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).
