Demystifying Technology · Digital Literacy Reconsidered · Teaching · Technology and Society

A Growing Understanding of Digital Literacy

Literacy is a set of competencies and knowledge within a certain domain. Digital literacy, then, is literacy within the realm of digital information and communication technologies. Summarizing a variety of definitions regarding digital literacy and related computational thinking, the set of competencies include: Technical skills – the ability to appropriately select and effectively use a range of technologies;… Continue reading A Growing Understanding of Digital Literacy

Libraries · Reflections · Technology and Society

A tinkerer, a traditionalist, and a change agent walk into a library one day…

In 2010 I spent over half the year in East St. Louis helping to develop a set of grant proposals requesting a bit over $32 million in federal stimulus funds. Little did I know this would be my capstone project as changing funding priorities increasingly pulled me away from a community I had come to… Continue reading A tinkerer, a traditionalist, and a change agent walk into a library one day…

Community Engagement · Demystifying Technology · Education · Teaching · Technology and Society

Demystifying Technology: The Fundamentals

Demystifying Technology has become our catchall phrase for our particular approach to digital literacy education. The approach has now been implemented both in professional education courses at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, and also in digital literacy workshops and one-on-one technical support sessions for community members for both children/youth and adults offered… Continue reading Demystifying Technology: The Fundamentals

Education · Social Justice · Technology and Society

Technological Abundance, Communal Poverty

“When we look at modern man, we have to face the fact that modern man suffers from a kind of poverty of the spirit, which stands in glaring contrast with a scientific and technological abundance. We’ve learned to fly the air as birds, we’ve learned to swim the seas as fish, yet we haven’t learned… Continue reading Technological Abundance, Communal Poverty

Community Engagement · Community Informatics · Syllabi · Teaching · Technology and Society

My Spring 2015 Courses

I’m excited to be teaching three courses this spring. Below are the short descriptions and links to the syllabus for each course. It would be great to have each class max out on enrollment! Community Informatics Studio, LIS 490ST: (Syllabus) Studio learning brings together the collective knowledge of the class to work on and implement a… Continue reading My Spring 2015 Courses