Sunday, November 3, 2013
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Identifying Development needs
Learning is a continuous process. It always remains incomplete because there is always something new to learn in life. The same logic is applicable to my digital skills. The technology, digital tools and the methods of operating are changing at a fast pace. So the tools and skills to which I am familiar today might need to develop further in future.
Skills:
In my opinion I am comfortable at the following skills:
1. Find ,locate and access information
2. Reading and interpreting the resources
3. Analyze and evaluate the resources
4. Manage information and resources
5. Share and Communication through digital means
The skills that I need to further develop are:
1. Creating new resources
2. Constructing new knowledge
Tools:
There are a number of digital tools which are essential to make learning more effective and long lasting. They are also very useful in developing, designing and delivering a certain program. I have learnt to use a number of tools like Word , Power Point, Social networking , e-mail . But I would like to mention the tools about which I gained a basic knowledge. The tool are as follow:
Adobe Connect: My knowledge is confined to its use as an online tool for teaching but I don’t know how to operate it.
Wiki Spaces: I made an account on wiki- spaces but didn’t work much on that.
Google site: I have created a Google site but still I need to learn editing the site.
Audacity: I have a basic knowledge of recording the audio but editing the voice is still left to learn.
Digital Tools
The 21st century learners are digital natives. They are always exposed to new digital tools. They spend more time to interact with new digital devices like mobiles and tablets. The old methods of teaching cannot engage them in the learning process.
I have learnt about a number of digital tools which allow me edit text , images ,audio , videos, store information, explore resources , display the work of students online. I would like to mention the most interesting tools are blog and slide share. Blog provides my learners and me an online platform to express and evaluate the learning outcomes. It allows me to monitor the progress of my learners and each student can comment as a critique on other’s postings. Slide share is another tool which helps me present the information online in an effective way. It allows me to upload my presentations and I can also search for presentation required for certain topics.
The links to the above said digital tools are:
Digital Literacy
Learning is a continuous process. It begins from the lap of mother and ends at the last breath. The migrants learn to adapt with the new culture and context. It is the most important virtue to survive in the new environment. The international students also learn a lot in a foreign country because every country has its own set of educational framework according to its context.
Previous Skills: Digital knowledge and literacy is very vast term. Digital techniques are changing at fast pace and the techniques that we learn today will become obsolete in future. We must keep our knowledge updated. If I recall my previous digital efficiencies, I was well aware of use of text documents, clips, slides, you tube videos. Editing the text, images and videos were common for me. I used to apply the modern digital methods of teaching in my class. I used power point slides, videos, projector etc. as teaching aids.
What has been added to my digital knowledge in the present course? The G.D.T.E. aims at providing learner centered knowledge. It enriches the teachers with new digital tools which they can use in their practice. It also guides the facilitators to design the course to meet the need of the learners. It provided me an opportunity to learn the new digital tools like Adobe Connect, Blog, Moodle, Wiki spaces, Slide share, Prezzy etc. I have also learnt to explore and research online resources.
Applications of the Skills: The new skills are quite useful and effective to improve the learning environment. Adobe connect can be used to connect my learners like face to face classrooms. Blog and moodle can be used to manage and supervise the progress of the learning outcomes. Slide share, Prezzy and Wiki spaces can be used to present the content in a variety of ways. To conclude, acquiring new digital techniques are essential to engage the learners who are digital natives.
Elements of Digital Citizenship
Ribble, M. (2013)
concludes the nine elements in REPs which are used to teach the digital
citizenship.
1.
Respect yourself/ respect others
a. Etiquette
b. Access
c. Law
2.
Educate yourself/connect with other
a. Communication
b. Literacy
c. Commerce
3.
Protect yourself/protect others
a. Rights
and responsibility
b. Security
c. Health
and welfare
The above said elements are essential in
every walk of modern life in which digital technology plays an important role.
Same is applicable to my work environment where the digital tools play an important
role in most of the tasks and I would like to mention:
A. Digital
Access: - Its objective is that all the people have equal access to digital
tools. It is the facilitators at Polytechnic who ensure that their students can
equally access to the means of information technology. They guide and encourage
them to take maximum benefit of IT in their study.
B. Digital Commerce: - It is the selling and
buying of goods online. It is important for my workplace where a large number
of products are purchased online. The facilitators are well aware about the
ethics of e-commerce and the students learn these ethics for example they are
encouraged to avoid pirated software and illegal downloading. They are informed
to make their payment through secure gateways.
C. Digital
Communication: - It is heart of every organization. The different means of
communication like email, video conferencing, instant messaging and chat are
essential element of modern communication in the institutions. The students who
pursue different level courses at OP learn the appropriate use of these means
and communicate with the facilitators, office staff and with other students.
D. Digital
Literacy: - It is the ability to use the IT for individual and social
development. OP never lags behind in educating the learners the emerging new
technologies which benefit them in their study, employment and help them to
explore the right use of IT. They learn create text docs, video, sound and
images. They explore how to use video conferencing, adobe connect, moodle and
other social media to enrich their knowledge.
E. Digital
Rights and Responsibilities: - Digital citizens know the right to privacy,
right to security, right to free speech etc. On the other hand they are aware
of their duties about not to interfere with other privacy and security. The OP students
learn how to keep their privacy by using different security measures, software,
and protected passwords.
To sum up OP which is my work place keeps
its’ students a step ahead in terms of digital literacy and digital
citizenship.
References:
Ribble, M. (2013). Nine Elements.
Digital Citizenship: Using technology appropriately. Retrieved on August 6,
2013from http://digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html
Digital Literacy and Digital Citizenship
Literacy literally means the ability to read and write. But a new concept of Digital Literacy has emerged in the 21st century. The term has wider scope than traditional term literacy. It is defined as the ability to use information technology to perform various tasks like creating documents, images, videos, slides and searching useful information online and reproducing it in a different way. Eshet (2004) defines digital literacy as “Digital literacy involves more than the mere ability to use software or operate a digital device; it includes a large variety of complex cognitive, motor, sociological, and emotional skills, which users need in order to function effectively in digital environments. The tasks required in this context include, for example, "reading" instructions from graphical displays in user interfaces; utilizing digital reproduction to create new, meaningful materials from existing ones; constructing knowledge from a nonlinear, hyper textual navigation; evaluating the quality and validity of information; and have a mature and realistic understanding of the "rules" that prevail in the cyberspace.” The variety of terms now used to describe e-literacy or digital literacy are a reflection of the importance of understanding the competencies needed in the digital environment and the need for digital flexibility. This newly emerging concept of "digital literacy" may be utilized as a measure of the quality of learners’ work in digital environments, and provide scholars and developers with a more effective means of communication in designing better user-oriented environments. The present paper proposes a holistic, refined conceptual framework for digital literacy, which includes photo-visual literacy; reproduction literacy; branching literacy; information literacy; and socio-emotional literacy.
A citizen knows his right and duties and always follows the law of the nation but digital citizenship is wider term in which a person is a responsible global citizen who follows the ethics, rules and laws of information technology framed by his nation as well as laws framed all over the world by the global I.T. organizations. Ribble (2013) states Digital Citizenship is a concept which helps teachers, technology leaders and parents to understand what users should know to use technology appropriately. Digital Citizenship is more than just a teaching tool; it is a way to prepare users for a society full of technology. Digital citizenship is the norms of appropriate, responsible technology use.
The modern learners are digital natives and well familiar with the modern means of technology. Their expectations are quite high from their facilitators. They know how to operate the digital tools and seek guidance from their facilitators to use them in a constructive way. As a facilitator although I am quite familiar with the digital tools yet I continue my learning through exploring information for the use of these tools so that I can help my learners to become responsible digital citizens.
References:
Eshet, Y. (2004). Digital Literacy: A Conceptual Framework for Survival Skills in the Digital era. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 13(1), 93-106. Norfolk, VA: AACE. Retrieved August 4, 2013 from http://www.editlib.org/p/4793
Ribble, M. (2013). Digital Citizenship: Using technology appropriately. Retrieved August 4, 2013from http://digitalcitizenship.net/
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