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.

Background and Aims: The long‐standing aim of cognitive load theory (CLT) has been to generate instructional design principles that show teachers how to instruct students effectively, based on knowledge of the intricacies of human cognitive architecture. Historically, the focus of CLT has been on identifying cognitive processes related to learning and instruction. However, the theory has become more multidisciplinary over time, drawing on theoretical perspectives both within, and beyond, educational psychology. Results: This Editorial presents a brief historical overview of key developments in CLT and seven key themes that are pertinent to research on CLT. These themes are as follows: Level of Expertise, Cognitive Load Measurement, Embodied Cognition, Self‐Regulated Learning, Emotion Induction, Replenishment of Working Memory, and Two Subprocessors of Working Memory. Summaries of the nine empirical contributions to the special issue are presented and discussed in relation to how they provide insight into one or more of these themes. Conclusions: Understanding the variables that impact student learning and instruction has always represented the core aim of CLT. The growing multidisciplinary features of CLT should provide researchers and practitioners with more holistic perspectives of the factors that predict student learning and, in turn, guide instructional design.

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.