Digital Learning Lives: Trajectories, Literacies, and Schooling (New Literacies and Digital Epistemologies)

Today’s world is in turmoil. Economic crises are bringing countries to the brink of ruin, and old models are being questioned. The same sense of crisis also exists in contemporary education, and there is a need to explore new educational models. Digital Learning Lives: Trajectories, Literacies, and Schooling is a contribution in this direction. This book explores the importance of the adoption of digital technologies by contemporary education systems. Partly a synthesis of findings from projects carried out in Norway by the author over the past 15 years, the data have been extended to raise key questions about the effectiveness of current education strategies for the Facebook and YouTube generation. Along the way, a promising approach for future developments in education is introduced that embraces the engagement of digital media ‒ what Ola Erstad terms ‘learning lives’. Use of digital media in schools and in everyday culture becomes the catalyst for exploring learning as life-deep (studying identity processes), life-wide (studying learners across contexts), and life-long (studying learning as trajectories and timescales). The book is targeted toward courses on digital learning, educational change, school development, and formal-informal learning. Cover Contents Foreword Chapter One: Learning, Lives, and Technology Imagine Regaining Engagement Beyond School Trajectories and Pathways Mediational Spaces Literacy Spaces Lives and Learning Education and Media in a Nordic Context The Projects Framings and Objectives Part I: Digital Lives Chapter Two: “Opportunity Knocks”: Epistemic Agency of a Digital Generation Introduction The Growth of Generations Cultural Complexity of a Digital Generation Standardized Conceptions of the Learner Cultural Provisions Self-initiated Practices Mind the Gap New Performance Spaces Chapter Three: In the Mix Introduction Two “Remixers” Gjertsen—The Remixer “Thru-You” Kutiman Remembering Dada: A Cultural History of Remixing Contemporary Understandings Authoring and Sharing Constructing the Content Creators School as a Site for Digital Content Creation Project Work: Opening the Learning Space for Content Creation Example 1: Building on your strengths Example 2: Moving beyond the book Example 3: Creating an online newspaper on south africa Media Production in Media Education Example 1: Integrating a jingle from a game Example 2: Remixing hedda gabler Authorship in the Wild Part II: Digital Learning Chapter Four: Digital Competencies, Media Literacies, and School Practices Introduction Unpacking Media Literacy Connecting Media and Literacy Towards Multiple Literacies Information Literacy Visual Literacy Multimodal Literacy Communication Literacy A Field Looking for a Mission Different Frameworks A Norwegian Curriculum Initiative Five Dimensions of Media Practices in Schools Dimension 1: Basic Skills Dimension 2: Media as Objects of Analysis Dimension 3: Knowledge Building in Subject Domains Dimension 4: Learning to Learn Dimension 5: Digital Bildung/Cultural Competence Literacy and Citizenship in the Digital Age Moving Outside the Box Chapter Five: Learning Environments for Knowledge Creation Introduction Student-centered Learning Environments The Challenge of Project Work Case 1: “A Student Active School” Case 2: “Surviving in Remote Areas” Case 3: “Students as Knowledge Constructors” Crossing Borders and Modalities Building Bridges to the Community Towards Knowledge Creation Forms of Knowledge Creation A Project on “Global Warming” Initiating the Project Interactions towards Knowledge Creation Reflection Logs on the Process Discussion Innovations in the Making Part III: Digital Learning Lives Chapter Six: Learners in Motion Introduction Identities as Learning Pathways Ways of Representations Spatial Mobilities Studying It—Some Methodological Challenges Snapshots of Digital Learners Snapshot 1: Diaries of Everyday Media Practices Snapshot 2: Reaching across Communities Snapshot 3: Studying Learners in One Community Following the Learners Chapter Seven: Blending the Boundaries Introduction Contextual Orientations Media Studies as an Intermediate Space “The Street Art” Project Agency in Digital Storytelling Social Media at the Borderline—Space2cre8 Theme 1: Working on Their Profiles Theme 2: Special Interest Groups Theme 3: Negotiating Norwegianness and School Theme 4: Representing Youth and Identity by Making Movies Discussion Mixed Activities Chapter Eight: Expanding Conceptions of School Introduction School Development and Digital Media Change as Expansive Learning Piloting for Change Learning Networks Schooling as Life-wide and Life-deep Chapter Nine: New Life to Learning Introduction Media Literacy, Ecologies, and Empowerment Case A Case B Everyday and Academic Practices Challenging the Assessment System Digital Learning Lives in the 21st Century Entering the Twilight Zone References Films Index