In order to understand and describe who I am in the digital age, I need to go back in time, to the beginning of the digital age. It all started with electricity and then developed to disseminate information (1,2). Digital age can be defined as the information age, and started at the 1970´s, when computers and other subsequent technologies were introduced to provide users the ability to easily and rapidly transfer information. The word digital comes from the English word digit (number), which in turn is from the latin word digitus (meaning finger, “count on your fingers”) (2). Information, such as in the form of letters, can also be stored in the logical format of digits, and can be seen at various digital platforms. Information is shared e.g. via radio, television, computers and mobile phones. The World Wide Web was introduced for computers at the 1980´s, and the development of the digital arena for computers or mobile devices has grown tremendously ever since (1). 

I was born at the end of 1960´s and my first contact with a computer was probably at the beginning of the 1990´, when the digital age made its entrance into many workplaces. As a nurse, all my journal documentation on the paper would now be written instead in the digital medical records system in the computer. One could say that I have learned digital skills as the digital technology has evolved over the time. At the beginning of the digital age, focus was on finding and documenting information (1). Since the year of 2000, the digital arena has exploded as technology has evolved and social networks have become increasingly important. The options are numerous today, and it is difficult to keep up to date. I use digital platforms mostly in my profession as a teacher and researcher. I believe that the digital world will evolve even faster and various digital methods take over our lives more and more. The digital age is being proposed to be divided into three phases: the pre-digital age (physical products becoming digital), mid-digital age (digital is becoming accepted into the mainstream and is fully immersed into our society) and the post-digital age (digital will be transformative, yet irrelevant, a quiet element forming the seamless backbone of life) (1). At the present we are in the mid-digital age.

Digital literacy is critical in order to understand, navigate in and use digital methods (3). There are seven elements of digital literacies, and as a lecturer, researcher and citizen I need to have knowledge of them all. My top 3 most important digital literacies are: (i) Information literacy, (ii) Communication and collaboration, and (iii) Media literacy. These elements are the ones I need to master on a daily basis. I need to find, interpret, evaluate, manage and share information (Information literacy), and I have to participate in digital networks (Communication and collaboration). I also need to have the ability to critically read and creatively produce academic and professional communications (Media literacy). Furthermore, in my teaching I introduce and guide students to develop their digital literacy capabilities mostly for Learning skills, Communication and collaboration and Information literacy (3). 

Students need help in developing their digital literacies skills throughout their education and through this course, OpenNetworkedLearning (ONL), I hope to find tools to better support my students. Participating in the ONL has opened up my thoughts on what online participation, online learning and digital literacies can be. Above all, I begin to understand how large this area of knowledge is, but still this knowledge of the teachers is small. There is much to do to strengthen teachers’ knowledge of online learning. It is no longer enough for teachers to have general knowledge of pedagogy, teachers need educator-specific digital competences in the areas of (i) Professional engagement; (ii) Digital resources; (iii) Teaching and learning; (iv) Assessment; (v) Empowering learners; and (vi) Facilitating learner´ digital competence (4). As described by the The European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu) ”…Teaching strategies need to change and so do the competences teachers need to develop so as to empower 21st‐century learners…” (4). 

References

1. Goodwin T. The three ages of digital. TechCrunch, 2016  https://techcrunch.com/2016/06/23/the-three-ages-of-digital/
2. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Age
3. JISC guide. Developing digital literacies, 2014 http://web.archive.org/web/20141011143516/http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/digital-literacies/
4. Caena F, Redecker C. Aligning teacher competence frameworks to 21st century challenges: The case for the European Digital Competence Framework for Educators (DIGCOMPEDU). Eur J Educ, 2019; 54 (3): 356-369