Measuring critical components of digital literacy and their relationships with learning

The growing prominence of the Internet, and other digital environments, as educational tools requires research regarding learners' digital literacy. We argue that two critical aspects of digital literacy are the ability to effectively plan and monitor the efficacy of strategies used to search and manage the wealth of information available online, and the knowledge to appropriately vet and integrate those information sources. Therefore, digital literacy requires effective self-regulated learning (SRL) skills, and availing epistemic cognition (EC). Although numerous researchers and scholars have examined the role of SRL in online learning (e.g., Efklides, 2011; Lee and Tsai, 2010, Williams and Hellman, 2004, Winters et al., 2008), there is a need for additional empirical research on how SRL and EC interact, and relate to learning in digital environments. In this study, we used a powerful, but little-used data collection methodology, think-aloud protocol (TAP) analysis, to investigate the relations among SRL, EC, and learning gains with 20 college students who studied vitamins on the Internet. We also contributed to the literature by exploring alternative techniques for preparing, analyzing, and representing these data, accounting for the strengths and challenges of TAPs. We found that, on average, participants did increase their understanding as a result of learning with the Internet, and that a data-driven approach to understanding relations among SRL, EC, and learning yielded the most powerful representation of these phenomena. Our study has implications for future research on digital literacy using TAPs, as well as the relative contribution of SRL and EC, as aspects of digital literacy, to online learning.     

INFORMATION LITERACY IN A RESEARCHER'S LEARNING LIFE: THE SEVEN AGES OF RESEARCH

This article uses data from research conducted in the course of writing a book on the needs, wants and characteristics of researchers to examine how researchers view themselves and the research process. As a result of this, the Seven Ages of Research model was developed which categorises a researcher's learning life into a series of discrete stages. The article explores learning needs relevant to each age in the learning life and links them to the development of information literacy. The authors explore the polarisation that exists between what researchers think research is about and what they believe the library can offer them, and suggest that information literacy needs to be seen as involving a change in understanding of, and attitude to, the world of information, as well as the nature of those information needs. Finally, they explore the librarian's role in an e-environment which has changed the way researchers work and identify some of the challenges facing library and information services professionals in the future in supporting researchers throughout their learning lives.     

The effects of CD-ROM storybook reading on low SES kindergarteners’ emergent literacy as a function of learning context

We investigated the effects of a highly rated commercial electronic book (e-book) for young children on kindergarteners’ emergent literacy skills within the context of paired peer versus individual use of the e-book. The sample of 110 kindergarteners had a mean age of 5.64 years and approximately equal numbers of boys and girls, randomly chosen from four kindergartens in a low SES Israeli township. All participants spoke Hebrew. None had been diagnosed with learning disabilities. Participants were randomly assigned to four groups: 30 tutors, 30 tutees, and 30 individual learners, all of whom used the e-book, and 20 children in a control group who were only exposed to their regular kindergarten program. Pre- and post-intervention emergent literacy measures included phonological awareness, reading of words from the e-book, word recognition, and story comprehension and production. The overall improvement in the measured emergent literacy skills from pre- to post-intervention of the children in the three experimental groups was higher than that of the children in the control group. In addition, there were significant learning context differences in several of the children’s measured emergent literacy skills, suggesting that those who work on an e-book activity in a paired peer learning context with same age peers (tutors and tutees) seem to gain an advantage in phonological awareness, emergent reading, and story comprehension over those who work with it individually. Implications for educators and e-book designers are discussed.     

Exploring the Digital Divide on the U.S.-Mexico Border Through Literacy Narratives

Building upon the work of Scenters-Zapico's (2010) Generaciones, this article examines the digital literacy development and practices of two students passing through three different educational institutions on the U.S.-Mexico border. The author makes the argument that literacy narratives such as the ones shared here are vital for complementing the work done by broader quantitative studies on the digital divide, as they document differences that may be otherwise overlooked. In exploring the very different narratives of two students transitioning through high school and into a two-year college or four-year university, this article complicates understandings of the digital divide by exploring technological divides between educational institutions and the role that gateways, external sponsors, and self-sponsorship play in students’ technological literacy development, especially when confronted with limitations on access. The discussion and findings have implications for writing program administrators as well as composition teachers and researchers, including those teaching in online environments.     

Supporting digitally enhanced learning through measurement in higher education: Development and validation of a university students' digital competence scale

Digital competence is critical for university students to adapt to and benefit from digitally enhanced learning. Prior studies on its measurement mostly focus on educators and relied on factor analyses. However, there is a lack of valid and convenient tools to measure university students' digital competence. This study aimed to develop a digital competence scale for university students (DC-US) in digitally enhanced learning with robust psychometric properties. An initial DC-US with 23 items was proposed to measure the single latent trait of digital competence. It was validated and refined continuously through a pilot study, a main study and a predictive validity study in three datasets involving 825 participants altogether, using factor analyses, Rasch analyses and the partial least squares modelling. The final DC-US turned out to comprise two subscales: technical literacy and digital skills, with 10 items retained, and manifested high internal consistency, unidimensionality and measurement invariance. The scale also demonstrated strong predictive validity, with technical literacy greatly predicting digital skills, which negatively predicted technostress. The DC-US enables instructors and school administrators to conveniently obtain preliminary information of university students' digital competence, informing their digital class preparation and development of timely interventions for addressing digital deficiencies.     

Live, audio-visual communication systems for distance learning: experience, heuristics, and ISDN

This paper collates some of the experience of managers, tutors, and learners who have used live, audio-visual communication systems for distance learning. Eight heuristics are abstracted from this experience and used to reason about how digital communications could make one such system more effective. The heuristics are: (i) encourage other (non-training) uses for the communications network; (ii) encourage the participation of otherwise unavailable experts; (iii) exploit visual images, both to communicate information and to support information presented verbally; (iv) avoid technology-induced, inequable opportunity for learning; (v) encourage analogies with face-to-face learning modes, rather than conventional television and home video; (vi) help users to find out about other participants and what they are able to see and hear; (vii) actively encourage interaction; and (viii) reassure tutors that the apparent intrusiveness of the technology is just an initial impression.     

Learning at the digital frontier: a review of digital literacies in theory and practice

This paper describes a literature review, institutional audit and analysis of practice in the area of digital literacy provision, based on research across the UK Higher Education sector. It concludes that institutions need to place greater value on ‘literacies of the digital’, and better prepare their students and their own organizational processes to thrive in an age of digital knowledge practices. It extends the debate about individual entitlement and provision to ask whether digital literacy offers an opportunity for the academy to redefine its relationship to knowledge in society.     

Against BibliOblivion: How modern scribes digitized an old book

In investigating how to best support the learning of digital competences at school, it is paramount to take into account the concrete reality (cultural, technological, and institutional) that teachers face in their daily struggle to prepare students for the information society. Hence case studies are needed to inform us on the complex relationship between educational aims, technological tools and contextual features in fostering digital literacy. This contribution describes a project ran in a class of an Italian lower secondary school during a course on digital literacy. The project, realized in collaboration with the local children’s library, consisted in the digitization of a text written in late XIX century. The results highlight various educational outcome of the activity. These include both technological progresses, such as improvement of students’ digital competences and refinement of their skills in the use of a word processor, but also cultural and civic benefits, related to opportunities for reflection on the evolution of language and culture, and the sharing of the final product with a large community. The roots of this success are analyzed, in order to suggest general criteria for using digitization activities as an effective method in digital literacy education.     

A Collaborative Vision: Partnering with STEM Faculty to Teach Visual Literacy Through Multimedia Research Presentations

This article discusses visual literacy, its connection to information literacy, and its significance to scientific disciplines. It includes a case study from Washington and Lee (W&L) University that showcases how libraries can integrate visual literacy instruction into STEM courses. In the study, two W&L Library staff members partnered with one W&L visiting assistant professor of physics to transform a common assignment, the academic poster, into a digital form of visual communication. This shift resulted in a revised evaluative rubric and led to enhanced library led instruction focusing on information literacy, visual literacy, and digital literacy skills.     

The development of an ESL OWL, or learning how to tutor writing online

This essay describes the development of an ESL OWL by grounding practices in language and literacy pedagogy theory. An initial discussion explores OWLs emulating physical writing center spaces. Two areas of concern are then addressed in meeting the needs of second language writers as they relate to practices and training for online tutoring: error correction—an area of frequent concern to second language writers—and increased interactivity—meeting second language writer expectations and creating autonomous learners. Issues of plagiarism by second language writers are discussed as related to the type of feedback OWL tutors can provide. Highlighted throughout are samples of interactions between tutors and writers that show a process of learning how to create dialogue rather than dictations from the tutor to clean up a single essay.     

Language learners' digital literacies: Focus on students' information literacy and reading practices online

The widespread use of technology and the Internet have changed many of language learners' everyday practices, including literacies. While there have been many studies with the focus on language learners' digital literacies, few, however, have explored language learners' digital information literacy and online reading practices with the use of social bookmarking tools, especially in a community college setting. We address this gap by investigating community-college language learners' digital literacies when social bookmarking with the focus on digital information and online reading practices from an ecological perspective. In this qualitative multiple-case study, the focal participants were five English learners, students in an English as a Second Language writing course in a community college in the northeastern United States. Data collection included interviews, observations, and researchers' e-journals. Thorough within- and cross-case analysis of data shows that language learners searched for digital texts and evaluated them based on relevance, reliability, interest, language, and importance for them and their learning community in the social bookmarking tool. The participants struggled with the number of results in search engines, keywords, and evaluation of digital texts for relevance and reliability. We show the need for more instruction, support, and guidance of language learners' digital information literacy practices as well as the benefits of providing students with opportunities to read digital texts. Our suggestions for future research include investigating the role of multimodality and other factors that influence language learners' evaluation practices when they look for and read information online.     

Computational foundations for personalizing instruction with digital libraries

This paper describes our progress towards automating adaptive personalized instruction based on student conceptual understandings using digital libraries. The reported approach merges conversational learning theory with advances in natural language processing to enable personalized pedagogical interactions. Multi-document summarization techniques serve as the computational basis to process digital library resources and automatically construct a rich domain model on earthquakes and plate tectonics for high school age learners. Shallow semantic analysis and graph-based techniques are used to computationally diagnose student understandings that enable conceptual personalizations integrating digital library resources. The evaluation of the implemented algorithms indicates that digital libraries may serve as knowledge platforms to support the automated construction of rich domain models and the diagnosis of student conceptual understandings. Furthermore, this approach introduces a novel and effective alternative to prior work in adaptive learning environments in terms of scalability and portability, thus tackling important challenges associated with supporting personalized instruction using digital libraries.     

Digital dysfunctions in primary school: A pilot study

Learning often involves complex cognitive and motorical processes, and while most learners cope adequately with these challenges there are always some that struggle. When new kinds of knowledge are introduced there is a possibility that some learners will find this new knowledge hard to acquire, and thus manifest a dysfunction. Today the new knowledge can be found within the digital domain. Some learners need more time and more efforts to master the different aspects of digital literacy, some of these even need special attention from friends, teachers or others. Is it possible that this group of learners is experiencing some kind of dysfunctions? It is likely to think so, there are a variety of different learning dysfunctions related to many learning domains, and when a new domain is established it would not come as a surprise that a new form of dysfunction is discovered. This article seeks to answer the question: “Do digital dysfunctions exist?” The answer is given as indicators more than as solid proof. In this study a group of 144 pupils is reduced through a triangulation of qualitative and quantitative methods, and ends up with three cases where there are obvious lacks of digital literacy without any obvious reason. The study also deals with definitions on “digital literacy”, and tries to point out what construct the term “digital literacy” in the study material. This construct is then used for measuring digital literacy.     

Design thinking and imitatio in an educational setting

Schools are expected to prepare students for the future, providing them with methods for dealing with the emergent world. This article considers how teachers can work with digital productions at primary schools even when they are not acquainted with the new production genres. We propose a methodological framework to assist students and teachers in their exploration of unknown media genres based on a case study. We revive the ancient concept of imitatio and integrate it with contemporary design thinking to support production dynamics that lead to increased digital literacy.     

面向数字媒体技术专业的数字化学习平台建设

数字媒体技术专业通过数字化学习平台,为教师和学生、学生与学生、学生与教学资源间的互动提供了一种新的更有效的交互方式,也让整个教育方式更加高效。结合数字媒体技术专业特点和数字化学习平台应用优势,对数字媒体专业数字化学习平台建设进行系统阐释。     

Designing a Library Information Literacy Program Using Threshold Concepts,Student Learning Theory,and Millennial Research in the Development of Information Literacy Sessions

This article will discuss Ferrum College's approach toward developing and delivering varied one-shot information literacy instruction sessions based on knowledge of millennial students’ information retrieval practices and on literature regarding threshold concepts and teaching and learning theories. Identifying threshold information literacy concepts helped the library to develop session specific learning outcomes to meet the needs of their students. Moreover, knowledge of learning theory and millennial learning preferences aided in developing lesson plans and activities that encouraged student mastery of these concepts. Ultimately, this approach contributed to a more comprehensive information literacy program that could be scaffolded over multiple instruction visits.     

Fifteen years of constraint-based tutors: what we have achieved and where we are going

Fifteen years ago, research started on SQL-Tutor, the first constraint-based tutor. The initial efforts were focused on evaluating Constraint-Based Modeling (CBM), its effectiveness and applicability to various instructional domains. Since then, we extended CBM in a number of ways, and developed many constraint-based tutors. Our tutors teach both well- and ill-defined domains and tasks, and deal with domain- and meta-level skills. We have supported mainly individual learning, but also the acquisition of collaborative skills. Authoring support for constraint-based tutors is now available, as well as mature, well-tested deployment environments. Our current research focuses on building affect-sensitive and motivational tutors. Over the period of fifteen years, CBM has progressed from a theoretical idea to a mature, reliable and effective methodology for developing effective tutors.     

Pedagogical agents as learning companions: the impact of agent emotion and gender

Abstract  The potential of emotional interaction between human and computer has recently interested researchers in human–computer interaction. The instructional impact of this interaction in learning environments has not been established, however. This study examined the impact of emotion and gender of a pedagogical agent as a learning companion (PAL) on social judgements, interest, self-efficacy, and learning. Two experiments investigated separately the effects of a PAL's emotional expression and empathetic response. Experiment 1 focused on emotional expression (positive vs. negative vs. neutral) and gender (male vs. female) with a sample of 142 male and female college students in a computer literacy course. Experiment 2 investigated the impact of empathetic response (responsive vs. non-responsive) and gender with 56 pre-service teachers. Overall, the results yielded main and interaction effects of PAL emotion and gender on the dependent variables. In particular, the PAL's empathetic response had a positive impact on learner interest and self-efficacy; PAL gender had a positive impact on recall. The findings imply that the emotion and the gender of the digital learning companion could be utilized to optimize college students' motivation and learning.     

Crossing complex boundaries: transnational online education in European trade unions

Abstract Collaboration across boundaries in work and learning is increasingly a feature of networked organisation. We present a framework for analysing learning events as encounters across multiple boundaries of differing types, significance, role and severity. These boundaries may provide either/both obstacles to, and opportunities for, learning. Tutors and learners may negotiate these various boundaries with a variety of digital practices and artefacts. We apply this provisional framework of boundaries, artefacts and practices to the case of transnational trade union education, in which tutors and course participants negotiate a complex mix of boundaries. We identify ways in which practices and tools can have consequences for multiple boundaries and conclude that this approach provides a way to unpack some of the complexity of interactions in transnational learning situations and offers a framework to identify effective tools and practices.     

Web conferencing for synchronous online tutorials: Perspectives of tutors using a new medium

This paper reports on a pilot investigation into web conferencing in a distance learning module. It focuses on the perceptions and experiences of the tutors, all of whom were new to the web conferencing environment, but were experienced in online teaching. A number of web conferencing tutorials were studied through the collection of various datasets, mostly qualitative. The data were analysed by a team of researchers, informed by key literature in this area.The main findings from the pilot indicated that tutors experienced challenges in creating social presence and in managing cognitive load when dealing with multiple tasks online. There were also technical obstacles to improvisation in response to students’ emerging needs. The findings of the pilot informed the training and support provided when web tutorials were subsequently rolled out to all tutorial groups (approximately 140) in the module. Overall, experiences from the web tutorials indicate that tutors and students reacted positively to the opportunities web conferencing provides for interactive learning and teaching.