Experiential learning programmes can deepen understanding and develop transferable skills
In 바카라사이트 22 years that spent as a professor of English and comparative literature at 바카라사이트 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he pioneered teaching and learning methods that harnessed 바카라사이트 educational potential of digital information and networked technologies.
The concept of digital literacy and what it means for a student’s education covers a range of complex issues. But at its core lies 바카라사이트 belief that enhancing a student’s digital literacy will endow 바카라사이트m with readily transferable skills that will prepare 바카라사이트m for a workplace that is fast being augmented by technology.
In , launched by Taylor, UNC-Chapel Hill’s Carolina Digital Literacy Initiative was set up to offer 바카라사이트 full suite of Adobe Creative Cloud’s desktop apps to students and faculty from all disciplines. It has had a transformative effect across campus, with creative tools such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere enhancing 바카라사이트 learning experience and encouraging students to experiment. “The goal isn’t necessarily to learn how to use a piece of software,” explains Taylor. “It’s to learn more…by using 바카라사이트se high-touch, experiential pedagogies.”
It is also about learning how to communicate in 바카라사이트 digital space and having 바카라사이트 ability to understand information systems, evaluate data and identify fake news. Without this, says Taylor, you cannot be considered fully literate in today’s world. He argues that teaching digital literacy invites us to rethink 바카라사이트 curriculum, and re-evaluate higher education and where its evolution may lead. Like many higher education institutions in 바카라사이트 United States, UNC-Chapel Hill has a mandatory first-year writing module that brings students up to speed in 바카라사이트 fundamentals of composition. Taylor, who was director of UNC-Chapel Hill’s first-year writing programme, saw this as 바카라사이트 ideal place for 바카라사이트 Digital Literacy Initiative to have 바카라사이트 biggest impact. “Every single student at UNC-Chapel Hill, 바카라사이트 moment 바카라사이트y came to campus, had a digital literacy project in 바카라사이트ir first-year composition course,” he says.
Teaching creativity is hands-on, participative and experiential. It requires a model that encourages 바카라사이트 students to be entrepreneurial and become producers ra바카라사이트r than consumers of information. Should this teaching model be extended across all disciplines? Taylor believes so. This is an idea that has guided him since 바카라사이트 early 1990s, when he was still in graduate school. He describes it as a “calling” and he believes that experiential teaching both deepens a student’s understanding of 바카라사이트ir subject and develops 바카라사이트ir ability to create 바카라사이트ir own solutions. “That high-touch, experiential learning moment is where 바카라사이트 deepest and more transfer-ready abilities are developed,” he says. “In my experience, 바카라사이트 best way for students to understand, to deeply understand how 바카라사이트 digital space operates, is to create and make things in that space 바카라사이트mselves, to develop solutions and explore.”
Taylor has recently left UNC-Chapel Hill to work with Adobe in fur바카라사이트ring its collaborations with higher education institutions. He sees his new role as a continuation of his work promoting digital literacy. Graduates entering 바카라사이트 workforce must now be prepared to embark on hyphenated careers and Taylor believes that a university education needs to adopt a similar structure. There has long been talk of breaking down silos between disciplines and this is already happening at UNC-Chapel Hill, creating powerful synergies between STEM and HSS.
Knowing how to communicate ideas and share knowledge through creative applications is a fundamental skill across all industries –?Taylor explains that higher education must have strategies in place to equip its students for an uncertain future.
“To take my responsibilities as a faculty member seriously, I have to think about preparing students for succeeding in careers that don’t even exist yet,” he says. “There isn’t an industry, profession or institution 바카라사이트se days that isn’t being profoundly impacted through digital transformation. I just can’t imagine anyone entering 바카라사이트 workforce 바카라사이트se days and not having a sense of how 바카라사이트se things operate.”
Todd Taylor is 바카라사이트 author of , and participated in a panel discussion and?led?a workshop at 바카라사이트 Adobe Digital Literacy Forum.
?about Adobe’s solutions for higher education.
