In ”Visitors and residents: A new typology for online engagement”, White and Le Cornu make the argument that Prensky’s typology ’Natives and Immigrants’ is increasingly outdated. With the interpretation of natives and immigrants they (and, as I understand, Prensky) utilize, I probably agree. Still I have reflected on differences between natives and an immigrant during topic 1.
Having lived for an extensive period abroad, I vividly remember the seemingly hopeless language barrier which limited my ability to express the full extent of my thoughts. Indeed, it was somewhat of a “handicap”. However, given that conquering the language was a requirement for my work, over the years, I increasingly felt equally able as natives to completely express myself, even the nuisances. In some contexts, I even had an advantage over natives, e.g., when it came to written language. I had had to carefully study language rules, as compared to the “true” natives who could played it “by ear”, but, instead, had a hard time identifying when instincts were wrong.
When I fifteen years later returned to Sweden (where I am technically counted as a native), I again felt like an immigrant, at least for the first few years. This was not something I had expected that. Society had changed quite a bit, my Swedish was rusty, and I came back in a role in life I had never known in Sweden.
What I am trying to say is that firmly believe you can move between the native and immigrant ability and confidence levels. With that understanding, the terms are not as inappropriate for the imagery of digital mastery as the article by White and Le Cornu argue, as well as other authors. Interestingly, I was a permanent resident when I lived abroad, and I was no longer counted as a resident in Sweden. That brings my thoughts to White and Le Cornu’s alternative typology visitors and residents. I was living abroad as a resident, not visitor. Maybe the residency in itself, was why I, after many years, passed for a native, in identity and in written language. Similarly, the extended period of time away, made me like an immigrant in Sweden at first, even though I was a native. For me, both typologies are helpful when I reflect on my own digital literacy.
When I analyzed my graph of personal-institutional (y-axis) vs visitor-resident (x-axis), inspired by White’s YouTube film “Visitors and residents”, I was actually surprised to see that my personal-resident quadrant was completely empty. This reflects an uncomfortableness with sharing private thoughts with those I do not know, and also not understanding not need to share them with the whole world if I use social media wisely. The apparent quest to have everything, including themselves, seem perfect on the surface (e.g., viewing individuals take photos of their meals to subsequently upload) largely contributed to me consciously avoiding social media, with the hope of finding something more authentic. In our hectic lives, it is hard to find that alternative, and I am increasingly realizing I will need to make social media work for me.
In terms of teaching online/distance courses, I have similarly been skeptical, and slow to jump on board, arguing that nothing can substitute for a personal meeting with students in the classroom. I have argued that teaching exclusively via digital platforms can possibly work for “other” courses, but not for my courses, e.g., in mental health. The current corona situation has made me re-evaluate that skepticism. A couple of days ago I had five examination seminars with students who defended their bachelor theses. It worked very well. In fact, I had a sense that the students performed better from the safety of their own homes. When my dog rested at my feet during one of the seminars, it probably improved my own presence in the moment. I am more positively inclined to distance learning and motivated to improve both my own and the students’ digitally literacy.
The scenario for topic 1 was a prospective student in an online course who expressed a sense of insecurity I could very much relate to. In our PBL group, as well as in the webinar, we talked about that students who on the surface may seem digitally “fluent”, may still be very uncomfortable using digital tools in an academic setting. That was in fact the case in my examination seminars. At least half of the students knew less than myself, and I do not know much. That was actually very empowering for me to experience. I am not necessarily “behind” in younger generation in skill level when it comes to digital literacy, at least when we consider institutional use. This experience and realization, in itself, will spur my confidence in increasingly becoming a “resident” – in all of my quadrants of the digital literacy graph. Concurrently, I will work on being increasingly “native”, because I do not necessarily see a dichotomy in “nativeness” and “immigrantness” in today’s global society.
A final thought – in my PBL group we discussed how to best structure the introductory steps for the nervous and insecure student in scenario 1. We emphasized the importance of providing clear and detailed instructions and clarifying that many share the same feelings. After our discussions, I came to think of Vygotskij’s theory of the “proximal zone” for development and learning. According to Vygotskij, meeting a student in his or her proximal zone for learning, just outside of what the student can manage without assistance, carries the greatest potential for development. Meeting the student further away from current ability will lead to less development and learning. Consequently, in the early phase of an online course, it is important not to overload a new student with only beginner’s level digital literacy with detailed information about special features of digital tools. Safe that for later in the course! As in all teaching, it is important to be “in tune” with (and/or probe for) the coordinates for each student’s current position in the individual learning journey.
White, D. & Le Cornu, A. (2011) Visitors and residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday, 16(9).
by Riverjam 22 March 2020
