Digital literacies, social media, and undergraduate learning: what do students think they need to know?

This research addresses an identified need to further understand digital literacies (DL) and whether undergraduate students view DL as being important in their lives and in their learning. Using a cross-sectional survey sent to a stratified random sample of 2500 undergraduates representative of the overall student population at a medium-sized Canadian undergraduate university (survey response rate of 19.8%, N = 496), we explored the relationships between social media and digital literacies, particularly in different disciplinary contexts. We also explored the ways in which students report using social media in their university learning, showing that students value social media for collaboration, discussion, information finding and sharing, and practise activities related to their learning. Additionally, we examined the importance students place on DL, and how they perceive and rate their own abilities with digital literacies across three domains: procedural and technical, cognitive, and sociocultural. Findings illustrate an observable gap between the high importance that students place on digital literacies (including DL for social media) in their learning and their lives and the lack of coverage students reported receiving about these topics in their undergraduate education. Based on the study's findings, we discuss the specific ways that those in the higher education community can address this gap by engaging with and fostering development of digital literacies within specific disciplinary and professional contexts, and in interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary learning settings across the curriculum.

States

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, schools had been adopting digital instruction in many parts of the world. The concept of digital literacies has also been evolving in complexity alongside the digital technologies that support it. However, little is known about what guidance available to support various levels of government in supporting digital literacies alongside digital instruction in local schools. The purpose of this study was to determine what guidance for digital literacies U.S. state departments of education had made available through their websites to local schools just prior to the onset of the pandemic. Using qualitative content analysis techniques, digital literacies guidance information was located on U.S. state departments of education websites and analyzed. Most states did not indicate that they used guidance from professional organizations about digital literacies. The 16 states that did have guidance used standards from the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), which have not been positioned by the organization as digital literacies standards, but instead reflect traditional understandings of Information Computing Technology (ICT). Implications of this study highlight potential strategies educational ministries might use to acknowledge and support digital literacies.

When There's No Handbook: One Urban Elementary School's COVID-19 Crisis Response

Using qualitative methods and a Communities of Practice framework, we studied one urban elementary school's crisis response to COVID-19 during the emergency remote education phase, Spring 2020. In the last two years, there has been overwhelming variety in schools' instructional modalities in our state-face-to-face, remote, hybrid-leaving Spring 2020 the first fully remote experience to study. In this study we focus on the remote learning pivot, specifically highlighting the campus' use of digital literacies and the caregiver, student, and teacher responses to the immediate, unplanned modality change. Findings are meant to assist schools in planning ahead of future crises, including ways to use digital literacies to strengthen learning communities.

Pre-service teacher's self-perception of digital literacy: The case of Israel

Teachers provide society with literacy needs. They instruct students to acquire the essential skills and competencies required for a successful social integration. Thus, the need to identify digital readiness in teachers. The purpose of this study is to assess the level of digital literacies and digital readiness of students majoring in education. The research method includes a questionnaire comprising 54 items. The sample consists of 1265 students. The results show that more than half of the participants report an overall high level of literacy in all areas. Their sense of readiness for teamwork and their ethical readiness is high. Nonetheless, a low sense of readiness is found in a first and advanced order of readiness. The practical implications of these findings are crucial, as they can assist faculty and educational policymakers identify the strengths and weaknesses of students' digital literacies.