Cunningham Memorial Library: Digital Literacy: Home

Digital Literacy

What is Digital Literacy?

Just like information literacy, digital literacy demands skills in finding and using information for projects requiring critical thinking. In times past, digital literacy meant that an applicant or student was well versed in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc., and maybe even Adobe Photoshop. Today, everyone possesses some level of digital literacy as these particular skills have become “standard” in the workplace. Digital literacy is a prerequisite to taking a deeper dive into research. According to the American Library Association (ALA), digital literacy means "the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills" (ALA, n.d., para. 1). So, a digitally literate person "uses" several technologies appropriately to complete different parts of tasks.

Future Lab’s “Digital Literacy Across the Curriculum,” digital literacy touches on and integrates with the following areas:

Functional skills
Creativity
Critical thinking and evaluation
Cultural and social understanding
Collaboration
Ability to find and select information
Effective communication
Internet Safety

These areas are essential to the digital literacy growth of our students and researchers. These areas also pair well with areas from Bloom's Taxonomy and can be used in conjunction with digital tools by faculty to ensure appropriate student progression in digital literacy understanding.

Why is Digital Literacy Important

Technology grows by leaps and bounds, it's hard to find anyone who is not affected by the technology around us. Since the pandemic, a majority of our business and social meetings have been moved to online technology-based platforms, such as Skype, Zoom, Teams, etc. Those with digital skills will be able to learn, participate, and keep up with their peers in interactive online activities. Further, with more enhanced digital skills, students will be able to critically think, evaluate, collaborate, and create, all while communicating and navigating "safely" in our online digital culture.

What is a computer?

Computers are now a staple in almost everyone's life. It's hard to go about day-to-day and not have at least a minimum understanding of what a computer is and what it does. These days, when someone uses the term computer, it can refer to many types of devices. For example, there are desktops and laptops, but there are also iPads, phones, smartwatches, and even cars. So, what is a computer? GCFGlobal defines a computer as, "A computer is an electronic device that manipulates information, or data. It has the ability to store, retrieve, and process data. You may already know that you can use a computer to type documents, send email, play games, and browse the Web. You can also use it to edit or create spreadsheets, presentations, and even videos" (GCFGlobal.org, n.d.).

Enhancing your computer skills takes everyday practice. The more you are on the computer, the better you get to know your way around. You can also build your skill level by using online tutorials. There are so many free tutorials out on the internet, you may not know where to start. We have provided a list of tutorials at the bottom of the page under Digital Literacy (DL) Resources - DL Tutorials to get you started in the right direction.

There are many forms of communication. Communicating through email has become one of the most important skills a student should develop, whether the communication is with a potential employer, their instructor, classmates, or family members. Why is it so important? According to a Forbes.com article, it's because "good writing is fundamentally good thinking that follows a logical path and is easy for someone to follow. Writing out what you want to communicate forces you to organize your thoughts" (Forbes.com, para. 3). Below are some good tips on how an email communication to your instructor should be written.

Following these tips on email communications, students can practice digital literacy with every email communication they send.

Subject line: Keep it simple but relevant to the reason you are contacting the person.
Salutation/Greeting: Always include a polite greeting and use the person's name and/or title. If there is no greeting, your email can seem rude to those who read it. A polite greeting sets the tone of how you want your next words to come across.
1. Example 1:Business & more official email: Good afternoon Dr. Heller, Hello Mr. Hardin, Dear professor.
2. Example 2: Personal friend or family email: Good afternoon John, Hello Sarah, Dear mom.
Identify yourself: Always use your first line to identify yourself, use your full name, and then add in how they already know you or how they should remember you from now on.
Reason for communicating: Be short, sweet, and to the point. Don't get bogged down in explanations. Tell them why you're contacting them, what you've done to work on the issue yourself, and what you need from them. Period.
Closing:

Internet Safety & Online Privacy


It doesn't matter if you use the internet for employment, education, or fun, keeping your and your family's private information safe from others is one of the most critical pieces to being digitally literate. There are several tips below on how to protect yourself while using a computer in the online setting. Let's begin!
ISU Related Digital Security
ISU's two-step login (MFA)	Connecting to ISU Wifi (ISU-Secure)
ISU OIT Security Standards	Security Awareness: Viruses & Malware
Software for ISU Students

Other Important Online or Digital Safety Information
Create strong passwords	How to safely use public wifi networks from FTC
Social Media Privacy from epic.com	Shop Safely
Playing games online	Watch out for scams

Library Platform Administrator

Rhonda Beecroft

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Contact:

Cunningham Memorial Library, 232B
510 North 6 1/2 Street,
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Terre Haute, IN 47809

812-237-2596

Subjects: Turnitin (Plagiarism Detection)

Digital Literacy (DL) Resources

Digital literacy has become a top priority in and around today's workplace. This means it's even more important for college students to prove their skills in this area. Digital Literacy Resources are essential for every institution to provide. Whether you are a student studying a new topic, or a faculty member researching for presentation, preparing for a class, or other purposes, knowing how to locate and use sources that are relevant and appropriate is key, Indiana State University has prepared tutorials to help you gain the skills you will need to succeed while in college. ISU-specific training can be found at https://www.indstate.edu/training.

Besides the training provided above, Cunningham Memorial Library has gathered other resources that can further your understanding and your skills. Each of the above tabs has been curated to assist and prepare students, educators, and community members with their research and digital projects. Each of the tabbed topics offers resources specific to the subject tab.

Books on Digital Literacy

Digital Literacy Books available from our Cunningham Memorial Library Collection or Full Text Online

Negotiating Place and Space in Digital Literacies by Damiana Pyles; Ryan Risk; Julie Warner
ISBN: 1641134836
Publication Date: 2019-07-01
Digital literacy practices have often been celebrated as means of transcending the constraints of the physical world through the production of new social spaces. At the same time, literacy researchers and educators are coming to understand all the ways that place matters. This volume, with contributors from across the globe, considers how space/place, identities, and the role of digital literacies create opportunities for individuals and communities to negotiate living, being, and learning together with and through digital media. The chapters in this volume consider how social, cultural, historical, and political literacies are brought to bear on a range of places that traverse the urban, rural, and suburban/exurban, with emphasis placed on the ways digital technology is used to create identities and do work within social, digital, and material worlds. This includes agentive work in digital literacies from a variety of identities or subjectivities that disrupt metronormativity, urban centrism (and other -isms) on the way to more authentic engagement with their communities and others. Featuring instances of research and practice across intersections of differences (including, but not limited to race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, and language) and places, the contributions in this volume demonstrate the ways that digital literacies hold educative potential.
Not Born Digital by Daniel Morris
ISBN: 1501316702
Publication Date: 2016-07-14
Not Born Digital addresses from multiple perspectives - ethical, historical, psychological, conceptual, aesthetic - the vexing problems and sublime potential of disseminating lyrics, the ancient form of transmission and preservation of the human voice, in an environment in which e-poetry and digitalized poetics pose a crisis (understood as opportunity and threat) to traditional page poetry. The premise of Not Born Digital is that the innovative contemporary poets studied in this book engage obscure and discarded, but nonetheless historically resonant materials to unsettle what Charles Bernstein, a leading innovative contemporary U.S. poet and critic of "official verse culture," refers to as "frame lock" and "tone jam." While other scholars have begun to analyze poetry that appears in new media contexts, Not Born Digital concerns the ambivalent ways page poets (rather than electronica based poets) have grappled with "screen memory" (that is, electronic and new media sources) through the re-purposing of "found" materials.
Best Practices in Teaching Digital Literacies by Evan Ortlieb (Editor); Earl H. Cheek (Editor); Peggy Semingson (Editor)
ISBN: 1787544346
Publication Date: 2018-08-22
The almost universal reliance upon digitaltools for social, academic, and career development will only become morepronounced in the years to come. Teacher education programs remain ill-equippedto adequately prepare educators with the pedagogies needed to foster digitalliteracies. What is needed is a set of best practices towards teaching digitalliteracies so that teachers can better meet the emerging needs of theirstudents in today's classrooms. Where should teachers begin? What are theessentials of digital literacies within K-12 contexts? And how might wereimagine teacher education programs to optimally prepare teachers for workingwith technologically connected youth, whose literacies are more complex,interconnected, and diverse than ever? This volume provides a practicalframework for teacher education programs to develop K-12 students' digitalliteracies. It offers a set of best practices in teaching digitalliteracies that promote access to research-based pedagogies for immediateimplementation in classrooms.
What's Hot in Literacy by Evan Ortlieb (Editor); Stephanie Grote-Garcia (Editor); Jack Cassidy (Editor); Earl H. Cheek (Editor)
ISBN: 9781839098772
Publication Date: 2020-09-30
Understanding how to address current trends and issues in literacy education is more important than ever, as local, state, national and international agendas are increasingly recognizing literacy as a foundation for success in all disciplines in education. To bridge that gap in understanding, this book showcases hot topics in literacy, providing teachers with research-based practices for literacy improvement. Acknowledging that learning the languages of mathematics, science, and history is quintessential to content knowledge acquisition and dissemination, the international scholars which comprise the author line-up for this edited collection describe the evidence-based research findings from their research in K-12 schools to demonstrate how literacy success is fostered across the globe. Featuring innovative approaches to early literacy, disciplinary literacy, and digital literacy, the authors also pay attention to emerging topics like social, emotional, and cultural learning. By offering a selection of timely and cutting edge insights into the trending topics in literacy education, this book is ideal reading for teachers across early childhood, elementary, middle, and high school years.
Digital Literacy for Dummies by Faithe Wempen
ISBN: 9781118962862
Publication Date: 2014-10-27
Develop and implement essential computer technology--with confidence Do you want to develop an understanding of technology to enhance your education, career, or personal life, but feel inhibited by your digital literacy? Fear not! Written in plain English and absent of undecipherable high-tech jargon, Digital Literacy For Dummies makes it easy to get a grip on computer basics, the Internet, the Cloud, browsing the web, productivity programs and applications for school and the workplace, computer security and privacy, the latest in digital lifestyle topics, and so much more. Walks you through the basics of developing essential computer technology skills Shows you how to gain the digital literacy skills required to succeed in education, at home, and in the workforce Explains how the use of smartphones and digital cameras contribute to digital literacy With the introduction of 3G and 4G services in emerging countries like India, worldwide Internet usage is increasing exponentially. With this technological growth comes an opportunity for people of all ages and from all walks of life to learn new skills to keep them ahead of the curve. Packed with easy-to-follow explanations and seasoned with a bit of humor and fun, Digital Literacy For Dummies makes it easy and accessible for anyone to harness the power of technology to remain relevant in school or at work.
Skim, Dive, Surface by Jenae Cohn
ISBN: 1952271037
Publication Date: 2021-06-30
Students are reading on screens more than ever-how can we teach them to be better digital readers? Smartphones, laptops, tablets: college students are reading on-screen all the time, and digital devices shape students' understanding of and experiences with reading. In higher education, however, teachers rarely consider how digital reading experiences may have an impact on learning abilities, unless they're lamenting students' attention spans or the distractions available to students when they're learning online. Skim, Dive, Surface offers a corrective to these conversations-an invitation to focus not on losses to student learning but on the spectrum of affordances available within digital learning environments. It is designed to help college instructors across the curriculum teach digital reading in their classes, whether they teach face-to-face, fully online, or somewhere in between. Placing research from cognitive psychology, neuroscience, learning science, and composition in dialogue with insight from the scholarship of teaching and learning, Jenae Cohn shows how teachers can better frame, scaffold, and implement effective digital reading assignments. She positions digital reading as part of a cluster of literacies that students should develop in order to communicate effectively in a digital environment.
Digital Literacy Unpacked by Katherine Reedy; Jo Parker (Editor)
ISBN: 1783301988
Publication Date: 2017-12-16
Digital literacy is a powerful subject, which supports inclusivity, social mobility and digital citizenship globally. This book brings together thought-leaders and experts in the field, providing a blend of research and practice across sectors, and provides a valuable and timely insight into digital literacy and learning. Digital Literacy Unpacked not only offers a snapshot of innovative approaches to digital literacy, but also intends to provoke discussion, encourage collaboration and inspire - whatever the role or context. The editors open up the whole area of digital literacy in all its kaleidoscopic richness, and provide diverse perspectives, content and ideas to inform thinking and practice. The cross-sectoral and global significance of digital literacy is a key theme of the book. Digital literacy is relevant to higher education, further education, schools, children, and the workplace - but crucially at its heart it is a citizenship and inclusion issue, necessary for the full participation and achievement of all in society. Content covered includes: a discussion of terminology, institutional approaches, and existing frameworks digital literacy in learning and teaching copyright literacy teaching the use of digital tools and curriculum design critical approaches to literacy combatting social exclusion using digital skills. The book will be useful reading for library and information professionals across the sector (higher education, schools, business/corporate, special, public), institutional leaders and managers, and LIS students. It will also be useful reading for educational technologists, learning and teaching professionals.
Teaching Social Work with Digital Technology by Laurel Iverson Hitchcock Hitchcock; Melanie Sage; Nancy J. Smyth
ISBN: 0872931951
Publication Date: 2019-03-19
This book was written to help social work educators make pedagogically sound, rational, practical, and ethical decisions about integrating technology into their social work programs and across the curriculum. It covers a range of essential topics, from understanding digital literacy skills to ethical implications for technology in social work practice; from technology in the traditional classroom to fully online teaching environments. Case studies, real-world examples, and technology tips are part of each chapter, and checklists show how technology is integrated with the Council on Social Work Education's EPAS competencies, the NASW's Code of Ethics, and other social work practice standards and guidelines. Appendices provide a wealth of practical materials.
Information and Digital Literacies by Lesley S. J. Farmer Information and Digital Literacies: A Curricular Guide for Middle and High School Librarians is a practical guide to help school librarians design and deliver effective instruction that addresses the knowledge, skills and dispositions of information and digital literacies. This curricular guide from one of America's foremost experts in this area will help librarians prepare students for college and careers. It provides systematic instruction about conducting research and using integration as stated in the Common Core, complying with state and federal mandates for digital safety/competence curriculum, and recognizing the instructional role of school librarians. It should be noted that "canned" programs, particularly for digital safety exist, but they are not aligned with other school standards, and they do not reflect the unique communities of learners, let alone address the need to collaboration and articulation. The ready-to-implement curricular guide features: -instructional design strategies, -model middle and high school curriculum, including a scope-and-sequence, stand-alone courses, units of instruction, and sample learning activities, and -ties to new AASL and ACRL information literacy standards, ISTE technology standards, 21st Century Partnership framework, and Common Core State Standards.
ISBN: 1442239816
Publication Date: 2015-10-08
Personalized Reading by Michele Haiken; L. Robert Furman
ISBN: 9781564846877
Publication Date: 2018-04-30
Get practical strategies and classroom-ready ideas to incorporate technology in the 6-12 curriculum to improve skills in reading, critical thinking and digital literacy. Due to the diversity of readers in today's classrooms, teachers are called upon to teach not reading, but readers. Personalized Reading highlights four different types of readers -- the struggling reader, the reluctant reader, English learners and advanced readers -- and presents ways to use technology tools to accommodate their different reading styles. With this book, you'll get answers to questions like: How can teachers meet the needs of all learners to help them think critically and communicate effectively? How can teachers approach reading of visual, print and digital text? This book will: Help teachers empower students with the skills and strategies they need for reading success, and to find joy in reading. Inspire teachers to think beyond the text to help meet students where they are and raise the level of thinking about teaching readers. Provide activities and lessons to help support the diverse learners that enter the classroom, and highlight a variety of technology tools to tap into the multifaceted texts students can access. With this book, secondary teachers will develop the skills they need to help students select their own texts, conduct reading workshops and teach students to read both print and visual texts, while identifying what works best for each student to maximize learning and potential. Audience: 6-12 educators
Create to Learn by Renee Hobbs
ISBN: 9781118968345
Publication Date: 2017-09-05
Want to learn something well? Make media to advance knowledge and gain new ideas. You don't have to be a communication professional to create to learn. Today, with free and low-cost digital tools, everyone can compose videos, blogs and websites, remixes, podcasts, screencasts, infographics, animation, remixes and more. By creating to learn, people internalize ideas and express information creatively in ways that may inspire others. Create to Learn is a ground-breaking book that helps learners create multimedia texts as they develop both critical thinking and communication skills. Written by Renee Hobbs, one of the foremost experts in media literacy, this book introduces a wide range of conceptual principles at the heart of multimedia composition and digital pedagogy. Its approach is useful for anyone who sees the profound educational value of creating multimedia projects in an increasingly digital and connected world. Students will become skilled multimedia communicators by learning how to gather information, generate ideas, and develop media projects using contemporary digital tools and platforms. Illustrative examples from a variety of student-produced multimedia projects along with helpful online materials offer support and boost confidence. Create to Learn will help anyone make informed and strategic communication decisions as they create media for any academic, personal or professional project.
Technology, Reading and Digital Literacy by Robert L. Furman
ISBN: 1564843580
Publication Date: 2014-12-01
Reading is fundamental to learning. Technology, Reading & Digital Literacy offers new strategies to inspire and motivate students -- even the most reluctant readers. This book gives educators new tactics to help students discover the joys of reading, improve writing and storytelling skills, and expand the use of technology for learning.Teachers will uncover new methods for integrating traditional teaching strategies with engaging technology to tap into students as creators, innovators and out-of-the-box thinkers. The book is filled with a robust collection of literacy tools and resources to support the transition to digital literacy, including custom book lists, virtual book clubs, video and animated book talks, and writer's wikis. Educators at all levels can use the resources and instructional methods in this book to boost digital literacy for students.
Diversifying Digital Learning by William G. Tierney (Editor); Zoë B. Corwin (Editor); Amanda Ochsner (Editor)
ISBN: 9781421424354
Publication Date: 2018-02-01
Many schools and programs in low-income neighborhoods lack access to the technological resources, including equipment and Internet service, that those in middle- and upper-income neighborhoods have at their fingertips. This inequity creates a persistent digital divide?not a simple divide in access to technology per se, but a divide in both formal and informal digital literacy that further marginalizes youths from low-income, minoritized, and first-generation communities. Diversifying Digital Learning outlines the pervasive problems that exist with ensuring digital equity and identifies successful strategies to tackle the issue. Bringing together top scholars to discuss how digital equity in education might become a key goal in American education, this book is structured to provide a framework for understanding how historically underrepresented students most effectively engage with technology?and how institutions may help or hinder students' ability to develop and capitalize on digital literacies. This book will appeal to readers who are well versed in the diverse uses of social media and technologies, as well as less technologically savvy educators and policy analysts in educational organizations such as schools, afterschool programs, colleges, and universities. Addressing the intersection of digital media, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic class in a frank manner, the lessons within this compelling work will help educators enable students in grades K?12, as well as in postsecondary institutions, to participate in a rapidly changing world framed by shifting new media technologies. Contributors: Young Whan Choi, Zoë B. Corwin, Christina Evans, Julie Flapan, Joanna Goode, Erica Hodgin, Joseph Kahne, Suneal Kolluri, Lynette Kvasny, David J. Leonard, Jane Margolis, Crystle Martin, Safiya Umoja Noble, Amanda Ochsner, Fay Cobb Payton, Antar A. Tichavakunda, William G. Tierney, S. Craig Watkins

Digital Literacy Journals & Magazines

Learning for Justice Magazine, Fall 2022

The resources under the "Digital Literacy Articles" are here to help instructors and students to enhance their knowledge of Digital Literacy to guide is best practices in and out of the classroom. If you are off campus, you may need to log in to Cunningham Memorial Library to bring up these articles. Clicking on an article will open a new window.

From digital literacy to digital competence: the teacher digital competency (TDC) framework Author: Garry Falloon Date: 29 March 2020	Why Smart Cities Need Digital Inclusion Authors: Bill Callahan & Angela Siefer Date: Sept, 2019