A Reflection of the Digital Literacy Skills I Learned at UC Davis

Alexandra Mauceri, Photo by Paul Wellman

This piece is written by Alexandra Mauceri, a guest blogger for The Wheel. She is a Phi Kappa Phi honors graduate who earned a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in professional writing from UC Davis. She currently works at a law firm in Santa Barbara and is a news editorial intern/ copy editor for The SB Independent. She hopes to attend law school next year.

I was born into an era of ubiquitous technology, so learning to use a computer at a young age felt natural. Nevertheless, although I grasped the basics, I didn’t fully understand how much power was at my fingertips. Only after years of practice and guidance did I gain the critical thinking skills necessary to use the technology around me in creative and effective ways— that is, what might be called digital literacy.

While at UC Davis, I learned from a few memorable writing professors who taught me to use the internet and other digital tools strategically through their class assignments. They took active roles showing students how to collaborate, self-promote, and evaluate information online. I found when faculty integrated digital literacy techniques into their courses, lectures became more engaging, and I learned some of the most applicable skills of my college career. 

To encourage faculty interested in incorporating digital literacy concepts into their classes, I’ve listed a few stand-out University Writing Program (UWP) courses at UC Davis that best helped me grow my digital literacy skills:

1) Learning How to Self-Promote and Create an Online Image

“Has anyone heard of Wix.com?” asked my Science Journalism (UWP 111C) professor, Dr. Katie Rodger, on the first day of class. She cracked a smile at our blank expressions then projected the Wix website for us to see. “Create a Website You’re Proud Of” the homepage advertised in big, bold letters. 

Students in the class were surprised to learn that we would each be required to create and cultivate an active blog throughout the quarter to showcase our writing assignments. Submitted essays had to be transformed into article posts complete with relevant photos and engaging captions. Dr. Rodger didn’t care which website creation platform we chose to use — although she highly suggested Wix— as long as our overall site designs were well thought-out and included an author bio page. Dr. Rodger emphasized that we should maintain our sites even after leaving her class so we could each develop an online presence and have readily available digital portfolios to highlight our writing while applying to graduate schools and jobs. 

Incorporating website creation into the curriculum gave us an opportunity to write pieces with a real-world application, understand the importance of being discovered and seen online, and learn to take charge of our own internet identities by becoming more cognizant of what we post online.

Acknowledgement: 

Katie Rodger, Ph.D.

UWP 111C

Spring Quarter 2017

2) Using Twitter for Professional Collaboration

In my last quarter at UC Davis, when I least expected to see any new teaching techniques, I encountered one final surprise. My Journalism (UWP 104C) professor, Dr. Andy Jones, announced we’d be using Twitter in class. I was immediately intrigued, as well as a little embarrassed; it felt like I was the only one in the room who didn’t have an account. I’d always thought of the platform as a celebrity feud hub, so I wondered how my professor would give it an academic spin.

Dr. Jones was quick to answer my unspoken question. He pulled up his professional account to walk us through ways we could use the features of Twitter for collaboration and communication outside of entertainment. On both his homepage and profile, there were scores of resource links, news sources, and book announcements relating to his occupational field and interests. He shared original content as well as participated in global discussions in many of the comment sections.

As a recurring homework drill, he asked us to tweet our essay topics with a hashtag made for the assignment. This essentially formed a class folder, a semi-private space for us to read each others tweets and interact. In addition, the exercise was made to teach us effective digital communication. We only had 280 characters to convey complex ideas, so we had to be succinct and clear. I didn’t know at the time, but this activity helped to prepare me for my future job as a news writer where I’m required to create many short, information-packed headlines for our website.

Check out Dr. Jones’ article “How Twitter Saved my Literature Class: A Case Study with Discussion” 

Acknowledgement: 

Andy Jones, Ph.D.

UWP 104C

Winter Quarter 2018

3) Finding and Evaluating Online Information

Knowing how to find reliable sources is imperative not only in the academic world, but in life. This philosophy was stressed by my Advanced Composition (UWP 101) professor, Mr. Glazner, who dedicated an entire lecture period to the topic. Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about finding and evaluating sources, so I didn’t think I’d find this portion of the course especially compelling; however, Mr. Glazner’s refreshing take on the conversation drew me in.

I took this course during the winter quarter of 2017 (January-March) on the heels of the latest presidential election— a time of internet chaos when mass amounts of fake news, websites and videos spread information and misinformation from many sides of the political spectrum. Mr. Glazner showed us how to spot “imposter” sites by displaying them next to their real counterparts. He wanted his students to be educated internet consumers and to think before re-sharing articles, etc. He taught us always to check where news is coming from and always to review multiple sources in order to better understand political biases.

Mr. Glazner tested our evaluating skills by assigning “source evaluation” components to our essays. In a few paragraphs, we had to explain why we chose the sources we did and what made them reliable, which always encouraged me to pay extra close attention to the information I used.

Acknowledgement: 

Greg Glazner, M.A. and M.F.A.

UWP 101

Winter Quarter 2017

Although the details of these classes will fade from my memory one day, the lessons I learned in them will not. I can confidently say that the UWP professors who incorporated digital literacy skills into their curriculums have prepared me for success in my subsequent and anticipated writing and thinking tasks, both in a graduate program and on the job.