For my course project I would like to design a digital literacy module called “Student Introduction to Learning with Technology.” It will be an asynchronous unit that students will complete before they start online, blended or flipped courses. I envision the module having two parts: 1) orientation to campus technology, such as Moodle and Adobe Connect used at Pacific University and 2) Web 2.0 and other tools (such as content aggregators, research managers, etc.) that help students to succeed in learning process. I probably will concentrate on developing Web 2.0 Unit for this course as it is my speciality in Instructional Design as well as a personal interest.
I think in any classroom (digital or traditional), it is important that students (and instructors) are comfortable with technology that helps them learn (and teach). This generation of students is generally thought to be very competent with tech because they have not know the world without it. However, I often find that students capable of using YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. for personal reasons often are not adept in utilizing these tools in the context of a learning environment or as a learning environment itself.
I think many educators often forget the importance of digital literacy and thus it gets put on a back burner. In my experience, it happens for a number of reasons: because it is not something they are comfortable with themselves, because they assume that students are, and because the benefits of using technology in the classroom are generally still greatly overlooked.
Because this Unit will be an Open Educational Resource it would be available to anyone and I hope students and instructors alike will use it.