Literacies in a Digital World

This course deals with the transition from traditional understandings of literacy to contemporary research and policy discussions in the wake of the development of digital media and technologies. Generic competences such as information literacy, media literacy and digital competence have come to be considered to be of fundamental importance for learning, participation and social equality. The complex relationship between digital media, communication, learning and how literacies are conceptualised in contemporary societies are explored.

The course comprises three interrelated themes:

• Democracy, participation and digital media: this theme addresses policies and empirical research related to literacies as social, global and political phenomena
• Change in learning contexts such as work, education and everyday life settings: this theme addresses possibilities and challenges related to the introduction and use of digital media and technologies in educational institutions and the consequences for literacies
• Social media and mobile technologies: this theme addresses the literacy aspects of emerging patterns of interaction, information use and communication in changing online Environments.