In this commentary, the authors move beyond digital literacy and take up the question of what digital citizenship means and looks like in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. To engage with questions of ethical practice, the authors begin with the International Society for Technology in Education framework for digital citizenship. They expand on…

The authors introduce readers to three design features of the University of Rhode Island's Summer Institute in Digital Literacy, a 42-hour, weeklong professional learning experience in digital literacy for educators, librarians, college faculty, and other adult learners. The program is explicitly designed to promote reflection on one's motivations…

This article examines immigrant adults' understandings of privacy, risk, and vulnerability in digital literacy practices that involve visual media. Although the benefits of digital media production have been explored with immigrant youths, the perspectives of adults remain unexplored. Informed by critical and transnational perspectives to digital…

This empirical study examines the virtual exchanges between an African American mother and son's engagement in a blog. Using literacy as social practices as a framework, this study describes how blogging was developed and used to create affinity spaces, encouraged apprenticeship models, and shaped agentic roles within their family. Attention…

Open learning is becoming a critical focus for K-12 technology-supported programs as the importance of digital literacy and digital freedoms for all learners grows. This article describes current open learning policy, open educational resources and potential implications for open practice and ends with suggestions for future research in open…

In this column, the authors discuss emerging research in the field of adult digital literacy acquisition. The authors argue that the field of adult digital literacy acquisition has been under-researched, especially in relation to multiliteracies and multimodal literacy practices. Data emerging from a large scale mixed methods study of adults…

This study explores the social and cultural uses of digital literacies by adolescent immigrants to cope with their new lives in the United States. This case study focuses on three adolescent ethnic Karen brothers. Two years of participant observations in their home and Karen community, accompanied by formal and informal interviews, served as the…

Although the study of place in the fields of composition and education has a long and compelling history, the concept has taken on increased importance in today's digital landscape. As perceptions of places shift, we're challenged to understand how and which places shape who we are. Due to its potential power to leverage student choice,…

The terms multiliteracies, multimodal literacy, digital literacies, and technology integration are often confused with one another. In this column, the author argues that understanding the differences between the concepts can help build clarity when designing instruction. Position statements by the National Council of Teachers of English and the…

Research on youth use of multiliteracies and multimodal texts often imply that youth are inherently motivated by digital technologies. In this column, I consider the nature of research into motivation and multiliteracies. I suggest that the concepts of competence, autonomy, and relatedness should be integrated with a multilayered contextual…

Appropriation, transformation and remix are increasingly recognized as significant aspects of digital literacy. This article considers how one form of digital remix--the video remix--might be used in classrooms to introduce critical conversations about representation, appropriation, creativity and copyright. The first half of the article explores…

This discourse analysis study examines the use of online texts in the live conversations of adolescents at and around computers in the Young Adult section of a Midwestern public library serving a diverse SES population. On the cusp of cyberspace, where online texts influence conversation and the conversation influences the creation of online…

In this article, print and digital literacies are compared and examples of quality instruction are provided.

The thing about digital literacy is its inherent squishiness. Educators argue whether the tool or the purpose matters most. They debate whether something being "electronic" constitutes "digital." Does it need a screen? A keyboard? More than that, teachers must decide what it means to read and write digitally and how to assess…

Digital literacies are typically distinguished from traditional literacy either in terms of content (media vs. print) or practice (page turning vs. keyboarding and clicking). This article presents a case for an approach that emphasizes the "who" of reading by contrasting traditional and digital literacies in terms of who counts as a reader.…