Now, at that time of the semester, I am swamped with a lot of assignments and course work. I never, at this time specifically, thought about enjoying or loving an assignment. However, with the “choose-your-digital-literacies-pathway”, it was an amazing experience, and for me, I actually divided it on two days so as to enjoy each and every single track.
To provide you with context, there were four tracks: tinkering; taught; theory; and twisting. Each track had its own description, but I was inclined towards the twisting one, for its advantage of getting exposed to everything.
Taught path: a module about podcasting
My first pathway was relevant to digital literacies, and it fulfilled the taught path. I chose A Module about Podcasting, and it appeared to be one of the most enriching ones I have done this semester. Of course, I was excited whilst doing this module because, as a visually impaired, I am attached to whichever material that involves working with audio. I also wanted to do podcasting, and have been thinking about it for a while. For these two reasons, it was an eye-opening perspective, as it served to answer my questions about podcasting techniques: how to make podcasts; what do I need; and is it really difficult to produce a professional podcast? The content also was very smooth and simple, also the concepts that were introduced happened to be easy to grasp. All of this made it a journey of discovery instead of being a monotonous assignment.
A Daily create activity: the tinkering path
My second stage in learning more about digital literacies was related to tinkering; that is, doing a hands-on activity.
It was suggested in the assignment to use the Daily Create (DS106) website, which I in fact did, and I will never regret this choice. Why? Because I selected a prompt from the writing category assignment, which inspired me to write a poem. I must say that it is my first time doing that in my life, so I didn’t seek either perfectionism or esthetics to be in my poem.
My prompt, however, was to imagine that you inherited a house elsewhere far away from where you live. thanks to Heather Kretchmer who devised it and made it available for DS106 during the time of MyFest. And I wrote my poem.
In essence, the engagement with this digital hands-on activity platform gave me the confidence to challenge myself and try new things. I will try following the daily create and engage in as many ones as possible.
AI medicine cabinet: echoing the theory path
My final pathway towards learning about digital literacies was dealing with theory. I listened to a podcast on Mozella internet, which explained how the AI can be incorporated in the health sector.
One of the stories that captured my attention was Ivory’s story with his wife who fought with skin cancer. Earlier however, I did not know that we can use the AI to diagnose or investigate a medical issue. With Ivory’s discovery, it proved to me that everything can be possible. The other story about the Indian engineer who also used AI for social good was also insightful. Generally, what I loved about this podcast is that it discussed the subject of artificial intelligence in a creative way; it did not tackle it from coding perspective. The podcast also took it from the medical field, which is magnificent because it represents the multidisciplinary approach of the digital world.
In brief, I can tell after these four tracks, there is more to go, to read, and to discover about digital literacies. This is because in fact, digital domination is surrounding us all.
thanks for this Yasser. I loved your poem so much! I hope you publish it on your blog.
Did you read the article about the difference between digital literacies and skills? You did not reflect on this. Was the digital confidence profile accessible? You didn’t post your result for it.
Finally – could you link to the podcast episode you listened to? Thanks!