Using a Responsible Voice through Digital Writing

Because advancements in technology have and will continue to change the way we communicate in the 21^st century and beyond, it is imperative for educators to prepare students to effectively interchange their thoughts and feelings. Of course, digital natives are familiar with technologies of today; however, they have not been equipped with the required knowledge to effectively communicate by crafting digital writing. Turner and Hicks (2017) state that, "We strongly believe that it is not enough to have students to do what they normally do on paper (or even with a word processing program) and publish online. Instead, we need to teach them to craft an argument using media in strategic ways” (p. 54).

This process must consist of educators teaching procedural knowledge of technology tools, such as hyperlinks, images, videos, and other multimedia. Understanding how these tools contribute and support a digital argument is considered procedural knowledge. Students will acquire this knowledge through analyzing web-based mentor text as early as elementary school. Unfortunately, this cannot be accomplished if educators lack the knowledge of digital writing. Blogger, Kathleen Neagle Sokolowski, believes educators can use mentor text to improve their digital writing, while providing mentor text for their students as well. This is a great example of a teacher who has a growth mindset, which is needed to successfully connect, understand, and educate digital natives and immigrants.

An additional component in preparing students to effectively craft digital writing is to teach and model digital citizenship.  Turner and Hicks (2017) state that, "We should be helping students-even those in elementary school-to understand that everything on the Internet has a "home" in the sense that it is hosted on a domain and was put there by someone else" (p. 58).

Nicole's Story:Copyrighting Creative Work

As an educator in a digital society where it is extremely easy to quickly acquire images and information online, it has been a challenge to give credit all the time. I must say, I am learning more about copyrights, and fair use policies, and I can be a better model for students and others. Times have changed and they will continue to change. As educators, we must stay abreast of current trends, policies, and technological advances, so we can be models for our students. Because we want our students to have a voice, we have to prepare them to be digital citizen capable of effectively crafting digital writing.

References

Turner, K.H., & Hicks, T. (2017). Teaching adolescents to read and write digital texts: Argument in the real world. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Sokolowski, K.N. (2016). Digital mentor text for blogs: teaching writing with mentor text. Retrieved from https://twowritingteachers.org/2016/05/06/curating-digital-mentor-text-for-blogs-teaching-writing-with-mentor-texts/.

Nicole's Story: Copyrighting creative work. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXSGSYr0eAQ&t=0s&index=6&list=PL8TjVyuBdsCnTZiAYcQcF4v-6dw0nlRJm.

What are your thoughts?