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So the course I’ve attended in Collaborative Learning in Digital Learning Environments has come to its end. It’s time to summarize and reflect on my learning and development.

My most important takeaways

One of my most important takeaways was early in the course when introduced to White & Le Cornu’s (2011) concept of Visitors and Residents on the internet. It was a relief to think of it in this way as opposed to Marc Prensky’s (2001) idea of Digital natives and Digital immigrants, divided by age by age only. Being a digital immigrant felt like I was never expected to contribute to my student’s digital literacy. And I will keep the diagram of visitors and residents in my mind and reflect on how my own identity is changing.

Then learning more about open educational resources was an eye-opener. At first, I thought of it as wishful thinking, but now I know it’s so much more. I will explore more of the resources available and incorporate them into my courses. When and if I’m pleased with modules in my courses, I will share them on canvas commons. And I will be more conscious in the way I use material from other sources, cleaning up a few presentations. A new open micro-course on Digital literacies for online learning will take me further on this path.

The third major takeaway is course design, but I’m still overwhelmed by all the input, theories, and ideas; I need time to sort it out and read more. The final assignment is on this subject. Teaching in Blended Learning Environments by Vaughan et al. (2013) and material by Terry Anderson and David Wiley are high on my to-read list.

The role of technology

I’m an engineer, so I like technology. I buy and subscribe to more tech stuff than I should from a sustainability perspective. However, I’ve dropped the OBS, stream deck, multiple cameras, multiple screens, a wireless mic, and a few other gadgets. It was honestly a hassle just to set everything up, and I felt it took some of my focus away from the students. And me being genuinely present seems to work better than anything else.  I’m still thinking of getting a teleprompter to be able to look into the camera more. On the application side, I’ve tested many and found a few favorites so far, especially for collaboration. I’m now regularly using Padlet, Mentimeter, Mural, and a few more mapping tools and simulations specific to industrial management. I have more student activity and engagement with these tools than most things I’ve done on the campus. With a simulation that ran for an entire course, one of the most ambitious students commented that this was the first time he felt challenged and could dive deep into a subject. In the same simulation, a student with the ambition just to pass said – I could not keep myself away from it. I also found more students in a group participate, which then contribute to the group.

The journey continues

This course is about to end. I’m just two hours away from the deadline for this blog post, and I have already received one mail and one reminder for my course valuation. Once my own teaching ends for the summer holidays, I’ll review the course design material and complete the final written exam. We are to create a course plan using Gilly Salmon’s Five Stage Model (www.gillysalmon.com). I’m looking forward to spending time on this as it’s something I want to do with all the courses I teach. Courses should be continuously improved. I’m also excited for the new normal, and my courses are primarily campus-based; they will shift to hybrid and blended learning.

“Being a teacher is having a deep love of learning & want to pass that to others.”
@librarian_tiff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No, It isn’t a typo. It’s DI as in digital identity. Who am I (currently) in the digital world, and what has characterised my journey so far?

One popular way to categorise people is Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. Which category you belong to is determined by birth. Digital natives are born in the digital age and always had computers, video games and the Internet. Marc Prensky introduced this idea in 2001 (Prensky, Marc, 2001). However, it’s not helpful to categorise peoples engagement online – by age only. Scientific evidence shows no such thing as a digital native, and their alleged ability to multitask doesn’t exist (Kirschner & De Bruyckere, 2017).

The concept of Visitors – Residents

In 2011 a paper was published in First Monday (White & Le Cornu, 2011). It presented a concept of Visitors and Residents to, on a continuum, describe people’s online activities. Visitor mode is when you go online to use a tool for a specific purpose but not leaving any visible trace. On the other hand, a resident has a strong personal presence on the web and uses it to engage with others. Residents leave traces in the form of profiles, posts, photos on the Internet. The visitor – resident continuum was later developed by adding an axis of personal – institutional use (David S. White & Alison Le Cornu, 2017).

My Visitor – Resident map

I used this map to reflect on and create a snapshot of where my current practice stands. As can be seen, the personal – resident quadrant has almost no activity. My resident forms of engagement are linked primarily to my professional role as a teacher. However, even in the resident – institutional area, most of my activities and traces are within closed groups such as with students in Canvas, our Learning Management System (LMS).

I’m following lots of areas of interest on the web but rarely post anything. Even when I would like to post a comment on something, I usually want to think about it first, and then nothing gets posted. Sometimes I do ask a question, or for advice online on sites I trust. My personal side prefers to remain introverted as social interactions can leave me feeling drained.

So this blog is a step outside my comfort zone. I see value in engaging in collaborative learning and let’s see a few months from now how my digital identity has developed. My journey continues.

Read more:

David S. White & Alison Le Cornu. (2017). Using ‘Visitors and Residents’ to visualise digital practices. First Monday, 22(8). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v22i8.7802

Kirschner, P. A., & De Bruyckere, P. (2017). The myths of the digital native and the multitasker. Teaching and Teacher Education, 67, 135–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.06.001

Prensky, Marc. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, MCB University Press, 9(5). https://marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

White, D. S., & Le Cornu, A. (2011). Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday. https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v16i9.3171

How exciting; this week, I started a new course, and it also seems like spring is coming. The course is Collaborative Learning in Digital Learning Environments. So for the coming weeks, I will have the opportunity to explore the field of collaborative learning in a digital learning environment. Hopefully, at the end of it, I will be more confident to make informed educational choices. I will keep you posted on the process and share my thoughts. I found these wild blue anemones “blåsippor” when walking the dogs.