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