Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices

Facebook, blogs, texts, computer games, instant messages. . . The ways in which we make meanings and engage with each other are changing. Are you a student teacher trying to get to grips with these new digital technologies? Would you like to find ways to make use of them in your classroom?

Digital technologies are an everyday part of life for students and this book explores the ways in which they can be used in schools. The authors provide insight into the research on digital technologies, stressing its relevance for schools, and suggest ways to develop new, more relevant pedagogies, particularly for social learning, literacy, and literate practices. With a practical focus, the examples and issues explored in this book will help you to analyze your own practice and to carry out your own small-scale research projects.

Explaining the theoretical issues and demonstrating their practical implementation, this topical book will be an essential resource to new student teachers in undergraduate and PGCE courses, and those returning to graduate study.

′Aimed squarely at new teachers or practitioners engaging in postgraduate research, [this book] is written with relevance and accessibility in mind, and has a practical focus throughout that will be welcomed by newcomers to the field′
- Learning, Media and Technology

′This immensely readable book injects a note of passion and urgency into the ongoing discourse on the place of digital literacies in the school curriculum′ - British Journal of Educational Technology

′[This] book has been skilfully edited. Different chapters explore issues on developing digital literacy in depth but avoid overlap and quote totally different sources....this detailed, thought provoking, quality academic text will be of value to all teacher educators - no matter their subject expertise′ - ESCalate

′This is a remarkable book that traverses the landscape of digital literacies and maps out what children and youth are doing with texts in contemporary times. No stone is left unturned in the quest for an understanding of their multimodal, multimedia practices and the result is a highly informative and engaging book that alerts us to the significance of these activities for schooling. There are numerous examples throughout of how digital literacies can be developed in classrooms in exciting ways and the authors, all internationally renowned in the field, expertly align theory and practice in their analyses. This is a book that needs to be read by all those concerned to ensure that literacy curricula and pedagogy are appropriate for twenty-first century classrooms and it will be of interest to classroom teachers, students and researchers alike′ - Professor Jackie Marsh, University of Sheffield, UK