by: Angela Maiers

Visual Notes for Digital Literacy: From Consumers to Producers

I am loving the conversations I am having with leaders and learners in my Digital Literacy & Global Collaboration Course.

In Session #1 we focused on defining ‘digital literacy’ and understanding the impact of the web. Session #2 focused on how to get information to come to you, with RSS and other tools.  And , Session # 3 moved us from talking about taking in information from the web to creating and contributing your own information – in our own style!

This was a critical turning point in our discussion and learning. Interacting with people in the social web allows us to not only consume information but produce it. This is new to education as we were all raised to be consumers. We sit in class, we listen, we do our assignments, turn them in and move on. We consume, show that we consumed and that’s it. We never were asked to produce, to think deeply about what we were learning and we never had the opportunity to share what we thought (as scary as it is) with our social network and allow them to comment or think deeply about what we ourselves are trying to learn and understand.

Here was my note to students after the session concluded:

I don’t want to get to the end of this course and look back on the expereince and think this was “just another class” where I read a lot of research, answered a few discussion questions, watched some videos, played with a few tools, and…

I want to get to the end  and be proud of the fact that I’ve:

• created things that mattered to myself and others
• inspired others to better themselves
• added to conversations instead of watching others talk
• made the world a better place in one way or another.

As you explore the wonderful array of tools and platforms to share your voice and ideas with the world, take some time toimagine the possibilities these will have for your students and colleagues.

I wish the same for you.