easily.

Doceri

The app that I have found most useful for capturing / creating pencasts is Doceri. I first sketch out whatever the drawing is going to be for the pencast. Doceri is recording a video of my ever pencil stroke, for playback when adding in the audio portion. When I record myself narrating the drawing portion, I can pause the playback of my pencil strokes, as well as slow them down. I used to need to draw at the same time as talking, which I found to be incredibly difficult. Doceri and the Apple Pencil are game-changers for those who want to create pencasts.

What's “packed” in your bag for the start of your academic year?