Literacy in the Digital University

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Literacy in the Digital University
Robin Goodfellow, IET kn.open.ac.uk\Lidu\presentat
ions\TLRG09.doc

• Some words about Literacy
• The digital university a question for
  researchers
• The Literacy in the Digital University seminar
  series
• Some findings from one of the contributing
  projects
• Practices in the Academy and the Net
• Digital scholarship in the OU a literacies
  approach
• Summary Lit meets Tel in the LiDU

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Literacy

• PowerPoint presentation to committee
• Article for The Times Online
• Introduction for a speaker at a meeting of a
  professional body
• Research bid to a funding body
• Strategy report for management
• Course materials
• Journal article
• Reviewers form for journal article refereeing
• TMA feedback
• Email to colleagues
• Contribution to academic blog
• PhD student progress form
• Comment to student forum

skills
texts created in communities

What is it?
social practices
Adapted from Lea and Stierer (2009)
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The digital university
Facebooking Tweeting? Bookmarking? Tagging? Youtub
ing? eBaying? Fan fiction-ing? Second
life-ing? Mashing up-ing? Filesharing? Google
doc-ing? I-tuning? Gaming?

• The Net Generation/Digital Natives
• Jones Ramaneau (2009)
• Lea Jones (2009)
• Open Educational Resources
• McAndrew et al (2009)
• Learning 2.0
• Seely Brown Adler (2008)
• Weller (2009)
• Digital scholarship
• Borgman (2007)
• www.digitalscholarship.com/
• The unbundled university
• Katz (2008)

What kinds of skills?
What kinds of texts what kinds of community?
What kinds of social practices how mandated?
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• What is the relation of established academic
• discourses and practices to the emergent
• ones of informal and practitioner learning in
• digitalised contexts of Higher Education?

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Four ESRC-funded research seminars promoting new
research into digital literacy practices in
post-school education - October 2009 to March 2011
Four recent research projects Literacies for
Learning in Further Education (Lancaster and
Stirling Universities) http//www.lancs.ac.uk/lflf
e/ Digital Literacies in Higher Education (Open
University) http//digital-literacies.open.ac.uk/h
ome.cfm Learning Literacies for a Digital Age
(Glasgow Caledonian) http//www.academy.gcal.ac.uk
/llida/ Putting Web 2.0 to work - new pedagogies
for new learning spaces' (Universities of
Edinburgh and Strathclyde) http//www.education.ed
.ac.uk/research/projects/theme2/proj12.html
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Digital Literacies in Higher Educationhttp//digi
tal-literacies.open.ac.uk/home.cfm

• Ethnographic-style
• 3 institutions diverse HE contexts
• 34 students
• Data includes interview transcripts, field
  notes, web pages (social/ curriculum based),
  personal development plans, students own work
  (group and individual), photos

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Learners adept at drawing on complex, hybrid,
textual genresLearners discriminate between
personal and curricular spheres Validation from
tutor and/or course guidance drives access and
use of resources
Evidence from DLiHE
Searching/downloading from Google/ Wikipedia/
BBC/Times Searching/downloading from
Google/Wikipedia/ BBC/Times Accessing/reading/
downloading from commercial corporate
websites Studying CISCO course online Online
communication around group work MSN/ personal
email/Facebook Use of college VLE/ university e
mail/ library searches/web links Hotmail/Yahoo/Goo
gle mail/ E-Bay/Amazon/ iTunes/YouTube CS3
Creative Suite- an Adobe package Google image/
scanning images for assignments Copy assignment
onto CD for assessment Analysis of images from
the web Creating/ using spread sheets Scanning
images from books Group presentation using power
point You Sendit file transfer Design of project
front page using clip art Use of report templates
downloaded from web Blogging Access lecture notes
from WebCT/Blackboard
Importance of Reading
(Lea 2009)
evidence for the changing nature and status of
different forms of textual knowledge in higher
education but institutionally-mandated
Lea Jones (forthcoming)
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Assessed tasks as written genres written
examination question, assessed essay, learning
log, written summary, written reflection,
introduction, critical appraisal, evaluation,
written argument

• Be familiar with concepts and analytical
  approaches,
• understand rationales, recognise the value of
  methods, be
• able to critically evaluate approaches
  (Archeology)
• Demonstrate logic, argument, objectivity,
  relevance,
• structure, evidence (Tourism)
• Understand the critical nature of ethical issues,
  demonstrate
• clarity, logic flow and scholarship (Management)
• Methodologically investigate (graphic design)

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Persistence of conventional academic values
practices
Literacy in the emerging digital university
transformative new digital communication
practices
Institutional mandating of new digital
knowledge production practices
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• The social practices of

From Calhoun, C. (2006) The University and the
Public Good. Thesis Eleven, 84, 7 7-43 Higher
Education has an investment in authoritative
knowledge otherwise it has nothing to
share Knowledge can be both authoritative and
democratic.. Habermas notion of the public
sphere characterised by the kind of
communication that underpins reasoned collective
choice by informed citizens Knowledge informs
both expert instrumental use and public
debate Public communication amongst scientists
and scholars is vital to their capacity to offer
public benefits
the net Design, use value Currency, the
eternal 'now' of online information
Connectivity who I know, who uses
knowledge Sharing without boundaries, across
ephemeral and unregulated networks Proliferation,
viral effects Discussion, comment
Multi-disciplinarity as resource Profile 'just
in time' knowledge how-how Multiple media
bricolage
the academy Philosophy, truth value
(Disciplinary) traditions of what kinds of
knowledge are valued and why Method How I come
to know Sharing within scholarly communities,
according to established roles and
rules Publishing, peer review Dialogue,
disputation, debate Discipline/profession as
commitment Qualification Subject knowledge and
know-how Text-based communication argument
critique
Adapted from Academic Values and Web cultures
points of rupture Helen Beetham LiDU Seminar 1
October 16th 2009 http//kn.open.ac.uk/LiDU/Semina
r1/Beetham_text.doc
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• Digital scholarship themes
• Open processes of publishing and reviewing
• Digital tools for research and teaching
• Reward for reputations built online

A critique of digital scholarship as
literacy What kinds of texts are produced
digitally in processes of scholarly
activity? Which communities are validating these
texts as scholarship? How are critique and
argument manifested in textual practices which
are validated as digital scholarship?
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Summary Lit meets TEL at LiDU!

• http//literacyinthedigitaluniversity.blogspot.com
  /
• Next seminars
• March 1st 2010 Glasgow Caledonian University
• October 14th 15th 2010 Open University