Why it is important to incorporate digital literacy when teaching writing to Intermediate students

The modern terms meaning of Literacy is the ability to use language, numbers, images, computers, and
other basic means to understand, communicate, and gain useful knowledge through a collection of
cultural and communicative practices shared among members of particular groups. As society and
technology change, so does literacy. Because technology has increased the intensity and complexity of
literate environments, the twenty-first century demands that a literate person possess a wide range of
abilities and competences from reading online newspapers to participating in global discussions.

The purpose of teaching writing has always been to help students make effective use of the genres
relevant to their rhetorical situations such as academic, civic and public, but writing now includes
composing in multiple modalities; which includes hypertext, images, audio, and video.

Teaching Intermediate students media literacy allows students to view how ideas emerge through a
process of conversation and refinement. As readers in a digital environment, students learn that
responses from real world audiences lead to a desire to revise and produce the perfect digital
composition. Incorporation of digital literacy allows students to study how writers respond to real
rhetorical situations and employ rhetorical strategies. It gives students opportunities to compose for
real life audience and purposes, using contemporary genres and publishing platforms. It also teaches
students to understand the elements of arguments types of evidence, persuasive strategies, impact on
readers, nature of dialogue and disagreement and how they work in tandem. Students will also learn
to recognize subtle strategies for establishing credibility and persuading audiences.

Digital composition project prepares students for real life situation. It helps them develop a stronger
voice and helps identify and correct deficiencies in their digital literacy skills, while working on a project
they find meaningful. It allows students to work on authentic assignments, develop their personal and
academic voice, represent knowledge to a community of learners and receive feedback from their
peers/audiences. It helps students see writing as having a legitimate purpose beyond Academic Essay
Writing.

Sullivan states that digital literacy will inspire students to develop ambitious and creative projects. it will
also give teachers a means for teaching how visual and verbal elements of a page work together to
make meaning. Digital literacy will give writing classes a new and intensely social application. It will also
help hesitant writers eliminate the barrier that appears when it is time to write. It ultimately gives
student useful skills that will increase their love of writing in a digital and expanded way.

According to Yancey, K.B. Digital writing will introduce students to a curriculum rich in everyday genres:
letters, recipes, diaries, reports, reviews, summaries, and new stories. For todays students to function
in the society and work place, they need to be taught how to write digitally.
How to do this

Use images or video to tell a story as opposed to text

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Create simple tools for the class. For example, a class blog with flexible common rubrics to enable
students to self-select topics, publish journals, and create music or videos each week. These on-demand
curation tasks will build writing stamina and ownership of their craft, and also reinforce the love of
writing. According to Sztabnik, Brian, when students are given the privilege to choose their own topics,
they are being challenged to tackle a subject that they believe is worthy of writing.

Brainstorm with struggling students to find subjects they are passionate about. Ask them to begin by
finding and posting pictures on those subjects to their blog and encourage them to discuss the images
with their peers. Encourage them to add words and phrases to accompany the photos. Help them to
transform their photo blog into a written blog by asking interesting questions that will generate answers
they can add to their blog.

Teacher can post a collection of pictures and have students tell stories about what they see or make
their own collection of pictures of what they want to write about.
Have students audio record their story and then transcribe. Have students record themselves speaking
their essay rather than writing it. This could be recorded on a tape recorder, a digital audio recorder, a
computer Microphone, or an audio recording feature on a phone. Have students then play the recording
back and write down their words.

Have students audio transcribe their essay. Pick an app or tool that transcribes speaking as text. Some
options are Paper port Notes, Dragon Naturally Speaking, Dictation Pro, Voice Translator, or the text
to-speech tools that are built into smart phones, tablet or computer. Have students speak what they
want to write and have students email themselves the transcribed text and work on the draft and post
their essay to class blog where their peers and parents can see their work.

Have students watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjzT15-oQq0 Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek
by John Branch or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6xlNyWPpB8 What really happens to the plastic you
throw away - Emma Bryce or any other relevant video and discuss the elements of stories with students, and then
have them choose their own topic of interest and produce a digital writing like the one they just watched. Have
students post their work to class blog and comment on each others work.

Encourage students to comment on each others work to encourage students to be aware of their
audiences while writing.