TOPIC 1 INDIVIDUAL REFLECTION

 

PAUSE, REWIND, REFLECT
TOPIC 1: Individual Reflections on Topic 1

My identity in the Digital Age

 

Prensky's -Digital Immigrants versus Digital Natives

David White- Visitors versus Residents

                                                                               (1)

 

 First came Prensky’s Natives and Immigrants then David Whites Visitors and Residents. To be fair Prensky's approach was prior to social media application. I relate to White's Visitor and Resident mapping approach which defined and reflected "the range of ways individuals can engage with the Web” rather than Prensky's - particularly for its overlapping, sliding facility .

I like the idea the organic gardening analogy in David White and Alison Le Cornu’s paper Visitors and Residents A new typography for online engagement for visitors to the Web as “an untidy garden tool shed”. (1) And I can accept the analogy of Residents as regarding the Web as a “place where are clusters of friends and colleagues whom they can approach and with whom they can share information about their life and work”.(1)

Currently I seem hover somewhere between more than a visitor but a cautious, even reluctant resident, certainly in my private life where I tend to while expressing my views by what I post, keep the very personal out.  

However, since embarking on this ONL course and becoming more aware or conscious, my position may be shifting . It’s a shift that would not be in the personal so much but in the wonderful and numerous possibilities for ones professional life. Before posting anything on social media I ask the question "would I want my students to see this?" And if the answer is no I desist from doing so. Having said that, there is always a bridge, whether covert or overt, between ones professional and personal life.

ONL and my development

Online learning is certainly a game changer- It's flexible , more democratic in its inclusivity. For the most part my teaching practice has been face to face. However, with Covid-19  it morphed into strictly online. Currently, with the new normal is good mix of online and face-to-face.

This course has enabled me through webinars, tweetchats and my great group of fellow learners to look with new eyes at the possibilities of online learning, particularly in service to social justice and  the democraticising of the learning process. However as we live  in a capitalist, material world. So while ONL learning provides wider opportunities with lots of free resources  going deeper often involves paying for information thus defeating the idea of a more democratic learning for all.

My  experiences from ONL

Certain quotes from Lars from week 1 were important tone setters for the  course allowing me to ease into it and start finding my way such as Lars’s “PBL is a guide not a straightjacket" and "PBL is an approach not a method" .Approach being  the way you are going to approach the project while method is a process.

Fellow colleague also suggested it should be solution based learning rather than problem based learning turning what could be perceived as a negative into a positive.

The very nature of ONL is a game changer and a mind shifter. One of the highlights was sharing the app Miro with my students after being introduced to it by fellow ONL learnings. It worked really well in one of my lectures fully engaging my students. An unexpected highlight was from David Whites webinar when he mentioned memes and which led  to included it in one of my arts pieces.  

FISh has also been such such a valuable tool for unpacking information both in this course and for me as an educator and I found myself sharing its usefulness with my colleagues.

The discussions with my fellow EduNauts has been stimulating and inspiring -a global smorgasbord where difference has been celebrated.

I would like to end my reflection  with two quotes :

The teacher is the arbiter of connections  -George Siemans, (Connectivism theory)

Education is the process of becoming – David White

Bibliography

https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3171/3049. (1)

TEDx Talks. (2012, March 22). The essential elements of digital literacies: Doug Belshaw at TEDxWarwick. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8yQPoTcZ78