ETL 523 Critical Reflection post

What I have learnt throughout my studies of digital citizenship is that the Digital Learning Environment is an environment where technology is used as part of everyday life. It is incorporated into many facets of our lives and we utilise it to enrich our lives. An environment where technology is accessible and we have the skills to use it. The whole way we educate children has now changed. With the increase in the use of technology children now have access to information that they never previously had. As Educators we no longer need to focus on teaching content as the students can access this all online. We are now teaching children how to access information and develop skills in the doing so. Dorothy Burt stated that “Using a digital learning environment means the learner is no longer dependant on the physical presence of the teacher. Their learning is accessible 24/7 and is rewindable; if you don’t get it the first time you can go back and have another look at it because it’s online. Valuable time spent face-to-face with the teacher is focused on learning conversations rather than instructions and directions.” (Patterson, 2013). Children are now learning from more sources of information and need help to come to process all this information. Digital citizenship is about using technology in an appropriate manner and knowing what this is. It is important that children are using the internet in a positive way and that they are aware of the dangers of misuse and what the consequences can be. With the growing use of social media I feel there needs to be more of a focus on the safety and use of these sites. In the article Digital Citizenship in K-12: It Takes a Village, the authors, question who will guide learners to a safe and productive technological society. “So, the inevitable question must be asked: Who represents the village for our youth, as it relates to digital citizenship? Will it be parents, teachers, administrators, academics, technology professionals, media specialists, or students? The obvious that for a successful cultural shift, it will require all of us. The implementation of this type of program will require an established and shared curriculum, an establishment of middle ground between reactionary and proactive actions in the K-12 environment.” (Hollandsworth, Dowdy, & Donovan, 2011, p. 2). This article really made me aware of some of the issues of who is actually responsible for preparing students for a digital learning environment.  I feel that as teachers we need to bear a lot of this responsibility as we have the knowledge that is needed to prepare students to be good digital citizens. I feel some parents are almost in the same position as their children, using these technologies without knowing how to be safe and how to leave a positive digital footprint. The information on digital footprints really made me think about my own digital footprint. As a teacher I have always had an awareness of my digital footprint as I see that as part of your professional role to be an example. I like the analogy that a digital footprint is like tattoo, once it is there it is very hard to get rid of is. This analogy may help students in their thinking as it makes them think of it as more concrete. As I teacher I feel that the following statement sums up what I need to do to prepare myself to teach in a digital learning environment.  “Digital citizenship is about transforming yourself into a professional who can effectively research technology trends, monitor the uses of technology, avoid the fear factor and model legal wisdom, in order to make vibrant learning opportunities for all” (CSU Interact material, 2014). I think it is important to keep your knowledge and skills up to date by continuing your own personal learning journey through professional development and by being up to date with new developments in digital learning. There has been a lot of changes in the way we teach and I feel a lot of changes are still needed to be an effective teacher, a networked teacher (see image) in today’s digital learning environment.

TODAY'S EFFECTIVE TEACHER

The image above is courtesy of Alec Couros licensed under a Creative Commons license. Photos from courosa Flickr photostream.

References

Charles Sturt University Interact material for ETL523, 2014.

Hollandsworth, R., Dowdy, L., Donovan, J. (2011). Digital citizenship in K-12: It takes a village. TechTrends 55(4) 37-47.

Patterson, A. (2013, December 7). Switched on to learning. The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11168355