Conclusion

• BCcampus
• Educational Technology Users Group (ETUG)
• Open EdTech Collaborative

Wrap-Up Activity

What it is:

Why it is important:

Examples:

• Explore how open textbooks can increase access to education and enhance the learning experience: Open Resources: Improving Access for Everyone (blog post)
• Read about strategies to keep in mind when creating content to foster diversity and inclusivity: Diverse and Inclusive Representation in OER (article)
• Learn from Jamie Drozda’s personal experience with accessibility, usability, and inclusive design: Engaging with Technology and Accessible Practice (blog post)

Multimedia Activity

Learning Activities

1.   Learn it for yourself

2.   Incorporate it into your teaching practice

• What accessibility strategies does the resource currently integrate?
• How do the current accessibility strategies benefit students?
• Where are there opportunities to improve the accessibility of the resource?
• How would additional changes make an impact?

• Explore the accommodation and accessibility services offered.
• Learn about the assistive technologies and supports that are available.
• Review the accessibility and inclusion policies.
• Then share information about these services and supports with your students. Include this information in places like your course outline or a section on student support in your course.

3. Teach it to students

Further Reading

• Explore these student personas to better understand the variety of students you may see in your classroom. Keep this variability in mind when developing course content.
• This Accessible Online Course Checklist builds on the one explored in this challenge and includes considerations for course outline and design and instructional methods.
• Looking for more ways to enhance accessibility in your teaching practice? Browse the Niagara College Canada Accessibility Hub’s Accessible Academic Delivery page for a variety of short articles to choose from.

What it is:

Why it is important:

Examples:

• Browse a snapshot of the educational technology tools being used across the province in 2019: Educational Technology at Work in British Columbia: The ETUG Community Survey Results (blog post)
• Explore this edtech demo to see how others have built on existing models to create a rubric to assess technologies for use in the classroom: More Tools Than Time: Sharing a Rubric for Aiding Instructors’ Predictive Evaluation of eLearning Tools (video, 50 minutes)

Multimedia Activity

Learning Activities

1.   Learn it for yourself

2.   Incorporate it into your teaching practice

• SECTIONS UBC resource (PDF framework)
• H5P activity
• Using SECTIONS to Select Digital Tools
• Digital Literacy Framework

• In your course outline, describe the technologies used in your course and what support resources are available.
• In assessments that involve technology, include:
  • A brief description of the technology, how it aligns with the learning outcomes, and the skills students will develop as a result of using the technology
  • Technical instructions or guides that students can refer to when learning how to use the technology
  • Support resources available to students (e.g., where can students go if they have questions or need assistance with troubleshooting the technology?)
• Talk to the teaching and learning centre or learning technology centre at your institution for guidance on aligning technology with course learning outcomes and teaching practices.

3.   Teach it to students

Further Reading

• The Choosing and Using Media in Education: The SECTIONS Model chapter in Teaching in a Digital Age, by A.W. Bates, is an in-depth examination of the SECTIONS model.
• Or go straight to Appendix 2: Questions to Guide Media Selection and Use section for more in-depth questions aligned with the SECTIONS model to ask yourself.
• For a different option, explore the eLearning Toolkit Evaluation Rubric that Western University developed to guide the appraisal of technology tools.

What it is:

Why it is important:

Examples:

• Explore how open pedagogy can facilitate the growth of critical information literacy skills in students with this article: Intersections of Open Pedagogy and Critical Information Literacy: A Case Study

Multimedia Activity

Learning Activities

1.   Learn it for yourself

• SIFT (Stop; Investigate the source; Find better coverage; Trace claims, quotes, and media to the original context)
• CRAAP (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose)

2.   Incorporate it into your teaching practice

• Would you deem the resource suitable to use in your course?
• Why or why not?
• What factors stood out that made the resource reliable or unreliable?
• What did you learn overall?

• If students are using the internet to find information or perform research in your course, is there an opportunity to integrate an assignment that requires an annotated bibliography? Annotated bibliographies can help students methodically engage in the practice of evaluating resources and can be part of a larger research activity in your course. To model this for students, you might complete an annotated bibliography yourself. Then, when sharing it with students, walk them through your approach and thought process.
• If students are reading articles in your course, introducing them to the process of annotating resources can be beneficial for them. An example of a technology that can support this is Hypothes.is, which can be used both individually and collaboratively.
• Connect with your library or explore their LibGuides to see what support they can offer for you and your students. Can they visit your classroom for a presentation? Can you take your students to the library for a mini-lesson?
• Connect with your research office to see what support they can offer related to research and information literacy. Can they visit your classroom for a presentation?

3.   Teach it to students

• Revise the Annotated Bibliography lesson plan and customize it to include your institution’s specific resources. The assignment will help students locate sources relevant to a topic, summarize the main points or arguments in a scholarly article, and evaluate the authority of sources.
• Help students develop their algorithmic literacy so they understand how the information they are presented with was produced and prioritized. This will help them see why it’s essential that they evaluate the information they interact with on the internet. In Algorithmic Literacy: The Role of Academic Libraries in Creating Metaliterate Learners (presentation, 21 minutes), between 12:49 and 18:16, Marta Samokishyn shares some strategies for helping students develop algorithmic literacy.
• Algorithmic Awareness Toolkit: Teaching Algorithmic Literacy in Academic Libraries and Beyond features a variety of lessons related to algorithmic literacy. You might be particularly interested in:
  • Lesson 2: Examples of Algorithm
  • Lesson 5: Exploring Algorithmic Biases

Further Reading

• Hypothes.is is a free tool that allows you to mark up an article with notes as you’re reading and assessing its suitability for your purpose.
• Algorithms and information literacy are becoming inextricably linked in our digital world. Learn more about how algorithmic literacy intersects with information literacy, either in Algorithmic Literacy: The Role of Academic Libraries in Creating Metaliterate Learners (video, 20 minutes) or The Role of Algorithmic Literacy in Academia and Beyond: Some Considerations (article).

What it is:

Why it is important:

Examples:

• Watch Dr. Catherine Anderson as she shares how incorporating short intro videos at the start of each lesson, accompanied by checklists, helped guide students in her classroom on their learning journey: Flex Forward (video, 2 minutes)
• See several examples across various subject areas of how digital tools can serve as appropriate enhancements to the student learning experience: How to Apply the SAMR Model with Ruben Puentedura (video, 7 minutes)

Multimedia Activity

Learning Activities

1.   Learn it for yourself

• Are my lessons bite-sized (i.e., brief and concise)?
• Are my lessons digestible (i.e., organized and consistent)?
• Are my lessons appetizing (i.e., visual and engaging)?

2.   Incorporate it into your teaching practice

• Do these activities help your students stay engaged and help you evaluate their learning outcomes?
• Do these activities help you as an educator to periodically assess student learning?
• Are you periodically refreshing digital media materials in your course? If not, work with your faculty colleagues, check in with your program staff, and collaborate with teaching and learning staff to periodically refresh your materials.

• Look outside your Learning Management System and see if there are any other tools that will help you enhance your teaching. Ask a colleague or a friend about tools that they find effective, and consider adapting them.
• Connect with your community by attending professional development opportunities and collaborating with fellow faculty/colleagues. Check out the Educational Technology Users Group for events and opportunities.

3.   Teach it to students

Further Reading

• Common Sense Media offers a wide range of existing lesson plans and recommended tools for educators.
• Check out the Digital Scholarship competency page for a wide selection of available digital tools.

What it is:

Why it is important:

Examples:

• Read about the many ways in which Padlet can be incorporated into your digital learning space to encourage collaboration and communication: FLO Tech Tool Tip: The Power of Padlet (blog post)
• Read about the various ways in which SPLOT can be adapted to co-create an inclusive and safe online space with students: FLO Tech Tool Tips: SPLOTs (blog post)

Multimedia Activity

Learning Activities

1. Learn it for yourself

2.   Incorporate it into your teaching practice

• Check out the BCcampus FLO Tech Tools Tips blog posts.
• Play around with at least one of the tools mentioned in the blog posts that would work in your classroom or in your next presentation.
• Are there any tools mentioned in the blog posts, or within your institutional LMS or video conference platform, that could help address some of the social learning barriers we reviewed above? Match the list of tools you explored against your exported H5P documentation report and identify any tools that would match any of the key strategies.

3.   Teach it to students

• Don’t be afraid to try out at least one of these tools with your students or your colleagues. Can you try one at your next session or team meeting? We recognize that educators are busy, so keep track of how it works and how long it takes you to incorporate it as an activity, and then decide whether it works in your teaching context.
• Remember to have some fun in a safe, collaborative space with your students and/or colleagues. Perhaps at your next in-person meeting, you could incorporate interactive digital tools like Mentimetre? Or at your next synchronous Zoom call, try a fun poll or quiz? The possibilities are endless!
• Remember to consult your teaching and learning centre team to see if the digital tool you choose to adapt already exists within your institution. Always ensure that the digital tool complies with your institutional accessibility and privacy policies.

Further Reading

• Download 10 Ways to Create Dynamic Online Learning (PDF) for a guide to creating participatory online spaces that provide interactivity and a sense of community.
• Check out more digital learning tools on the Communication and Collaboration competency page.

Welcome to the eight-week Digital Literacy Challenge Series!

• What digital literacy means under each competency
• The importance of each competency
• How each competency affects our work as educators
• How we can incorporate each competency into our work as educators

Icebreaker Activity

• What: a definition of the digital literacy competency
• Why: the importance of each competency in teaching practice
• How: approaches for developing the competency in our own learning, and how to incorporate these skills in our teaching practice

• Wednesday, July 17, 2024 from 12:00 to 1:00 PM Pacific Time
• Wednesday, July 31, 2024 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM Pacific Time
• Wednesday, August 14, 2024 from 12:00 to 1:00 PM Pacific Time
• Wednesday, August 21, 2024 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM PT Pacific Time

Meet the Learning Designers

Helen Lee (She/Her)

What it is:

Why it is important:

Examples:

• Listen to art historian Andrea Korda talking about the role of the instructor as a curator of resources, drawing on her experiences using and creating open educational resources (OERs) during a year of remote teaching: Curating Course Materials: Lessons Learned from Using Open Educational Resources for Remote Teaching (video, 20 minutes)
• Walk through a step-by-step process of finding and selecting open educational resources (OER) to use in a derivative work, choosing a Creative Commons licence, and applying the licence to the work: Creating OER and Combining Licenses Part 1 (video, 5 minutes)

Multimedia Activity

Learning Activities

1. Learn it for yourself

2.   Incorporate it into your teaching practice

• Where do you search to locate materials for your course? Have you connected with the library at your institution?
• How do you differentiate between “need to know” and “nice to know” resources in your course? Do you clearly mark “nice to know” resources as additional resources so it’s clear that students can browse them if/when they have time?
• How do you briefly introduce each resource to create a connection between it and the learning outcome(s)? (For example, “The following video discusses ____, which illustrates the idea of _____ from last week.”) Or, if this is an area you want to work on, how will you approach it moving forward?
• How do you set an action for students to complete when engaging with a learning resource? (For example, “Jot down one takeaway from the video that will be shared in a small group activity during the next class.”) Or, if this is an area you want to work on, how will you approach it moving forward?

• Review effective course design strategies to ensure your resources are organized appropriately to support student learning
• Design learning activities that allow students to demonstrate their learning in creative ways (For example, instead of having students write an essay on a topic, perhaps they can create a video, an audio recording, or a poster. This allows students to demonstrate their learning in creative ways using a technology that is accessible to them.)

3.   Teach it to students

• Teach students about copyright licences so they understand which OERs can be freely adopted or adapted using What Are Creative Commons Licenses? (video, 2 minutes). Instructors and students can use the Licence Chooser to determine which Creative Commons licence is appropriate for their work.
• Revise the Take & Teach Presentation or Poster assignment template from Excelsior University and customize it to include your institution’s specific resources. The assignment will help students prepare a teaching poster or presentation about a topic using openly licensed resources.
• Curate a list of resources for your course or specific assignment that includes links where free photos can be obtained. For example, Thompson River University’s Intellectual Property Office shares a list of Free Photos.

Further Reading

• Explore the B.C. Digital Literacy Hub to learn more about curation and creation through various tools and resources.
• Learn about five different kinds of cues you can use to introduce and frame a video in your course, and help students actively engage with the video, in Introduce and Frame Your Video Content (webpage). These cues can be adapted for different types of resources too.
• To browse OERs for use in your course, check out the eCampus Ontario H5P Repository, a catalogue of H5P activities that can be filtered by keywords, subject, and licence. (Be sure to check the licence before adopting or adapting it!) Or browse free, open, and customizable materials in BCcampus’s B.C. Open Collection.

What it is:

Why it is important:

Examples:

• Hear some great ideas and common strategies from webinar participants on how they support student digital wellbeing in their classrooms and presenter Lisa Gedak’s list of key strategies for ensuring student digital wellbeing: FLO Lab: Developing a Manifesto for Digital Well-Being (timestamp 41:00–56:00) and corresponding Padlet
• Get a few tips on staying tranquil in your own digital life: TED Talk by Adam Alter (video, 9 minutes)

Multimedia Activity

Learning Activities

1.   Learn it for yourself

• If your digital wellbeing self-assessment shows that you have a well-balanced digital life, congratulations! Then consider helping out Jordan, an instructor who is struggling with her class, in this case study, by learning and applying the PERMA Framework.
• If your digital wellbeing self-assessment shows that your digital wellbeing and real life is out of balance, no worries! In this week’s challenge, we’re offering you a few ways to get your digital life back on track by introducing the PERMA Framework.

2.   Incorporate it into your teaching practice

• Using a bluelight filter on your devices
• Setting up fixed online office hours and only responding to messages and emails from students during this time
• Blocking off two to three hours of deep concentration time to avoid task switching and try out monotasking

1. Share your digital wellbeing tip of the week in the discussion below.
2. Review the discussion posts/digital wellbeing tips other people have shared, and try out at least one other digital wellbeing tip. Let them know how their tip worked for you.

3.   Teach it to students

• Not requiring social media use in your classroom.
• Offering your students or colleagues a few digital tools/resources to help balance life and tech.
• Inviting your students or colleagues to complete their own digital wellbeing self-assessment and facilitate a group discussion based on their results.

Further Reading

• Read Digital Pedagogy Toolbox: Cultivating Digital Well-Being – From Fatigue to Healthy Daily Practices (blog post) for some of the reasons for and ways to deal with digital fatigue.
• Jisc’s Digital Wellbeing for You, Your Colleagues and Students: Briefing Paper for Practitioners defines digital wellbeing, looks at different aspects of it, and offers a list of positive actions individuals can take to support it.
• Check out the TRU Digital Detox, designed to help students and instructors think about technology and how it intersects with learning and teaching in new and more complex ways.

What is it:

Why it is important:

Examples:

• Read about an excellent example of how OER ties into Indigenous community learning through the TK Labels project
• Read this blog post to learn more about the 6 R’s of Indigenous OER’s: Sovereignty and Tradition: Indigenous Knowledge and Open Educational Resources

Multimedia Activity

Learning Activities

1.   Learn it for yourself

• Review page 16 of the ABLE research paper, Removing Barriers to Online Learning Through a Teaching and Learning Lens, where barriers to online learning are outlined, along with strategies to help create cultural affirmation in online learning. During your review, consider some of the digital tools you have tried out or incorporated so far and how they may help you overcome these barriers.
• Review the Community-Based Learning Lesson Plan. Choose one of the four options in the lesson plan to spark conversations at your next class, meeting, or presentation. Try out the activity in a space where it’s safe to fail, and see if it works.
• Check out additional digital tools listed on the B.C. Digital Literacy repository’s Community-Based Learning page that you would consider testing or adapting.

2.   Incorporate it into your teaching practice

• What it is: Identify which community-based learning activity or option you decided to incorporate.
• Why it’s important (for you as an educator and for students): How did you contextualize this community-based learning activity, and how does it fit in your teaching practice?
• An example: By this time in the challenge series, you should have a solid toolkit of digital tools at your disposal. Which digital tool did you decide to incorporate and why? And how did it work out? Did the activity help spark a conversation on what community means for everyone in your class or group? Did the activity help students/participants create a sense of community? Share your final takeaways with us in the discussion forum.

3.   Teach it to students

• Find a local community expert to connect your students with, or ask them to connect with leaders in their own community.
• Look into existing community-based learning programs in your institution, such as work-integrated learning (WIL), co-op programs, and so on.

Further Reading

• Watch In It Together: Building Community and Enacting Care in Online Learning (recorded webinar, 55 minutes) for ideas on how to create and build community in online learning environments.
• Check out The Handbook of Experiential Pedagogies, a collaborative resource developed by the students and instructor of an experiential pedagogies course at UBC in 2023.

Conclusion

• BCcampus
• Educational Technology Users Group (ETUG)
• Open EdTech Collaborative

Wrap-Up Activity

Welcome to the eight-week Digital Literacy Challenge Series!

• What digital literacy means under each competency
• The importance of each competency
• How each competency affects our work as educators
• How we can incorporate each competency into our work as educators

Icebreaker Activity