Photo by Mahkeo on Unsplash

I always knew that I was living on the verge of two worlds, the world of my parents who grew up and spent their best years in Soviet era being liable to the totalitarian order, and the world of my students who grew up in the independent country sharing and cherishing liberal values and personal freedom. But it was in December 2018 when I first realized that this kind of intermediate position not only refers to my generational or social identity but also determines my role as a professional and citizen.

Let’s examine the given situation more closely! While my parents persist in treating all kinds of ICTs with a proper hostility, my students cannot imagine their lives without internet. They literary live in there. But where am I as a person and a high school teacher?  If I try to evaluate my digital literacy in accordance with JISC guide, I will have to admit that although I extensively use digital devices, applications and services for my work and private purposes (ICT literacy), showing capability of finding and sharing information by means of ICT (Information literacy) and having some experience in creating and managing my online identity on facebook and LinkedIn (Identity management), I am still on a starter level when it comes to participation in academic practices that depend on digital systems (Digital scholarship) or in digital networks for learning and research (Communications and collaboration), and my Learning skills in technologically rich environments remain scarce.