I have worked in college and university education since the 1980th and I have always been well equipped with computers and continuously used them for different work tasks. I regard them to be tools for work and I do not define myself as a digital person. I have no “logical digital thinking” and I always call for my grownup children when I need to install new TV sets or digital support in my home. I normally like challenges and puzzles but digital ones just do not interest me. I use digital services daily. I do my banking online and also shopping, booking tickets, and searching on websites. I have Facebook and Instagram accounts but I´m not that interested in communications on “what persons are having for dinner” etc. Since I do not regard myself as a digital person, I have never considered how digital identity can develop through my daily activities as explained in Beetham´s and Sharpe´s framework (1).
I found Dr. David White (2) talk on Visitors and Residents very clarifying and useful for understanding my digital usage. I am clearly a Visitor moving towards being a Resident – though leaving official digital footprints is not my preference. I like to direct and restrict my communication to persons I have chosen to communicate with. To communicate to a group of unknown persons is something completely different. Such communication will be more like a presentation – a one-way communication that people may respond to, a statement. I was also thrilled that Dr. White (2) stated that digital literacy was not about age. Being sixty plus has been my excuse to not have to learn! So, time to shape up and start learning for real!
Being “digital” also deals with values and beliefs connected to knowledge. I have spent thirty years as a teacher facilitating students learning of specialist and scientific knowledge, always trying to stay close to the source. Interpretation and discussions with students are mainly oral or expressed in paper or digital exams, not shared by the world. I have not used “Thinking aloud” in blogs etc in courses. I have some worries with everyone having opinions about everything on the Internet. It is more easy for students to find internet discussion and blog material (since it is free) than information from the accurate sources. I guess this relates to Dr. White (2) talk about the “learning black market” and as a teacher, it is hard to check all digital references that students refer to in their papers and follow conclusions students make. Therefore, I suppose I have quite a traditional view of knowledge in education. This view may also reflect the fact that occupational therapy is a registered profession based on facts for evidenced-based practice.
Departing from Dr. David White (1) ideas, I want to take on the effort of being a professional digital person moving towards a resident institutionalized behavior. Digital literacy is according to JISC (4) to master “those capacities which fit an individual for living, learning and working in a digital society”. Of the seven listed capacities, I found myself quite familiar with four capacities but there are two literacies that I really have to work on, Communication and collaboration, and Career & Identity management. I just discovered that it is the ICT literacy that constantly prevents me from improving in the other six literacies. Difficulties with finding the right programs, and converting materials and so on, takes to much time in the working situation and I constantly give up and make new priorities. We use a lot of digital media in online learning and I am always astonished that teachers are expected to solve technical problems by themselves. We do just not have the time! We need to use our time for teaching and pedagogical skills, not battling with ICT.
Concluding this digital reflection, I do think it is worth the effort to learn how to develop digital literacy and identity but I think that to much time is spent on battling technical obstacles. Do I really have the time!?
3. White, D. (2014) Visitors and Residents – Credibility. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO569eknM6U&feature=youtu.be