[ATTW-L] Invitation to build digital literacy through curation

[Jason Tham]

Dear ATTW members,



We (Ann Hill Duin <ahduin at umn.edu>, UMN; Jason Tham <jason.tham at ttu.edu>,
Texas Tech; Isabel Pedersen <http://Isabel.pedersen@uoit.ca>, Ontario Tech
U) invite you to join us in collaborative exploration of *Building Digital
Literacy through Exploration and Curation. *We thank CPTSC, UMN, Texas
Tech, and OnTechU for support of this project.



*Problem statement*: Emerging technologies have been broadly and rapidly
embraced due to their promise of increased efficiency and the allure of
personalized data. Massive amounts of data are collected, mined, and used
to alter our behavior. As a result, we face a digital literacy crisis:
public understanding of immersive technologies has not kept pace with the
full potential of their benefits and perils.


*Objective*: The primary objective of this exploratory study is increased
understanding of student development of digital literacy as a result of
examining, contributing, and/or curating technological artifacts at *The
Fabric of Digital Life* (https://fabricofdigitallife.com/), an
internationally-renowned digital research repository that includes
articles, images, videos, and media on wearables, carryables, implantables,
ingestibles, embeddables, and roboticals.



As part of a course module or assignment, students might

●      Examine: learn to explore existing content through artifacts;

●      Contribute: learn to archive single items (media representations)
and understand existing keywords meta data; and/or

●      Curate: learn to archive collections of media representations
related to a theme. Here they develop/identify a novel set of keywords,
applicable to the collection.



*Pilot test*: During Spring 2019, we developed and pilot tested
instructional materials to guide students in learning a common language of
classification to ground their understanding of technical emergence. One
component is a keyword schema that helps students to standardize the
constantly evolving language used to describe emerging technology.



Our use of the Fabric archive took place in both upper level technical
writing and advanced/graduate level courses as part of short (one week) to
longer (4 week) assignments. Students were thrilled to see their
collections published on the Fabric site! Please see the following
collections:

Course: Technical and Professional Writing; Jason Tham (instructor)

Collection: Emerging Technologies for Technical Communication
<https://fabricofdigitallife.com/index.php/Browse/objects/facet/collection_facet/id/29>



Course: Technical and Professional Writing; Danielle Stambler (instructor)

Collection: Wearables and Carryables for Everyday Communication: Past,
Present, Future
<https://fabricofdigitallife.com/index.php/Browse/objects/facet/collection_facet/id/35>



Course: International Professional Communication; Ann Hill Duin (instructor)

Collection: What Language Sounds Like: Wearable Devices in Translation
Communication
<https://fabricofdigitallife.com/index.php/Browse/objects/facet/collection_facet/id/31>

Collection: Cultural Reality - A VR Experience
<https://fabricofdigitallife.com/index.php/Browse/objects/facet/collection_facet/id/32>

Collection: AR From Conception to Reality
<https://fabricofdigitallife.com/index.php/Browse/objects/facet/collection_facet/id/33>

Collection: Implanted and Embedded Medical Devices
<https://fabricofdigitallife.com/index.php/Browse/objects/facet/collection_facet/id/34>



*Details / next steps*: *Please let us know of your
interest/participation/collaboration by no later than August 15, 2019 to
allow time to share instructional materials and to learn about your goals /
learning outcomes.*



If you agree to participate,

●      we will share the instructional units to use (and revise as you’d
like) for student exploration and/or possible curation of collections on
emerging technologies;

●      you agree to share with us the course, learning objectives,
assignment and timeline for specific exploration or development of
collections as part of an assignment in your course(s);

●      you invite students to share their work and to complete a short
survey on how this has influenced their understanding of digital literacy;
and

●      you provide a short (one page) reflection on your incorporation of
an exploration/curation assignment and its impact on building student
understanding of digital literacy.



We will also invite you to participate in bi-weekly discussions with both
us and other instructors about the impact of repository exploration and
collection curation on building student understanding of digital literacy.



Thank you for considering the possibility of integrating exploration and
curation of emerging technologies as part of your upcoming Fall 2019
teaching. We look forward to hearing from you!



Best regards,

Ann, Jason, and Isabel

ahduin at umn.edu; jason.tham at ttu.edu; Isabel.pedersen at uoit.ca



Note: The IRB (at UMN) determined that this study meets the criteria for
exemption from IRB review. To arrive at this determination, the IRB used
“WORKSHEET: Exemption (HRP-312).”
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