My digital citizen journey
As a forty-something-year-old I belong to the Millennials according to the following classification (in another classification I belong to the Generation X).
Source: Technologycityin.com
I’m of a generation who made school reports on a typewriter. I even wrote reports by hand. And I remember my first time on a computer; 1986. We only had ONE computer in school. A while later when I started studying I had my first email address. A couple of years later in 2000 I got my first mobile phone and worked on my OWN computer online with others students by MSN.
My digital literacy development in a nutshell.
Thinking about my own development I made a map showing me as a visitor and resident.
The picture shows most of all the ‘visitor role’. Especially the private site of the map shows ‘visitor. On the business site I am partly a resident. In the webinar with David White he made the following distinction between the visitor and resident mode.
Source: Webinar with David White and Jörg Pareigis in ONL191 on 1 october 2019
However, I also like to read literature and blogs for work (without producing anything myself). The literature describes this as ‘lurkers’ (Seo & Han, 2013). Readers can be good for a online community, because passive participation (as a lurker) is often the first step towards active participation. For me it’s an effective way of learning (Neelen & Fetter, 2010). But…ONL191 participation means I have to make the transition to the resident side. Active participation is called for. We communicate in small groups and meet synchronous online. This makes it easier for me to react asynchronously on contribution of others (because you’re familiar with each other). Literature says this is one of the conditions for community learning (Hou, 2015).
As teachers, why do we need to worry about digital literacy if our students are already growing up surrounded by technology?
What about the digital literacy of our students? Why should we be concerned about the digital literacy of our students (gen 2020, digital natives)? After all, they grow up with technology. A common mistake is thinking children and young people currently growing up are digitally literate. The webinar with David White made me realize that we shouldn’t just assume that students know how to use technology in the right way. We confuse ownership, possession of technology with being driven to use it.
‘We confuse ownership with capability’ David White
Knowing ‘how’ you use technology does not mean you know how to use this technology for formal purposes such as learning and work. We’ll have to teach our students and pupils how to use technology properly. This requires a lot from both educators and parents.
I’m experiencing it with my own children. We have to educate them in how to use digital technology. For example, making them aware of their digital footprints on internet for me as a parent is an important issue. My son recently said he no longer wanted me to put pictires of him on my Facebook. Of course I respect that point of view. In any case, these are issues that my parents (baby boomers) did not have to deal with.
In the Netherlands it is a current educational topic. They want to increase the digital literacy of Dutch students. It is one of the curriculum innovation proposals that have been made recently. Although many schools already pay attention to it, Dutch teachers have low expectations of the digital literacy skills of their pupils. That is why many teachers in the Netherlands believe that it should have a permanent place in the curriculum.
There is given a lot of attention to teachers professionalization. But less on students digital literacy skills. At last, it’s being recognized.
Digital literacy for future professionals
As a Instructional Designer I have been involved in various curriculum changes, including the Social Work programme. Last week I was confronted with the question of how the newly developed education could be digitally supported. The teachers needed inspiration to make the education blended. However, I have formulated this question differently.
‘What digital (literacy) knowledge and skills are required of the future social worker?’
This is another approach that focuses much more on the future profession of our students. What technological knowledge and skills do future professionals need to employed to work effectively and efficiently?
‘Digital literacy is having the right digital skills to achieve our goals’
This question reaches further than just the question of how we can optimally support the learning process of students with the aid of technology.
I see this as an effect of my participation in ONL191 and the first topic we have discussed. My approach of digital literacy is shifted from students learning to their future job (without forgetting digital literacy in the service of learning).
Let’s move on to the next topic…