Design Features of a Professional Development Program in Digital Literacy

Abstract 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 for advancing digital literacy, deepen appreciation for collaborative inquiry, and focus on how educators and learners (not machines) personalize learning. Evidence of how these themes are developed through practice illustrates the design philosophy that is embedded in the program. Digital media platforms, texts, and technologies enable pedagogical practices that put learners and teachers at the center of an increasingly networked social world, but these approaches also require respect for diverse perspectives, deliberative dialogue, and collaborative inquiry to bring them into the mainstream educational practice of schools, libraries, universities, and communities.