Personal Digital Inquiry

Personal Digital Inquiry

So, what is Personal Digital Inquiry? “Developed by Coiro and colleagues, personal digital inquiry

(PDI) is an inquiry-based learning framework that integrates personal inquiry with online

research and digital participation.” (Wargo, 2019). In the school district I work in, there has been

a focus over the past several years for students to engage in inquiry processes, which includes

asking questions and seeking answers in typically a traditional format. We can expand upon

this concept by including digital aspects in our planning for students. Educators must also not

forget that even though students are “digital natives”, that does NOT mean they are

comfortable with using digital resources for research, or in creating a product that reflects

their learning. We need to scaffold for students (especially in the elementary grades) how to

use these digital literacy practices in the classroom. Bertram C. Bruce, and Leo Casey even go

as far as to state that we should, “...consider the practice of inquiry itself as a signature

pedagogy especially in the primary school classrooms.” (Bruce, et. al, 2012). 

There are researchers and experts out there that have created frameworks for teachers to use when engaging students with digital inquiry practices. This is a vital first step to students practicing their own Personal Digital Inquiry into a topic or concept. Typically the frameworks seem to follow a similar pattern, including the following steps (Coiro, et. al 2016):

1. Inquire

2. Collaborate & Discuss

3. Participate & Create

4. Reflect

Using a model or framework is incredibly helpful for teachers in learning how to guide their students through digital inquiry, and should be shared with our colleagues! This new frontier of using technology for researching and creating is not going away. This video can be used to engage teachers and hopefully inspire them to learn more about digital inquiry and how it relates to their students. It’s important now more than ever to push students into thinking creatively, critically, and collaborating with others, and communicating findings.

How can this relate to vocabulary? When students engage in the collaborate and discuss portion of PDI, it provides time to engage in dialogue about new words and concepts not previously understood (Coiro, et. al, 2016). This can be used with disciplinary specific vocabulary words and students can demonstrate their learning by creating multimodal texts collaboratively or independently. Many resources on the web also support PDI of vocabulary words through, “...hyperlinked definitions, graphics, animated illustrations, translations, and pronunciations… in interactive storybooks, hypertexts, and on the Internet.” (Dalton, et. al, 2011). Students can investigate new word meanings through these types of digital texts. 

When educators provide opportunities for personal digital inquiry, with the necessary scaffolds in place, there is room for student growth in the different disciplinary domains, reading, new literacies, problem solving, and thinking critically. This practice also values active participation in real-world situations to create authentic learning opportunities. As mentioned in the definition of PDI (highlighted at the beginning of this post), digital participation is an essential component to this process. Students need to communicate their findings to a wide audience for personal connections to be made to their learning. 

The need for personal digital inquiry in classrooms is becoming more and more necessary. Students are familiarized at home with different types of technology, apps, and social media, but that doesn’t mean they are aware of creating multiple types of digital and multimodal texts, or that they are comfortable researching independently. Educators need to be aware of this fact, and facilitate proper learning of these types of resources for their 21st Century students.

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