ETL 523: Reflection

To cater to the learning needs of students in 21st century, it is important to have a highly effective school that has high levels of parent and community engagement along with all the staff members in school. The current global pandemic has made it clear that the role of technology in 21^st century is highly significant. In these unprecedented times, technology has made it possible for students to learn from home and for professionals to work from home. The move to remote learning for schools during Covid 19 has seen students and educators rely heavily on digital technologies like never before. Students and teachers might find a bit overwhelming to manage change. However, technology can now be seen as a tool and a catalyst for change as it has made education more accessible and flexible. Schools all over the world have suddenly and unforeseeably have been forced to work remotely. It will be incorrect to assume that teachers and students are already digitally literate. Since students are also now the users of technology. The timing for this course was perfect, in the sense, that it has further emphasised the need for teaching digital netiquettes and citizenship to children from very young age. Our virtual spaces should abide by the same forms of etiquette as do our actual spaces. It would be totally incorrect to assume that students are digital natives. I will ensure that digital citizenship becomes a prominent part of my teaching programs. Frallion (2020) advises that we need to plan to support students to be able to make effective use of digital technologies in their learning, teachers too need support to manage this process.

As teachers, we need to prepare our students as global, connected, digital citizens. This can be done by modifying existing tasks and by encouraging students to use web2.0 tools, contributing to wiki or writing a blog post. Such tools support contribution and collaboration. Lindsay and Davis (2013) states that there are three new R’s in education that have to do with global collaboration and they are receive, read and respond. Digital citizenship programs should be a holistic approach which teaches students that good online behaviour is directly and inextricably related to good behaviour in general (Chen & Orth, 2013).

I have never used Twitter before. I now have a Twitter account and follow many other librarians. This subject has been a worthwhile elective as I learnt about web 2.0 tools like Powtoon and Adobe Spark. Currently I am in the process of designing our school’s library webpage using Weebly. I feel confident using Weebly after our group assignment. I have already started implementing what I have learnt in this subject. We need to model and expose our students to areas of technology that may spark a lifelong interest. This subject also emphasised the awareness of cultural understanding in global collaboration in the online learning environment. My takeaway about global differences is that we need to research other cultures before we start to communicate, to at least avoid innocently offending or alienating others by our own cultural presumptions.  I feel I am a global, connected, lifelong learner who is now more confident to explore, learn, create and collaborate in 21^st century.

References

• Chen, E., Orth, D. (2013). The strategy for digital citizenship. NAIS Independent School Magazine (online) http://www.nais.org/Magazines-Newsletters/ISMagazine/Pages/The-Strategy-for-Digital-Citizenship.aspx
• Fraillon, J. (2020). Working from home and digital literacy – what can we assume?. Australian Council for Educational Research – ACER. Retrieved 1 June 2020, from https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/articles/working-from-home-and-digital-literacy-what-can-we-assume?utm_source=CM&utm_medium=Bulletin&utm_content=April7.
• J. (2013, April 9). Leadership for a global future. http://www.julielindsay.net/2013/04/leadership-for-global-future.html.

Today’s students and teachers are global learners. A global perspective offers an opportunity to develop positive and responsible values and attitudes by becoming digital citizens. One of the key components of digital citizenship is collaboration.

Initially after looking at the subject outline, the group work component of this subject made me think whether to go ahead or not with this subject. I decided to challenge myself. This assignment gave me a real feel of what collaborative planning is. I have used wiki spaces in my other subject before but this group work was an intense one.

According to Lindsay (2015), there are eight norms of online global collaboration. These norms provide an educator with support and helps to build an engaging and successful relationship with others. I will elaborate our group work using these norms.

1. Be Prepared: We were prepared for this task by writing a 100 word group proposal for our Digital Citizenship Learning Module.
2. Having a Purpose: We had a purpose to complete this task by the due date.
3. Paraphrase: This step is about using clear language for global understanding. Our group decided to use Google docs as our online learning module. This was because it allows us to edit our work and so we started putting our ideas on this common platform.
4. Perceive: To discuss further what we have paraphrased, we communicated through video calls and discussed our ideas further.
5. Participate: Our topic was then divided into subtopics to ensure that there was fair participation for group work.
6. Positive: We had regular meetings to make sure we are on the right track and to check if any assistance was needed along the way.
7. Productive: We had set time to complete each task and then review it together through group meetings. Our group was very open to each other’s ideas.
8. Potential: Together we were able to realise how all our contribution helped us in building a website.

Through this collaboration, I was more confident in using new tools. I had no experience with Powtoon or Weebly. However, one of the group members had use Weebly before so that made us feel comfortable. There were some discrepancies but we all had a very positive attitude which helped us get through our task. I think I will be more confident in trialling out new tools and using it in my professional life.

The internet has become a fundamental part of information, education and entertainment. In a school setting, it is therefore essential for students to develop these 21^st century skills which provide an emphasis on critical thinking, collaboration and communication.

Overall this group work was a very positive experience. We finally decided to celebrate our achievement virtually after we submitted our assignment.

Reference

Lindsay, J. (2015). Norms of Online Global Collaboration. Retrieved 22 April 2020, from https://www.slideshare.net/julielindsay/norms-of-online-global-collaboration

A successful 21st century learner should not only be able to communicate, collaborate and create effectively but also needs critical thinking skills to be an observant, global digital citizens. Digital citizenship is an umbrella term that broadly covers responsible, appropriate behaviour when using technology. But specifically, it can cover anything from “netiquette” to cyberbullying; technology access and the digital divide; online safety and privacy; copyright, plagiarism, and digital law, and more.

Teaching digital citizenship is a responsibility of all the stake holders. Parents and teachers play a key role in setting an example by balancing the use of technology. Global learners’ students and teachers should be fully aware of their role as a global digital citizen. We now have an enormous responsibility to ensure that our students develop cultural awareness and are engaged in acts of citizenship, not only within our schools and surrounding areas, but as active members of the global community

Digital learning space is different as compared to physical classroom. Physical leaning space is about furniture and walls, whereas virtual learning space involves room for collaboration, sharing, discussion, creativity and co creativity.

It is vital that students acquire the skills of digital inquiry through a variety of formats and reflect on both the process and product of learning. Students should be able to interconnect the value of the ethical creation of new knowledge and reflect on their process of being a safe, responsible and ethical digital citizens.