If you want somebody to learn something, do you teach facts or a process, or do you involve them in the doing?
The answer may seem obvious to some, however time and again, I observe fellow teachers and school leaders teaching through ‘chalk and talk’, presenting information, then reading directly from the slides and droning on monotonously. It’s an easy trap to fall into for nervous speakers, but we are teachers, actors even, whose job is to share a wonder for the world.
I imagine a project on global sustainability where students move from static learning about digital citizenship to actively practising digital leadership.
Social networking provides a platform for students to engage with the world and spread their message for global sustainability. Students move from participating in social networking sites to leading initiatives to clean up areas or spread the word of reducing our waste. These simple steps are opportunities for students to practice digital citizenship in a real-world scenario, with real-world results.
If you had this learning opportunity as a student, would you engage with it?
Dumped waste at Wadi Hanifa, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Bell, 2021)
In my first assessment piece for ETL 523 – Digital Citizenship, I researched and created a web guide on developing a personal learning network (PLN) through social networking sites.
Whilst I feel I am already a digital citizen, this piece forced me out of my comfort zone. Before engaging with this subject, I had never actively developed my PLN, and whilst I had a LinkedIn and Facebook, I had not used Twitter. Furthermore, for the creation of my digital content, I chose to record a video. Again, I challenged myself, in learning to edit videos with a new movie maker – Davinci Resolve.
Firstly, the creation of my Twitter account led me to ask numerous questions, such as:
How do you decide if something is important to share?
How do you decide between sharing (retweeting), liking or commenting on a post?
These questions helped direct me in the development of my web guide.
Using Davinci Resolve in itself was a problem I had to overcome. I have edited videos before with iMovie, however, never with Davinci Resolve. With a firm understanding of what a PLN is and how to develop it, I sought tutorials and tips from professionals who use Davinci Resolve daily to edit videos. This involved expanding my PLN to include YouTube and personal blogging sites.
Since I did not know anything about the program, the use of my PLN was (and I say this modestly) a success. I was able to import and cut media, insert fancy and professional-looking titles, import pictures and import and adjust audio levels. My understanding and use of the software developed, to the point where I am extremely proud of the video.
I came across a particularly difficult situation, whereby when exporting an error occurred after exporting only 18 seconds. Through the use of my PLN, I was able to overcome this challenge and export my completed video.
To put this in context, I ran a spelling bee house competition in December 2020. I filmed the competition with plans to share the filming with parents and the community. I was instructed by the Director of Technology, to try Davinci Resolve, as it worked best with the camera I was using. I was able to import my videos, however, beyond that and with my full-time teaching load, I was unable to progress any further. Since then the videos have remained stagnant on my laptop. Now I possess the knowledge and confidence to attack these videos, just in time for the end of our school year.
A reflective blog on library practices in the information age
