Ch. 4: A Wrap-Up on Critical Digital Literacy

Identity is something that, as teachers, we often encourage our students to generate. We tell our students to be true to themselves and write so that their voice comes across. But how might those teachings about identity translate into the online world? These past few weeks I have been examining the concepts of digital persona and digital citizenship for the ways that identity is constructed in digital spaces. Essentially digital personas are the equivalent of one's identity/persona in the real world but are just modelled digitally. What I have learned is that, as teachers, we must ensure that anything we post online ensures that our reputation as a teacher is not corrupted. We must remain professional, responsible, and respectful in how we choose to present ourselves digitally. We are citizens of a digital world, and therefore, it is our responsibility to interact in a manner reflective of how we interact as citizens in the real world. I also believe this is something that should be taught to our students as well. We tend to focus on identity in our teachings, yet I believe it is equally as important to educate students on their digital identity too. Students need to understand the concepts of privacy and how to be respectful online, especially as we live in a rapidly evolving digital world where almost everyone interacts digitally in some way.

I recently discovered the concept of Sketchnoting in my learning and wanted to apply this tool to the concept of digital citizenship. I spent some time tinkering with Sketchpad to create a note explaining what digital citizenship is and how to accomplish it. The process of creating this note was lengthy, but only because I got so wrapped up in all the possibilities of creating. There are so many different ways to create the note and add different stylistics that I became a bit overwhelmed, but in the best way possible! As this was my first time creating a Sketchnote, I was able to use my past knowledge of meaning-making, decoding, analyzing, and using, as I worked through the final component of critical digital literacy, which is persona. I was able to examine pre-existing Sketchnotes to see what stylistics conveyed messages the best, understanding how Sketchnotes generate meaning. I was then able to tinker with the Sketchpad site to understand how it worked, all the while asking if this site would help me accomplish my goal of creating a Sketchnote. I then created my final product which has helped in my understanding of digital personas.


While using this site, I understood that what I was creating would be a direct reflection of who I am. This note would tie to my digital persona as it is information that I am sharing digitally. Using the examples I have seen of pre-existing Sketchnotes that relate to digital citizenship, I was able to ensure that the content I was sharing would be appropriate and meaningful, reflecting my digital persona positively.

You may remember that in one of my first posts I had created a mindomo concept map to help define critical digital literacy. After focusing more on this concept, I have now created a revised version of this concept map that includes all the components that make up critical digital literacy. Using Hinrichsen & Coombs as a model, I have incorporated my own thoughts and understandings of each component, along with summarizing some of their main points.


Knowing all of these different components has truly contributed to how I go about using technology. Not only do I now analyze new sources for the ways they were constructed or whether they fit with my goals for using technology, but I am more aware of how I contribute to online spaces. Moving forward into my career as a teacher, one of my biggest fears was how to incorporate technology in meaningful ways, which I feel I have recently learned how to do. I now have tools to assess how I am engaging with technology that I can use in teaching students with or about technology. The world around us is evolving with technology, and I now have the toolset to evolve as a teacher with those new technologies. I hope that my learning about critical digital literacy these past few weeks has helped you in some way to understand the importance of technology in the classroom. Although I will be moving away from technology over the next few chapters of this blog, the topic of technology, due to its evolving nature, is sure to make another appearance in later chapters! 

In the meantime, I’ll still be sure to keep tinkering with new digital tools, and I hope you will too!
                                                                                                                                    ~ Megan

                                                                
References
Hinrichsen, J., & Coombs, A. (2014). The five resources of critical digital literacy:
      A framework for curriculum integration. Research in Learning Technology, 21, 8-9.
      doi:10.3402/rlt.v21.21334

Comments

  1. Megan,
    I really enjoyed the connection you made to interacting online the way we interact in the real world. I absolutely love the sketchnote you made! What a great way to represent your ideas, it is also very engaging and relevant! You mind map also make great connections between your learnings throughout this course! What a great take-away you have created that reflects you learning throughout this course.. You have added many new tools and resources to your teacher toolbelt, great job! Good luck.
    Madi

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