MA International Education

Digital, Media, and Information Literacy (DMIL) combines the study of theories of information use, behaviour and practice, with more practical investigations of students’ own contexts and the information needs and criteria for evaluation that arise from that specific context. The syllabus covers the history and use of information and technology (including pre-digital technologies such as manuscripts) in different domains: 
• Schools and young people; 
• Higher education; 
• The workplace; 
• Health; 
• Community and public life.

For each of these domains, students will be prompted to enquire:
• How is cognitive authority (Wilson 1983) enacted and performed in each setting:  how are practitioners encouraged to make judgements about the credibility and worth of information, based on the views of others?; How is this authority be embedded in information systems and, then, potentially challenged by the digitally literate (Whitworth 2014)?;
• What theories, frames and faces of information literacy (Bruce 1997, Bruce et al 2006) have been negotiated over time in each domain? 
• How are information landscapes (Lloyd 2010) in each domain developed and negotiated, and how are these associated with communities of various kinds, including geographical, interest-based, practice and so on?  How do these landscapes influence the context of information, how literacy is acquired through immersion in a context and its associated ‘digital habitat’ (Wenger, White and Smith 2009)? 
• How have digital, information and media literacy been taught, and how can they be taught? 
 

The unit aims to:
help students develop effective personal information practices required at Masters’ level study, particularly online information searching, academic writing and the evaluation of information available in the ‘public sphere’, the broadcast media, social media including blogs and wikis, and generative AI tools. 

Also, to help students develop relevant and effective teaching practice in the areas of digital, media and information literacy.

To introduce students to theories and practices of information and technology management in the digital age.

Digital, media, and information literacy skills and effective practices are essential 21st century graduate outcomes, and are continually evolving – generative AI is only the latest of a number of technologies about which graduates need to be able to make informed and critical judgments.  Graduates must also be able to make informed judgments about information in a technology-independent way, and to have learned how the practices and technologies integrated into different professional and community settings shape the ways that information is used in these settings.  The unit is therefore designed to enhance these employability skills specifically.

This is a course unit in Education, so most of all in the unit the focus is on how digital, media and information literacy skills shape the learning and teaching process, but this process can be observed not only in schools and universities but also the fields of public health, work, and everyday life (e.g. politics). The final assignment obliges students to reflect on: 
• the DMIL needs of particular groups of learners, and the evidence that supports their identification of these needs;
• how theories and frameworks of DMIL can be used to justify the design of teaching and learning activities that are appropriate for the identified group. 
Thus, students completing the unit will enhance their employability in the fields of learning design and educational technology. 
 

On-campus students: 20 hours on-campus classes (10 x 2 hour sessions, each comprising lecture elements and interactive, small-group workshop elements in varying proportion).

Distance learners: 3 x 2 hour synchronous online sessions + 14 hours engaging with podcasts, web pages and self-guided activities = 20 hours teaching.
The materials intended for distance learners lead them through each week’s teaching in a ‘personal workshop’ format, undertaking self-reflective and self-guided activities that are directly equivalent to those that on-campus learners complete in class.    

Small-group online discussions = 20 hours.  These will take place using online media of the students’ choice (negotiated among members of the group).

Written assignment prep = 50 hours

Additional private study time, reading papers, reflection, etc.: 5 hours/week for 12 teaching weeks = 60 hours. 
 

Use frameworks for understanding information behaviour, applying these to an analysis of their own and others’ information practice.
These frameworks particularly including:
+ information landscapes and information practice (Lloyd); 
+ the six frames of information literacy (Bruce et al); 
+ mapping information landscapes (Whitworth and others);  
+ technology stewarding (Wenger, White and Smith).

Develop an understanding of the history of computer studies/ICT/digital literacy and information literacy education in the UK and worldwide, and be able to apply this understanding to justify the need for DMIL interventions in practical settings. 
 

Evaluate the impact of diverse information and communications technologies (from books to AI) on their own learning, and that of others, by applying one or more of the frameworks mentioned above. 
Engage in discussion and analysis of relevant academic literature

Develop creative teaching and learning activities that use, or are based around, computers and other ICTs.

Actively engage with reflective practice and demonstrate its fundamental importance for the professional practice of educators and learning technologists. 
Organise their work, and communicate well and fluently, using appropriate online and offline techniques.
Apply more effective techniques for finding and making judgments about information whether in an academic, professional or everyday settings.

Feedback is provided 14 working days after submission

Whitworth, A. (2014): Radical Information Literacy: reclaiming the political heart of IL, Chandos: Oxford. 

Whitworth, A. (2009): Information Obesity, Chandos: Oxford. 

Bruce, C. S. (2008): Informed Learning, ACRL, Chicago. 

Lloyd, A. (2010): Information Literacy Landscapes, Chandos, Oxford. 

Wenger, E., White, N. and Smith, J. (2009): Digital Habitats, 4square. 

For Information and advice on Link2Lists reading list software, see:

http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/academicsupport/informationandadviceonlink2listsreadinglistsoftware/

Information
This is an optional course unit for MEd Communication, Education and Technology students.

NB: It is advised to contact the tutor if you wish to take this unit as an option as availability may be limited.