Update: For the latest information on the Web Literacy standard work, head to http://mzl.la/weblitstd
Over the last couple of months we at Mozilla have been hosting community calls in an attempt to come to a consensus around a new, open learning standard for Web Literacy. This is a contested area, for many of the reasons I point out in my yet-to-be-published paper on different types of ambiguity.
The reasons for us wanting to create a ‘standard’ for Web Literacy are outlined in this meta-post back in February. Since then we’ve had wide-ranging discussions, both on our weekly calls and on the Mozilla Webmaker list about what to include and, more recently, how to present the whole thing.
What I find fascinating is the importance of context when it comes to this work. This Web Literacy standard needs to to be flexible enough to apply to learners of all ages and stages and in contexts other than those with which we are most familiar. In short, it needs to be productively ambiguous. What do I mean by that? I mean it needs to be flexible enough to work in almost any context, yet be coherent enough to actually be worthwhile.
With that in mind, I want to present a ‘straw man’ which might serve us better than the previous grid:
Of course, the real fun comes when we get down to nailing down the competencies in each of the boxes. That’s this week’s call. 🙂
Do join us if you can for the weekly calls. The more eyes on this the better before we launch the draft version on April 26th!
Driving up to Edinburgh on Friday afternoon with my family for the Nesta event.
Running a workshop with thirteen 12-15 year-olds (7 boys, 6 girls) on Saturday. I still miss teaching, dammit.
Next week it’s Easter Monday so I’ve got a four-day working week. I was going to be running an Open Badges workshop for the BBC in Salford on Friday, but that’s been pushed back to be outside of the Easter holidays (so more people can attend). I’ll be planning my keynote at the PELeCON conference the week after next – which I’m entitling A History of Open Badges through the medium of animated GIFs. 😉
Delayed coming back from the DML Conference in Chicago (my write-up of the conference is here). My flight was cancelled due to the First Officer being ‘sick’ on St. Patrick’s Day. 😉 My subsequent flight was delayed meaning I didn’t get home until Tuesday lunchtime!
Taking a day off to spend with my family.
Working with Matt Thompson on a diagram to explain what Mozilla’s Web Literacy standard is for. It still needs some work before sharing more widely!
Summarising the previous week’s Web Literacy standard work.
Booking travel to OER13 and the PELeCON conference, both of which I’m keynoting. Also booked flights to the Mozilla All-Hands meeting in Toronto in May.
Planning out my OER13 keynote in Evernote. I’ll be talking about ambiguity, Open Badges and Web Literacy.
Talking to people who may want to align with the draft version of the Web Literacy standard being launched on April 26th.
Continuing to talk to people/organisations about Open Badges.
Helping interview a potential new hire to our team.
Getting things sorted for Nesta’s One Day Digital event in Edinburgh next Saturday. I’m running a workshop on Mozilla’s Popcorn Maker and taking my family up for Friday/Saturday.
Next week I’ll be returning to the place of my birth (Nottingham) for the OER13 conference (Tuesday/Wednesday), continuing to work on the Web Literacy standard stuff and travelling up to Edinburgh on Good Friday with my family for the Nesta event mentioned above.
