Being literate has traditionally meant being able to read and write using the media of the day. In the 21st century, being literate requires additional skills such as competence with digital media creation. Until recently, those who could afford and use equipment and applications to produce digital media content were typically developers and technicians. With the development of prosumer electronics, in conjunction with the use of mobile devices and tablets, a shift has occurred in the accessibility of these tools, becoming more affordable for the general population. Video sharing services, social software and Web 2.0 applications have made it possible to host a digital media ecosystem on the Internet, and this has led to the proliferation of User-Generated Content. These technological advances have changed how we communicate, socialise and learn. Effective communication using digital media is underpinned by a set of design principles which most students are not likely to be aware. This paper built on two previous papers on the Digital Media Literacy Framework and the Taxonomy of Digital Media types for teaching and learning. It argues the importance of digital media principles to develop effective communication in the digital space. Students now require knowledge of these principles, in conjunction with conceptual and functional skills, for effective communication in the digital space.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused educational institutions around the world to close their doors and move their teaching and learning into the online space. For many medical educators, who usually rely on face-to-face and blended instruction, this presents a challenge. By rethinking learning design, medical educators can ensure a smooth transition of their subjects into the online space. However, because of the immersive nature of medical education, not all teaching and learning activities can be delivered online. This paper outlines twelve tips using evidence-based educational practices and a student-centred approach. The twelve tips presented and discussed in this paper can help medical educators to transition to online learning and maintain the integrity of their subjects. They can also promote student self-regulation, help develop graduate attributes, and generally enhance learning experiences during pandemic social distancing. Finally, these tips can be used to rethink medical education in the post-pandemic era.

Across a broad range of subjects in higher education institutions, students are required to complete assessment tasks that involve the production of digital artefacts. Examples include podcasts, digital stories, animations, video and blended media. To produce effective digital artefacts, one must be digitally literate. This requires a certain set of technical, audio-visual, behavioural, critical and social skills. In this article, the authors propose a framework that can be used to develop digital media literacies and train students in digital media creation. The framework considers three interdependent domains: conceptual, functional and audio-visual. A series of examples will be provided to illustrate the importance and interdependent nature of these domains. Implications of the framework on student training are discussed.

The notion of students as co-creators of content in higher education is gaining popularity, with an ever-increasing emphasis on the development of digital media assignments. In a separate paper, the authors introduced the Digital Media Literacies Framework, which is composed of three interrelated domains: (1) conceptual, (2) functional, and (3) audiovisual, each of which defines a set of prosumer principles used to create digital artefacts. This framework fills a gap in the literature and is the first step towards the provision of a systematic approach to designing digital media assignments. This paper expands on the Digital Media Literacies Framework through the incorporation of Technological Proxies and proposes a taxonomy of digital media types to help educators and students to visualise the skills needed to complete Learner-Generated Digital Media assignments. A taxonomy of digital media types is presented considering the conceptual, functional, and audiovisual domains of the Digital Media Literacies Framework. The taxonomy spans a range of Learner-Generated Digital Media assignments, from the creation of an audio podcast to the complexity of blended media or game development. Implications of the taxonomy for teaching and learning in higher education are discussed.

Cutting-edge digital technologies could impact teaching, learning and research by providing more efficient, flexible and immerse experiences. In the early 90s, Apple developed QuickTime Virtual Reality (QTVR), and it can be considered the precursor of 360-degree videos. QuickTime VR technology used a series of pictures and stitched them together cylindrically (images wrapped around the viewer) using a QuickTime movie file. Users were able to scroll up and down, right and left, zoom in and out and even click links that contained audio or pop-up windows. In the late 90s, applications such as PanoViewer were developed using Flash that has similar functionality. With the mobile phone (2007) and tablet revolution (2010), these applications became redundant, and mobile applications started to offer VR experiences. Regrettably; it never has a massive uptake for education nor for the general public. Twenty years later, the offer of 360-degree video cameras started due to YouTube support for publishing and viewing the 360-degree videos (2015). Currently, there are more than twenty 360-degree video camera brands on the market. The development of a vast offer of action cams may inspire this trend. This conceptual paper presents a critical discussion of how this new technology could potentially be embedded in teaching, learning and research, and what are their advantages and limitations.