The topic was to discuss digital literacy. What is there to discuss? Isn´t that clear? How in the world am I going to arrange discussions in my PBL group about this topic? And when I read the scenario to discuss it gets even more difficult. The scenario described a student who felt overwhelmed when starting a new online course because she couldn´t find what to do when and where to assign it. Don´t we all feel that way from the beginning? In fact, that was the reason for me to sign up to be a topic leader in the first place. I thought that if I jumped into the fire I would better understand how this course works.
Since I am a teacher teaching at the teacher program I know I can organize for a learning situation. I know how to organize for a classroom where everyone can do their best and reach for the stars. For me, it was easy to sign up to be the first topic leader of the ONL202 course period. To be a topic leader would be the easy part, I thought.
The two weeks assigned for Topic 1 flew by. What happened? When reflecting afterwards I realized there are so many layers in the digital literacy than understanding how to navigate in the course assignments and on the course platform. First question I should have asked to myself was how do I start a new relationship together with a person online? Second question I should have asked was How do we get to know each other in the whole PBL-group? Instead I focused on what digital tool to use.
The process
First, the meeting together with the other topic leader. A short introduction of each other and then start to design (we didn´t have much time). Stress! We chose to arrange the first meeting the same way as the other topic leader were used to. Convenient! After our first meeting in our PBL-group we had decided what part of digital literacy we wanted to deepened in (and I realized the topic was so much broader than my former understanding). But how should we plan further with no time left at the meeting? Stress! Someone says “WhatsApp” and we grab the solution and start a group in the app. (Note to oneself: You can use Social media within a course). When we continued to plan together, me and my co-leader, we decided to arrange for a process I have done in my teaching when you want to discuss and memories a topic. We just had to transmit it from classroom setting to online setting. So, find the whiteboard in Zoom and use it as an IRL-whiteboard. Share a document in drive to write the songtext as you would have on a piece of paper. But how on earth am I going to know everyone knows the melody, or dare to tell me they don´t get it. I am used to teach new melodies through call and respons. You hear if somethings missing. It doesn´t work in zoom! We tried to sing together with recorded music. It didn´t work because of the delay! What to do? I had to record my own version for the group to practice with. And then, Trust them!
After one week of quiet work from my group members, and nervous biting on my fingernails, the songtexts and songs started to drop into our Drive folder and one group member set them together thru Camtasia.
We did it!
We had our knowledge of digital literacy captured in our song!
This was so fantastic! I know most of our group members were not comfortable singing online nor writing song text, even so they did it! I am amazed!
Looking back I can see several parts in the process of Topic 1 that is the same no matter if you are in a physical classroom or online, others that is totally different. The reason we can work as if we were in the same classroom is because both the infrastructure is built up and is working (most of the time) and also because someone made a digital whiteboard, someone has made a padlet, someone has made it possible to make film digital, someone has made a place to communicate in between meetings and so on. Also, it is not just possible to use all of these tools, the maker have made it easy to use them also. It is as if we were in a physical classroom.
Findings
MY understanding of Digital literacies has during this topic grown broader. In the beginning I only thought of me being able to use different programs and my competence in reading and understanding new online phenomenal is included in Digital literacies. Something personal! Together with my group I´ve understood that my understanding is based on the fact I am living in a country where the digital infrastructure works and where almost everyone can afford at least two digital units per person. So digital literacy is not only depending on my understanding of the tools but also on the societies understanding and possibilities in building this understanding.
MY understanding as a topic leader when working with something unknown, something you do not know how the ending of is the importance of TRUST. You need to trust your colleagues/students since you just can´t drop by their door and ask them how it is going. So the question to ask in the beginning of an online course is how to build trust in the group. It turned out that because of the group trusted me in giving right instructions to sing the song and me trusting them to write and sing the way we decided to has made a really good trust in the group. It feels like we all can allow ourselves to expose our lack of understanding for each other.
Maybe trust is the most important part for building a digital society? But can we trust everyone online…
