This presentation represents the culmination of many years of research into and experience with incorporating digital literacy into writing instruction. I originally prepared the presentation for my colleagues in the Program for Writing and Rhetoric at CU Boulder, but it has also been used by other universities to help introduce writing faculty to the changing nature of literacy.

1. EXPLORING THE ROLE OF
DIGITAL LITERACY IN
WRITING INSTRUCTION
Amy Goodloe
PWR Digital Composition Coordinator
Spring 2012
All Rights Reserved © 2012

2. PRESENTATION OVERVIEW
Recommendations & Resources
Common Concerns
Learning Goals and Benefits
Approaches to Teaching Digital Literacy
Understanding Digital Literacy

3. UNDERSTANDING DIGITAL
LITERACY

4. DEFINITION OF LITERACY
In the context of writing
instruction, literacy can
be defined as:
the ability to effectively
participate in a variety of
conversations using current and
emerging technologies for
research, reading, and writing

5. “EFFECTIVELY PARTICIPATE”
•find the conversations
•read them closely and critically
•evaluate different perspectives and
forms of evidence
•enter into the conversation through
writing or other means of
communication
Includes the ability to:
in both print and digital environments

6. “CONVERSATIONS”
•Traditionally occurred only in print or face to
face venues
•Now also occur in digital environments
Formal and informal exchanges of
ideas among discourse
communities, including academic,
professional, and civic

7. “TECHNOLOGIES”
Literacy has always required knowing how to
use technologies for research, reading, &
writing
The nature of literacy changes in response
to changes in these technologies
For most of our lives, the technologies of
literacy enabled reading &writing in print
formats
Now the technologies of literacy enable
reading &writing in digital formats as well

8. WHAT ABOUT “DIGITAL”
LITERACY?
The nature of literacy has
changed to the extent that
the digital is implied in today’s
definitions of literacy.
Here are a few more
definitions…

9. “Literacy includes the ability to read and
interpret media (text, sound, images), to
reproduce data and images through digital
manipulation, and to evaluate and apply new
knowledge gained from digital environments.”
Barbara R. Jones-Kavalier and Suzanne L. Flannigan.
“Connecting the Dots: Literacy of the 21st Century,” Educause
Quarterly.
http://goo.gl/GUA7k

10. “Literacy has always been a collection of cultural and
communicative practices shared among members of
particular groups. As society and technology change, so
does literacy.
Because technology has increased the intensity and
complexity of literate environments, the twenty-first
century demands that a literate person possess a wide
range of abilities and competencies, many literacies.
These literacies—from reading online newspapers to
participating in virtual classrooms—are multiple, dynamic,
and malleable.”
“21st Century Literacies Framework.” National Council of Teachers of English.
http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/21stcentframework

11. THE CHANGING NATURE OF
LITERACY
Research - Reading - Writing

12. RESEARCH
Writing instruction has always
included helping students with
the process of searching for,
locating, managing, and
evaluating information
How has the
nature of
research
changed?

13. RESEARCH:
NEW PROCESSES
Notable portion of research time is now spent on
sorting through vast number of sources
Research can become social and collaborative,
through social media sharing tools
Social media tools allow us to build “personal learning
networks” and customized information portals

14. RESEARCH:
NEW OPPORTUNITIES
Digital texts offer insight into how knowledge
is produced through refinements in thinking,
in response to conversations
Digital environments give us greater access
to populations for primary research

15. RESEARCH:
NEW CHALLENGES
Harder to assess credibility
•Difficulty identifying concepts like publication,
publisher, author, editor
•Confusion over who’s “screening” information
Sheer volume of available information is
overwhelming

16. READING
Writing instruction has always
included an emphasis on
reading:
• Writing often emerges in
response to readings
• Studying written texts gives
insight into the craft
• Effective writing must
appeal to readers
How has the nature of
reading changed?

17. READING:
NEW DEFINITIONS
Reading now requires the ability to
navigate in hypertext environments
Reading also requires the ability to
interpret new media genres

18. Every technology for reading was new at some point…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ

19. READING:
NEW EXPERIENCES
Ability to move rapidly between multiple sources
Option to customize a “feed” of readings based on
interests
Ability to easily search readings and carry a large
collection with you
Availability of multiple tools for sharing what you’re
reading

20. Social Nature of Reading

21. READING:
NEW CHALLENGES
Increased opportunities for distraction
Temptation to read quickly and shallowly

22. Typical pattern for reading on the web

23. WRITING
The purpose of writing
instruction has always
been to help students
make effective use of
the genres relevant to
their rhetorical situations
• Includes academic, civic,
public, and professional
How has the nature
of writing changed?

24. WRITING:
NEW DEFINITIONS
Writing now includes composing in multiple
modalities, including hypertext, images,
audio, and video
Writing also includes greater attention to
rhetorical principles for design and layout

25. WRITING:
NEW OPPORTUNITIES
to participate in civic and professional
conversations
to compose in collaborative, interactive
environments
to publish writing “in progress”

26. WRITING:
NEW RHETORICAL SITUATIONS
Audiences might extend to communities beyond the
class
Purposes for writing are potentially immediate and
practical
New genres: blogs, wikis, web sites, email, social
media, podcasts, photo essays, videos, animations

27. APPROACHES TO TEACHING
DIGITAL LITERACY
In Rhetoric & Composition Classes

28. APPROACHES - OVERVIEW
Digital literacy as a topic
• Discuss the changing nature of literacy
• Engage in rhetorical analyses of digital compositions
Digital literacy as a practice
• Experiment with current and emerging technologies
for research, reading, and writing
• Ask students to compose rhetorically compelling
messages in digital environments and/or in digital
media formats

29. EXAMPLES:
ENGAGE IN RHETORICAL ANALYSIS
• Blogs, wikis, or forums
on topics related to
the class
• Discussions on
Wikipedia pages
Study the rhetorical
practices of an
online discourse
community
• What is the rhetorical
purpose of interface
design?
• How do navigational
elements impact
readers?
Study rhetorical
principles for
communicating via
web and interface
design

30. Understanding the rhetorical purpose of blog layout

31. EXAMPLES:
EXPLORE TECHNOLOGIES OF WRITING
Experiment with tools
that enhance reading,
writing, collaboration,
and peer review
Experiment with
different platforms for
web publishing
• Social bookmarking
• Google Docs
• Tools to annotate
web pages and
PDFs
• Blogs
• Wikis
• Social media
• Prezi
• Glogster

32. Google Docs
“comment” feature
Diigo highlighter
and sticky notes

33. EXAMPLES:
COMPOSE IN DIGITAL ENVIRONMENTS
Contribute to a public blog or wiki built by the class
• Class blog for students across multiple sections
• Blog or wiki to showcase research to target audience
Contribute to existing blog, wiki, forum, or other digital
environment
• Posting comments that inspire a response
• Editing a Wikipedia entry

34. Sample class research wiki

35. Class blog for three
sections of my WRTG
3020 in Fall 2011.
Students posted a
total of 606 entries
and 1044 comments.

36. EXAMPLES:
COMPOSE IN DIGITAL MEDIA
Compose a project for audiovisual delivery
•Personal narrative (audio essay with photo slideshow)
•Exploratory essay (“This I Believe” audio essay)
•Mini-documentary research video
•Prezi with text, images, and video
Engage in digital media critique
•Strategic remix of digital media content
Explore “re-mediation”
•Composing the same message in multiple modalities to study how
the message changes

37. Sample mini-
documentary
Sample audio essay

38. Sample research project on Prezi

39. BENEFITS OF INTEGRATING
DIGITAL LITERACY

40. Composing processes
Rhetorical knowledge
Critical thinking
Discourse conventions
HELPS US MEET ESTABLISHED
GOALS OF WRITING INSTRUCTION
Goals established by WPA, NCTE, CCC, and CCHE

41. GOAL:
COMPOSING PROCESSES
• Students can more easily view how ideas emerge
through a process of conversation and refinement
As readers in digital environments:
• Response from real world audiences leads to desire to
revise
• Digital media composition requires a multi-step process
• Can’t produce a rhetorically powerful digital
composition project the night before!
• Requires planning, research, collaboration, problem-
solving, drafting, feedback, revision
As writers:

42. GOAL:
RHETORICAL KNOWLEDGE
• Easy availability of digital environments and
genres allows students to study how writers
respond to real rhetorical situations and
employ rhetorical strategies
As readers in digital environments:
• Gives students opportunities to compose for
real audiences and purposes, using
contemporary genres and publishing platforms
As writers:

43. GOAL:
CRITICAL THINKING
• Allows us to study how arguments work in action:
types of evidence, persuasive strategies, impact
on readers, nature of dialogue and disagreement
As readers in digital environments:
• Gain deeper insight into the rhetorical strategies
and appeals used in digital formats by composing
in them
• As composers, students start to recognize subtle
strategies for establishing credibility and
persuading audiences
As writers:

44. GOAL:
DISCOURSE CONVENTIONS
• Reading digital texts helps to raise awareness of the
role of conventions in both print and digital genres
As readers in digital environments:
• Gives students practice at adapting conventions
based on their target discourse community
• Provides insight into the purpose of conventions that
students often struggle with in print writing
• Structural elements, such as introductions,
transitions, “units” of thought, coherent
progression of ideas
As writers:

45. ADDITIONAL BENEFITS
Reinforces traditional writing skills
Improves digital literacy skills
Validates multimodal literacies
Inspires greater student engagement
Prepares students for the future of writing

46. REINFORCES TRADITIONAL
WRITING SKILLS
In their research into the pedagogical benefits of digital
storytelling for college students, Oppermann and Coventry
(2011) found that:
Being asked to communicate in the ‘new
language’ of multimedia brings students a
greater awareness of the component parts of
traditional writing.
Digital storytelling helps students develop a
stronger voice and helps students more
accurately and firmly place themselves in
relationship to the arguments of others.

47. IMPROVES DIGITAL LITERACY SKILLS
Today’s college students don’t have the digital literacy skills they
need to compete against today’s high school students
• But many don’t realize it, as they’ve been told they’re “digital
natives”
Digital composition projects enable students to:
• Identify deficiencies in their digital literacy skills
• Remedy them while working on a project they find meaningful

48. VALIDATES MULTIMODAL LITERACY
Literacy researchers have long emphasized the value of multiple
modalities in human communication (text, sound, visuals)
• Age of print: printed text is easiest to produce and distribute
(multimedia is for pros only)
• Digital age: relatively easy and inexpensive to produce and
distribute text, audio, images, and video
Assigning multimodal composition projects validates the rhetorical
power of multiple modalities

49. IMPROVES STUDENT
ENGAGEMENT
Composing for real audiences and purposes inspires
greater investment
• Students have a genuine interest in conveying a meaningful
message
Relevance of assignments spurs greater effort
• Helps students see writing as having a legitimate purpose
beyond “term papers”

50. Opperman and Coventry (2011) found that digital
composition projects allow students to:
• work on authentic assignments
• develop their personal and academic voice
• represent knowledge to a community of learners
• receive situated feedback from their peers
Due to their affective involvement with this process
and the novelty effect of the medium, students are
more engaged than in traditional assignments.

51. PREPARES STUDENTS FOR THE
FUTURE OF WRITING
Today, elementary school students are producing
multimedia research projects
• What kind of research projects will they expect to do in
college?
• What kind of projects will employers expect all college
graduates to be capable of producing?
What will count as “good communication skills” in the
future?

52. COMMON CONCERNS

53. WHAT'S “DIGITAL” ABOUT
ACADEMIC WRITING?
• The nature of academic writing and research are
changing in response to digital tools and
environments
• Important and relevant academic conversations
now take place in digital environments
• Consider the push to change the nature of
academic publishing to accommodate digital
environments and media

54. I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR
DIGITAL LITERACY!
• Don’t treat digital literacy as an “add on.” Instead,
consider:
• How might digital literacy activities help you accomplish
current learning goals?
• How might your existing lesson plans benefit from some
attention to digital tools or genres?

55. I’M NOT DIGITALLY SAVVY ENOUGH
• Professionals in nearly every occupation have to
constantly adapt to changes in their field
• Literacy professionals must also adapt to the
changing nature of literacy
• Pursue opportunities for professional development
• Become familiar with pedagogy and scholarship
• Use campus resources to support technology training
• Digital literacy is now part of the job description for
most positions in rhetoric and composition.

56. STUDENTS ARE ALREADY
DIGITAL NATIVES
• Simply growing up in a digital culture does not lead
students to become critical and rhetorically aware
users of these tools
• Most of us grew up in a print culture, but we still had
to undergo years of schooling to learn to be “print
literate”
• Our students are eager for informed guidance
through the landscape of digital composition

57. RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR WRITING PROGRAMS

58. BASIC PREMISE
To remain relevant to our students and to our discipline, we too
must change
The nature of writing instruction has also changed
The nature of literacy is changing as we shift to a digital culture
Writing instruction has always been about teaching literacy

59. RECOMMENDATION -
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The role of digital literacy in writing instruction should be
acknowledged throughout the program, in:
• Curricular goals
• Hiring and reappointment criteria
• Mission statement
• Relevant committees and initiatives
• New course proposals

60. RECOMMENDATION - SUPPORT
Integrating digital literacy should be supported effectively
through:
• Coordinator positions (if applicable)
• Relevant committees
• Connections with campus resources
• Opportunities for professional development
• workshops, peer mentoring, going to conferences

61. RECOMMENDATION - CLASS ACTIVITIES
Provide some exposure to:
• Current and emerging technologies for writing
• The rhetorical nature of digital composition
• (even if only for 30 minutes once during the semester)
Offer students the opportunity to compose in a digital genre
• Whether on a small scale: class community blog, planning
with mind maps, peer review with screencasts, etc.
• Or a larger scale: audio narratives, collaborative wikis, digital
storytelling, mini-documentary, etc.

62. RESOURCES
For more information as well as help resources
for students and faculty, visit:
http://digitalwriting101.net