These two weeks of the course thinking about online participation and digital literacies I am now more aware of what it contains. I want to see the meta level where I am a student and on the other hand a teacher. Not so long ago I have been a student at the university, being thrown in the online learning environment. And now learning about what a visitor and residence (terms from White and Le Cornu, 2011) is – I can say that I have been a visitor not only on social media but also at the university. Using the chance to really interact with people in an open online environment was out of my comfort zone having data protection and misuse of information in mind. I have always seen the online world as a way to consume but never to contribute, interact and get valuable social interactions from it. At the end of my studies and start of my job at the university, I realised that there are so many opportunities hiding out there. When collaborating with colleagues and using ways to interact with people online, I realised that this is a valuable experience and adds a lot of value to my work. My personal identity stayed the same – I am still a visitor I would say. My professional identity has changed towards “making a trip” towards residency every now and then.
I am really thankful to get the experience of learning in a group setting where collaboration and exchange is focused. It is definitely a different way of learning and I am sure I can learn a lot. It would be good if one result of the course would be that I am “making a trip” towards residency more often and use more opportunities this online world offers!
The first week of working in the ONL group I was surprised that we are a small group – and to be honest I was not sure if I am happy about that as each and every person has to contribute more to get a good result. I did not know a lot about the process and what to expect so first I was not sure if I was able to fulfil the expectations. Now, after these two weeks I am convinced that it is not about quantity but how motivated each person is, and I am impressed how extensive our presentation has gotten.
White, D. & Le Cornu, A. (2011) Visitors and residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday, 16(9).
Comments
There is an old Chinese proverb, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” It perfectly captures the essence of your reflection on taking small trips towards residency in the online world. Many of us have apprehensions about fully immersing ourselves in the digital space, be it because of privacy concerns or the overwhelming nature of the virtual realm. However, as you rightly pointed out, the rewards of connecting, collaborating, and contributing far outweigh the initial hesitations. And may these rewards continue to motivate us towards the long way towards residency 😊
Thank you for sharing your valuable insights. I could also envision myself as the student being placed in the online learning environment with a multitude of digital tools. I found this to be a good reminder of the challenges that students can potentially face through different modes of learning in their curricula. Though it may require additional effort to stay on course, the experiences earned are also a valuable reminder that the dynamics of technological tools are changing rapidly, requiring future experts to adapt to such changes to keep up with growing competition in future industries. The trip to residency domain should facilitate this transition. I agree that this collaborative distributed problem-based learning approach has been rewarding within our group setting. I believe our facilitators did a fantastic job in benchmarking the expectations and our outcome.