Practice Story for Unit One: Digital Citizenship

Practice Story for Unit One:
Digital Citizenship

Practice Context, Otago Polytechnic
Hahna Briggs

Wikipedia (2014.b) describes a digital citizen as "a person utilizing/using information technology (IT) in order to engage in society, politics, and government participation". Using information technology has become a vital aspect to participation in higher education for students and staff alike. In this practice story I will reflect on my own digital citizenship as a lecturer, identify areas in need of strengthening and provide a personal development plan. 

There appears to be many writers and organisations offering their views on the key facets of digital citizenship, such as netsafe New Zealand's programme, Learn Guide Protect (netsafe, n.d.) or Mike Ribble's (2008) article 'Passport to Digital Citizenship'. In both articles the elements of digital citizenship range from having the capability to use technologies and using technologies to participate in various activities, through to the laws governing our use of technology, as well as our ethical responsibilities (Ribble, 2008; netsafe, n.d.).

netsafe (n.d.) states that fundamental to digital citizenship is digital literacy. Digital Literacy is concerned with an individuals ability to locate, analyse, critically evaluate, communicate, capture, construct and share information in multiple formats using digital technologies in order to effectively participate in society (Wikipedia, 2014.a; Ministry of Education, British Columbia, 2013; Cornell Information Technologies, 2009; Plunkett, n.d.). Put simply by Anyangwe (2012) "digital literacy = digital tool knowledge + critical thinking + social engagement."

In their article '20 ways of thinking about digital literacy in higher education.' Eliza Anyangwe (2012) offers readers insight into the relevance of digital literacy within higher education. I will reflect on two of the suggestions provided by Anyangwe (2012):

Establish guiding ethical principles:

"What does it mean to behave well as digital professionals, researchers or citizens? How do we act ethically in environments where public and private are blurred?" (Anyangwe, 2012).

There are many considerations when thinking about the ethics of digital literacy in higher education. For instance, I am constantly astonished at the level of abuse and violence directed towards people online, and I feel like a lot of people promote the 'harden up' approach. More and more often students and universities utilise social media as platforms for support and discussion. Students and staff alike need to develop reflective and reflexive skills in order to asks themselves: is this something I would say to a person if they were standing right in front of me? What kind of outcome do I want from posting this kind of comment?  Part of establishing guiding ethical principals is knowing our personal and professional online boundaries. For example, students need to think about what personal information they allow online and the future repercussions, such as applying for jobs. Open access information is becoming more readily available, therefore staff need consider how they use open access resources and ensure they credit others work rather than claim it as their own.

Mid-career is the worst time for academics and professional staff to be up to date with technology: as Anyangwe (2012) states, older and secure academic staff have time to experiment and more readily admit there are skills they need to learn. Having time to experiment and having opportunities for 'peer supported experimentation' are of relevance to me. As a new staff member I am finding lesson planning very time consuming as I am becoming familiar with course content and searching for
up-to-date information. This leaves me little time to experiment. There is also little opportunity for 'peer supported experimentation', however sharing an office with other staff members can spontaneously allow for this. Recently, a staff member asked me a question about 'Moodle Books' and I had to acknowledge that I had no idea what a Moodle Book was. This lead to us having a conversation about Moodle Books, which inspired me to explore this function in Moodle.
 

In addition to thinking about the ethical principals of using digital tools and media, and allowing time for experimentation, I took a number of digital literacy self-assessments in order to discover what my strengths are weaknesses are. I found the North Star Digital Literacy Project (2014) self-assessment more comprehensive and useful compared to the Microsoft Corporation (2013) self-assessment, and so will mainly focus on the results from the former. Except to say that both assessments identified basic keyboarding skills as an area to be improved upon. I do touch type but I discovered there are many keys that I do not use, therefore, it might be a good time to go back to basics.

Identified areas of strength on the North Star self-assessments were: world wide web skills and email. Areas needing improvement related to Windows 7, Mac OS X, and microsoft word skills, however all my scores were relatively high. My lowest score was in Microsoft Excel. I remember completing my undergrad study roughly 15 years ago; it did not seem to matter how many times my brother helped with excel for my regular weekly assignments I just could not get the hang of it. This indicates that I have not been able to effectively learn using Excel through trial and error and would benefit from doing a formal learning course.

As disability lecturer and programme coordinator, I am required to teach the year two disability support papers for the Bachelor in Social Services, develop the third year level disability support course and be research active. In addition to basic keyboarding and Excel skills I have identified a number of other skills directly related to my work roles, by refering to Karback (2012) in their blog '33 digital skills every 21st Century teacher should have':

• Use Social bookmarking to share resources with and between learners
• Use video content to engage learners
• Use infographics to visually stimulate students
• Use social networking sites to connect with colleagues and grow professionally
• Create and deliver asynchronous presentations and training sessions
• Be able to detect plagiarized works in students assignments
• Understand issues related to copyright and fair use of online materials
• Find and evaluate authentic web based content
• Learn about the different ways to use YouTube in your classroom
• Use note taking tools to share interesting content with your students
• Use of screen casting tools to create and share tutorials
• Conduct an effective search query with the minimum time possible
• Conduct A Research Paper Using Digital Tools
• Use file sharing tools to share docs and files with students online

The above list is quite long and daunting, however some things on the list I already do through Moodle, such as 'Use file sharing tools to share docs and files with students online'. Other things are not necessarily a requirement but I think would be a good work skill to have, for instance 'Use social networking sites to connect with colleagues and grow professionally'. Developing my professional online profiles could assist me keep up with what is happening in my field to assure that I am teaching and researching the most contemporary issues and information.

In terms of what areas I feel confident, not many really, actually only one: conduct an effective search query with the minimum time possible. I pride myself on being able to find relevant and interesting information quickly! As a new teacher this skill is vital as I am slowly building up my own personal library of resources.

I am progressively beginning to use Moodle as an online teaching and learning tool. In the first semester I predominantly used Moodle to upload course readings for students to access. This semester I have developed a consistent structure under each topic. I outline the topic objectives, followed by a short e-activity, with the relevant readings and links at the bottom. This way the students can engage with the content at anytime. For instance, one student fractured their leg and could not come to class, but they were able to work from home and participate in the class acivities by completing the e-activities. I am also using the e-activities as a way for learners to share information. As stated above, I have recently discovered how to create a 'book' in Moodle, which appears to be an alternative to power point presentations. I have since created my first 'book' in Moodle.

I have heard through informal conversations, LMS such Moodle and blackbaord refered to as 'filing cabinets' because a lot of teachers use them to simply store course material. In the beginning the year this is certainly how I used Moodle, however I would like to continue to develop my skills using a LMS in order to enhance teaching and learning. To achieve my goal above I have developed a SMART personal development plan. A SMART action plan involves creating goals that are Specifc, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time bound (WorldWork Ltd. 2012).

SMART Personal Development Plan

Goal: To development the level 7 Disabilities Studies paper (Bachelor of Social Services) as an online course available for distant learning students.

Actions
The development of the level 7 Disabilities Studies paper will be complete by 30th November 2014, and approved and ready to teach by January 2016. Below are three steps to begin this process.

The LMS in use at Otago Polytechninc is Moodle. Therefore a good first step is to work through is some Moodle courses on Lynda.com, such as 'Moodle 2.5 Essential Training with Mary Cooch'. Founded in 1995, lynda.com Inc, is an online learning company that helps people learn business, software, technology and creative skills for their personal and professional development (lynda.com, 2014). Although I feel fairly confident using Moodle, completing the 3 hour course, 'Moodle 2.5 Essential Training' will consolidate what I already know and further extend my skills. I will aim to complete this course during the next student holidays, that is to be completed by 29 September 2014.

Another important step is to research and think about how I can apply principals of teaching and learning to an online context. This can achieved by firstly, revising the course content of the Foundations Skills paper I completed in semester one of 2014. I can then utilise the references provided in this course to assist me to research further afield. Again, this step can be achieved during the next student holidays, that is to be completed by 29 September 2014.

Lastly, I will reflect on and evaluate my current use of Moodle, in particular the effectiveness of the layout of my course material and exercises on Moodle and whether my students found the e-activities useful. This can be achieved by evaluating whether students completed the e-activities, what e-activities they completed, what students had to say about the course in their evaluations and whether they passed their courses. I can also have a verbal conversation with my students to get direct feedback. This third step will be completed at the completion of the paper, by 14 November 2014.

Resources
The first two steps require having access to the online resources mentioned above, that is the Moodle 2.5 Essential training course on lynda.com, and the readings, videos and my assessments from the Foundation Skills course. I can work through these resources either at work or from home. The assessments and readings from the Foundations Skills course that are on my work computer can be uploaded to my dropbox account.

I can receive support from more experienced work colleagues who have created online Moodle courses and will make the most of their support by creating a journal of notes and instructions, as I tend to only retain certain actions after repeating them a few times.

The third step will require accessing course and teaching evaluations and encouraging my students to complete them. My students will be able to support me by offering feedback on the various e-activities I have created for them.

The main barrier I will face is time. As a new teacher on this particular course, I spend much of my time becoming familiar with the course content and lesson planning. Time management is important, for instance during the student break I will not be teaching and will have extra time to commit to the first two identified actions.

Evidence
The true test for the successful completion of my goal will be the end of 2016 when I have finished teaching the first year of level 7 disability studies. However, there are milestones, such as completing the development of the paper by the end of November 2014, followed by the paper being approved by the appropriate authorities.



As a digital citizen I utilise information technology to be actively engaged in multiple online communties. An important element of digital citizenship is digital literacy. Within the educational context I reflected on two important aspects of digital literacy, that is, awareness of ethical standards of practice, and allowing time to experiment and learn new skills. Specific areas I identified that require strengthening included basic keyboarding skills, excel skills and using LMS beyond storing files. As result of the latter, I created a personal development plan that will assist me in my quest to create a succssful online course.

The term digital citizen is relatively new to me. Rather than view myself as a visitor or voyeur to the online world, I now view myself as an active and engaged member of this world. This has inspired me to be more proactive in developing necessary digital literacy skills for my lecturing role in higher education.



References

Anyangwe, E. (2012). 20 ways of thinking about digital literacy in higher education. Guardian Professional. Accessed 14th August 2014. Retrieved from URL: http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2012/may/15/digital-literacy-in-universities

Cornell Information Technologies (2009). Digital Literacy is … Cornell University [wesbite]. Accessed 28 August 2014, retrieved from URL: http://digitalliteracy.cornell.edu/

Kharbach, M (2012, June). 33 digital skills every 21st Century teacher should have. Retrieved from http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/06/33-digital-skills-every-21st-century.html

lynda.com (2014). About Us [website]. Accessed 27 August 2014, retrieved from URL: http://www.lynda.com/aboutus/.

Microsoft Corporation (2013). Digital Literacy: assessment instructions [online self-assessment tool]. Accessed 28 August 2014, retreived from URL: http://www.microsoft.com/about/corporatecitizenship/citizenship/giving/programs/up/digitalliteracy/ASMT/Instructions.aspx?lang=eng&aid=as111a

Ministry of Education, British Columbia [website]. (2013). Digital Literacy Standards. Accessed 28 August 2014, retrieved from URL: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/dist_learning/dig_lit_standards.htm

Netsafe. (n.d.). What is digital citizenship? MyLPG learn guide protect [website]. Accessed 28 August 2014, retrieved from URL: http://www.mylgp.org.nz/about/what-is-digital-citizenship/

North Star Digital Literacy Project (2014). About the Project [online self-assessment tool]. Accessed 28 August 2014, retrieved from URL: http://www.digitalliteracyassessment.org/index.php

Plunkett, C. (n.d.). What is Digital Literacy? [blog]. Accessed 28 August 2014, retrieved from URL: http://cleach.wordpress.com/what-is-digital-literacy/.

Ribble, M. (2008). Passport to Digital Citiznship: journey towards appropriate technology use at school and at home [online pdf]. Accessed 28 August 2014, retrieved from URL: http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/uploads/LL2008DCArt.pdf.

Wikipedia (2014, a.). Digital Citizen [online encylopedia]. Accessed 28 August 2014, retrieved from URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_citizen.

Wikipedia (2014, b.). Digital Literacy [online encylopedia].  Accessed 28 August 2014, retrieved from URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_literacy.

WorldWork Ltd. (2012). Step 3 - A SMART Action Plan. Personal Development Plan [online pdf form]. Accessed 28 August 2014, retrieved from http://worldwork.biz/legacy/www/downloads/Personal_Development_Plan.pdf

Identifying relevant digital literacy skills required for my job

E-activity1.2  in module three of the Practice Context course is identifying what digital literacy skills are required my for job. My job is disability lecturer for year two of a Bachelor in Social Services. I am required to teach the course, development the third year level course and be research active.

Karback (2012) in their blog '33 digital skills every 21st Century teacher should have' proivdes a lists of skills and links to resources. From this list I have identified the following skills as relevant to
my area:

• Use Social bookmarking to share resources with and between learners
• Use video content to engage learners
• Use infographics to visually stimulate students
• Use social networking sites to connect with colleagues and grow professionally
• Create and deliver asynchronous presentations and training sessions
• Be able to detect plagiarized works in students assignments
• Understand issues related to copyright and fair use of online materials
• Find and evaluate authentic web based content
• Learn about the different ways to use YouTube in your classroom
• Use note taking tools to share interesting content with your students
• Use of screen casting tools to create and share tutorials
• Conduct an effective search query with the minimum time possible
• Conduct A Research Paper Using Digital Tools
• Use file sharing tools to share docs and files with students online

The above list is quite long and little daunting, however some things on the list I already do through Moodle, such as 'Use file sharing tools to share docs and files with students online'. Other things are not necessarily a requirement but I think would be a good work skill to have, for instance 'Use social networking sites to connect with colleagues and grow professionally'. Developing my professional online profiles could assist me keep up with what is happening in my field to assure that I am teaching and researching the most contemporary issues and information.

 In terms of what areas do I feel confident, not many really, actually only one: conduct an effective search query with the minimum time possible. I pride myself on being able to find relevant and interesting information quickly! As a new teacher this skill is vital as I am slowly building up my own library of resources and am finding I need to locate soem good references for each class. Next year I will have those references already saved on my desk top ready to use. Although there will always be the need to continue to up date my resources.

I am slowly beginning to use Moodle as an online teaching and learning tool. In the first semester I predominantly used Moodle to upload course readings for students to access. This semester I have developed a consistent structure under each topic. I outline the topic objectives, followed by a short
e-activity, with the relevant readings and links at the bottom. This way the students can engage with the content at anytime. For instance, one student fractured their leg and could not come to class, but they were able to work from home and participate in the class acivities by completing the
e-activity. I am also using the e-activities as a way for learners to share information.

I have recently discovered how to create a 'book' in Moodle, which is a great alternative to power point presentations. I am currently creating my first 'book' for my next class. I can't tell yet whether a Moodle book is better than a power point presentation.










Reference:
Kharbach, M (2012, June). 33 digital skills every 21st Century teacher should have. Retrieved from http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/06/33-digital-skills-every-21st-century.html

Digital Literacy Skills

In Module three we are exploring digital literacy skills and were asked to choose a digital literacy self-assessment, take it and reflect on it. The first one I complete was a Micrsoft digital literacy assessment. I received an 18 out of 21, which is not a pass, and recommended to complete a online workshop on 'Mousing Around' and 'Keyboarding'. I could probably benefit from refreshing my keyboarding and mouse skills. I can touch type (at a medium pace) but I don't use certain keys, such as the 'home' key or the 'end' key.

The second self-assessment was a fun interactive assessment by Northstar Digital Literacy self-assessment:
1. Basic computer skills. I passed this time, with only one area of improvement: 'demonstrate knowledge of keys on a keyboard'. This result is similar to the results in the first test.

2. World Wide Web skills: I scored 33 out of 33, 100%!

3. Windows 7 skills: I scored 26/29. The areas of improvement are: Identify drives on a computer, identify task bar, and open files using appropriate programs. The latter I realised I had clicked on the wrong programme a second after I clicked on it.

4. Mac OS X: I scored 23/25, which was surprising because this is not an operating system I have used very often, but seems to be quite user friendly. The areas of improvement include: demonstrate knowledge of the dashboard and use "spot light" to locate a document. I have no idea what spot light is.

5. Email: I scored 100% Yipee!

6. Microsoft Work: I scored 25/29. Areas of improvement were: Identify the ribbon (I use the ribbon but I never knew what it was called); set single or double spacing; use undo button; copy/cut/paste. The latter three I got wrong because I have always used methods alternative to the ribbon. For example when I cut, copy, paste and I use the ctrl button.

7. Social media: I scored 16/18. Areas of improvement were: Recognise information online or on social media that might a pose a risk to you (I clicked that something was unsafe when it was actually safe) and post, share, like or comment on content. I thought I was pretty good at the latter. I got confused when they asked me to share a website, the usual way I do it was not an option, so perhaps there is a more efficient way of doing this? The self-assessment was very facebook-centric!

8. Microsoft Excel: this was my lowest score, 29/39. Many areas of improvement: identify parts of excel screen (ribbon, formula bar, active cell, name box, column letter, row number); format cells (bold, underline, sixe, merge and centre, wrap text etc); insert and delete rows and columns; enter data in a cell; write a formula in the formula bar; copy and move cell entries, choose page orientation; save and name a workbook; save and close workbook by using the quick access toolbar. I swear I know how to do a lot of this stuff, I don't know what I was doing during the assessment. Although, I'm not surprised by this result as I am not very confident using Excel. I remember doing my undergrad study and it didn't seem to matter how many times my brother helped with excel for assignments I couldn't get the hang of it. This probably indicates that I would benefit from doing a course of using Excel.

What is Digital Citizenship?

Anyangwe, E. (2012). 20 ways of thinking about digital literacy in higher education. Guardian Professional. Accessed 14th August 2014. Retrieved from URL: http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2012/may/15/digital-literacy-in-universities


Reflect on the stimulus comments. Reflect on the blog post and consider the following questions:

1. What were the key thoughts and suggestions that had most meaning for you?

• Establish guiding ethical principles:

  I think this is really important, there is a lot of bullying and harressment on social media. I feel like a lot of people take the 'harden up' principal however if some people said the comments they make online to a person face to face they could actually get arrested for sexual harressment or something similar. I am constantly astonished and the level of abuse and violence directed towards people online.  

  Students and staff alike need to develop reflective and reflexive skills in order to asks themselves: is this something I would say to a person if they were standing right in front of me? What kind of outcome do I want from posting this kind of comment?  

  In addition to establishing guiding ethical principals knowing our personal online boundaries is important. Students need to think about what personal information they allow online and the future repercussions, such as applying for jobs.

• Mid-career is the worst time for academics and professional staff to be up to date with technology.

  Having time to experiment and having opportunities for 'peer supported experimentation' are of relevance to me. As a new staff member I am finding lesson planning very time consuming as I am becoming familiar with course content and searching for up-to-date information. This leaves me little time to experiment. There is also little opportunity for 'peer supported experimentation, however sharing an office with other staff members can spontaneously allow for this. Recently, a staff member asked me a question about 'Moodle Books' and I said, 'I don't know what a Moodle Book is?' This lead to us having a conversation about Moodle Books, which lead me to explore this function in Moodle. I will now use an upcoming lesson as a platform for creating my first Moodle Book. 

• 'Digital natives' need a basic understanding of computers as technical platforms, or of coding.

  I like the analogy (or is it a metaphor?) that Anyangwe (2012) makes regarding 'digital natives': "I worry that our computers are becoming like our cars: we are increasingly dependent on them but when we open the hood and don't know what to do." It is just so true! I hear people (ie my girlfriend and my brother) talk about coding this and coding that, and I have a vague idea about what coding is but no knowledge about how it works. Much like I hear people talk about radiators and spark plugs. I know they are important, but what do they actually do? Having a more in depth idea about coding and even being able to write some code will give me a much more holistic understanding of the univerise that is the internet.

• Digital literacy as an important part of transliteracy.

  The concept of transliteracy is refreshing and makes the idea of digital literacy a little less daunting, because it is simply one of many forms of literacy. I am quite literate in number of different areas and there is no reason why I cannot be digital literate. I wonder what kinds of skills transfer across forms of literacy?
• Digital engagement shouldn't be lead by a platform or task-specific agenda.

  When I read this section I immediately thought my use of facebook. I used to read posts that I thought were inappropriate or demeaning in some way. I used to feel angry and often express my concern, which would lead to an online argument with many other people getting involved (often totaly strangers). I thought about why I use facebook and I realised it was a bit of escapism, reading a few interesting articles, looking at some funny images and staying touch with friends. I actually didn't want to spend my down time arguing with people and having that argument to so public. I made the decision to immediately hide any posts I didn't like and move on.  

  I have agency as a user and have the right use this agency. However, there were posts from a page that I thought were abusive and dangerous for those their posts were directed at. So I used my agency to complain in this instance rather than simply hide the posts.

2. What do you consider to be the issues in your work area relating to digital literacy and citizenship ?
Two key issues I view in work area are; how to make courses accessible online as well as in a traditional classroom, face to face style and considerations for allowing my course content and research to be an open access resource.


3. How comfortable and familiar are you with accessing and using digital tools and media?

Depends really, I believe I'm quite good at researching information and using online data bases, such as exploring a range of different key words and filtering information so that I can effeciently find the types of articles I am after. But social media for isntance isn't really something I engage with much, I use facebook and that is about it. If find twitter boring and instagram seems to be a platform to post selfies - there is only so many funny faces I can pull, I mean I'm no Jim Carey! I would love to blog more, and have tried in the past. I tend to keep it up for a while, but I feel like I spend so much experiencing life I have little time to write about. I need my 7 hours of sleep per night!

When I was completing my Masters in Dance Studies, it was like a cruel joke. I was 'locked' away in a tiny dark office writing about dance and not having any time to actually dance. I'm a dancer and I want to dance, writing about dance is definitely not a close second. Although I see the benefit of recording my experiences with workshops, performances and choreographies, because I can go back and reflect on these experiences and use ideas in my present day practice. Is there a piece of technology that can be attached to my brain, and can record experiences as I experience them (there would have to be an off switch cause some experiences need to stay in the past!)?


 4. What are your students expectations around using digital tools and media?
Their expectation is to be able to access course material from Moodle and they know they need to produce some references when they write an essay or a report. I encourage them use a variety of sources including  the mass amounts of free academic data bases at the their fingers tips but generally they stick to websites. I know from experience that using databases can be frustrating and time consuming without the necessary skills. So I guess my question is how can I and/or the institution better support students to engage with academic databases?

It's been a while!

I am going to create a new direction for my blog, for now. Dance is still out there for me however I am now also a Lecturer in Disability Studies. Part of job requires me to complete a tertiary teaching qualification. This is an online course with the development of a portfolio as the assessment.

I am going to use this blog to record my learning as I work my way through the courseas this will allow me to study easily from work and from home.

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