Where are you Digital?

Digital Literacy in the classroom begins with necessity but should end with creativity.

Congratulations! The beginning of a new semester is a milestone. By now, you have developed a rhythm for presenting new content and evaluating the effectiveness of course assessments. This semester is an opportunity to demonstrate the impact of teaching and learning on student success.

Now, you must consider one additional element in your course preparation. You may have already incorporated some digital modality and added a digital outcome in your course, but if you haven’t, I ask that you consider it.

The pandemic changed our classrooms tremendously (June 2022; Li 2020). Through both necessity and inspiration, faculty undertook new ways to overcome space (hybrid and distance learning), time (asynchronous offerings), and reality (digital projects). However, after the desperation ceased, some of the inspiration subsided. Burnout is understandable, given all of the demands placed on faculty during this time. But a new focus is necessary given the impact on student success.

Digital skills are interpreted widely, but for students to succeed in the 21 century, they need a package of digital fluencies that enable them not only to understand and utilize digital tools and landscapes but to produce and create using them (What are Digital Skills, 2022).

Now, as you begin a new semester, take into consideration where you are using digital assignments. Did your innovation stop after the immediacy of the pandemic? If so, this is a great time to incorporate digital innovation into your course. Begin by revising an old assignment to include a new tool. Offer students a choice of digital tools for activities in class or by requiring a project that utilizes multiple digital modes such as video, audio, and graphics.

Don’t forget about the heart of innovation—add creativity. If you can leverage both innovation and creativity to your students, then you will be the charge of a valuable learning experience.

This doesn’t have to be difficult. Find where you have existing digital assignments or experiences for students and work from there. It is likely that you have these in many places in your course. Find them, and you can add to them seamlessly.

The key is to move students to create and produce using these digital innovations. These are the fluencies that will benefit them moving forward. And you need not contain these experiences to large assignments. Ungraded activities are excellent places to experiment with ideas.

Take the lesson from the pandemic instead of desperation let your implementation be an exercise of creativity. It will pay dividends in the classroom and for your students beyond.

References

June, A. W. (2022, June 25) As the pandemic waned, so did faculty’s use of digital course materials. The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Li, C. Lalani, F. (2020, April 29). The COVID-19 pandemic has changed education forever. This is how. World Economic Forum. 

What are Digital Skills? (2022, August 29) UNLV Continuing Ed.