Topic 1 Online Participation and Digital Literacies was an interesting and appropriate topic to start the ONL course. As my PBL group got to discussing the scenario, we found ourselves questioning who was having an issue with online learning in the scenario–the student or the teacher. This helped me reflect on online learning as shared or collected experiences rather than so focused on any one individual’s experience.

I reflected on my own position as an online learner. I am considered a millenial, and there has been much discussion from my time in university about the distinction between those who have grown up accustomed to the internet and those who are growing accustomed to the internet as adults. This was a core theme in our assigned video Visitors and Residents (White). These terms refer to how people engage with the internet, regardless of generation. Residents refer to people who have a more immersive approach to the internet, and integrate mush of their life into internet activities. Visitors, however, might use the internet only as needed. For example, to fill out a form online, or find some information. I found this idea useful, but also limiting in my situation as a millenial teacher with Gen Z students. I feel that there are challenges I am experiencing that don’t fit the visitor-resident model. I and my students would likely all consider ourselves “residents.” However, we use the internet in diverse ways, and we’ve had very different experiences in our immersion in the internet as residents. One example I can give is Facebook. Facebook was invented by millenials and used by all my peers. That experience has formed my core understanding of how social media operates, and my positions within that media. My Gen Z students, however, may not value Facebook as social media as I do because younger people tend to see Facebook as used by older people, and gravitate instead to other social media, like Tiktok and Instagram. So, their understanding of social media is different from mine, though we are all “residents” of the internet. This is something I will continue to think through as I continue in the course.