Digital Visions: Developing 21st Century Skills and Competencies with the Digital Media Academy By Matthew David Starcevic Master’s Thesis Lakehead University In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master’s of Education 1 Acknowledgements First, I would like to thank Dr. Michael Hoechsmann for mentoring me throughout this two year journey. Thank you for sharing your experience, for opening my eyes to new literacies, and helping me see connections between my formal schooling and my work at the Digital Media Academy. To Dr. Meridith Lovell-Johnston, thank you for your insightful perspective, your attention to detail, and your critical edits and revisions. I would also like to extend a great deal of gratitude to the curriculum staff at the Digital Media Academy. Thank you for graciously offering your time to make this research unique and original. This thesis would not have been possible without the support and direction of the many wonderful people at Lakehead University. Thank you for seeing something in me and for presenting me with an unexpected offer into this Master’s program while I was still completing my Bachelor of Education degree. A special thanks to Dr. Paul Berger and Cynthia Hardie. To my dear friend Julian, thank you for providing me with levity throughout this process and having more confidence in me, and my abilities, than I did. Without our friendship, this process would not have been as enjoyable. Thank you to my Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles for your love and support throughout my long academic journey. To my Papa and unofficial editor, thank you for the support you provided me not only with this thesis, but through my many, many years of schooling. To my five beautiful cousins, I have been learning from you and thriving in your company all my life. All five of you have taught me so much about myself and the needs and 2 wants of a young person growing up in the 21st century. Over the next 30 years, I will work hard to make you proud and to be the educator you would want me to be. Most importantly, I would like to thank my parents. Thank you for providing me with unwavering support, perspective, and direction throughout this long process. Mom, thank you for teaching me to overcome and handle challenges with integrity and for teaching me to dream big! 3 Abstract This thesis proposes the need for a comprehensive digital literacy program in Ontario schools. A K-12 digital literacy program is essential so that students can grow up with a set of 21st century skills and competencies that prepare them for life in an increasingly complex and digital world. The lack of unified digital literacy instruction in Ontario schools has led to an investigation of a US based Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) academy called the Digital Media Academy. The Digital Media Academy offers programs for students, teachers, and adult learners in range of digital media disciplines. A qualitative study was designed to extract insights from the Digital Media Academy to establish a digital literacy framework worthy of the Ontario classroom. An ethnographic study was performed and eight interviews were conducted with eight curriculum staff from the Digital Media Academy. The results formed the basis of a comprehensive digital literacy program synthesized through the critical lens of an Ontario educator. The Ontario classroom would benefit from a digital literacy program that encompasses a creation-based learning platform that is intertwined with a human-centred design approach and teaches students to adopt a growth mindset, tell digital stories, learn to code, and make use of relatively inexpensive technologies. 4 Table of Contents List of Figures ......................................................................................................................... 7 List of Tables .......................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 1: Digital Learning in the Non-formal Learning Sector ................................................ 9 Research Context: The Digital Media Academy ............................................................................... 12 Research Purpose: Curriculum and Instruction ............................................................................... 13 Chapter 2: An Overview of Digital Literacy in Education ........................................................ 15 Defining Digital Literacy ................................................................................................................. 15 Teacher Engagement ...................................................................................................................... 20 Student Engagement ...................................................................................................................... 23 Technological Infusion .................................................................................................................... 28 Non-Formal Learning ...................................................................................................................... 34 Chapter 3: Research Methods ................................................................................................ 37 Researcher Positioning and Bias ..................................................................................................... 38 Participant Interviews .................................................................................................................... 38 Participant Selection ...................................................................................................................... 40 Risks and Benefits .......................................................................................................................... 41 Data Analysis ................................................................................................................................. 42 Chapter 4: Extracted Themes ................................................................................................. 44 Theme 1: Digital Media Skillsets ..................................................................................................... 44 Primary skillset: programming. .......................................................................................................... 45 Secondary skillset: multidisciplinary .................................................................................................. 46 5 Theme 2: Media as an Expressive Digital Medium .......................................................................... 48 Theme 3: Digital Literacy ................................................................................................................ 50 Use. .................................................................................................................................................... 50 Understand. ....................................................................................................................................... 51 Create. ............................................................................................................................................... 52 Theme 4: Debating the Need for the Newest Technologies ............................................................. 54 New technology is essential. ............................................................................................................. 55 New technology is not essential. ....................................................................................................... 55 New technology is seldom essential. ................................................................................................. 57 Theme 5: Human-centered Design Approach .................................................................................. 59 Theme 6: Mindset .......................................................................................................................... 62 Chapter 5: A Critical Analysis ................................................................................................. 66 Digital Literacy Pedagogy is Production-centered ........................................................................... 66 Digital Literacy Pedagogy Requires a Growth Mindset .................................................................... 71 Digital Literacy Pedagogy Does Not Require Expensive Technology ................................................ 75 3D printing ......................................................................................................................................... 76 Virtual reality. .................................................................................................................................... 78 Hardware funding .............................................................................................................................. 79 Coding/Programming is a Core Digital Literacy Competency ........................................................... 80 Digital Storytelling is a Core Digital Literacy Competency ............................................................... 83 Human Centered Design is a Core Digital Literacy Competency ...................................................... 86 Chapter 6: The Future of Ontario Education .......................................................................... 89 Available US Models ....................................................................................................................... 91 6 The College Board. ............................................................................................................................. 91 International Society for Technology in Education. ........................................................................... 92 Synthesizing an Ontario Framework ............................................................................................... 92 Critical thinking and problem solving. ............................................................................................... 93 Innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship. ................................................................................... 94 Communication and collaboration. ................................................................................................... 95 A growth mindset. ............................................................................................................................. 97 Local, global, and digital citizenship. ................................................................................................. 97 Limitations of the Study ................................................................................................................. 98 Questions for Future Research ....................................................................................................... 99 References .......................................................................................................................... 101 Appendices ......................................................................................................................... 107 Appendix A: Description and Cover letter ..................................................................................... 108 Appendix B: Contact Information ................................................................................................. 110 Appendix C: Consent Form ........................................................................................................... 111 7 List of Figures Figure 1. Digital Literacy Model .................................................................................................... 18 Figure 2. Type of Student Engagement: Various learning platforms ........................................... 24 Figure 3. Students Imagine the Future of Ontario's Education System ....................................... 29 Figure 4. The Technology Acceptance Model (Davis et al., 1989, p. 985) .................................... 31 Figure 5. TPACK Model .................................................................................................................. 33 Figure 6. Growth Mindset Diagram (Wilson, 2014) ...................................................................... 73 Figure 7. Screen Capture of Scratch Code .................................................................................... 81 Figure 8. Screen Capture of Java Code ......................................................................................... 82 Figure 9. Robotics Representation (Ministry of Education, 2016, p. 25) ..................................... 96 8 List of Tables Table 1. Names, Positions, and Previous Experience of Interview Participants ........................... 41 Table 2. Digital Citizenship Themes .............................................................................................. 70 9 Chapter 1: Digital Learning in the Non-formal Learning Sector Ontario’s kindergarten to grade 12 students are coming to school at a time when new information technologies have transformed how people work, play, and learn. With this exposure comes a great deal of learning potential for Ontario teachers and students. Modern technologies certainly have their benefits, but they also present us with a new and sometimes unfortunate set of learning outcomes. On the one hand, our level of connectedness affords incredible learning opportunity and allows teachers and their students to connect with other learners around the globe. This learning potential is described by Marshall McLuhan as a Global Village, which expresses the idea that electronics have the potential to disseminate information across the globe as easily and seamlessly as in a small village (McLuhan & Powers, 1992). On the other hand, this level of connectedness presents negative learning potential which stems from political rhetoric, unethical advertising and media, and misinformation. Ontario youth are exposed to a great number of advertisements and news media in our information-saturated environment. In order to distinguish between positive and negative learning outcomes, teachers and students must possess the appropriate digital literacy skills that allow them to explore our connected world through a critical lens. This critical lens will allow them to safely navigate our media saturated world and develop a refined set of skills that teach them to be safe, innovative, responsible, and creative. Technology and its impact on the classroom and education vary from school board, to city, to province. In Ontario, the curriculum is quite vague when it comes to outlining technology as a tool for instruction, whereas provinces like British Columbia feature quite explicit ideas of how teachers should include technology in their classrooms. As an example, the