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Do you agree that we are all digital users? The terms ‘Digital Native’ and ‘Digital Immigrant’ came out very prominently during this week Webinar and it make thinking… Who am I (in the digital/technology world)?

Introducing myself once again: I am Erica, a digital immigrant, and is hoping to become fluent in the use of tools that I am familiar and be courageous to explore new tools.

So I draw my VR map and here it is~ my first attempt. Just by looking at it, I think I do leave quite a significant footprint with some tools. At the same time, I think there are more tools that I have used and tried that I did not put in the map. This is a good experience for me to be able to visualize what I think I know as this will help me to zoom into those skills I need to know for ‘survival’.

My very first VR map

Online teaching has been a challenge to me as a newcomer to the academic world. Despite, attending courses via Webinar to be prepared for online education, I often questioned my own session. Do the students understand my session? Do they feel engaged? Was my session boring? What can I do to make it interesting and interactive? What have I done right/wrong? Did I make an impact in their learning?

Reasons for the failure of technology to make a significant impact on education are failure to attend to the major challenges of learning to teach and problematic use of technology in teacher education (Bullock, 2016). The main problems of learning to teach are identified as the problem of the apprenticeship of observation, the problem of enactment, and the problem of complexity which truly summaries my teaching journey till now (Darling-Hammond, 2006, as cited in Bullock, 2016).

I do not have much opportunity to participate in lesson observation which means I do not have any ‘example’ to learn from and no opportunity to ‘practice’ before the actual session. As for my first online class, I did incorporate few tools in the session but I did not managed to get to it simply due to the lack of responses from the students and lack of time. Poor time management and inexperience with online teaching and tools have put me off track. But I do not intend to stay on the sidetrack.

Virmani and Williamson (2016) discussed extensively on how educators can enhance students’ learning by using appropriate tools. In order to use the tools effectively, educators need to understand how can technology support student learning and be comfortable and confident in using the tools (Virmani and Williamson, 2016).

This is a reminder for me to get familiarize with the tools, be fluent in it and use it to harvest the best result. Although the result often depends on the students’ response to the session, it is the ability of the teacher to leverage on the students’ discussion and achieve the aim of the session.

Reference:

Bullock, S. (2016) Digital Technologies in Teacher Education in Kosnik, C., White, S., Beck, C., Marshall, B.,  Goodwin, A. L. & Murray, J. (Eds.) Building Bridges: Rethinking Literacy Teacher Education in a Digital Era. pp 3-16. Sense Publishers. https://link-springer-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/

Virmani, R. & Williamson, P. (2016) Lessons for Teacher Educators About Learning and Teach with Technology in Kosnik, C., White, S., Beck, C., Marshall, B.,  Goodwin, A. L. & Murray, J. (Eds.) Building Bridges: Rethinking Literacy Teacher Education in a Digital Era. pp 43-55. Sense Publishers. https://link-springer-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/

Digital Native VS Digital Immigrant