used in combination with this presentation http://www.slideshare.net/cristinacost/de-montfort

1. World café
Digital and Web Literacies
Digital literacy represents a person’s ability to perform tasks effectively in a digital
environment, with “digital” meaning information represented in numeric form and
primarily for use by a computer. 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 (Jones-Kavalier and Flannigan, 2006)
Digital literacy expresses the sum of capabilities
an individual needs to live, learn and work in a digital society (JISC, 2011)
Mindful use of digital media means thinking about what we are doing, cultivating an
ongoing inner inquiry into how we want to spend our time. (…) five fundamental
digital literacies, online skills that will help us do this: attention, participation,
collaboration, critical consumption of information (or "crap detection"), and network
smarts [meaningful building networks]. (Rheingold, 2012)
Guiding questions
• What skills do our students need in the digital economy?
• How can we help student develop literacies for the digital economy?
• What challenges do our students face in developing skills for the digital
economy?
• What role does the institution have in empowering students as active digital
participants rather than passive consumers?

2. World café
Learning and Teaching practices
Meaningful learning will result when technologies engage learners in:
• knowledge construction, not reproduction;
• conversation, not reception;
• articulation, not repetition;
• collaboration, not competition; and
• reflection, not prescription.
(Jonassen, 2003)
Most learning is not the result of instruction. It is rather the result of unhampered
participation in a meaningful setting. Most people learn best by being. (Illch)
Online learning now depends more on the ability of educators and trainers to tutor
and support learners online than on the technology itself. (Heywood)
The challenge is not simply to incorporate learning technologies into current
institutional approaches, but rather to change our fundamental views about effective
teaching and learning and to use technology to do so (Hanna et al)
Guiding questions:
• Do we want to prepare our students for the critical use of the web? How?
• How does the curriculum need to evolve?
• What are the implications of embedding/not embedding the participatory and social
web in our learning and teaching strategy?
• What does the institution need to do to progress as a learning institution in the
current digital economy?

3. World café
Digital Identities (as part of digital scholarship)
Digital identity“ is the sum of all digitally available information about an individual. It is
becoming increasingly complete and traceable, driven by the exponential growth of
available data. (The Boston Consulting Group, 2012)
In a digital age, learners need to practice and experiment with different ways of
enacting their identities, and adopt subject positions through different social
technologies and media. These opportunities can only be provided by academic staff
that are themselves engaged in digital practice. (JISC, 2009)
When we ask our students to share online — in a discussion forum within an LMS; in
a wiki, course blog, Google Doc or Facebook group; on Twitter or anywhere on the
open web — we are inviting not just online interaction but an enactment of each
student’s digital identity. Involvement in or resistance to online interaction is largely
rooted in ideas and beliefs about identity, privacy, voice, authenticity and power.
(Catherin Cronin, 2012)
Guiding questions:
• How do you present yourself online? What aspects of you do you make public?
• What are the advantages of having an interactive online presence as part of our
professional practice?
• What does online participation mean to our and students’ reputation?
• How can we exploit the web to promote and enhance our practice?
• How can we use the web to communicate with our current and future students,
colleagues, extended networks and the wider public?
• What are the advantages and implications of creating a digital identity?
• What role does/ must the institution play in promoting and supporting open and
networked practices?