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What are digital literacies?

I'm writing this blog post as part of the  Digital Literacies for Online Learning course, where we're asked to explore different definitions of digital literacies and construct a personal definition based on our reading.  It's interesting to note that originally the term was used in the singular - ' digital  literacy' - but, as explained in   AdvanceHE's  (n.d.)   handy  history of the term ,  the increasing complexity of the digital world and the skills needed to navigate it shifted usage to the plural.    I find it helpful to start with a short definition of digital literacies which sets the boundaries of what we are talking about: digital literacies are "those capabilities which support living, learning and working in a digital society" (Jisc, n.d.). This definition indicates how, for many of us, the digital environment now impacts on most aspects of our lives. It also emphasises that digitalisation needs to be understood as a social  phenomenon. D...
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Mapping my use of digital tools and developing my digital literacies

One of our tasks as learners on the OERu's  Introduction to Digital Literacies  course (LiDA101) is to create a Personal Learning Network map. You can find an explanation of what this on the PLN mapping challenge pages of the course. Here's my map (you may have to zoom in a bit to read it properly): I've used a colour code to distinguish how I use the different tools: Solid green = tool used mainly for formal learning and professional development Solid blue = tool used mainly for work Solid yellow = tool used mainly for social life and personal interests Green border = Any tool used for formal/professional learning When I did this mapping exercise, I was surprised how many different tools I use regularly (and there are probably more that I've forgotten). I was interested to realise that even tools that I think of as being just for inter-personal professional communication (email, Teams and Rocket.chat) are channels for my learning as well - email because I receive vari...

MindMeister: the pros and cons of a 'freemium' mind-mapping tool

In this blog post, we’re looking at mind-mapping software - a great addition to any learner’s toolkit. In case you haven’t come across them before, mind-maps are a way of creating a structured, visual summary of your ideas on a particular topic. You can see a simple example at the bottom of this post. Mind-maps have plenty of applications for learning, such as preparing for an essay, planning a project, or connecting concepts during revision. While paper-based mind-maps work fine, digital mind-mapping tools give a whole new level of flexibility. Here I’m going to review one such tool, the free, web-based version of MindMeister , and briefly compare it with an open-source alternative, Freemind . Free? What’s the catch? MindMeister is run on a “freemium” model (‘Freemium’, 2020) , where a basic service is provided without charge, but more advanced features are available on payment of a monthly subscription . This marketing model assumes that you will enjoy the features of the free ...

Learning analytics - the pitfalls of prediction

Picture yourself as a teacher, with a class of new university students in front of you. You’ve been teaching for 20 years, and by now you feel you can confidently predict which ones are going to be overdue with their assignments, who will consistently come to class late, and which ones probably won’t last the year. That’s what experience has taught you. The question is, what will you do with your predictions? Stop wasting your time on those students now… or put extra effort in to help them get over the line? Equally important – will you ever question your assumptions and the impacts they have? Those are among the issues faced, on a massive scale, by higher education institutions which use learning analytics – the collection and analysis of large amounts of student data to understand the behaviours and contexts of their learners (Vu et al., 2020). Institutions are increasingly combining student data from a range of digital interactions (online learning, enrolments, academic results, fin...

Designing effective multiple choice questions

A  multiple choice question (MCQ) is composed of two parts: a stem that identifies the question or problem, and a set of alternatives or possible answers that contain: a key that is the best answer to the question, and  a number of distractors that are plausible but incorrect answers to the question. (Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo, 2012) Research shows that MCQs are an appropriate competency test for measuring knowledge and comprehension, and can be designed to measure application and analysis. Well-constructed MCQs are also capable of testing the higher levels of cognitive reasoning and can efficiently discriminate between high- and low-achieving students (Abdulghani et al., 2015). However, MCQs are only effective if they are well-designed. Some design principles for MCQs are outlined below. Designing stems Express the full problem in the stem When creating the item, ask yourself if the students would be able to answer the question without lookin...

Re-learning in a digital age

This launching of myself into digital space comes about because I am taking the Learning in a Digital Age course (LiDA) through OERu . First learning challenge: " Declare Yourself ". That means, set up a blog and start writing. So here I am. Setting up a blog is one step on the way to establishing a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) and Personal Learning Network (PLN).  These two concepts, unfamiliar to me until starting the course, are core to  LiDA. The premise is that learning no longer needs to be limited to a bi-lateral exchange between you and your tutor, with some optional interaction with classmates on the side. Likewise, resources for learning are not restricted to a real or virtual pile of costly books and articles that your tutor sets in front of you. Instead, once your mind is open to the possibility, the internet offers a totally new learning model, centred on you, the learner. You create your Learning Network - made up of all the experts and peers that yo...