This book explores the notion of software literacy, a key part of digital literacy which all contemporary students and citizens need to understand. Software literacy involves a critical understanding of how the affordances and conceptual approaches of everything from operating systems, creative apps and media editors, to software-based platforms and infrastructures work to inform and shape the ways we think and act. As a cultural artefact, programing code plays a role in reproducing, reinforcing, and augmenting existing cultural practices, as well as generating completely new coded practices. A proposed three-tier framework for software literacy is the focus for a two-year empirical investigation into how tertiary students become more literate about the nature and implications of software they encounter as part of their tertiary studies. Two case studies of software learning and use in university-level engineering and screen & media studies courses are presented, investigating the mapping of students’ trajectory of the learning of desktop applications against this framework for software literacy.
Though the book’s focus is primarily educational, its content also has implications for any field that makes use of software and information & communication technology systems and applications. As such, the book will be of interest to all readers whose work involves the challenges and opportunities presented by software-based teaching and learning; and to those interested in how software impacts the workplace and leisure activities that make up our day-to-day lives.
Introduces software literacy as an imperative to understanding everyday 21st century contexts where the focus is on software teaching and learning and use
Offers an easy-to-follow framework for understanding software literacy development
Outlines practical implications for university lecturers and student learning in courses where software is essential
Introduces software literacy as an imperative to understanding everyday 21st century contexts where the focus is on software teaching and learning and use Offers an easy-to-follow framework for understanding software literacy development Outlines practical implications for university lecturers and student learning in courses where software is essential Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Elaine Khoo
Software literacy Software application Software platform Affordance Software Pedagogy Digital literacy Media and information literacy Higher education, university, tertiary education Digital technologies Video editing Computer-aided design Information and communication technologies (ICT) Visual/media arts education Engineering education SolidWorks