A guest post from Julia Feerrar, Head of Digital Literacy Initiatives at Virginia Tech.
As Alexander et al. illustrate in the NMC Horizon Project Strategic Brief on Digital Literacy in Higher Education, Part II, definitions and frameworks for digital literacy vary, particularly in their emphasis on technical skills, critical thinking and creative abilities, and social or cultural competencies. Considering that these pieces can shift in different contexts, I think that it was important for us to begin with the what and why of digital literacy, before jumping into the how of digital literacy on our campus.
The graphic shown above details their framework representing four aspects or layers for digital literacy at Virginia Tech.
- The learner at the center, who might engage with the other areas in the framework in any combination or order.
- Core competencies that each include technical, critical thinking, and social aspects
- Key values that connect and contextualize the competencies. I see these as as particularly tied to the why of digital literacy and our hopes for our learners as engaged digital citizens.
- Multiple literacies that frame the outside of our framework. I think of the literacies as our lens or lenses on digital literacy.