Tag Archives: collaboration

Digital Story: Embracing Metaliteracy in the Digital Age

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We welcome this guest blog post from Riaz Laghari. He is an English language teacher, researcher, and writer from Pakistan. His work focuses on digital literacy, education, language, and critical thinking. As a passionate lifelong learner, he is dedicated to exploring how pedagogy and technology intersect to promote responsible digital citizenship.

I completed the Coursera MOOC Metaliteracy: Empowering Yourself in a Connected World offered by Empire State University. It was an incredibly enriching experience that broadened my understanding of how learners engage with information in today’s digital environment.

This story published in Medium entitled Embracing Metaliteracy in the Digital Age reflects my personal journey and learning process. It emphasizes the importance of being a responsible digital citizen in today’s interconnected world. Through the narrative, I explore how embracing metaliteracy has helped me understand the significance of critical thinking. It also highlights the importance of ethical information sharing. Collaboration in digital spaces is another key aspect I have come to appreciate. As I state in the article:

Metaliteracy has transformed my approach to digital engagement, equipping me with the tools to navigate the online world responsibly, ethically, and collaboratively.

In today’s fast-paced digital world, being an informed and ethical participant in online spaces is more important than ever. In this piece, I reflect on my personal journey as a digital citizen. I also consider my professional journey. My experiences are guided by the principles of metaliteracy. This article highlights how this model has influenced my way of learning. It details how I teach and share information. It shows how I evaluate online sources and engage responsibly in digital communities.

As I state in the article:

In my experience, embracing metaliteracy has meant developing a heightened awareness of my role in the digital ecosystem. It’s about recognizing that the content I create and share impacts others, and therefore, I must engage with this content thoughtfully and critically. This responsibility extends to both professional and personal digital spaces.

Besides my own journey, I also apply metaliteracy concepts in my teaching. I encouraged my students to reflect critically on the sources they use. I urged them to recognize their role as both consumers and producers of information. I also motivated them to collaborate more mindfully in digital spaces. For instance, I integrated reflective blog writing into the curriculum. I also added peer feedback activities. These methods helped promote metacognitive awareness. They fostered a more participatory learning environment. It was particularly effective in helping students become more responsible and confident digital citizens.

As I conclude in my Medium article:

As we continue to interact with the ever-expanding digital landscape, it is crucial for all of us to embrace metaliteracy. By doing so, we can foster a more informed, ethical, and connected world, where information flows freely and responsibly.

Riaz is an English teacher, and writes about language and political discourse in Pakistan. You can find his work on Medium and via his personal blog. If you would like to share your personal or professional experience with metaliteracy, feel free to reach out.

Metaliteracy in Practice: Sneak Peak #3

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Barbara J. D’Angelo and Barry M. Maid of Arizona State University give you a glimpse into their chapter in the forthcoming book.

Metaliteracy Learning of RN to BSN Students: A Fusion of Disciplinary Values and Discourses

Library and Information Science and Writing Studies share a long-standing collaborative partnership in higher education. The connection often is articulated or manifested in first year composition courses, particularly the second semester composition course focused on research (commonly known as English 102 or Composition II). However, research and communication, including written communication, also are important to disciplinary discourses. Nurses, in particular, exist within sophisticated information environments in which work takes place in interdisciplinary teams ranging from medical personnel, pharmacists, home health care workers, social workers, patients, and more. For undergraduate nursing education, the importance of research and communication practices can be seen in two of nursing’s disciplinary documents related to undergraduate education: The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice and in Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaboration.

In this chapter we report on the development of a discipline-specific writing and research course, Writing for Healthcare Management, for nursing majors in the online RN-BSN degree program at Arizona State University. The course focuses on developing students’ professional writing and information abilities in a way that reflects concepts underpinning metaliteracy. The course facilitates critical thinking and collaborative practices needed for both the consumption and production of knowledge. The chapter describes the development of the course and assignments, and how metaliteracy aligns with disciplinary writing outcomes. In addition, the results of a small scale study that analyzed student work is presented to show how the course meets metaliteracy goals and learning objectives. The chapter contributes an example of a “meta” approach to course design and a model of a contextual approach to fusing multiple “literacies” and “outcomes or objectives” through valuing shared responsibility and accountability for student achievement and transfer of knowledge. While this chapter concentrates on a course in one discipline, nursing, the methods used are transferable to research and communication courses in other disciplines.