Software literacy in shaping what we know in a software-saturated society

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26686/nzaroe.v26.6857

Keywords:

software literacy, software application, software platform, affordance, digital literacy, digital technologies

Abstract

Today’s modern societies are increasingly dependent on digital technologies and the software underpinning these technologies in almost every sphere of professional and personal life. These technologies and software are poorly understood as tools that shape our engagement with knowledge, culture and society in the 21st century. None of these tools are ‘neutral.’ They embody social and cultural assumptions about their use and all have particular values embedded in their interfaces and affordances. This paper draws from a funded research project investigating the notion of software literacy (Khoo, Hight, Torrens, & Cowie, 2017). In the project software literacy is defined as the expertise involved in understanding, applying, problem solving and critiquing software when it is used to achieve particular goals. The project team hypothesised there exists three progressive tiers of development towards software literacy in professional contexts. We conducted case studies of engineering and media studies students’ learning of an ubiquitous software such as PowerPoint as well as proprietary discipline-specific software to examine how software literacy is understood, developed and applied in a tertiary teaching-learning context. In this contribution we outline the project findings then use the notion of software literacy as the lens to unpack and illustrate through three everyday examples how software literacy would seem to be an essential part of learning and living in the 21st century.

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Author Biographies

Elaine Khoo

Dr Elaine Khoo was a senior research fellow at the Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research (WMIER), University of Waikato, New Zealand from 2010 to 2021. Elaine’s research interests include digital pedagogies, e-learning/online learning with a particular interest in online learning communities, participatory learning cultures and collaborative research contexts. She had been involved with a number of funded research projects associated with the flipped classroom, online learning, Web 2.0 and ICTs across the compulsory schooling sector and tertiary level.

Bronwen Cowie, University of Waikato

Professor Bronwen Cowie is Associate Dean Research Division of Education at the University of Waikato. Bronwen’s research interests span assessment for learning, culturally responsive pedagogy and funds of knowledge, student voice, and curriculum implementation. She has been involved in a number of research projects that range from national surveys to in-depth case studies. Her work has a strong emphasis on classroom-based research and working collaboratively with teachers and colleagues.

Craig Hight, University of Newcastle, NSW

Dr Craig Hight is an Associate Professor in Creative Industries at the University of Newcastle, NSW. He has published on topics within audience research, digital media and documentary theory. His most recent books are Television Mockumentary: Reflexivity, Satire and a Call For Play (Manchester University Press, 2010) and New Documentary Ecologies: Emerging Platforms, Practices and Discourses (co-edited with Kate Nash and Catherine Summerhayes) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014). His current research focuses on the relationships between digital media technologies and documentary practice, especially the variety of factors shaping online documentary cultures.

Rob Torrens, University of Waikato

Dr Rob Torrens is a lecturer at the University of Waikato where he coordinates two first year engineering papers and also lectures in higher level materials papers. His engineering education interests focus on the transition from high school; the first year experience; and improving student engagement and performance.

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Published

2021-07-01

Issue

Vol. 26 (2020): New Zealand Annual Review of Education

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Articles

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