#Digital parents: Intergenerational learning through a digital literacy workshop

Abstract

In this article, we present findings of a research study centered around a 10-week digital production workshop developed specifically for families in an urban school board, a population rich with culturally diverse immigrant families and English language learners (ELLs). The aim of this research was to support parents/guardians in an urban community in their development of a practical, hands-on understanding of twenty-first century literacies, using a ‘production pedagogy’ framework that emphasizes learner agency. We sought to critically reflect, alongside parents/guardians, on how new media and new literacies are being utilized in schools today, and to provide models, tools and practices for parents/guardians and their children to enact digital competences together, specifically, through the production of a short digital story.

Keywords:

• Digital literacies
• digital storytelling
• twenty-first century literacies
• production pedagogy
• parental engagement

Notes

1 We did spend a bit of time during the workshop talking about social media and digital citizenship with parents and children. While this topic was initially intended to be a second point of focus for the study, we found that the children were not particularly avid social media users, likely owing to their age. While these questions do appear in the surveys, the topic was not included in our analysis.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the Ontario Ministry of Education, through a Parents Reaching Out grant.

Notes on contributors

Cristyne Hébert

Cristyne Hébert is Assistant Professor, Assessment and Evaluation, in the Faculty of Education at the University of Regina. Her research focuses on multimodal assessment, digital literacies and production, digital pedagogies, and curriculum in teacher education and K-12 education in Canada and the United States.

Kurt Thumlert

Kurt Thumlert is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education in York University, Ontario, Canada. His research focuses on pedagogy, new media, the arts, and informal learning. He can be contacted at [email protected].

Jennifer Jenson

Jennifer Jenson is Professor of Digital Languages, Literacies, and Cultures in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia. Her work focuses on technology implementation and integration in K-12 and higher education. She has published on digital literacies, digital game-based learning, gender, technologies and video games, and digitally-mediated pedagogies.