Work

Disconnected in a Connected World: Improving Digital Literacies Instruction to Reconnect with Each Other, Ideas, and Texts

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This commentary addresses a problem of practice related to student disengagement in technology-rich classrooms, where learners are digitally connected but socially and academically disconnected. Although not an empirical study, the commentary draws on instructional examples from secondary- and graduate-level teaching. The authors examine how digital literacy instruction can strengthen engagement, reading comprehension, and ethical participation in online environments. The article highlights strategies such as the workshop model, multimodal composition, digital content curation, and the use of mentor texts to support critical thinking and collaborative learning. These practices aim to develop students’ analytical skills, awareness of audience, and recognition of their own positionality in digital spaces. Across courses, the authors reflected on increased student engagement when digital tools were used not simply for task completion but to support inquiry, discourse, and authentic creation for real audiences.

Source: Education Sciences

DOI: 10.3390/educsci15081026

Authors: Joseph Marangell, Régine Randall

Institution: Southern Connecticut State University

Language: English

Topic: Literacy, Media, and Education

Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,172