The computer. My biggest friend, and my biggest enemy, a source of daily bread and a source of daily conflict. The digital world has impacted my life, my family, our home in a very strong way and this impact will only increase!
Almost everybody I know who has children fights nowadays against computer addiction, mostly game-addiction. I also try to limit it because I know it hurts the eyes and the little body shouldn’t sit so long. Although I also see its benefits every single day…
“It’s so good mom! I love playing it, the graphics, listen to the music!” Every 6 months is a new favorite game and I am amazed how children get in touch with other children from all over the world in a second… They don’t know each other but that’s not a problem. They don’t know each others names, (it’s the nickname that counts) but they get to start a new project every 15 minutes by themselves! “Where do we go?” my son is asking suddenly in his headphones and then I know that a new adventure starts on his computer in that very moment. The unknown game partner(s) might be trustable or one that can “kill” him. Sometimes he plays with his own class-colleagues and sometimes is random children. Interesting how they choose partners of the same age according to voices.
What a learning environment! A lot of laughter, some disappointments that vanish quick and a continuous resistance to mothers saying, “you need a pause, close it now or I cut off the internet.”
He notices that in some countries children have more lessons to do than he does (kids don’t have so much “computer time”), that in some families there are strict rules and that others kids stay at different parents each week. And he reflects about all these and draws his own conclusions. And I encourage him to reflect (this is the “fault” of the pedagogy course I took last year ). And now that’s my conflict: I try to stop something that is eventually fascinating! 
To make you understand, I am not a teacher (although I’d wish) so I am practicing all the learning knowledge I have on my sons.
Let’s compare now his childhood with my childhood. I was reading a lot, submerging myself in scenarios prepared by other people. I also liked to write and would compose my own stories but I was kind of alone in this. I was going to a private English class, only me and a nice teacher, it wasn’t so much fun just me and her… And look at my son, practicing English every day without anyone asking him to do this, struggling to write correctly and learning new words from kids from any country in the world.
Correct me if I’m wrong but this game my son plays is an open network learning platform and children are training many of the 8 skills of digital literacies that Doug Bradshow is describing in his book The essential elements of digital literacies. (1)
The teachers which these children will have in university… Let’s imagine I am supposed to be my son’s teacher. I hadn’t spent all these hours he did playing, he has different habits than I had. This generation has so different habits, which one should adapt to whom? I try to make a compromise, he reads some book pages every day and I get interested in his activity (haven’t started to play yet!)
After closing this Topic1 in our ONL course I now realize that we both need to reach higher or deeper stages in our digital worlds. One of the favourite learning framework we discussed in that course last year was ICAP (2) (read at least the abstract if you have the chance). It is a sensitive border here, although games are making my son be “active” and “interract” within the community he is still only a consumer. I am not sure if he is capable to “remix” in the sense that Doug Bradshow describes remix as “the heart of digital literacies” as I am not sure if the students I am going to teach one day get to be constructive and interactive if I don’t engage them to get to these levels. I do wonder if Doug’s belief that “the way to develop digital literacies is by remixing” can be connected to the co-inferring process ICAP framework. It can certainly be connected to reaching the top of the pyramid in Bloom’s taxonomy
What if both me and my son would start a basic course in “media production”, would we be able to get from the stage of passive users to creators, generating something new, a product?
P.S. I heard someone saying the following about communication channels: “People show only positive things pictures on Instagram while all complains, all negativism comes out when writing on Twitter and on blogs”. I guess I have to wait for another topic for writing complains, at least towards the institution I am affiliated to, because they did prepare us assiduously for using digital tools and as I see they keep on doing it.
A list of the cited references, already linked in this post:
- Belshaw, Doug. The Essential Elements of Digital Literacies. Selfpublished,
2014. Digital file. <http://digitalliteraci.es/>. [24-10-2018]
- Chi, Michelene TH, and Ruth Wylie. “The ICAP framework: Linking cognitive engagement to active learning outcomes.” Educational Psychologist 49.4 (2014): 219-243.
- Picture from Jay Kunwar (pexels.com)