Black Mirrors and Digital Culture: Digital Citizenship through Pop Culture

Presenter Information

Paula S. Kiser, Washington & Lee UniversityFollow
Mary Abdoney, Washington & Lee UniversityFollow
Elizabeth Anne Teaff, Washington & Lee UniversityFollow

Streaming Media

Submission Type

20-minute Presentation

Abstract

Washington and Lee University faculty-librarians teach a first-year seminar that integrates digital and information literacy while exploring digital culture in the context of the popular television series Black Mirror. Class assignments teach digital skills and allow students to refine their digital identities. Through embedded information literacy concepts, students strengthen their abilities as researchers and content creators.

Participants will use live polling to determine their familiarity with class themes, and perform a digital and information literacy audit on one of their existing course assignments, with an opportunity to share discoveries with the group.

Start Date

5-23-2019 3:00 PM

End Date

5-23-2019 4:15 PM

Description

Digital and information literacy are inextricably intertwined. Librarians are in a unique position to help students learn 21^st century digital skills alongside traditional information literacy skills that focus on information creation, value, and use.

At Washington and Lee University, faculty-librarians teach a popular first-year seminar that integrates digital and information literacy while exploring digital culture in the context of the popular television series Black Mirror. The class examines the ways in which technology has changed our relationship with the world and ourselves. Class assignments teach digital skills and allow students to refine their digital identities. Embedded information literacy concepts allow students to strengthen their abilities as informed researchers and conscientious content creators.

In the class, students critically examine social media platforms, information repositories, apps, and other digital tools. Class themes include online identity, privacy, democracy, and the academic web. Students explore topics through the lenses of inclusiveness, information bias, “Big Data,” and social networks. Individual and group activities and reflective writings assess students’ digital and information literacy skills and content metacognition. Throughout the term, students write blog posts that incorporate class themes, readings, and require digital content creation (e.g. timelines, audiovisual files, and data visualization). At the end of the term, students generate positive and negative examples of class themes in a “gallery walk.” As a final project, students create a public multimedia narrative that requires both research and digital skills.

In this session, facilitators will share the class syllabus, assignments, and grading rubrics. Participants will engage in several live polling questions to determine their familiarity with themes from the class; facilitators will compare participants’ answers to those of students in the seminar. Participants will also perform a digital and information literacy audit on one of their existing course assignments using a facilitator created rubric. Participants will have the opportunity to share how they would modify their assignment to reflect the incorporation of information and digital literacies.

By the end of the session, participants will:

• understand the interdependency of digital and information literacies;
• understand the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education threshold concept Information Has Value and its knowledge practices of information privilege, respect for content creators, personal content creation, and privacy;
• learn how to embed digital and information literacy skills into one of their existing course assignments;
• prepare to design new assignments that incorporate digital and information literacies.