From a digital dinosaur to the goal of developing own digital literacies:  

Who I am as an individual in the digital age, and what characterizes my journey so far

My experience so far

• I have never played tv games or games on the computer (not because that I am against it, but they never been my priority)
• As I am originally from another country, I have used Skype to communication with my friends since 2005 (though I changed to messenger and WhatsApp a couple years ago). One trend I see after this move to messenger is that a lot of communication happens within some groups, not only with individuals)
•  My experience from social media is very limited:
  •  I used Facebook, but no longer
  • Blogging: no experience of own blogging; almost no experience of following others blogs
  • Twitter: no experience
  • Instagram: no experience
  • YouTube: only watching 

• I made a course on digitalization in spring 2018. This course helped me to not be afraid of moving from the classroom to online (Zoom based teaching)
• During the pandemic I was teaching and communicating with colleagues digitally. 
• I have years of experience with using teaching platforms (Blackboard, Canvas) for both individual courses and for university programs and departments.

My own digital identity

The literature provides, among others, the following typologies for digital engagement:   

• Digital natives and digital immigrants (Prensky, 2001)
• Residents and visitors (White & Le Cornu, 2011) 
• Dinosaurs, Deniers and Deluded (Third Sector, 2017) 

I usually thought that I am a dinosaur in relation to the younger generation. The Covid-related digitalization has increased my comfort with digital tools; but I still see myself as a visitor in the digital world. I am wondering if we really need to feel like residents in order to effectively use digital tools. Is it possible to have quite good digital literacy as a visitor? I think so. 

My reflection on digital teaching

• I have used synchronic lectures and my experience is that it is easier to engage students in the classroom; it is also easier to see and adjust to their reaction 
• Supervising writing project works more better online, than in person. When students share their document, it is easy to discuss and comment; much more time efficient than writing comments, and students can ask if they not understand
• Seminars and discussion in breakout rooms work very well, sometime better than in the classroom.

In my opinion the transition now is not back to the time before covid, but forward towards post-covid teaching and learning, which will be something different from teaching and learning before the pandemic.

My goals

Develop my digital literacies and change my digital identity; not to a resident but leaving the stadium of a dinosaur. I will make this change by overcoming the blog hesitancy, among others.  

The Encyclopedia Britannica (2021) explains that to blog “is the act of composing material for a blog” but no definition of a blogger is offered.  One question related to blogging is of course what makes us a blogger? Does writing a blog make me a blogger? Do I need to feel like a blogger when I start a blog? 

The answer to this question can be given with the concepts of residents and visitors developed by White and Le Cornu (2011) for their explanation of differences in engagement in social media.  When I am writing a blog as a visitor, I do not think about myself as a blogger. The identity of being a blogger can only be there when I feel like a resident in social media.  Starting a blog with the feeling “I am a blogger” means, among others, a big expectation for online presence and big interaction with others.   For a resident, writing a blog comes naturally, while a visitor hesitates; ‘Who am I to blog?’. I like discussing and sharing in close groups, but it seems senseless to start a blog. I do not think I have reflections of interest for others to share in the context of social media. 

Many studies describe different purposes for writing and the positive effects of writing an academic blog. One can assume that these purposes and positive effects can be different if I am writing my academic blog as a researcher (Kjellberg, 2010) or as a teacher (Cequena & Salle, 2013). So blogging is worth trying.

I can focus on writing and on me. The interaction with others hopefully will come with time. 

References

Cequena, M., & Salle, D. (2013). Does blogging facilitate the development of students’ writing skills. Philippine ESL Journal, 10, 126-147

Encyclopedia Britannica. (2021).  https://www-britannica-com.ep.bib.mdh.se/topic/blo

Kjellberg, S. (2010). I am a blogging researcher: Motivations for blogging in a scholarly context. First Monday

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants part 2: Do they really think differently? On the horizon

Third sector (18 May 2017) Are you a digital dinosaur?

https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/digital-dinosaur/management/article/1433356

White, D. S., & Le Cornu, A. (2011). Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. First monday.