"You can never be overdressed or overeducated": UNIT 5

Going into this unit I felt confident that I had an above average level of digital literacy and that I am already a responsible digital citizen. For the most part, on completing the unit, I still believe this to be true but I have discovered a whole lot of new skills and tools to explore – and I will be able to utilise in both my teaching practice and my personal life.

Through my learning in this unit, Digital Literacy and what it means to be a digital citizen have been clarified and their importance in my practice confirmed. Technology not only utilises traditional literacies, it extends and develops them, making them more accessible and integrated into the everyday learning required of our 21^st Century students. They no longer have to wait for a copy of a book to be returned to the library, they can now access the information they need 24hrs a day, at home, at work, at school and even on the bus - on their mobile devices.

As a TRA I believe that being skilled and relevant in both digital literacy and more broadly as a digital citizen as a very important part of my role, both as a mentor to students and an assistant to lecturers. I am usually the first point of contact 'on the coal face' due to being in-class with students most days, so have always tried to stay relevant with my digital skills. Through this unit I am now more aware that there are very varying levels and methods of digital practice – both with my students and my colleagues. I have put this new knowledge and awareness into practice by trying to cater to and include every student.

In talking, observing and working with my colleagues and students, I have found only a minimum amount of resistance to this fast moving pace of using technology. In my experience resistance comes mainly from older students and staff and I think the main factor which inhibits them from becoming more engaged digitally is confidence. I am aware of the need to include these more resistant digital citizens and I now not only email a file, post it on our Facebook page and on Moodle, I will often print out a hard copy for them or text them to alert them to where they can find the information. Thankfully, in regards to my daily workload I only have to go to this extent for a couple of students and staff!

Two years ago I became frustrated with the communication tools we were using to engage with students outside of class. The learners I work with are resistant to Moodle and using their Otago Polytechnic email address, but along with group text messaging, these were the only methods of communication I could utilise. Against resistance, I set up a Facebook page for my Year 3 students, a closed group with all students invited to join. Now, it has evolved to include several lecturers and this year 15 of the 16 students enrolled are using the page daily to communicate – with me, their lecturers and each other. This year Kat, the TRA for Year 1 and 2 set up pages for these two cohorts and all lecturers have been invited. It has become a fantastic tool to stay current with what is happening within each year group, what is working and what it not with their learning – they are not afraid to speak their minds on this Facebook platform! At the beginning of each year I set the ethics and boundaries for the use of the Year 3 page, which for the most part are highly respected.

Through this page I also utilise many of the 33 skills outlined in the article ‘The 33 Digital Skills Every 21^st Century Teacher Should Have’¹ including sharing of resources; use of digital imagery for learning and finding, editing and posting of video and audio content – both as resources and for student engagement. I also curate web, email and Moodle content for use on the page, often re-posting information from other sources to make sure students have several ways to access the information – therefore catering to their individual digital preferences.

Currently I am required daily to perform a long list of tasks digitally, including: emailing, group texting students, managing the Facebook page for my students and the use of the Microsoft and Adobe suites of programs – for assisting both students, lecturers and our Academic Leader. I also manage schedules digitally between students and lecturers and am daily up-skilling both my myself and my students during class through online searches for and use of new resources and learning tools (usually video tutorials).

I have had computers in my home environment from a very early age considering the generation I belong to. I remember our first Spectrum computer² which I think we got in 1984 when I was 8 years old. It had rubber keys on the keyboard and it plugged into our huge remote-less television. It used cassette tapes instead of discs, I'm not sure my kids even know what a cassette tape is! Because of this exposure I am generally digitally confident and not afraid to delve into the unknown as I know that it is not often that hitting the 'wrong key' deletes everything! In working my way through the 33 digital Skills1 article¹, the areas and skills that I can identify as skills I already have - I generally feel confident in my knowledge and use of these. But through looking into the further information and links I also found new tools that I can utilise to either streamline my skills or expand on them. A few of these were not applicable due to my role and the age group of the students I work with.

(a scan of my notes on these 33 skills will be emailed to you as part of my evidence of learning)

Through my work I am required to use and demonstrate a number of digital literacy skills every day. I work with Microsoft Word and Excel every day and using the Adobe suite of design programs is part of my daily role as well. I am also required to be knowledgeable in the use of digital cameras, projectors and screens, the running of power-point presentations and am admin on several Moodle courses and run the Facebook page for my student cohort

Email communication both internally and externally is an important part of my roll. I am required to reply, comment and add to email discussions daily and I assign and am assigned tasks and appointments via email. I use email to communicate with other staff, students, prospective students, suppliers and external industry networks. I am currently receiving RSVP's from invited guests for our Collections show at the end of this month. I collate these replies into a shared spreadsheet used by several staff members and constantly update our seating plan (also digital). All of these activities require me to utilise some of the elements outlined in the article ‘Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship’³– Element 3. Digital Communication; 5.Digital Etiquette and 7. Digital Rights and Responsibilities.

One of my Personal Development Activities that I identified earlier this year with my HOD was to become more proficient in the use of Adobe InDesign. This was due to the increasing use of the program by my students in their design work and I didn't feel my knowledge of InDesign was at a high enough level to be useful when working with the students and with my AL, Margo. To up-skill in this area I sat in on a Studio Elective paper in semester one, working on my own small projects to increase the relevance in my learning and plan to repeat this paper in 2014. I have also been working through several free online tutorials on Lynda.com⁴ but this has gone on hold while I have been completing this paper. I plan to complete these tutorials (at least 6) early in 2014 before the new cohort of students return for the year. I have set my goal in my learning of InDesign to become a confident user and educator in the program, I will have a sound, varied and relevant set of skills and knowledge to the level of going beyond the basics and being able to utilise Element 4³, Digital Literacy, able to assist and educate using this program with my students through their work to increase their own personal Digital Literacy.

After completing this paper I will be furthering my digital skills by learning WordPress⁵ through creating a blog. This is the platform that many of my colleagues and students use and until now I have had no experience of it. I have recently returned from an Otago Polytechnic School of Fashion trip to Shanghai, China. Before I left I secured a Samsung Tablet using my PD money available to me. I was planning to use the tablet to document the trip and blog while over there but found the Great Firewall of China⁶ too tough to get around (when you don’t want to pay for it!). I aim to blog about our trip in retrospect, which may offer a more insightful documentation of the trip, and utilise the tools of images and video and my skills in editing them. There will be some collaboration on this blog through the use of a combined folder of images, I set up a DropBox⁷ folder and shared this with other staff and students and they are currently adding their libraries of images and videos to this folder for my use in the blog! I will be getting this underway from early next week and for it to be completed at the end of November. This is due to our school exchange process – staff and students from SUES University in Shanghai will be arriving in Dunedin in mid-November. I will be heavily involved in their visit and their students showing of work at our Collections show. I will be documenting this leg of the project through my blog as well – I promise to send you the link!

REFERENCES:

1 Kharbach, M (2012). 33 digital skills every 21st Century teacher should have.

Retrieved from http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/06/33-digital-skills-every-21st-century.html

2 Wikipedia (2013), ZX Spectrum

Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX_Spectrum

3 Ribble, M. (2013). Nine Elements. Digital Citizenship: Using technology appropriately. Retrieved from http://digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html

4 Blatna, D. (2013) InDesign CS6 Essential Training (one of the tutorials I have been taking)

Retrieved from http://www.lynda.com/course20/InDesign-tutorials/InDesign-CS6-Essential-Training/96305-2.html

5 Wordpress.com

http://wordpress.com/

6 Wikipedia, (2013) Golden Shield Project

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Shield_Project

7 DropBox

https://www.dropbox.com/