Digital Competency: Producing Content via Digital Technology

Article

In a world where digital technology is ubiquitous, content production is a vital skill for actively participating in society and serves as the foundation for other 21st-century skills such as creativity, communication, and collaboration. The Digital Competency Framework reflects this reality with the inclusion of the Producing Content via Digital Technology dimension. This article explores this dimension, examines its importance for your teaching practice and for students, suggests teaching strategies, and offers examples of turnkey activities to use in the classroom.

Understanding the Dimension

Producing Content via Digital Technology is a core dimension of digital competency, as it enables individuals to move from the role of consumer to the role of creator in the digital environment. It’s not just about using tools, but mastering them in order to express ideas, share information, and build new knowledge. This section explores the different aspects of this dimension and its crucial importance for teachers and students.

More specifically, it involves working on the following elements: 

  • Producing or co-producing a variety of content (digital or otherwise) using digital technologies in the context of educational, professional, or everyday activities  
  • Selecting and using appropriate digital production tools based on one’s needs  
  • Using different media such as text, sound, or images to exploit digital data 
  • Consulting and using content available in one’s immediate environment or online to inspire or shape products, while behaving ethically toward other content producers and respecting their legal rights

In concrete terms, these are the kinds of actions we can expect of you as a teacher: 

  • Producing a variety of digital content (text, images, video, audio, etc.)
  • Choosing the most appropriate digital production tools according to the educational needs of your students
  • Teaching appropriate and effective strategies for using digital production tools, for instance by demonstrating how to integrate different media, how to do basic video editing, how to record and edit audio, etc.
  • Proposing a variety of projects that enable students to plan, create, review, and disseminate digital content
  • Addressing ethical and copyright issues in the classroom by helping students understand the importance of citing their sources and respecting the works of others
  • Showing students examples of credible digital content and introducing them to assessment criteria for judging the effectiveness and relevance of a work

The following behaviours are expected of your students as they develop their own skills within this dimension: 

  • Exploration and experimentation: Students explore different digital tools and platforms to create content. They experiment with various formats (text, images, audio, video) and production techniques.
  • Planning and organization: Students plan their creative process, set goals, and manage their time. They organize their ideas and resources effectively.
  • Creativity and originality: Students use their imaginations to create original, expressive content. They propose creative solutions to production challenges.
  • Communication and collaboration: Students communicate their ideas and intentions clearly. They collaborate effectively with their peers in group projects.  
  • Critical thinking and reflection: Students assess the quality and effectiveness of their own productions and those of others. They reflect on their creative process and identify areas for improvement.
  • Ethics and responsibility: Students respect copyrights and the rules governing the use of digital tools. They cite their sources and use content responsibly.
  • Adaptation and innovation: Students adapt their production skills to different contexts and audiences. They explore new approaches and techniques.
  • Distribution and sharing: Students share their productions with an audience, taking into account issues of confidentiality and safety. They use distribution platforms appropriately.

Teaching the Dimension

The goal of teaching this dimension is to equip students with the skills and knowledge they need to solve problems and devise innovative solutions through the production of digital content: from keeping up with trends to exploring the impact of their creations, not to mention participating in online communities. To support this development, a wide variety of resources are available, from media analyses and sharing platforms to examples of content creators and influencers. 

Here are a few to get you started, depending on which skills you want to work on with your students: 

  • Creating graphics using basic software. Using Canva (or similar tools such as Magic Slides or Prezi), students must make creative and original graphics to accompany their school projects (e.g., oral presentations, reports, research projects).
  • Creating a short video using software such as iMovie, Clipchamp, Adobe Premiere Pro, or CapCut.
  • Designing a website or blog using Google Sites or SharePoint.   

Suggested Activities 

 

  • The Story of Manga LES. Students have to create a manga-style comic book on their iPads. (Grade 5, Grade 6, Sec. I, Sec. II)
  • Mission ArtVader LES. (In French). To counter ArtVader’s hatred of art, students have to create at least five activities using their tablets and the TinyTap software. (Grade 5, Grade 6, Sec. I, Sec. II)
  • Immersion LES. (In French). Students have to reflect on an immersive installation and its components and create an immersive environment in MultiBrush on MetaQuest or the CoSpaces platform. (High school – Cycle 2)
  • Turnkey projects with GarageBand or BandLab Edu. (In French). Three turnkey projects are available to help students explore digital creation tools like GarageBand or BandLab. (Elementary – Cycle 3 and high school – Cycle 1)
  • More activities on the RÉCIT website. You can use the filters to sort activities by skill, grade level, and subject. 

Collaborators

This concept sheet was written with the help of Séverine Parent and Jessica Métivier, professor and lecturer, respectively, in the educational studies department at Université du Québec à Rimouski – Campus de Lévis, and the students enrolled in “Mobilisation du numérique” (mobilizing digital technology) during the fall 2024 term.

 

References

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