Embedding Digital Fluency in Our Courses: Moving from Theory to Practice

Abstract

An increasing amount of literature from academic, governmental and non-governmental organizations (Kluzer, Reyna, Hanham, & Meier, 2018; Kluzer & Pujol Priego, 2018, etc.) points to the need for post-secondary institutions to do more to prepare students to be fluent in the consumption, understanding and use of digital media and tools. Digital fluency is increasingly seen as an essential skillset for graduates’ employability and for their citizenship, but while there is strong consensus about the need for students to be more digitally fluent, there is less consensus about what digitally fluency is, or about how to teach it.
 This paper will offer a working definition of digital fluency and describe an approach to fostering student digital fluency development that can be applied to a wide range of courses. Drawing on frameworks by various governmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as current scholarship in the field of teaching digital literacy (Ng, 2012.; Caufiled, 2017, Ungerer, 2016, Hinrichsen & Coombs, 2013, etc.), the paper will provide an explanation of the rationale behind the framework tool that the author has developed and the paper will conclude with an explanation of how to use the tool to embed specific and authentic digital fluency skill development at the course level.